My only regret about my second placement was that it didn't last longer. I would have loved to stay for the full term to experience more summative assessment marking and report writing.

​

Nevertheless, I learned most about teaching from this placement, having excellent role models in my mentor teachers and receiving plenty of constructive feedback. 

​

Going into this placement I was intent upon having a relationships focus and building rapport with students through plenty of positive reinforcement and interactive tasks. I learned that students want trusting relationships but they also want firm boundaries. Constructive feedback from students about my teaching practice crystallised around controlling the disruptive students--"you need to be stricter!", they said. Duly noted. 

​

This was a purely English placement: I taught 7s, 9s, 10s, and 11s (SACE Stage 1, Pre Lit), and was given plenty of freedom with content and pedagogy, such that I felt a sense of ownership over what I was doing in the classroom. 

 

With the Yr. 7s I made NAPLAN prep fun and interactive, trialed an original and highly differentiated unit on Emoji and Language, which was successful, and ran a short unit on Public Speaking. 

 

The Yr. 9 class were due to do a novel study, so during my observation days I had students choose which book they wanted to read based on the blurbs of three novels. Being drawn to post-apocalyptic themes, the students chose Children of the Dust, which many found enthralling and conceptually challenging. The science fiction elements and moral dilemmas in the book allowed me to integrate Science, Philosophy (a subject offered by the school) and Numeracy learning within a language-convention-rich unit. 

​

The Yr. 10s were originally due to study WW1 poetry, but unforeseen circumstances saw us having to change tack midway through my placement. I collaborated with my mentor to construct an ad hoc unit on Protest Poetry, which explored a wide range of poetic forms, song lyrics and sub-cultures. For their summative assessment students were able to choose their own protest poem/s to research and analyse.

​

Finally, SACE Stage 1 English Literature students were set to do a comparative film/book study. My mentor wanted to pair a film with The Great Gatsby, and my suggestion of the film American Beauty made for an intellectually challenging and fruitful pairing. My unit was rich in discussion and debate, formative tasks, and one-on-one conferencing with students, leading to the production of highly accomplished comparative essays. 

​

Scroll through my report below to see feedback from my mentors and liaison. 

​

​