Performance+and+Development+Culture

__**WEEK 8 - PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT CULTURE or HOW TO SURVIVE ACCOUNTABILITY IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING**__  This week the lecture was presented by Dianne Powell, an experienced primary teacher who is now an Assistant Principal. The lecture had a focus on our first year out as teachers and the responsibilities, expectations and tasks associated with this.

Dianne discussed the importance of keeping a portfolio both now as a pre-service teacher and next year in our first year as a graduate teacher. I found this valuable advice as I was unaware we would be required to keep a portfolio next year. In the graduate portfolio we are required to collect 3 childrens work samples and follow their progress throughout the year. I found this interesting as Dianne was saying the schools often don't prompt or remind graduate teachers to continue adding to their portfolio. I guess we will just have to be on top of it right from the start! The lecture also stressed the importance of documentation throughout our teaching careers. On my teaching rounds my teacher kept a kind of log book where he would write down the days activities and which students were involved in what to act as his daily documentation. I thought this was a simple way of keeping track of the activities and progress made by the children.

In the lecture we also discussed having a mentor or teaching buddy in our first few years out. I liked that Dianne noted sometimes you may not always get along famously with your mentor teacher but it is always worth finding someone on the staff who you are able talk to. I think having a mentor who you can discuss challenges and obstacles with will be a great resource in our first few years out. As Dianne mentioned two major factors to master in our first years are going to be classroom management and mastering the pace of our lessons that we deliver. I think these things will come with time and trial and error! I think as a teacher there is no one fit for every classroom so we will just have to figure out what works for us in our classroom!

Dianne presented us with her 4 principles of effective teaching which were as follows. Empathy- Intellectual identity of ourelves and others. Energy- Vigour/Force/Activity/Passion Efficacy- Power to produce desired outcomes. Evidence Based- Interpreting, analysing and reflecting upon data. I think that these for key points present us with quite a holistic model of teachers. I think these four factors are all interrelated and if we can keep them in mind and strive to incorporate them into our teaching then surely we can't go to wrong?!?!

We were presented with a list of what children (9-10 year olds) see as an ideal teacher, their responses were as follows: - Someone who listens to what I have to say. - Someone who bothers to get to know me. - Someone who doesn't yell at me. - Someone who can laugh with us. - Someone who praises my efforts. - Someone who is fair. The list continued but I think the importance of getting to know your students, (as was stressed in an earlier lecture) is really highlighted by the children responses. I think that displaying a genuine interest in thec children will help develop rich relationships with the children, hopefully leading to a beneficial learning experience.

The Tutorial this week was spent completing evaluation forms and having discussion with our peers about teaching rounds. For the most part it sounded like everyone enjoyed their rounds and found them a valuable experience. I certainly found I was more tired then I expected when I was on teaching rounds! But hey at least we are only ever going to be about 10 weeks away from 2 weeks off!!! haha //genevieve hoban//

__ Response: Penelope Harris __ Genevieve has highlighted some really important points from today's lecture that I too didn't know. Dianne gave us a great insight into what is really expected of us as graduate teachers. It was, although a bit scary, good to know what we need to do both now and next year when teaching.

Dianne spoke of four factors that we need to be accountable of; the professional statndard for graduates including the annual performance and development review, how to obtain full VIT registration, following staff code of conducts and duty of care and our assessment and reporting requirements.

Schools are already advertising for teachers for next year, now having some of Dianne's knowledge, I feel we can more successfully apply for teaching positions. We are more aware of what to expect and what to have ready to show prospective employers.

With professional standards I need to consider how students learn, how I will get to know the students, how I will have a safe and challenging learning environment using a diverse range of activities and resources, and how I will evaluate myself. Without self evaluation how will I improve.

Following a code of conduct I need to thing how I will act professionally, how I will communicate, how I will cope with students with special needs and how to utilise the skills of auxiliary staff. With a duty of care I will consider keeping students in my line of sight and having students in pairs when outside the staffroom. Knowing these things will help convey my ability to keep students safe whilst in my care.

During Dianne's lecture it became a bit overwhelming the responsiblities on a teacher. Fortunatelty Dianne also advised that we are not alone. Pheww!!! The support graduate teachers receive in their first few years will be vital in ensuring we develope into great teachers.

Now armed with a little knowledge I will continue to develope these skills and hopefully become the ideal teacher that students hope to have! Penelope Harris 25 June 2009

__Response: Kellie Fenton__

I also thought some of the information that Diane gave us in this lecture was very helpful and informative. It was great to have more practical advice for a change rather than all this theory that usually gets thrust our way. I was great to here her advice coming from someone who is currently working in a school as an AP.

I found it very interesting to find out about the work that is required of us as graduating teachers next year and was glad to get some of the advice as it was something I was not yet aware of! I am a collector of things anyway so I don’t think it will be too big of a task… but am glad that we are aware of this now!!! Being reminded of things to do with the VIT registrations and code of conduct was a bit of an eye opener and kind of made this journey just a little more real for me at this point…arggghh

I like her 4 E model because I think it put some qualities of the teacher in a simple and concise way. I also like hearing the responses from the children about what makes a good teacher for them. If we could be all the things they wanted we will be wonder teachers I am sure!!!!

The tutorial was a place for us to reflect on our teaching rounds and fill in the evaluations of the semester thus far. For me, teaching rounds were FANTASTIC! I had an extremely supportive and helpful mentor who was a fabulous teacher herself. I had such valuable experiences at my school and think myself lucky to have got such a great school. I got teach more than i expected and tackled some topic that i was not very confident about! The kids were amazing and the teaching staff very supportive. I thought I wanted to teach about 1 or 2 but after my rounds grade 3 & 4 here I come!

Well see you later semester 1… only 1 to go and we’re qualified, yeeeee haaa! Kellie Fenton

__Response: Orla Mackintosh__

I really enjoyed listening to Diane Powell this week and discovering what will be expected of us as first year teachers from an assistant principal point of view. I'm glad that she mentioned things like VIT standards and POLT so that we have something to base our portfolios on.

I also found it a bit relieving the fact that Diane mentioned that you may not always get along with your mentor and the importance of finding a member of staff to talk to. This was quite important to me as I have found with past experience that a new work environment can be a bit daunting.

I will definately refer back to Dianes principals of effective teaching as these are a good bases and should be kept in mind.

The most important aspect of this lecture for me was the list of what children see as an ideal teacher (listed by Genevieve above). I found these to be quite moving and will aim as much as possible to base myself as a teacher on these statements.

The tutorial was spent discussing teaching rounds. It was good fun hearing everyone elses experiences and swapping stories!