Standard 10 Professional Development Activities

 

Practice:
Teachers apply professional knowledge and understanding of learners, the curriculum and teaching and learning to:

  • Engage in personal and collegial professional development to improve teaching practice and effectively manage other aspects of the role of a teacher.

Knowledge:


Teachers know and understand:
  • the changing role of the teacher in contemporary society

  • learning communities, professional networks and organisations with the capacity to support learning and development activities

 

  • In what ways has reflection improved your teaching practice?

After each lesson I have reflected on what worked, what didn’t work and what I can do to improve my lessons. This process allowed me to continually access my teaching methods and work to improve them.

A few things I have learned so far through reflection of my teaching practices:

  • Preparation is the key to a good lesson. My best lessons were those that I had a very good understanding of what I wanted the students to achieve. The lessons where I failed to prepare thoroughly I often ended up focusing on behaviour management because the students were bored with the material.
  • Often the key to a good lesson is making sure all students are quiet and engaged before I start to teach
  • It is important to put the outline and objectives for the lesson on the board so that students understand what they are learning that lesson
  • Revision of the previous lesson focuses student’s and gives them a chance to demonstrate their knowledge of the topic. This helps to build their confidence within the classroom and engages them immediately on the content
  • I must be consistent with behaviour management strategies at all times. When I let students get away with inappropriate behaviour I had to work twice as hard to regain their respect and re-establish what was required within my classroom.
  • Closing the lesson with questioning re-enforced what the objectives were of the students and gave me and understanding of their knowledge of the topic. This was important as it dictated how quickly we moved through the course objectives.

 

  • What professional development opportunities did you take advantage of and how did they improve your teaching practice?

I attended a three day workshop through Griffith University. This gave me an opportunity to listen to speakers on a range of tasks relating to teaching. I will look to apply some of the strategies they suggested during my prac at Merrimac High School. I am especially interested in incorporating more ICT within my lessons to improve the engagement of my students.