Date Lesson Notes Useful Notes
Elements
Monday 23rd  Students reading bridge to
February 2011 Terebithia and The Hobbit.
They read a chapter at a time
an then work in assigned
groups to complete set tasks
in workbooks. I walked round
and checked progress.
 Student handed in a USB
with her homework on it-
Good for showing how
students are already using
technology.
Classroom Notes  Spelling words were done on
white board whilst students
Darcie Sargent were sat on the floor in a
casual setting. Sally
[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of correct
contents of the document.] monitored most student
Reflections are one of the top answers but knowsin
key concepts them so
well she allows them to mark
teaching. This journal helps me to reflect
their own. on my
classroom experiences. In turn, these experiences
help me to cement my knowledge learned through
my teaching units at university, and give me great
ideas and insights for when I become a teacher.
Improvements & Key
 Motivation- Sally told students
that they were doing year 8 work
to motivate them to try harder.
This would fit with Achievement
motivational theory (Marsh,
2008), and the students really
seemed to try hard, however I
don't know them well enough yet
to gauge exactly how
motivational the year eight work
is. Also the strategy may be
detrimental to students who have
low-self esteem (Marsh, 2008) it
may have the opposite effect.
 Motivation- Students know that
whoever gets the most spelling
words
the receive a prize at
the end of the year. ie- A DVD.
Students really seem to practice
hard and put a huge effort in.
They get quite animated and
excited during this activity, it's
· Assertiveness- children could
sense I was still a little nervous. I'm
sure that after time my confidence
will grow after more time spent in
the classroom.
· Need to brush up on literacy and
numeracy skills. Perhaps find
online course or something through
Curtin as a filler until the restricted
units.
· Keep up with journal and make a
note of all useful tips and tricks.
· Start thinking of creative and
exciting rewards, motivators and
discipline strategies.
· Sign up to teachers websites.
By Darcie Sargent
 Misbehaving students had
name on the board, or sent
out of the lesson. I saw many
of Bennet & Smilaniches
strategies used very well
(1994) such as the look,
proximity, use of names.
Sally demonstrated good
control of the student’s
behaviour; The classroom
was noisy but mostly
productive.
 I helped to give feedback and
assess the student’s abilities
on certain topics by walking
around the classroom and
talking to them. Asking
“So how are you going with
this section?” (Group work)
“What do you think the
character feels like
now?”(Reading)
 I used 'the look' (Bennett et
al, 1994) which to my
surprise worked. I feel these
strategies are more effective
when you have a better
relationship with he students,
huge competition for all. · Make sure motivational strategies
However, it can also be un- are not all geared towards
motivational for those who do competitiveness.
not thrive in competition.
 Homework is optional- IF done
but handed in late students are
warned and it won’t be accepted.
I feel this encourages students to
take more responsibility for their
learning and prepares them for
study at high school next year.
 Attention- Usually place English
at the start of the day as the
students are the most awake and
attentive.
 Inclusivity (Bennett et al, 1994)
-Hand jobs out for the day/week-
Students can choose their own
which increases responsibility-
put school flag up, hand out
lunches etc
 Engagement- Get students to sit
on the floor and swap seats to
mix it up and get their attention-
 however when I used it the Watch who they choose to sit
student ceased chatting and next to and move if needs be.
carried on with his work.

 Sally has developed her own  Rewards- Students receive their

preventative strategy. Once
she sees the class begin to
shift off task she claps three
times and the class has to
clap back, this gets them
focused and listening.
name on the board, blue slips,
praise and marbles in a jar, which
leads to a reward once the jar is
full.

 Student with cerebral palsy

able to complete and
participate with all students.
Was hard to share time
between her and other
students, however she has a
helper and the students treat
her with respect and as a
friend.

