My Teaching Statement

                            I am currently completing a Master of Teaching postgraduate degree at the University of Tasmania, with specialisations in visual and multimedia art. I believe the three keys aspects of being an effective teacher are passion, quality differentiation, and effective pedagogical practices that are relevant to an arts classroom context. These aspects are the foundations of my teaching philosophy and inform my professional practice.
                            My passion for visual art stems from my experiences throughout high school and college. Two college art teachers had a profound effect on my learning experiences and my future, through effective differentiation that adapted the learning experience to better fit my learning needs. Not only was this the start of my engagement and enjoyment of learning, it was also where I learnt how it felt to have passion for art and knowledge. This has supported my journey to becoming a teacher, by inspiring me to help students find their own passion for learning.
                            I had the opportunity of working in a variety of low-socioeconomic areas which has resulted in my strong ability to apply my knowledge of differentiation techniques to a classroom setting.  During my recent practicum, I taught a grade 10 student with a severely traumatic background that contributed to violent episodes and ongoing mental illness. This affected his ability to engage within the classroom. I started a unit where students created stencils, and spray painted it onto canvases they had created with recyclable materials. During this unit, I kept this student calm and engaged through my use of environment and instructional differentiation, and being patient and persistent (Thompson, 2010, p.89). By using differentiation, I saw evidence of student passion and self-motivation.

                            This student achieved high grades by addressing my simplified rubric. This rubric demonstrated assessment differentiation by marking students on the use of time, effort, and skills. By structuring the rubric like this, I gave students with varying levels of artistic ability, the opportunity to achieve high marks by applying themselves productively. This encouraged individual responsibility for achievement and removed the need for what Vygotsky refers to as scaffolding (Hoffnung, Hoffnung, Seifert, Burton-Smith, Hine, Ward… Swabey, 2013, p.47).
                            I am currently developing my teacher inquiry skills to better understand different techniques to engage students, specifically, the techniques I can use within the art classroom to address learning needs. An art classroom is a very active place which means effective pedagogy can look very different. This can be a daunting envirnoment for some students, especially when they do not feel safe or supported enough in this environment, to create and imagine. I am developing my teaching practice to better create a safe environment that fosters self-confidence and creativity to give students the best learning experience I can in my art classroom.
                            I believe passion, differentiation, and contextually relevant pedagogical practices should be the foundations of teaching for all art teachers. In utilising these aspects of professional practice, I will ensure that every student develops a passion for learning and receives a quality education.

AITSL standard 1.5: Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across a full range of abilities
During my Master of Teaching course, I was introduced to the theoretical underpinnings of differentiation. The Australian Institute for teaching and school leadership (AITSL) professional standards for teachers, identifies differentiation as a criteria all graduate teachers must meet (AITSL, 2017). During my placements, I have demonstrated the knowledge and understanding of a range of differentiation techniques to meet the specific needs of all of my students. I have become proficient in environment, assessment, and instructional differentiation through 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 which manifests as frequent 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. I have also engaged with assessment differentiation during professional experience. 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 the content and learning environment.

AITSL Standard 5.1: Assess student learning

I constantly demonstrate 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. I planned and created numerous lessons, units, and extension tasks. I explored summative assessment by creating rubrics that were simple enough to be understood by students and detailed enough to address the curriculum. These rubrics addressed the Australian curriculum through 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 their 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 skill levels or learning abilities, were not accommodated for. Comparing my assessment skills from the first year of my postgraduate degree to my current skills, shows how dramatically my professional practice has changed with experience. My growing assessment skills show my consideration of diverse learners and how I can effectively adapt my teaching practice to benefit my students.

AITSL Standard 6.3: Engage with colleagues and improve practice

Throughout my teaching experiences, I have experienced beneficial collaboration with qualified teachers that has impacted my professional development. 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 a trusting professional relationship. This meant that we were able to observe each other’s teaching and improve our practices through honest and constructive feedback that was relevant to modern teaching practices. The professional experience context allowed 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 needed to be further developed. 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 and discuss teacher inquiry. The school was located in a low- SES area and was regularly dealing with behavioural 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 theorists such as B. Rogers and his democratic discipline model that involves preventative measures (Rogers, 2011, p.119). 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.

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2016). The Australian
                Curriculum: Visual Arts (Version 8.3). Retrieved from:
                https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/visual-arts/

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2017). Australian
               professional standards for teachers: Graduate. Retrieved from:
               https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards

Hoffnung, M., Hoffnung, R. J., Seifert K. L., Burton Smith, R., Hine, A., Ward, L., Pause, C.,
              & Swabey, K. (2013). Lifespan development; A topical approach. Milton, QLD:
              John Wiley & Sons Australia.

Rogers, B. (2011). Classroom Behaviour: A practical guide to effective teaching, behaviour
               management and colleague support (3^rd ed.). Central London, UK: Sage Publications.  

Thompson, J. G. (2010) Displine survival guide for the secondary teacher (2^nd ed.). San Francisco,

              CA: Jossey-Bass.