1.

Self-reflective practice
Killen, R 2016, 'Becoming a reflective teacher' In ‘Effective teaching strategies: lessons from
research and practice (7th ed.)’Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 103-121.
Summary: Reflection in teaching and learning involves a variety of approaches that help
teachers to think about teaching and respond critically. Being a reflective teacher develop
the insights to learn more about teaching and learning that enables the teacher to improve
teaching skills as well as to be confident while teaching. There is a wide range of strategies
that can be applied in reflection such as writing a reflective journal, valuing student’s
feedback, reviewing recorded lessons or pairing with a peer to observe and assist each
other to reflect.

Arthur, L, Beecher, B, Death, E, Dockett & Farmer, S 2018, 'Reflective and evaluative
practice' In ‘Programming & planning in early childhood settings’, Cengage, Australia,
Victoria, pp. 115-169.
Summary: Evaluation and reflection support educators to decide the effectiveness of the
program and the possibilities for moving forward. Understand the rationale behind,
identify the process and tools that can be used for evaluation and reflection can benefit
educators to strengthen the programs to extend children’s learning. To clarify the goals to
be achieved, strategic planning ensures the continuous provision of strong programs.

2. Reggio Emilia
Gandini, L 2003, 'Values and Principles of the Reggiio Emilia approach', Davis Publications,
Worcester, MA, pp. 25-27.
http://learningmaterialswork.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/06/ValuesAndPrinciples.pdf
Summary: In Reggio Emilia approach, each child is regarded as a contributing member with
rights within the family, the school, the community and the wider society who is also closely
connected with other members in these systems. In an environment rich in materials and
possibilities, teacher observe and document children’s different ways of processing the
work instead of teaching a pre-set curriculum to get a clear idea of how children learn and
which direction they can go with their learning. The belief of learning by doing encourages

1
Reggio educators to carefully consider their educational experience and to make
reflections in keeping the program continuously renewed and readjusted.

3. Play in Primary School

Sluss, D 2017,'Supporting play in primary school' In ‘Supporting play in early
childhood’, Cengage, USA, Boston, pp. 195-221.
Summary: Play as a media for learning connect literacy, mathematics, science and social
studies can benefit children’s overall health and mental or physical development. Play-
based and project-based learning experiences can effectively engage children in an early
childhood context. Classrooms should be aesthetically designed and spaces for both
individual and group work as well as neat and easy-to-get storage for the equipment and
materials should be considered at the same time.

4. Inquiry
Killen, R 2016, 'Using inquiry as a teaching strategy' In ‘Effective teaching strategies: lessons
from research and practice (7th ed.)’, Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 273-297.

5. Co-construction
Page, J & Tayler, C 2016, 'Teaching for learning' In ‘Learning and teaching in the early
years’, Cambridge, Australia, NSW, pp. 74-90.

Questions & Answers:

Q1: What is inquiry as a teaching strategy?
A1: Inquiry is a form of research that promotes student-directed learning by helping
students to develop the skills necessary to acquire and reflect on their new knowledge and
understanding. Using inquiry as a teaching strategy means teachers should structure the
learning experience so that students follow a systematic process including:
- composing a compelling question as focus for student learning
- engaging students in planning and undertaking an investigation to find out the
answer and develop understanding and new ideas during the process of
investigation

2
 - encouraging students to work in groups or individually and share their learning
experience with others
- helping students to reflect and conclude on their research which may result in
posing a new question so that the process can begin again.

Q2: What are the key elements of inquiry-based strategy in teaching?

A2:
• It is crucial that the questions used to guide inquiry tasks are focused on students’
curiosity and motivate and engage them to achieve the goal of the project. While
developing the questions, educators should bear in mind that:
- children have their own different ways of thinking;
- they learn a lot out of school;
- they are more capable than our expectation.
• Despite students’ willingness to learn, they must have the skills that enable them to go
through the process of inquiry. These skills include:
- Plan logically
- Form hypotheses or research questions
- Locate information
- Generate information
- Organize ideas and information
- Extract key ideas from written materials
- Identify trends in data
- Draw conclusion
• The oral presentation is an important part in inquiry. It should be focused more on what
students learned than what they did. The quality of presentation should be judged on
academic content rather than the attractiveness of the mode of presentation.
• Clear instruction and expectation is essential to structure the learning experience for
the students
• Inform students with the knowledge to avoid plagiarism is another important point.

Q3: What is the role of teachers in children’s learning experience?

