Week+8



Brent Plowright 24/06/2009

Our final week of the semester was centred around being a successful graduate teacher and what exactly is expected of us from both the perspective of the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) as well as from schools. However, I think what was also brought up and something that we need to concentrate on to have a successful first year as a graduate teacher is what we should be able to expect from those same organisations. Although most of the people that I personally have spoken to about their teaching rounds had a largely positive experience, there were some issues that came up that could easily translate over to the first year of our careers as teachers.

A great cartoon was displayed in the lecture representing a teacher having to cope with the various issues and stakeholders that come along with being a teacher and how you are never really trained for dealing with those things. “YOU ARE NOT ALONE” was the title. This illustrated that there is a significant support network available to graduate teachers at both an institutional level through VIT as well as at the school. However it was a shame to hear some of the negative experiences relating to this lack of support that some students seemed to face. Some students clashed with their mentors on various levels, some of which were:


 * Personality clashes
 * Differing pedagogy for running and teaching in the classroom, and not being allowed to to structure lessons around the student's pedagogy
 * Lack of support when seeking out resources
 * Negative peer relations in the staff-room or a negative atmosphere in general
 * Differing expectations (seemingly the students often had higher expectations than the teachers)
 * Lack of respect towards student teachers

Some of these things are inevitably going to come up whether in a teaching career or any other career such as personality clashes and perhaps a lack of respect towards the 'greener' colleague, however others seemed quite unfortunate and unnecessary. I would say most teachers are going to differ on their pedagogical stances to varying degrees, this is to be expected, but the reason we have student rounds in the first place is to establish our own pedagogy, test it and refine it. I feel sorry for those students who were, for lack of a better word, forced to maintain a strict pedagogy based off their mentor's. I certainly changed from an idealistic view of teaching to a more realistic classroom approach as my rounds progressed. I think you need to balance your classroom with fun educational activities and games, but there is certainly need 'old school' (no pun intended) activities as well. For instance you might spend a 3 days of the week exposing the students to area in maths by playing games and scheduling outdoor activities, but I believe at some point after that you are going to have to put a worksheet in front of the students to see how those games and activities have enabled their understanding of area from a mathematical standpoint.

I personally the lack of support for student teachers when sourcing resources is inexcusable by mentors. I certainly think that student teachers should certainly find and get to know the school's resources themselves, but whether a student teacher or graduate teacher you should be able to approach more experienced teachers to at the very least point you in the right direction. As my mentor said to me, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Ask questions about available resources and then use those resources to fit into your teaching style and ideology. Especially for student teachers who haven't had the time before a school year begins to access the school and sort through the resources it should not be expected that they know all there is to know about what kinds of things are available to them to teach with.

Finally, if the atmosphere in the staff-room and between colleagues in general feels tense, unfriendly and uninviting I would be seriously asking the question of whether or not I want to be here. I was very lucky as the social aspect at my primary school was brilliant, and although the inevitable personality clashes are certainly present, they are not an overbearing feature of colleagues' relationships. In the morning staff meetings the principal would often have a few jokes to lighten the mood in the morning and relax everybody. I think the relationships between staff members can be a direct reflection on the leadership group as it is up to these people to set the tone and atmosphere of the school community as a whole.

This may have seemed slightly off topic but I think still very relevant, especially considering the discussion that took place as some people reflected on their practical experience.

Amy 24/06/09

Great reflection Brent! I do think that what you have said is relevant as this weeks lecture was all about "How to survive accountability in your first year of teaching". Through the discussions that we have all had with other students and the negative experiences some of them have had, I think it makes us realise that these 'mentors' have not been accountable for their actions and could do with a refresher course in professional standards! I guess the only positive that could be gained from these experiences is that they have shown us the kind of teacher we do not want to become!

This weeks lecture really re-iterated a lot of the learning we have done in previous lessons. Diane spoke about being accountable for our actions and ways in which we can ensure we do this. She also spoke about the different assessment and reporting processes that we will be faced with and teaching methods from which we can learn eg POLT. The 4 characteristics of effective teachers that she identified, I feel, again really encompassed together a lot of the ideas previously explored. I have listed these below and how I think all the previous issues lectures fit into it:


 * E**mpathy - intellectual identification (who are our students)
 * E**nergy - vigour, force, activity, passion (what sort of teacher do we want to be)
 * E**fficacy - power to produce desired effect (classroom management)
 * E**vidence-based - interpret, analyse and reflect upon data (models of teaching and learning)

After walking out of this weeks lecture I found myself quite excited as Diane spoke about some of the processes that we go through after we have finished the course. Although we have been at Uni for a while now and out on placement, it made everything more 'real' for me.

Bec 24/06/09

Great reflection guys you havent left me heaps to say. Following the lecture discussion i agree that there is huge support for graduate teachers once they begin their journey. Dianne in the lecture touched on the E5 model which i was very familiar with. I learnt about this while at placement, the staff did a pd on this as it is the new model the teachers need to start to follow while teaching. At the Pd we learnt that the E5 Instructional model should not be seen as something new. It is simply a structure for describing and articulating what good teachers already do. This is the jigsaw puzzles we were given about how all the facets and administration of teaching come together to make effecting teaching.

Jake 25/06/09

Great work people, this lecture has once again been comprehensively covered and I feel this whole wiki will provide great support for us all when we are in the role next year! I thought Diane was fantastic and it gave me great insight to hear from an AP who has dealt with graduate teachers before and ensures that they have the adequate support around them. Brent, I thought what you added at the start of the discussion has been very relevant, we will be extremely "green" going into teaching after only one year of study and most of us are going to experience some hard truths but, it is about making use of the extensive support network that is available and not losing sight of it! Amy I sat next to you during this lecture and noticed we were both noting the 4 E's down in our notebooks and nodding in agreement thinking that it was a great point made in the presentation by Diane. I felt that during my placement that I had touched on a few of these areas but now that they have been brought to my attention I feel that I can again use the information to develop a successful style of teaching. I feel that I we have good energy and remain well organised as future educators, then we will be well equipped to be accountable and tackle the stressful situations ahead with great confidence and vigour.

ONLINE RESOURCES
[|Principles of Learning and Teaching (POLT)] [|Victorian Institute of Teaching] [|Professional learning Approaches] [|VIT Approved PreService Courses] [|Induction in Effective Schools]

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Names: Brent Plowright Rebecca Beed Amy Mclean Jake Gordon