Improving Own Practice (Dtlls)

This is an article wrote by Mark Edmundson, a professor at the University of Virginia. In this article, Edmundson starts out with how he dislikes that people say something to the effect of teachers learn from their students. He goes on to say how he does learn more about how to teach based on the feedback he gets from his students.

I was able to gain knowledge on my weaknesses as well as ways to improve my coaching ability. The feedback received was similar in relation to my strengths, weaknesses, minor and major areas of contribution. Alex, Tyler both stated that my strength was my ability to ensure the students were doing as told. They stated that it was evident the students respected me and listened to the instructions I had given. Other strengths that were apparent during this coaching experience was my ability to work well with Tyler when it came to planning lessons and communicating with each other during lessons. The feedback received from Drago and Tyler was that my major weakness was my explaining of drills. They discussed the fact that my explanations confused the students as I gave to much information. During explanations I would over complicate the drill or skill by not addressing the keys cues. Tyler said that due to the fact that the students were cognitive learners the explanations had to be short and simple and only address the key cues. This would result in students remaining focused and gaining a deeper understanding. The agree with the feedback received in relation to my strengths and weakness as I identified my explanations of drills confused the students and need further clarification thus taking time away from the actual

In 2015 I underwent my first practical placement at Bombala High School teaching in English and Drama 7-11; throughout this practical experience I developed all skills in teaching and confidence in front of the classroom. My second practical experience in 2016 at Cootamundra High School I aimed to refine my skills in these curriculum areas and as a teacher in general. Cootamundra is a mixed ability and mixed cultural and economic background high school located in the Riverina. Throughout my experience I sought feedback from a range of teachers and from the students that I taught. Valuing student feedback as well as feedback from fellow teachers was a lesson learnt from one of my fellow staff members at Bombala High School.

There are certain skills needed to make leading learning tasks successful. When implementing these skills, the teacher must grade himself using a 5- point scale these five points are 1. Yes, I do this all the time, 2. I need to pay attention to this, 3. I need to ask for feedback on this, 4. I’m not sure what this means, 5. Help! (Vella 69-70). The use of scale will the teacher his strengths as well as weaknesses that are in the learning tasks he is leading.

I learned about the different learning styles from Kolb. There is the Converger, Diverger, Assimilator, and Accommodator. Convergers learn by thinking and doing. They learn by taking their ideas and put it into practice. Divergers learn by feeling and watching. They will take experiences and think deeply about them and start with the “why”. Assimilators learn by thinking and watching, and will use the cognitive approach rather than thinking. Accommodators learn by feeling and doing, accommodators take the cognitive approach versus simply thinking.

Our school focused on improving the quality of instruction and the rigor of the core courses. In this respect, the number of formal and walk-in evaluations is increased as a part of our improvement plan. In first place, evaluations provide documentations of teacher performances but more important than that, they result as helping teachers to improve their performances. Teachers submit pre-evaluation forms at least 24 hours prior to observations, and they submit post observation forms within 24 hours after the observations. Admin and the teacher have post meeting before submitting the evaluation form online. During these meetings, teachers get feedback on level of instruction, depth of knowledge, engagement level, checking for understanding, and providing constructive feedback. Post and pre- evaluation forms help teachers to reflect on their instructional

On Thursday 24th Aprill, 2014, I met Ms. Shamsa, who teaches grade five students, to discuss a specific concerns she would like feedback on. She provided me with a lesson plan of the observed lesson. The lesson was about 'Occupations'. So, Ms Shamsa and I decided to choose 'classroom management' as a main focus of my instrument. This is because it is a major source of stress for Mrs. Shamsa. She asked me to observe her class in order to evaluate her classroom management ,and then work together to improve this skill through a plan. Mrs. Shamsa strongly believes that teacher evaluation has a great role to improve personal growth and the school ,too. According to Stronge (1995) that teacher evaluation can be considered as a vehicle to facilitate and assess success for both the teacher and the school and performance improvement (ref).