3
A3:
• Evidence-based teaching strategies have been found to advance young children’s
learning through the impact of adults’ interactions.
- The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)
- Project Zero
- The Abecedarian Approach Australia (3a) project
• Teacher’s should provide ‘a balance between child-led, child-initiated and educator-
supported learning’ within their educational programs.
Week 3

1. Planning Process
Whitton, D, Barker, K, Nosworthy, M, Humphries, J & Sinclair, C 2016, ‘Learning for teaching:
teaching for learning (3rd ed.)’Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 79-90.
Important facts:
- Planning, implementing and evaluating are the three important aspects of teaching
cycle.
- Before starting the planning process, educators need to know about the students
in the class, the curriculum, the school and community and themselves.
- The model of 5Es in science teaching can be applied in all other subjects with slight
adjustment
- Three specific elements impact on lesson implementation: resources, timing and
environment.
- Evaluation within the teaching and learning process is in three parts: evaluating the
learners, the curriculum content and processes, and the teaching.

4
Key words: Planning, Implementing, Evaluating, 5Es
Remaining questions: Is there any tools for effective evaluation?

5
2. Lesson Planning
Whitton, D, Barker, K, Nosworthy, M, Humphries, J & Sinclair, C 2016, ‘Learning for teaching:
teaching for learning (3rd ed.)’Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 118-147.
Important facts:
- The total teaching and learning act encompasses seven components including:
o curriculum content and knowledge
o classroom management
o resources and materials
o interpersonal and intrapersonal skills
o knowledge of human development
o planning skills
o teaching and learning strategies.
- A plan should include the following 10 areas:
o prior knowledge
o content
o objectives
o teaching and learning strategies
o grouping
o timing
o space
o resources
o formative assessment
o summative evaluation
- Daybooks are a record of day-to-day teaching and learning activities which reduces
the details yet clearly identifies the learning that is to occur.
Key words: ‘no plan, no teach rule’
Remaining questions: When can we move to record daybooks instead of comprehensive
lesson plans?

6
3. Structuring a Lesson
Whitton, D, Barker, K, Nosworthy, M, Humphries, J & Sinclair, C 2016, ‘Learning for teaching:
teaching for learning (3rd ed.)’, Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 147-153.
Important facts:
- Consider using different resources that have the students looking, listening,
touching and contributing their ideas at the beginning of the lessons. Make sure
these resources are suitable for children’s age and relevant to the content of
teaching while determining what to use as a lesson introduction.
- The closure of a lesson is as important as the beginning of the lesson. It should be
relevant and involve the students which does not mean making every student share
work. There are alternative ways to do that.
- During the breaks between lessons, it is a good way to bring the class together by
trying a quick activity. Lesson breaks are also teachable moments that are planned
to encourage students’ involvement and leaning.
Key words: excite, explore, explain, expand, evaluate
Remaining questions: How often should an activity be planned during the lesson breaks?
Is it necessary to have an activity for each break?

7
Week 4

4. Assessment
Groundwater-Smith, S, Ewing, R & Le Cornu, R 2015, ‘Teaching challenges & Dilemmas
(5th ed.)’, Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 293-325.
At first, I thought assessment is all about facilitating the teacher to know what and how
the students learned,
Now I think:
- Assessment has more purposes than just to examine students’ learning:
o For educators to consider the continual growth and improvement in
learning
o For governments to know student learning outcome information so as to
demonstrate the effectiveness of their policies
o An educative assessment involves improvement and feedback.
- The diversity of students should be carefully take into consideration when designing
and carrying out the process of assessment.

5. Inclusion
Foreman, P & Arthur-Kelly, M (eds) 2017, ‘Inclusion in Action (5th ed.)’, Cengage, Australia,
Victoria, pp. 1-50.
At first, I thought there are different students with different learning abilities or different
level of prior knowledge in the class,
Now I think there is also a high possibility that the classroom includes one or more students
with diagnosed disabilities such as intellectual, physical, sensory or learning disability who
may have special needs.
To achieve inclusion of all the students, there are a number of underlying principles:
- Social justice and human rights: People with disability want to be regarded as
people first; they want to make decisions about their own lives, and they do not
want these decisions to be solely or primarily based on their disability.
- All children can learn: all children have capacity to learn, and that all children are
entitled to an appropriate publicly funded education program.

