EDUC 4206 Professional Experience 4: Teacher as Inquirer

Professional Inquiry Project Proposal

Pre-service Teacher: Daniel Stevenson ID no.: 110168160

Context (approx. 100 words)

Description of placement context. Include here only those details which are necessary to provide the reader with an
overview of your setting ie. size of school/class; socio-economic factors in the community, nature of class(es), etc.
Do not mention the name of your site.

The school in which the inquiry project will be undertaken is in the Northern region of Adelaide and is a
category six school. The school consists of just over 500 students, with six identifying as Indigenous or
Torres Strait Islander. The class is a year two class with a demographic of several cultures with the class
having 11 boys and 13 girls. The classroom has some students who are low academically and need support
from the teacher, however some students are really high academically and they need to be challenged in
order to maximise their learning, therefore creating a wide range of learners in this classroom. The site has
a focus on developing students' social skills, creativity, problem solving, self-confidence and ability to access
and process knowledge. The community around the site is welcoming and the site itself has been
commended on its literacy program. The socio-economic status around the site is above average.

Plan (approx. 1000 words)

Overall focus of your inquiry and related AITSL Standard.
Rationale: Why have you chosen the particular focus? This will be based on your “Pre-service self review” against
the national standards & knowledge of your context. Explain how you went about deciding your focus.
How does the literature support your focus? Include at least four references– include a balance of journal and book
references if possible.

The focus topic question in which will be investigated is:

Improving my ability to embed an engaging formative assessment in mathematics in the classroom?

This focus question was decided due to the mathematic assessment done in previous years in which students
were not engaging, and the students’ scores were lower than they should have been, this could be due to the
unengaging style of testing which was conducted. When doing the pre-service review, I found that I had
needed to focus on the assessing, providing feedback and reporting on student learning in the AITSL
standards. All of the five boxes were highlighted, suggesting that over my previous placements, I would like to
further develop in this standard, standard five. In my previous placements when doing mathematics as a
whole class, I found it easy to engage with the students when teaching the topic and when walking around
the classroom asking the students if they understood the concepts and the summative assessment I was
doing for the topics I had taught were fun and the students didn’t feel like they were being assessed.
However, when it came to the formative assessment, I have that I have been struggling to have a focus on it
and keep a record of it.
Groundwater-Smith et al (2015) state that students are “active, rational learners” (Groundwater-Smith et al,
p. 309, 2015), and they go on to suggest that children are learning all the time and that the assessment
should be focused on the learning itself, not the teaching (Groundwater-Smith et al, p. 309, 2015). In other
words, Groundwater-Smith et al (2015) are suggesting here that students are always learning subconsciously
and that often teachers get caught up in how they are teaching, rather than what they are teaching. This is
the case for myself occasionally when teaching mathematics and using formative assessment pieces.

Whitton et al (2010) state that the purpose of formative assessment is to improve and change the learning
while it is being undertaken, stating that “Formative evaluation (assessment) is when the teacher
continuously monitors the teaching and learning process” (Whitton et al, p. 192, 2010). Whitton et al (2010)
also states that the evaluation is specific to the students’ ability to complete specific tasks set in a lesson, but
also their interaction with different resources used and groups of students they may be working with
(Whitton et al, p. 192, 2010). However, Whitton et al (2010) also suggest that there are some components of
a lesson which impact the students’ ability to reach these aims, some constraints include the time allocated
for different activities, the grouping of the students and the learning area which is used (Whitton et al, p. 192,
(2010). This point raised by Whitton et al (2010) was a point of view I had not realised prior, however it
makes sense that these constraints would affect the outcome of student’s formative assessment; this is
something I will need to focus on during my final placement. Furthermore, Whitton et al (2010) state that
the formative assessment should be done throughout lessons by a teacher observing the students discussing
issues with other students and asking and answering questions as well as the correction of the students work
as it is completed.

