Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Day 1, 13th Feb 2017

I. Reflective Practice
Reflective practice is a process to continually analyse about anything
(experience, feelings, feedback and comments, specific event, lesson) and how
it effects our values and perspective of life. In teaching practice, reflection skills
include balancing theories of learning, teaching strategies, education philosophy,
advice from knowledgeable and experienced lecturers against realities in the
classroom.
Reflective practice is important because it offers many positive benefits for
teachers development:
a. Teachers Autonomy: Control of learning, ability to analyse, avoid repetition of
mistakes, avoid impulsive approach, build confidence.
b. Growth: keep on learning and do better for one self and students.
c. Accountability: why we do what we do.
d. Advancement: improve confident and minimise stress.
e. Reflection on experience: Develop effective approach to teaching and
learning, allows response for change and obstacles, reframing the routine.

II. Communication and Questioning in the Classroom.

Groundwater-Smith et al (2015) states that The teaching-learning process is
essentially a communication event. It is absolutely true. A teacher
communicates with students by speaking the lesson clearly as well as listening
to students feedback and understanding. Students need to listen attentively and
at the same time speak to express their opinion and engage in discussion.
Interpersonal interactions occur in the communication event in the classroom.
Effective communications build strong teacher-student relationship and therefore
create a safe and supportive learning environment. In addition, the relationships
between students, teachers, and communities all require communication.
The attitude of respect and acceptance to myself and others promotes sympathy
and security to develop assertive communication and respect what others say.
The key to effective communication skills are assertive listening through verbal
and non-verbal skills (facial expressions, eye contact, body posture, physical
distance, etc.) and speaking skills (questioning skill and sending I-message).
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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Reflection on Day 1

Reflecting on the intensive week of lectures and workshops, I found that teaching
and teachers work are complex and demanding. It is because they relate to
interaction with people (students, parents, and colleagues) with diversity, the
understanding of the curriculum (influenced by culture and political interest), and with
an awareness of ethics and law in the social interactions. However, teachers are
encouraged to apply reflection skills to be able to think thoroughly on the teachers
work in order to bring the best outcome to teaching-learning process in the context
they are facing.

I have memorable years of schooling even though I think it was more conservative
where one-way teaching style was practised. I enjoyed learning and was motivated
to be the best in the class. This experience together with theoretical knowledge
about teaching will help me to become a teacher who have a positive attitude
towards teaching-learning process and through reflective practice will continue to
adapt to the classroom situation in which I encounter daily. I would have to frame
and reframe my values, belief, and perception to be challenged to generate alternate
ways of viewing a situation as Schon (1933) suggested as a result of reflective
practice.

Effective communication is essential in teaching-learning process. Assertive listening

with verbal and non-verbal skills indicates a genuine intention to listen. Speaking skill
is also important in teaching-learning process. There are 2 aspects in speaking skills:
non-verbal behaviour (body movement, volume, tone, pitch) and verbal behaviour
(speaking clearly). Care should be taken with our voice when teaching. Our voice is
one of the most important tools for our teaching. In our workshop, we noticed
different response in saying the word yes with different tone. Different tone
expressed different feelings. Questioning is another aspect of speaking. Teachers
should use open question to develop thoughts, interest, and to challenge and thus
promote learning. However closed question can be used to confirm understanding.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Day 2, 14th Feb 2017

I. Ethics and Law

It is important as a teacher to be aware of every decision that is made
(responsible to the children under care, fellow teachers, and profession).
Keep professional and personal space completely separated.

II. Managing the Learning Environment

The purpose of an effective classroom organisation and management:
a) To create a safe and positive environment for learning,
b) To protect basic rights of safety, learning, and respect,
c) To set boundaries in which students can feel safe, successful, and achieve,
d) To teach students about socially appropriate and acceptable choices.
Some basic guidelines for effective classroom management:
a) Teacher needs to be firm but fair.
b) Positive teacher-student relationship: taking genuine interest in students life.
c) Proactive Classroom Management: Set clear guidelines and consistency.
d) Graduated consequences: Apply low key responses
Preventing is better
than Dealing.
Some factors that teacher needs to consider prior to responding off task
behaviour: respect self-esteem of the student, start with low-key responses to
prevent escalation of off-task behaviour (smiling, pause, eye-contact), be clear of
expectations-follow up-persistent, redirect off-task behaviour, adapt behaviour
management strategies, and reflect on the lesson delivered as to why it invites
off-task behaviour.

