Standard 1 Know students and how they learn
Standard 1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development of students and how these may affect learning.
The example to the left indicates the use of an activity to determine students knowledge of digital composition, their own learning goals and social collaboration skills.
The examples directly below indicate scaffolding for effective group work. This uses the whole-class to contribute their knowledge which builds trust and scaffolded peer support, while think pair share strategies were used to develop group collaboration, students had the option to work individually or in a group in group activities while their confidence and trust in one another developed.
The example to the right indicates the tracking of student progress in terms of intellectual understanding and development, to be later compared to content knowledge and understanding from previous classes.
1.1 Critical reflection
It was of crucial importance to understand the holistic development of all classes to determine appropriate content and teaching strategies. One such way I determined these was to collect appropriate data demonstrating various strengths and areas for improvement and attendance rates in other subjects for a direct comparison, I also designed different methods of data gathering such as quizziz activities and worksheets to meet these needs and gain a better understanding of my learners' capabilities.
For students with developing social capabilities, they were provided the option to work as a group or complete the activity individually and Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal development was used as a whole-class strtategy to develop trust in the responses of their peers.
Standard 1.2 Understand how students learn
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching
Many hook introduction activities were designed to use either a kinesthetic approach to learning and to cater for different strengths within groups particularly with years 7 and year 8 drama. The use of dramatic element card game caters for visually strong learners as well as those who are strong readers to match the image with the term and written definition. The task was scaffolded to not overwhelm the students with too much information at once.
The excerpt from a year 10 lesson plan shows a constructivist approach to learning, where the class uses their own knowledge of high- and poor-quality performances to construct their own rubric for their end of year performances.
This is from my first placement at St. Peters
1.2 Critical reflection
There are many examples of where research into how students learn has been demonstrated throughout my placement experiences.
Hook activities as stated by both Killen (2016) and Hattie (2023) were designed to enhance student engagement within the first 10 minutes of the lesson and maybe used for multiple reasons such as; testing prior knowledge or introducing a new topic in an interesting way. Typically used for the direct instruction teaching strategy, there were many varieties of hook activities used throughout my placement experiences for both music and drama to cater for different needs; Kinesthetic hook activities such as the excerpt indicates, was used to combine the supervising teacher’s previous activities with revision on Indigenous Aboriginal experiences and conflicts with western culture and the need for reconciliation. Whilst frequently used in drama lessons, kinesthetic hook activities activities were not limited to this subject, and were used frequently for music classes, particularly for years 7 and 8 when using body percussion to display knowledge of selected elements of music.
Also used in hook activities is Marzano’s (2017) use of non-linguistic representations and cooperative learning (also cited by Killen, 2016) as research demonstrates, the more students have the opportunity to enhance their visual and physical skills the more academic benefit is received. Additionally, by using cooperative learning in varying group sizes, this allowed me to ensure students discussed options, opinions and concerns in a safe environment. This was achieved using the elements of drama hook activity and many others within both the drama and music subject across various year levels.
Aside from incorporating the direct teaching strategy, lessons catering for constructivist learning were also used when appropriate, due to it’s focus on student-centred learning, collaboration and the assistance provided to learners with less experience. In the case of the year 10 music class undertaken during my first placement, the creation of a rubric included a collaborative and cooperative endeavor utilizing students’ own experiences and understandings of what constitutes a good/poor quality performance, either through practical knowledge or through music analytical activities. These activities were scaffolded to allow the class to gain a deeper understanding of performance quality through discussion in small groups and to create a form of measurement that is meaningful to them, in which they have created, fully comprehend and may strive towards.
Standard 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning needs and strengths of students
As the example above demonstrates, the use of google translate for a student with low English-speaking capabilities demonstrates adherence to AITSL standards as responsive to students' linguistic needs and was used effectively to remove any barriers to student learning. This student had extra time allocated for her to discuss and clarify explanations using google translate so she may participate fully with other members of the class.
(2nd placement at Oakleigh Grammar)
As the example above demonstrates, this is a sample of a template showing an acceptable written response assisting with music literacy in describing choices behind music terminology has been provided for students of a low-socio economic status. This was to show the class how to provide a well-written response to describe their own music compositional choices.
(1st placement at St. Peters)
1.3 Critical reflection
As the examples provided demonstrate, effective teaching strategies have been utilized in the provision of suitable means to remove barriers to student learning despite linguistic and socio-economic challenges.
The use of Google Translate was used to remove teacher-student communication impediments, primarily due to student familiarity and competency with the website but also due to research on the subject. Google Translate was proved an effective tool for linguistic translative purposes in consideration of this context of use has been proven an acceptable tool by Reber (2019) when in comparison with other methods of translation. Additionally, in a review of Google Translate for teachers it was stated an appropriate and easy to use tool for teacher when in communication with ESL students due to the cites persistence in accuracy attainment. While this method took some getting used to on my part, this proved to be the most successful strategy to converse with the student and one I would use again.
The provision of a template of an acceptable written response to assist students of low socio-economic status learning as provided in the example is supported by NSW Department of Education (2023) through collaboration and explicit teaching. Firstly, through my observations regarding effective means of assisting students of low socio-economic status, the frequent use of templates to assist students in literacy, particularly sentence construction was used as a whole school method. Upon collaboration and discussion with my mentor teachers, this was viewed to be the most effective method in literacy enhancement. Furthermore, the evidence shows that success is made clear through explicit teaching, especially as students are shown not only what a clear and well-conceived response looks like, but the steps towards achieving this are scaffolded appropriately in the task.
Standard 1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.