Earl (2007) states that assessment for learning, or formative assessment, could “focus attention on important
aspects of the subject, gives students opportunities to practice skills and consolidate learning, and gives a
guide to further instructional or learning activities” (Earl, p. 4, 2007). Earl also states that formative
assessment is designed to give educators information that will allow them to modify the content and learning
activities in which the students are engaging, for example, if the students are not grasping the concepts, then
a formative assessment piece would help the teacher to see that the students need additional lessons in this
topic. This also helps teachers to differentiate the students who need to be challenged or those who require
more attention. Earl (2007) also states that the “The information from carefully-designed assessments (and
critical reflection on the assessment process) can be used to determine not only what students know, but also
to gain insights into how, when, and whether students use what they know, so that teachers can streamline
and target instruction and resource. (Earl, p. 7, 2007). This point is again suggesting the importance of
formative assessment as being high and necessary in the classroom in order to gauge where the students are
at with their learning.

Reys et al (2012) also agree that assessment for learning is important and the most crucial type of assessment
within the classroom. Reys et al (2012) state that there are four phases to formative assessment in
 mathematics, “planning, gathering, interpreting and using” (Reys et al, pp. 67-68, 2012). After planning a
unit, a teacher would then decide to gather the prior knowledge of the students and what they already know
about the topic and would then interpret the data gathered from the students work. The educator would
then use the information that they had gathered to plan another task or assessment for the students (Reys et
al, p. 68, 2012).

Reys et al (2012) outline the phases in more detail further on. They suggest that when in the planning phase,
it is important to think about the purpose of the assessment, the methods of collection and how the teacher
plans on interpreting that data (Reys et al, p. 68, 2012). When in the gathering phase, Reys et al (2012) state
that the teacher needs to think about using a variety of activities and the appropriateness of those activities
(Reys et al, p. 68, 2012). In the interpreting phase, Reys et al (2012) suggest that the teacher needs to think in
advance about the criteria set out for the students (Reys et al, p. 68, 2012) and that in the using phase the
teacher needs to think about how the teacher will effectively communicate the judgements made and how
they will affect future decisions within the unit (Reys et al, p. 68, 2012).

Action (approx. 100 words)

An exact description of what you are going to change in your practice/behaviour throughout your placement.
An exact description of when you are going to collect data each week during your normal teaching (identify times &
a subject area)

Throughout my placement I will be working harder on aiming to achieve this standard to a result in which I
am happy with. I will do this by researching more innovative ways to deliver formative assessment pieces
for the topic by not only browsing the internet, but by also reading previous topics textbooks, for example
the text by Reys et al (2012). This text has several assessment examples with a range of different maths
topics.
I will collect the data weekly on a Friday or Thursday (due to NIT times). The class does mathematics every
morning at the same time, so the students know what is expected of them.

Observation (approx. 400 words)

How will you collect data? Choose techniques most suited to your strategy and situation. Explain your monitoring
techniques. Why have you chosen the particular techniques? Include at least one reference to action research
literature.
How will you record your data? Your monitoring process should aim to include at least three observation
techniques to ensure triangulation. (ie. Questionnaire, Supervising Teacher feedback, frequency chart etc). Include
data collection proformas as an appendix.

The best way to ensure that the observation techniques met is to ensure triangulation. Triangulation is
when the teacher gets feedback from three sources. The three sources which will be used to gain feedback
are self, teacher and feedback from the children.

The self feedback in which I will give myself is to do daily reflections on how the maths lesson went and the
formative assessment in which was done in class that day. I will also be doing thorough observations of my
 own teaching in order to see that the students are grasping the concepts throughout the lesson, for
example if I observe that some of the students are not grasping the concept taught in the prior lessons, I
will note that and work further with those students in order to ensure they meet the criteria. Killen (2016)
backs this notion of journal writing, stating that “Writing about your teaching (and learning) experiences will
help you to develop the habit of being thoughtful, reflective and analytical” (Killen, p. 112, 2016). There is
are a set of self-reflection questions in the appendix.

