Appraisal of the Feedback and Final Reflection

The feedback received from my peers for my lesson plan, resource and professional

development session was largely positive, including constructive criticism which allowed me

to reflect on changes/adjustments I could make to further my work.

For the lesson plan, audio session and resource, my peers commented on the clear

alignment between the content and the clear outline of the learning intentions. Gibbons

(2002) states that schema theory suggests that providing students the opportunity to begin the

lesson with an indication of what they will be learning allows the task itself to be easier and

clearer as they have more resources to draw upon. I received feedback that the learning

intentions were made clear at the beginning of the lesson and that the content within the

lesson aligned directly with ensuring the success of these goals. I planned the lesson to ensure

there was a clear focus on the focused learning. The beginning of the lesson stated what they

students were to learn and how they would show their success in meeting the goals. The

summative assessment task was introduced so students were aware of what the overall

learning goal for the unit was. The middle of the lesson used activities and teaching strategies

that supported the learning of the content along with formative assessment strategies to

determine how the students were progressing towards reaching the learning intentions. The

end of the lesson allowed students to share their work and use peer feedback to interact to

improve each other’s work (NSW Government, n.d.).

My peer’s provided feedback on the range of teaching strategies embedded throughout

my lesson that supported the needs of diverse learners within the classroom. Within the

whole lesson, the following teaching strategies were used:

- Setting goals: allowing students to understand the success criteria and committing to

the learning.
 - Structuring the lesson: clear steps and transitions between the two in order to scaffold

learning to build students’ knowledge and skills.

- Explicit teaching: providing instruction, demonstrating concepts and building students

knowledge and skills by show students what to do and how to do it. Students then

have the opportunity to demonstrate their own understanding whilst applying their

learning.

- Collaborative learning: students worked as a collaborative class group on meaningful

tasks that supported the achievement of the learning goals.

- Questioning: used as a tool to engage and challenge students as well as a means of

checking for understanding.

- Feedback: as a tool for gathering information about the students understanding to

assist students progress and teachers’ practice. (State of Victoria, 2020).

These teaching strategies and the content used within the lesson supported the suitability

and engagement for the students at a Year 3 level.

The feedback received regarding the resource supported my ability to provide a clear and

concise learning resource for students and parents. The delivery of the video resource

provided a clear explanation of the concept of fact and opinion, using activities for students to

practice their knowledge and check their success. I have taken on board the constructive

feedback and agree with what my peers have stated. The suggestions taken on include

determining how necessary the extra embedded video link is to the learning and reminding

students the video could be paused to complete the activities and check how they went.

Feedback sought regarding the professional development (PD) session included aspects of

the delivery and design, the appropriateness of the content in explaining the features of the

presentation, the required aspects of the PD and the alignment between part 1 and part 2 of

the assessment. My peer reviewers stated the effectiveness of the PD in assisting teachers and
pre-service teachers to support students in writing informative texts. The PD covered all

required aspects of the task and made clear links between the Australian Curriculum and the

content of work. One suggestion was that the PowerPoint slides contained a lot of writing and

this has been taken on board and is statement I agree with. Knowing that I have provided

notes for reference under the PowerPoint slides I could have limited the text used on the

slides themselves. Overuse of text on the slides may lead to a distraction away from the audio

if viewers choose to read and not listen.

Overall, I was happy with the peer feedback provided on all aspects of my assessment and

have taken on board all ‘warm and cool’ comments.

References

Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: teaching second language

learners in the mainstream classroom. Heinemann.

NSW Government. (n.d.). Peer and self-assessment for students. Retrieved from

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/teacher-quality-

and-accreditation/strong-start-great-teachers/refining-practice/peer-and-self-assessment-for-

students

State of Victoria. (2020). High impact teaching strategies: excellence in teaching and

learning. Retrieved from

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/support/high-impact-teaching-

strategies.pdf