The example above is taken from an excerpt of a lesson plan for year 7 music from Balcombe Grammar, in which a story was shared regarding my own learning experiences regarding learning how to compose using BandLab and my own processes for improvement in alignment with students' own suggestions.
The excerpt from a lesson plan of 9 drama from St. Peters demonstration the Indigenous Aboriginal method deconstruct-reconstruct which teacher modelling was used to show high standards before individual learning strategies took place.
The example above is taken from the year 7 lesson at Balcombe Grammar where students used landlinks, nature and kinesthetic learning to compose their own music towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
1.4 Critical reflection
The 8-ways pedagogy was used regardless of whether there were any Indigenous students within the classroom as it was not only important that students learnt to respect the learning methods of Indigenous students, but these methods have the potential to assist students in their academic endeavors and engagement regardless of race or culture.
In many drama classrooms, students would be shown an example of quality performance standard particularly in the context of refining expressive skills using one of the Indigenous Aboriginal methods of learning- deconstruct-reconstruct or teacher modelling. This method was directly related to students gaining a visual understanding of what success looks like, enabling them to set their own performance goals then implement the strategies for success and was highly successful.
The story-telling strategy was an effective means of not only developing a positive relationship with the students, but it also enabled them to gain an understanding of their own autonomy, that they can be in charge of their own learning. Through asking students how they go about researching their own interests and connecting their ideas such as YouTube and google, this allowed me to connect to students interests and share my own story of how I learnt how to compose using these different sites. By sharing my own learning journey this allowed the students to see that they need not rely solely on the knowledge of educators for effective learning, but they may demonstrate more autonomy in this matter and it made the topic more personal and relatable.
The use of landmarks to engage students in learning undertaken within a year 7 and year 8 music class was remarkably successful. The class showed much engagement with exploring how various elements of nature such as rocks, sticks or twigs not only create sound, but different timbres, additionally, the instruction of using ones memory enhanced by active listening meant students were engaging with Indigenous Australian methods of composition and learning.
Standard 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific needs of students across the full range of abilities
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific needs of students across the full range of abilities
Balcombe Grammar: two examples from a year 7 summative assessment task and year 7 Indigenous Australian music composition lesson excerpt. The differentiated Summative assessment task allowed students to select their own emotion which to express digitally. The lesson plan excerpt shows differentiated environment and student choice regarding digital or physical composition with different challenge capabilities.
Oakleigh Grammar
Students were provided with the option of drawing their freeze frames in the space provided or writing a description of them in detail to assist both students who are strong drawers and writers. See example above
1.5 Critical reflection
Throughout my placement experiences, students were provided with as much choice in how to present information as possible. In some cases, this would refer to drawing or writing ideas which was evident in Oakleigh Grammar and Balcombe Grammar. In terms of St Peters, in terms of music classes, students were provided with the option to write in terms of graphic, traditional notation or a combination of both depending on the skill level of each student. Additionally, it was student choice as to the selection of symbols to notate music literacy, provided an explanation could be provided for explanation purposes.
Students were provided with the choice of how to demonstrate their understanding of skills such as the choice to compose music digitally using BandLab or to provide a practical demonstration, students were also provided with the option to either act their stories or narrate their stories in time with the music. I learnt it is important to provide students with appropriate engaging choices.
Group selection varied depending on the tasks and student comfort with peer assistance. In many cases, I chose to partner students of mixed-abilities together so they may assist and learn from one another in a positive way, however in some cases the students of lower-achieving abilities were not comfortable working with those of a higher capability, therefore, same group abilities were considered and scaffolding with group feedback was applied.
Standard 1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of legislative requirements and teaching strategies that support participation and learning of students with disability
As the example above demonstrates, during a year 7 Drama class within a performance section of a lesson. Students with various disabilities were catered for in not just the provision of less and more challenging feedback and analysis questions but the recognition of a student with Autism as having exemplary qualities to be a leader for her performance group.
2nd placement at Oakleigh Grammar
As the example above demonstrates, within the same class this time for a written task, both students were considered and were provided with effective modifications to allow them to participate in the activity. Vygotsky’s ZPD was used to assist this student stay on task and complete the work, while the student with Autism wrote minimal answers but responded verbally.
1.6 Critical reflection
As the examples within the previous slide demonstrate, I considered the inclusion and full participation of students with a disability seriously and applied considered thought as to how best meet their needs academic and social needs.
As mentioned in the Victorian Autism Education Strategy (Department of Education, n.d) these students are often disengaged and have a reduced chance of completing year 12 in comparison to other students. As such, it is important that students with Autism feel a sense of belonging, are engaged in their academic pursuits and have tailored programs to meet their needs (Department of Education, n.d). As this particular student displays many quality traits as befitting a leader such as; the ability to retain factual information, an intense interest in the subject and attention to detail as expressed by Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (n.d) in addition to adequate social skills. It was my preference to use this students' strengths to model and demonstrate clearly executed movements in the drama performance for less capable peers and highly descriptive insights within the following feedback activity to provide a detailed account of visual strengths and areas for improvement, thus, allowing the whole class to benefit via this student. It should be noted that due to the disability, a small handful of students did not take this students answers seriously and it became important to follow up with recognition of validity of students answers with teacher modelling of praising the accuracy of this students answers.
As the previous example demonstrates, Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal development was used to assist a student with disability to ensure the questions are answers and the student does not loose focus. As inattention was a particular obstacle regarding this student, I thought best to remove it by asking a higher-achieving student to engage in discussions and ensuring as many questions are answered as possible, allowing the student to participate in the same written reflection activity. This was successful in many ways, however I had to become conscious not to use the same high achieving student repeatedly or else it would limit the assistance of the student to one person.