8
 - Normalisation: all students should be able to attend the neighbourhood school, or
perhaps attend an independent school, as preferred by students and their families.
People with disabilities should be given roles and opportunities that are valued by
the rest of the community. Their social values should be ‘valorised’.
- the least restrictive environment: School systems move towards improved levels
of personal participation and control for students, and fewer restrictions.
- age-appropriate behaviour: students’ activities should be appropriate for their age

6. Differentiation
Tomlinson, CA & Moon TR 2013, 'Assessment and student success in a differentiated
classroom', ASCD, Alexandria, VA, chpt. 1.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108028/chapters/Differentiation@-An-
Overview.aspx
At first, I thought differentiation is about teach different students according to their
different level of capabilities,
Now I think to see differentiation as an isolated element reduces teaching to a series of
disconnected components that function effectively apart from the whole. Robust teaching
links five classroom elements so that each one flows from, feeds, and enhances the others.
- Learning environment: both physical and affective climate that affects everything
that happens in the classroom, including belief, invitation, investment, opportunity,
persistence and reflection.
- Curriculum: quality curriculum refers to the nature of what we should teach and
what we should ask our students to learn. It has three fundamental attributes: have
clear goals, result in students learning, engage students and the principle of
“teaching up” (providing scaffolding)
- Assessment: teachers need to know, for each student, where that student begins
and where that student is in the individual journey toward meeting the criteria of
the lesson or unit
- Instruction: refers to how teachers teach or how students will experience learning.
Students are well served when teachers differentiate instruction based on students’
readiness, their interests, and their preferred approaches to learning.

9
- Classroom Leadership/Management: leading students and managing processes
and routines. Leading in a differentiated classroom suggests that a teacher has a
vision of a classroom where the welfare of each student is paramount, where
members come together as a team to achieve important goals—a community
designed to support the maximum development of each individual and the group
as a whole. Managing routines and processes in differentiated classrooms suggests
that the teacher will help students understand, contribute to, and participate in
structures designed to facilitate learning.

10
11
Week 5 workshop preparation

1. Readings 1 & 2: Complete a 3,2,1 for each of the readings (3 summarising points, 2 words
or phrases that were interesting, 1 thing you were left wondering about).
2. Base group rotation task
3. Identify 2 strategies that you will use to engage with Parents/Carers whilst on placement
*Bring your Professional Folio and planning documentation for Peer Review to Workshop 5
*Bring your evaluation, Supervising Teacher feedback and feedback from the children for your
implemented plan
*Download planning templates & bring a device to class to enable you to work on planning
documentation.

Week 6 workshop preparation

1. Readings 3: Write a 250 word summary on your philosophy on managing behaviour. Make
a list of 10 strategies that you could use to intervene in unproductive behaviour.
*Bring your evaluation, Supervising Teacher feedback and feedback from the children for your
implemented plan
*Download weekly & daily planning templates & bring a device to class to enable you to work
on planning documentation.

12
Week 5

1. Community
Arthur, L, Beecher, B, Death, E, Dockett & Farmer, S 2018, ‘Programming & planning in early
childhood settings’, Cengage, Australia, Victoria, pp. 36-57.
3 summarising points
- Children come to school with their different prior knowledge or experience that they
acquire from their participating in everyday activities in family and community life. It
is important that educators value these knowledges and respect and appreciate
diversity of families and communities.
- School, family and community should work collaboratively to ensure the continuity
of learning and transitions so as to help children to achieve maximum engagement
and learning outcomes. Involving parents in meaningful tasks could strengthen the
partnership between educators and families.
- There is a range of communication strategies that educators can choose to effectively
communicate with families to exchange information and engage parents. Educators
need to be aware of family’s expectations for their child’s learning
2 words or phrases that were interesting
- Funds of knowledge
- Transformative relationships/collaborative partnership
1 thing you were left wondering about
- How to deal with students with special family beliefs that may have conflicts in daily
learning activities?

2. Social & emotional Learning

Littlefield, L, Cavanagh, S, Knapp, K & O'Grady, L 2017, 'Kids matter: building the capacity of
Australian primary schools and early childhood services to foster children's social and
emotional skills and promote children's mental health' in E Frydenberg, AJ Martin & RJ Collies
(eds) 'Social and Emotional Learning in Australia and the Asia Pacific', Springer Nature,
Singapore, pp. 293-311.
3 summarising points

13
 - Kidsmatter is an Australian national mental health promotion, prevention and early
intervention initiative focus on children from birth to 12 years. There are four
components including education setting and broader community, school curriculum
and practice, parents and carers and the early sign of possible mental health
difficulties.
- Research suggests that improving children’s social and emotional skills can benefit
their school attitudes, behaviour and school performance. Education settings are
regarded as a significant “socialisation context” that helps children to meet their social
and emotional needs.
- To better support children’s social and emotional competence, a wide range of
strategies can be applied such as a whole-of-Setting Approach, educator training,
engaging families, improving the quality of evidence, adaption to meet the needs of
cultural groups and using technology to reinforce SEL.
From the teacher’s perspective, it is vital to establish
2 words or phrases that were interesting
- SEL – social and emotional learning
- Socialisation context
1 thing you were left wondering about
- Children who experience special difficulties may need professional intervention
sometimes (e.g. ADHD, ASD). How can educators identify the severity of children’s
mental health problems so as to provide support timely?