Monday 7th  Students are still reading
March 2011 bridge to Terebithia and The
Hobbit. Working in assigned
groups to complete set tasks
in workbooks. I walked round
and checked progress.
· The reading lesson involved
students reading a chapter of the
book then completing exercises
on it. They were to work in
groups in assigned roles, which
increased responsibility.
Roles included-
· As a teacher- Read all texts ready
for classes.
· Behaviour management is vital,
class environment controls this
however sometimes misbehavior
can't be erradicated. Would like to
 Bridge to Terebithia does not
resonate well with the
students- they find that it
jumps around and does not
make sense to them. I tried to
explain some of the concepts
from my very vague
knowledge of the story.
However it would have
helped if I had read the book;
This demonstrated how
important it is to have
knowledge of content
(Whitton et al, 2004). I feel
this book is too challenging
for the students as it requires
much abstract thinking to
relate to the concepts; This
has taught me that
knowledge of students and
resource evaluation is very
important when choosing
such sources.
 Discussion manager
 Illustrator
 Quiz master
 Question Writer
The students swapped roles
each lesson.
 Mathletics seemed to be a huge
motivator for the students. I feel
their motivation may be from the
technology influence and from
competition. I did notice however,
that some students went on
easier levels simply to gain
higher scores, they should have
been on more challenging age
appropriate levels.
know more options about
discipline.
 When using technology in the
classroom always monitor.
Technology can be given as a
reward, especially something like
mathletics as they enjoy the
challenge, however make sure I
monitor the students. When using
technology in the classroom,
ensure it is as a tool and not the
whole lesson.

 Students began math work

from their workbooks. Those
who finished their tasks early
were to access the mathletics
website to continue with their
 online math quizzes.

 I also helped in marking math

books which was great to
brush up on math very basic
skills. I noticed a huge
difference between students
three types- students who
rushed, did the bare
minimum to get to recess.
Then students who were
meticulous and made sure
they had everything correct
before leaving. Then those
who tried but made neither a
huge or weak effort. Showed
me the diversity of students,
and this was only in a class
of twenty.

 One student sent out of the

classroom after his name on
the board. After five minutes
time out he had settled and
returned to the lesson. He
continually misbehaves,
which made me wonder what
exactly can make him
behave. Work he is
 interested in perhaps?

Monday 21st · Science lesson- teacher from
March 2011 high school came in to teach
a short lesson based on
prediction. Ie-melting of ice.
· Students were very excited
by the fact they were doing
year eight work.
· Some very good predictions
and questions from students.
As a whole they were
working well above their
levels, asking questions
above the simple melting of
ice- looking into volume,
substance and ice cube
sisize
· Students like to know they are
completing higher grade work, so
using worksheets with grade
eight written on them motivates
students [must be careful that it
doesn't scare some students]
· Noted the importance of truly
being excited about a subject
students definitely do pick up on
this.
· Find and research ways to include
students with disabilities. Be
prepared for this occurrence as it is
a definite possibility- some training
may be necessary.
· Begin collecting resources. New
teacher at the school swore that a
good resource file for a back up
and good ideas is essential.

· Helped Sally assess student

performance via marking
rubric. The rubric scored
students out of five, and the
majority of the marks I
suggested were what Sally
would have expected of her
students. This made me feel
 confident that I can
formatively assess
reasonably well and that I am
beginning to understand the
students well. I marked
students on the creativity of
their question about the
experiment and the quality
and detail of their prediction.

References

Bennett, B., & Smilanich, P., (1994).,CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: A tThinking & Caring Approach. Bookation, Toronto.

Bennett, B., Smilanich. (1994). Preventing and responding to misbehaviour through low-key responses. Classroom management: a
thinking and caring approach. Toronto

Marsh, C., (2008). Becoming a Teacher; Knowledge Skills and Issues. Pearson Education, Australia.

Whitton, D., Sinclair, C., Barker, K., Nanlohy, P. & Nosworthy, M. (2004). Learning for teaching: teaching for learning. South Melbourne:
Thompson.