III. Understanding Learner Diversity and Inclusivity

Some strategies to appreciate inclusivity in a learning environment are different

methods of lesson delivery based on students various ways of learning, develop
good relationships with students to find out how they learn, knowledge about major
different cultures within school, make sure everyone is included, non-judgemental
and apply tolerance in communication, and be open-minded to improvement on the
way we teach.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Reflection on Day 2

Ethics is a sense of belief related to morality (the right thing to do) while law is

enforced and punishable by Parliament. Teachers might have different responses

related to ethical situation, however the principles are: Use common sense, protect

yourself, is there a child that would be negatively impact, aware of different

responses and think of the consequences to different parties. Having said that, it is

therefore difficult to set a professional ethical standard because teachers might have

dilemma with regard to his/her own ethical value. On the other hand, it is mandatory

for teacher to report any reasonable suspicious of child abuse and discrimination

because they are related to child protection and anti-discrimination law.

There are extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Intrinsic motivation is a motivation that

drives a person to produce personal positive outcomes such as knowledge,

competency, or a sense of independent (Churchill, 2013). As a teacher however, we

would be one of the most important extrinsic motivation for students to learn besides

interesting lesson and learning environment.

According to Kosnik & Beck (2011), the important elements in classroom

management are: the classroom setting (safe and supportive environment for

learning), interpersonal relationships (helping students to grow socially and

emotionally), and a positive classroom environment (essential for the well-being of

students as well as teachers). Classroom management is the first step in preventing

off-task behaviour; therefore as beginning teachers we need to master the strategies

of classroom management (get to know the students personally, take a broad

approach to classroom management: create a positive climate, balance learning

activities: individual, group, whole class activity, emphasize inclusion and equity).

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Day 3, 15th Feb 2017

I. Curriculum in the Australian Context

Curriculum is a reference to which learning outcomes and teaching-learning

activities and pedagogy are developed to suit the children were teaching and the

context where the teaching-learning process occurs.

The changing nature of curriculum. There have been changes in curriculum

because of the influence of education policies changes and type of workforce

needed. In Western Australia, the curriculum reference is from SCSA (School

Curriculum and Standard Authority).

II. Building Family, School, Community Relationships

Why is it important? Because family is an important part of children and

influences childrens learning, school needs to educate the children trusted to

school, and safe and supportive school community which includes family, school,

and community provides positive learning environment.

How can family, school, and community relationships developed? Groundwater-

Smith et al. (2011) suggested that your attitude is the key to developing

positive and effective relationships. This means as a teacher, our understanding

of diverse communities that we have in Australian school and a proactive attitude

to be tolerant and accommodate towards the diversity would initiate and support

the development of positive relationships. This can be applied through open

communication with parents through emails or notes, introduce myself as a

teacher, attend or even organise events to build relationships. However, there

might be some challenges from difficult/busy parents, teachers own personality

(introvert, inflexible, high demand of work), and inadequate support/resources for

community relationship development.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Reflection on Day 3

In the workshop today, we watched an interesting presentation from Ken Robertson

(TED Talk) about schools killing creativity. When I reflect on my school years, I

must say I agree with this presentation. I went to school following the normal school

structure from kindy to high school; however I didnt really know what my passion is.

I kind of follow the curriculum that was established at the school. I learned about all

the subjects at school and at the last two years of high school I was directed to

science due to my high achievement on maths and science subject tests. This

presentation opened my view to educate students in their whole being, support their

creativity to find their passion and school is not just about result or skills to meet

industrial needs.

Therefore, as a teacher, we need to curricularise the curriculum to adapt to the

students (the context), focus on the bigger concept from the curriculum, however

localise the content, integrate with other learning areas, and expect professional and

student input. This was exercised during our workshop when we discussed about

what can be changed and what cant be changed in education.

The function of schooling has changed over time (Reimer, 1971). The initial purpose

of school was to educate. However, it has now four distinct social functions: custodial

care, indoctrination, social-role selection, and education. I strongly agree that school

have these roles in the 21st century. While at school, children are cared for and at the

same time, cognitive skills for the benefit of society are taught (education). School

also has a big role in shaping the life and development of a child (about values,

manners, and appropriate behaviour). In terms of social-role selection, school directs

students to the career they have and thus allows for social mobility.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Day 4, 16th Feb 2017

I. Building Relationships in diverse communities

It is important to acknowledge that because of the diversity of students at

school, equal opportunities for all children do not necessary result in equal
outcome (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2015). It presents a challenge to
classroom teacher to treat student not in equality (everyone is treated the
same), but rather in equity (people are treated according to their needs).
Teachers need to cater for diversity in the lesson plan. Lesson plan should be
student-centred which accommodate different learning abilities and
disabilities.
It is important that State and Federal authorities institute social justice policies
because social justice policies acknowledge that there are situations where
application of same rules can generate unequal results. Equity requires
teachers and schools to think in terms of different treatment for different
needs.