The next point of feedback in the triangulation is to get feedback from the students. Killen (2016) states
that teachers should “gather evaluative data about your teaching from your students and then compare this
information with how you thought students would view your teaching” (Killen, p. 113, 2016). This allows the
teacher to get a chance to see the point of view to those who the teacher is actually teaching to. This
technique provides teachers with a clear focus for reflection and then in turn results in significant changes
to their teaching for the next lesson.

Killen (2016) also suggests that a basic way of obtaining feedback from the students is to ask the students
two simple questions, “‘What did I do in this lesson that made it easy for you to understand things?’ and
‘What did I do in this lesson that confused you?” (Killen, p. 113, 2016). Killen (2016) then goes on to state
that a teacher should welcome all student suggestions on how to enhance the learning experiences rather
than seeing the student’s comments as critical.

The third point of the triangulation is to get feedback from the supervising teacher. This can be done
through observations of my lesson and then at a later time the teacher can help me to improve my
formative assessments. The teacher can take notes on my practice and from there help me to achieve the
next step in my teaching. There is a feedback proforma the supervising teacher to fill out in the appendix.

Reflection (approx. 400 words)

What will you be looking for when you analyse your data?
How will you interpret your data (ie make sense of the patterns)?
Who else might be involved? How? Name your critical friend as at least one of the people who will be involved
Explain how you will use your analysis to inform your practice in the following action stage (ie. next data collection
time).
Include at least one relevant reference about the importance of reflection.

As previously mentioned by Killen (2016), self-reflection is vital to improvement. Brady and Kennedy (2012)
state that reflection is “a necessary quality for lifelong learning” (Brady and Kennedy, p. 80, 2012). Brady
and Kennedy (2012) and Killen (2016) are simply stating that it is vital for one to be reflecting on one’s self
continually in order to improve on what is already there.
When I am analysing the data, I will be looking at qualitative data, that is, data which is more likely to come
from open ended questions and notes taken during observations (Lambert, p. 168, 2012). Lambert (2012)
suggests that when analysing this type of data, the first thing to do it to be familiar with the data, identify
 common themes, find perspectives and to continually take notes on the data (Lambert, pp. 168-169, 2012).
The data will come in differing varieties of feedback, and I will need to decode it all and make sense of what
is being reported back to me by the students and supervising teacher, as well as my own reflections.

My critical friend is Elisa Razzano as we are in contact and are in the same professional experience and
reflection class. She will help to aide me with the decoding process. Another ‘critical friend’ may be my
supervising teacher, who would be able to help me to decode what the students may mean when they say
one thing, especially in the early stages of my placement. I will then use this analysis to help inform me of
my practice in order to achieve the best outcome for myself going forward in the data collection phase.

References
Include all references (min. of 6) using the Harvard referencing system.
Brady, L, Kennedy, KJ & Kennedy, KJ 2012, Assessment and reporting: celebrating student achievement, 4th edn,
Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.

Earl, L 2007, 'Assessment - a powerful lever for learning', Brock education, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-15

Groundwater-Smith, S, Ewing, R & Le, CR 2015, Teaching: challenges & dilemmas, 5th edn, Cengage Learning
Australia, South Melbourne, Victoria.

Killen, R 2016, 'Becoming a reflective teacher', Effective teaching strategies: lessons from research and practice,
Cengage Australia, South Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 103 – 120.

Lambert, M 2012, A beginner's guide to doing your education research project, SAGE, London; Thousand Oaks,
California.

Reys, RE 2012, Helping children learn mathematics, 1st edn, John Wiley and Son Australia, Milton, Qld.

Whitton, D 2010, Learning for teaching: teaching for learning, 2nd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, South
Melbourne, Vic

Word Count: 1,978

Appendix

Self-Reflection

Did the students Grasp all new concepts?

Did the students understand what was being asked of them?

Do the students need to revisit old concepts?

How can I extend the students?

Are the Students ready to move on?

Supervising Teacher Reflection

Positive Aspects:

Things to improve on:

Final Comments
Student Feedback

What did I do in this lesson that made it easy for you to understand things? How did you feel?
Colour

What did I do in this lesson that confused you?

Blue - I can teach someone else

Green – I completely understand
Orange – I understand a little bit
Red – I don’t understand