The team should include specific elements in the plan that will address the complex nature of teacher evaluations in an objective manner, yet be able to dig deeper into the process so that real teaching can be measured. Multiple observations, self evaluations, multiple data sources, and pre and post conferences should be included in the plan. Multiple observations and self evaluations will give a broader view of the teacher's performance. We need to include these items in the plan to avoid a narrow snapshot view of teaching so that an accurate evaluation can be obtained. A pre conference gives the administrator the opportunity to establish a positive relationship with the teacher. This is the time to put the teacher at ease and allow the teacher to explain any activities the principal will observe during the evaluation process. The best approach to being able to rate an activity that is generally seen as subjective is to use a rubric. The evaluator should make the teacher aware of the rubric that will be used for the rating the evaluation during this conference. The rubric should have multiple levels

"Practice makes perfect." People say this phrase in daily conversations, and they mean that if you repeat an activity or skill many times, you will learn it perfectly. Ambrose et al (2010) defined learning as “a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increase the potential for improved performance and future learning” (p. 3). People believe learning cannot be achieved without practice. Practice is defined “as any activity in which students engage their knowledge or skills (for example, creating an argument, solving a problem, or writing a paper)” (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 125). Nowadays practice takes place in the daily lives of people, and they use it to learn about innovations. Practice is an effective method to enhance learning through repetitive experiences. In addition, practice would be ineffective if the instructors did not (1) offer feedback that relates in students’ performance of the standards, (2) make sure that the feedback is at the right time, frequent, and encouraging, and (3) provide chances for students to join that comment into further exercise or practice (NRC, 2001; Wiggins, 1998). Instructor feedback is essential for students, and it may come through feedback via quizzes, papers, exams, classroom activities, and assessments. This paper will talk about principle number twelve of teaching and learning, and the principle is “students learn what they practice”

In connection to this module, I have realised the importance of being a reflective teacher who is sensitive as well as a thoughtful decision-maker. Moreover, I have learnt that it is a teacher’s role to facilitate the learning process for the learners and to be able to do so, any prospective teacher must work within a framework of long-term aims. Last but not least, being a good teacher also means having a sound knowledge about learning along with human development.

But hard work alone cannot replace constructive criticism and valuable feedback. I often wonder how effective my teaching might be. What if I had been receiving crucial feedback all this time? What if, instead of “guarded, inauthentic communication” with my principal, I had been given opportunities for “candid give-and-take based on authentic classroom observation” (Marshall, 2013, Location No. 338)? I have seldom been redirected, coached, or empowered. I am a good teacher, but how great could I be with adequate support? Most of the changes I have made to my classroom instruction have come from my personal assessment of teaching and learning.

The feedback that students receive has a very powerful impact on their learning and achievement. Learning is an iterative process that involves success and failure. Learning to work through the failures that come to find a better result is a crucial part of the learning process. As students

The assessment of ELLs also poses a challenge for many ELL educators. Gándara, Maxwell-Jolly, and Driscoll state that the lack of appropriate assessment materials for determining the academic subjects and material needed to support EL students was particularly problematic for many teachers. Many teachers claimed that most assessments are used to assess the understanding of the English language rather than the academic skills of the EL students and they found little of help from these assessments to assist them in teaching (Gándara, et al 9). Khong, Saito, Gándara al etc also agree that the standardized achievement tests tend to assess the student’s language proficiency rather than the content area knowledge.

A student might love working with electronics, but the reality is the student may not be good enough to follow that career path. Parents today use grading as a means to gage and access the child’s progress. Laura Owen wrote an article for teachingmonster.com that wrote, “According to leaders in the field, the true purpose of assessment is to evaluate a student’s level of understanding, and should be used to provide appropriate feedback and guidance in planning future instruction” (Owen 1). Good or bad, needed or not needed, grades play a role. Robert Marzano

In order to teach well, there must be an observance of the student, and how that student may best learn. The commonsense within the points, which make up the components of the “professional judgement circle (Department of Education, (DoEWA) 2013. p. 2.)” describe well the necessary stages for the development of student learning, as opposed to teacher teaching and a