Philosophy

My main philosophy is to model the behaviours of leaders who teach respect,

love, tolerance and kindness whilst engaging with our future generation. My

philosophy has been greatly influenced by humanism theories (Furth &

Wachs 1975).

I believe teachers are there as a guide to help students sift through the

scramble of information and convert them into knowledge. I really like the

theory of incidental learning. Similar to the approach in the Montessori Theory,

it is the student, through self-directed activity, that find the solution by

themselves. It may not seem as structured as traditional learning experience,

however, forward planning is needed in order to keep students on the right

track.

On top of teaching the subjects listed in the curriculum, I would like to promote

healthy social interactions between the students and the feeling of belonging

within the class. I hope this will lead to the students growing into confident

adults who become essential contributor to society.

I feel for a learning experience to be effective, the lesson must first be

introduced with some relevance to prior knowledge. The teacher must

cohesively explain the subject with various “support/model” that will enable

students to better understand the new subject matter. The subject matter

should be taught across multiple lessons, the teacher should tweak lesson

content to suit with students’ individual learning capabilities.

As an individual, my speech tends to be scattered and I feel teachers need to be

precise. Therefore, a script to help with the delivery of the lesson should be

made before hand. However, it is pointless to just being a lecture from the

teacher, there needs to be a constant appropriate discussion between teacher

and students which helps the flow towards the understanding of the new

subject matter.

I feel this approach would be appropriate for students as it gives them a safe

environment for them to grow. I think a safe environment for students

translates to them being in a one which is consistent and having a teacher

which tries to understand them and helps them understand the world around

us.
Learning Context

My class in this context consists of all male students in Year Five. I have been

with them since the start of the year and we are currently in the start of Term

Three. They are a class of twenty students ranging from low to high achievers.

The school caters for mainly students in the mid socio-economic scale.

At Year Five, the students should be at the stage of concrete operations in

Piaget’s Theory (Furth & Wachs 1975). This means learning experience

should focus on concrete modelling by the teacher in the beginning followed

by guided experimentation. My students are expected to think logically for

solutions or explanations when presented with a disequilibrium/problem by

working individually or in groups.

My teaching attitude, method, differs teaching an all boys’ class, as oppose to a

mixed gender or all girls’ class. The dynamic is completely different, needing

me to adjust my style in regards to the management and delivery of the class.

Studies (Gurian & Carter, 2001) show the difference in cognition and emotional

development between developing boys and girls.

Annotated class plan

Rationale

I used Duchesne and McMaugh (2016)’s guidelines when designing my class

plan. The student nook which would be classed as high traffic area, is free of

congestions. The U-shaped tables has been repurposed for the students table

placed so that the students can easily see the whiteboard. The student nook

provides a space to keep materials and supplies together and within easy reach

for the students.

Prevention

When starting the school year, rules and routines have been established, with

adjustments made in class themes and seat placements throughout of every

term. Routines help keeps the consistency of the school day, and in turn, helps

maintain a safe environment for the students. A certain routine at the start of

the day and a few minutes after a break helps mentally shift the students to

focus on the lesson at hand.

I believe rules tend to assist in the management of the class. At their age, I

have them be a part in tailoring a set of rules in the beginning of the year. This

will cause a sense of belonging within the students of my class. If there is cause

for a change in the rules, I would like students to be confident in my

understanding nature and amenably debate why a rule is good or bad for our

classroom.

Being open and ready for an amicable discussion are one of the few actions I

would implement to create a warm climate within the classroom. I would like

to be the type of teacher whom students can rely on and own up to a mistake.
During a lesson, I would try to keep lessons entertaining and easy to

understand. My practice of using a script would be critical in helping me deliver

a well-developed lesson, decreasing chances of confusion as well as chances

for misbehaviour caused by “bored students”.

I prefer to encourage intrinsic motivation within my students through praise,

differentiated feedback and equal attention distributed towards everyone in

the class. However, extrinsic motivation may be the only way to promote a

learning development within a student. For this, I will establish the Class Dojo©

rewards system where prizes would be coveted items for individual’s points

and movie day or excursions for the entire classroom’s points.

Response

I would like to maintain a calm and professional manner when responding with

negative attitude from my students. Minor annoyances and disturbances would

be acknowledged with a look, but no verbal __ of my displeasure. If a verbal

warning is needed, it would be done after class, or softly by the student’s side.
On the other hand, students who are doing the right thing would be singled

out and praised vocally.

The main moral I would like to promote between my students is respect.

Therefore, bullying and physical violence would not be tolerated. This message

would be stressed in the beginning of the year when establishing the rules, and

refreshed at the beginning of every term.

They are at an age where they should understand why certain behaviours are

inappropriate. If these behaviours still persist, I would set a time where we

would reflect on their attitude without any other students. The reflection time

would be a judgement free zone, and at the end of it, I hope to re-establish the

respect between the student and I.

Open communication between the students and myself is effective in both the

prevention and response to disruptive behaviours.

Reference

Duchesne, S., author, & McMaugh, A., author.

(2016). Educational psychology for learning and

teaching (5th ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage

Learning.

Furth, H. G., & Wachs, H., joint author. (1975). Thinking

goes to school: Piaget's theory in practice. New York:

Oxford University Press.

Gurian, M., & Carter, P. (2001). Boys and girls learn

differently! : A guide for teachers and parents. Retrieved

from https://ebookcentral-proquest-

com.libproxy.murdoch.edu.au