Differentiation, Assessment, and Collaboration

AITSL standard 1.5

During my Master of Teaching course, I was introduced to the theoretical underpinnings of differentiation. The AITSL standards identify differentiation as a key factor all graduate teachers must meet. During my placements, I have demonstrated that I possess the knowledge and understanding of a range of differentiation techniques to meet the specific needs of all of my student’s. I have this through environment, assessment, and instructional differentiation during my recent teaching experiences. As a primary school teaching aide, I work with a year one boy with hearing implants. Infant deafness has resulted in delayed emotional and social development. This student frequently has emotional outbursts that include screaming, crying, and wailing. This normally happens when he is overstimulated. To reduce outbursts, I make environmental changes to keep him calm. We work one-on-one in a quiet part of the classroom. With reduced noise and distractions, he focuses well and completes all content with enthusiasm. My third professional experience allowed me to engage with assessment differentiation. I worked in a high school arts department and taught students with a range of abilities. To accommodate for all learners, I created and implemented unit rubrics that marked student’s focus and use of time. This moved away from traditional assessment of artistic skill and allowed all students to be high achievers. During this professional experience, I also used instructional differentiation. Some students became frustrated when they forgot spoken instruction. To ensure students had structure and direction, I incorporated written and visual instruction. I wrote step-by-step instructions for each lesson and put photos next to these instructions when possible. This resulted in students being self-motivated and reduced the need for behaviour management. These forms of differentiation have allowed me to effectively engage all students with content and the learning environment.

AITSL Standard 5.1

I have demonstrated proficiency in summative assessment extensively during my recent professional experience. During my placement, I was leading art classes from grade 7 to 12 under the supervision of my colleague teacher. Part of my duties during this placement was to plan lessons, units, and extension tasks. I explored summative assessment by creating rubrics that were simple enough to be understood by students and teachers. These rubrics addressed the Australian curriculum content descriptors ACAVAM118, ACAVAM119, and ACAVAM120 ACARA, 2017). They also marked students on how well they applied themselves to the unit or class activity. These rubrics helped students to understand what was expected of them, and allowed me to mark them on their skill, and use their work as evidence for the effective use of time and effort. My approach to assessment has changed dramatically over the last year of my degree. During a previous unit, I created a unit plan and corresponding rubric to assess student’s skill development. This rubric aligned with the relevant visual art content descriptors but my approach to formative assessment did not allow for differentiation of any form. Therefore, students with differing levels of development were not accommodated for. Comparing my assessment skills from the first year of my postgraduate degree to my current skills shows how dramatically professional practice can change with experience. My growing assessment skills reflect on my consideration of diverse learners and how I effectively adapt my teaching practice to benefit my students.

AITSL Standard 6.3

Throughout my teaching experiences, I have experienced beneficial collaboration with qualified teachers which has helped to develop my professional practice. Through my recent professional experience, I engaged with my colleague teacher in numerous ways. I had previously worked in collaboration with this teacher and we had developed trust and were comfortable with each other. This meant that I trusted her observations and knew that they were honest, constructive, and relevant to modern teaching practices. The professional experience context allows for a unique partnership in which I could benefit from having an experienced teacher observe my practice and help me to reflect on what aspects I need to improve on. During my classes, my colleague would take notes on possible improvements I could make with instruction, teaching techniques, behaviour management, and classroom organisation. I also collaborated with senior staff during this placement to effectively apply school behaviour management strategies. The school was regularly dealing with behaviour issues. These were a mixture of verbal abuse toward teachers, physical abuse toward student’s peers, or general refusal to comply with the expectations of a school setting. To address these issues effectively, the school had a tiered action plan that allowed teachers to assess what actions they should take depending on the behaviours that were exhibited by a student. I had the opportunity to meet with senior staff to discuss their approach to behaviour management and how this was supported by the current behavioural literature. These collaborations with colleagues allowed me to reflect on my practice and work toward improving it to ensure quality educational experiences for my students. It is important to create trusting relationships where this growth in teaching practice can be cultivated.