Organisational skills and planning
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| 3 Week Overview |
Organisational skills are a key aspect of the teaching
profession. Organisational skills are used for planning, be
it year level, term, weekly or daily planning. Having a high standard of
organisational skills is also required to prepare lessons, gather/create
resources and deliver lessons effectively.
Reporting on student progress,
holding parent teacher interviews and ensuring that learning aligns with the
National Curriculum also comes into play. There are also many deadlines that need to be met within the teaching
profession, including planning and report cards. The need to be
organised to ensure that these deadlines can be met is an incredibly important
aspect of teaching.
I would consider my organisational skills to be of a very high
standard. I always strive to be organised both in my life and within
university and school placements. I take care when developing lessons for
students and being organised allows for a smooth running classroom. During my
Embedded Professional Learning practices, I have developed many learning
experiences where my organisational skills have been apparent.
These skills were evident when
•
Researching
topics for explicit teaching purposes
•
Marking
student’s homework and classroom activity work
•
Constructing
Group, Individual and whole class activities and lessons
•
Planning
for and conducting a science unit
•
Adapting
resources to cater for different ability levels
According to the Professional Standards for Queensland Teachers, within Standard One; organisation skills can be seen when teachers: plan, implement and review learning experiences that incorporate a variety of flexible individual and group learning, teaching, assessment and behaviour management strategies. These skills are evident within my lesson planning as can be seen in my current unit of work on Adaptations.
I am confident that my ability to design and
implement learning experiences is of a high standard. During my internship my
mentor teacher stated that “Your planning is always of a high standard and your
lesson plans well thought out.” (Personal Communications Cahill)
Subject content knowledge and skills
To teach
all students according to today’s standards, teachers need to understand
subject matter deeply and flexibly so they can help students create useful
cognitive maps, relate one idea to another, and address misconceptions.
Teachers need to see how ideas connect across fields and to everyday life. This
kind of understanding provides a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge
that enables teachers to make ideas accessible to others (Shulman, 1987).
I
wholeheartedly agree with the excerpt above. In order to help students to
connect to the material and content taught, the teacher must first understand
the concepts themselves. For example if the teacher provides the students with an analogy
that transforms the idea into an example the students can understand, (making
it real world) the students have a much greater chance of making a connection
to the work.
I believe
that I have a good subject content knowledge and skills relevant for a primary school
teacher. Often during my current Practicum, I have been asked to teach students
concepts on the spot or take a small group and explain the subject matter to them. If I
did not already have a good knowledge base these tasks would be difficult. I also feel that I am capable of using the content knowledge and developing effective, well thought out lessons.
You included a good range of hands on activities (especially
important for this group of chn). The
chn were able to move through the activities in the lesson effectively so they
were encouraged to stay on task and had fun whilst learning. They enjoyed doing the interactive activities
and appeared to understand the concept.
well done. (Cahill, Practicum Observation 30th April 2012).
Building Rapport with Learners
Building great rapports with students is perhaps one of the
most significant skills that I have obtained throughout my time as a
CQUniversity student. I have been able to create and also maintain positive and
professional relationships with all the students both in my class and outside of my classroom.
To successfully establish professional relationships with my
students I discovered the student’s strengths, weaknesses and interests through
student profiling, spoke to their previous teachers and attended the parent
teacher nights where I spoke with many of their parents.
As part of the Professional Standards for Queensland
Teachers, Standard 6 identifies the importance of : ‘strategies for identifying students learning styles,
interests, prior learning and life experiences’ graduates are expected to
establish professional relationships with students within the teaching and
learning environment.
According the Department of Education, Training and
Employment (2009), having patience and a good sense of humour; being fair
minded and exuding enthusiasm are traits that will enhance relationships with
students. I feel that I possess these traits and utilise them within a
classroom setting.
During my time at CQUniversity, one of my courses, Building
Learning Partnerships has provided me with information
on catering for students learning needs and the importance of social and
emotional learning. I have carried the information gathered during these courses into my practicum to allow for a better understanding of interactions and relationships. I believe that I have a very good rapport with the students and that they in turn respect me. The comments that I have received throughout my practicum also reaffirm that I form
positive and professional relationships with students.
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