II. Planning for Teaching

Why is it important to have a lesson plan?

a. It acts as a guide to assure that learning outcomes are achieved, lesson is

interesting, motivating, and relevant which is the first step in minimizing

behaviour problems. It prepares teacher to reflect on what could go wrong.

b. It provides documented teachers responsibility and accountability in the

teaching-learning process.

c. For a bigger project, it helps teachers to plan in small tasks.

Killen (2013) suggested 4 important elements of lesson planning: lesson

outcomes, lesson content (introduction, the teaching-learning phase, lesson

closure/summary), assessment of student learning, and lesson evaluation.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Reflection on Day 4

Understanding that as teachers, we have an important role in developing positive

relationships with families, school, and community prompts us to apply strategies to

develop these relationships. As Groundwater-Smith et al. (2011) suggested that

teachers attitude is the key to develop positive relationships. It is especially

important in a diverse community that teachers apply the attitude of acceptance,

tolerance, and assertive communication. In relation to overt and covert

discriminations, it is important to address the issue without judgement but emphasize

more on teaching the student to reflect and learn. For example, when a student says

or does something that discriminates other student. A better response from a teacher

would be asking Do you think your attitude is respectful? rather than asking the

student to stop and make a statement that the action was inappropriate. By asking, it

makes the student to reflect and think, and be responsible of what he/she did.

When I prepared my lesson plan, I found that understanding the content and

students prior knowledge and experience relating the content were the most

important aspects to start a lesson plan. It was also important at the introduction of a

lesson to explain the significance of a lesson and relate it to real life. In the learning

phase, it is crucial to accommodate different learning experience by utilizing various

learning strategy such as individual work/group discussion, different method of

lesson delivery. At the conclusion of the lesson, it is essential to summarize, link to

the next lesson, and end the lesson positively for example with praise.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Day 5, 17th Feb 2017

According to Tait (2013), there are two opposite approaches to view what truth is.

The realist approach views truth as an absolute standard that is independent of

human thought and action. On the other side is the anti-realist approach which

views truth as a result of human conceptual framework formulated within a social

context and that there are no absolute truth. In my opinion, I would prefer to agree

with the realist approach because in the world of science, truth can be tested

through the facts that are found from experiments and data. However, this might

not be the case for knowledge related to human/social interactions such as the

case of ADHD mentioned in the readings.

It is important to consider how the twenty-first century learner is different from

those previous generations. They are the people who have been bombarded with

technologies such as computers, 24-hours TV, internet, and mobile phones. They

are also connected to these technologies all the time that they have different way

in obtaining information and learning strategies compared to the previous

generations. They are able to multitask between texting, blogging, chatting,

gaming, and socializing in digital world. Therefore, there is some research that

suggested that this generation have different in the neural architecture of brain

and thus have different cognitive processes compared to the generations that

didnt have computers as household items (Churchill et al., 2013).

Nature of teaching is still the same that is educating children. However, the reality

of how children in now different requires teacher in the 21st century to be

technology literate, flexible, open-minded, and reflective.

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Name: f_lastari Student ID: 33130817

Reflection on Day 5

Today we went through lesson planning practice and presentation. It was interesting

to see so many topics presented from people with various education back ground.

Some went really well, but some didnt go very well in my opinion. However, one

thing that I noticed was that Kathryn always came up with positive feedbacks on the

presenter and asked the audience to give two positive comments on the

presentation. This encouraged a positive learning environment and fostered all of us

to think of positive values rather than the negative values. In class room

environment, it will develop children to have a skill that look at people from a positive

point of view and not just gaining knowledge.

Even though I received some positive feed backs on my presentation, I was also

conscious to have a reflection on my presentation. The lesson was concise and

sequenced well. However, due to my anxiety, I realised that I might not acknowledge

the answers from the audience really well. In addition, I think it is better to present

the examples (relate to real life) at the beginning of the presentation to give more

background for the audience with non-chemistry back ground.

From my observation, the well-presented lessons (regardless of the topic) have

these qualities: clear learning outcomes and concise lesson (not too much

unnecessary details), hands-on activities and lively discussion, and related content

to real-life application.

I believe that learning and teaching in the 21st century allows teacher and student to

have a freedom to be open minded and selective to filter the information massively

available. This is contrary the old ways of teaching where teacher was the source of

knowledge in the classroom.

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