Week 2 Quick Reflection

During the second week of professional experience I have struggled with one class in particular, to gain control of the lessons. This week I also had to battle with extra noise during both of my lessons with this class, and I now understand the importance of developing non verbal communication skills. I also recognised during one of my lessons this week that without good behaviour management strategies, you not only lose the students doing the wrong thing but you will end up losing the students who do the right thing. I think this is because the ‘good’ students get sick of having to wait for the ‘bad’ students to stop, listen and simply obey the rules so that they can move on to the next activity.

week 1 critical reflection

Whilst critically reflecting on my first week of professional experience it is evident that the teachers surrounding me have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Through observing and talking to teachers at Sunshine High School it has become apparent that the hidden curriculum is operating in the school and may be just as important as the official curriculum, especially in the younger years. This is because the teacher needs to be respected before the students will listen and comply with classroom rules, which is needed to allow a positive learning environment to be established and content learning to occur. Thus, during debriefs with my cooperating teacher we have come up with a number of strategies I will be using and expectations I will be setting for one class in particular, at the beginning of the lesson next week. The lessons I have taught this class so far have been on tennis and have ran quiet smoothly as the class had already learnt the skills of hitting forehands, backhands and serving and wanted to listen so they could get into the singles tournament quickly. I am starting touch football with this class this week and feel I need to set my expectations for the students at the beginning of the lesson, as we will be on the fields and in a less structured environment.

I think I have used some aspects of the NSW Quality Teaching framework during my lessons this week. For example: Year 8 European Handball, lesson 3. I integrated higher-order thinking into this practical lesson by using a physical conundrum as a part of the warm-up. The idea was to warm up the students minds by using a problem solving activity that incorporated team work and tactical thinking, which is also used in a game of European Handball. The students enjoyed the activity but if I were to do it again I would split the class into three or four groups rather than two, so that more students would have an input into the solving of the problem, thus, increasing inclusivity.