3. Strategies to engage parents/carers

- The simple things work best
One nice thing the secondary teachers [at my son’s school] do is send a stamped
postcard home when my son does a good piece of homework. I may be a techie, but I
actually quite like that old-fashioned touch, and it goes up on the kitchen noticeboard
and becomes a talking point.
- Involve parents in action research
A few years ago, I did some research with parents where they chose one thing to work
on with their child. For some, it was getting out of the house on time, for others it was
a specific school subject. They did this for a term and then reported back. It was great

14
 talking to the parents – they felt that they’d taken control of something and dealt with
it.
- Make “homework” interactive, but not to the point that the parent has to be the
teacher of the learning.
- Lead with the positive whenever you contact parents. Use language that promotes
cooperation, not confrontation. And end the conversation with a thank-you.

15
Week 6

3. Behaviour
Readings:
- Sapon-Shevin, M 2010, ‘Because we can change the world: a practical guide to building
cooperative, inclusive classroom communities’, Corwin Press, Thousand oaks, Calif, pp.
245-256.
- Williams, D 2012, ‘Background Basics’, University of South Australia, Adelaide, pp. 1-
24.
- Jones, VF & Jones, LS 2010, ‘Responding to violations of rules and procedures’
in Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and
solving problems (9th ed.), NJ: Merrill, Upper Saddle, pp. 297-328.
- Woolfolk Hoy, A & Weinstein, C 2006, ‘Student and teacher perspectives on classroom
management’ in CM Evertson & C Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of classroom
management: Research, practice and contemporary issues, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Mahwah, pp. 181-219.

1. Write a 250-word summary on your philosophy on managing behaviour.

It is essential to build the class into a trust community that every child feels connected
and supported. As a result, they will be willing to be part of it and to contribute to make
it better place. It takes some time, but every minute spent on it is worthy. Managing
behavior is an important part in establishing and maintaining a well-management
classroom which involves both teacher self and the students. However, behavioral
management is ultimately about students learning to develop their responsibilities for
their own behavior. There are a wide range of strategies that can help achieving success
behavioral management:
- Make clear and explained behavioral rules and expectations
- Indicate dissatisfaction on behalf of other class members
- Use a graded approach to manage inappropriate behavior
- Follow up warnings with action
- Individualize, rather than generalize (locate and specify who and what)
- Ensure catch-up in work missed through behavioral disruptions

16
 - Remain calm and rational
- Remove persistent disruptors so that others can work
- Handle situations themselves as far as possible before deferring to authority
figures such as senior school staff and parents
- Do not walk out – or run away or hide
Being a “good teacher” from students’ perspective is beneficial for manage behavior in
classroom effectively. A good teacher is able to establish caring relationships with
students, exercise authority without being rigid, threatening or punitive and make
learning fun.

2. Make a list of 10 strategies that you could use to intervene in unproductive behaviour.
- Respond positively to productive learner behaviour
- Arrange seating patterns so that you can easily move to be near all students
- Scan the class frequently in order to notice and respond to potential problems or
minor disruptions
- State expectations clearly
- Ignore the behaviour (minor misbehaviours only, associate this with praise for
appropriate behaviours)
- Use proximity control
- Place a small note on the student’s desk
- Call on the student or involve him by using his name in a story or question
- Increase interest by using humour or connecting the lesson to some topic in which the
student may be particularly interested
- Make contact (e.g. a glance, moving closer, touching on shoulder or ask a question
that the student can answer)
- See if the student need some assistance, acknowledge this, and provide the assistance
- Using a signal to indicate you would like the behaviour to stop
- The disruptive influence of the teacher’s intervention should not be greater than be
disruption it is intended to reduce
- An inappropriately angry teacher response creates tension and increases
disobedience and disruptive behaviour
- Remain calm

17
- Speak courteously
- Make eye contact and be aware of nonverbal message
- Remind students of the classroom rule or procedure they are not demonstrating
- Take responsibility for statements by using the personal pronoun I
- Provide students with choices
- Remind the student of the positive consequences associated with behaving in a
prosocial manner
- Reinforce behaviour of students close by who are behaving in a desire manner
- When one or two students are being extremely disruptive, it is best to focus other
students’ attention on their tasks and then talk privately with the disruptive students

18