Journal Entry & response to student feedback

This first journal entry was completed after my first week of observation (30/05/2020).

The school context for my placement is quite different to my last placement. This placement I am at
Kadina Memorial School which is a rural school. There are students from a vide variety of
backgrounds including aboriginal and indigenous students. For my final placement I am teaching
three strands of Physical Education and taking a year 8 care group. Two strands of year 8 PE and one
class of year 9 PE. One of the year 8 classes really struggles to engage with sports and prefer to play
game such as chasey and red rover all over. They are both in catch and throw phase of the
curriculum looking at different catch and throw games/sports one just completed frisbee with the
other looking at dodgeball.

On placement I am teaching two year 8 classes 4 times a week and one year 9 PE class 4 times a
week. Classes vary in size from 22-28. These classes differ quite drastically in ability and interest in
physical education. In each of the three classes when observing there are a student in each class that
refuse to participate. These students have sat out when I have been observing and teachers have
tried a variety of different strategies to encourage the students to participate including contacting
parents. The students and parents both understood that lack of participation would harm their
grade and they were accepting of that. For the two year 8 classes I am looking at doing a unit on
European handball to continue with the catch and throw section. For the year 9’s I am looking at
doing an AFL unit for their oval balls section of the curriculum. There is a rubric for the year 8’s catch
and throw that I can use or manipulate. Last placement I did part of a unit on AFL which will be
useful to help me create this unit for thee year 9’s. As school has just returned to in class there are
still a couple of students learning from home. By the time I am teaching these students will be back
in the classroom but is something that was interesting to observe and important to understand how
to teach students online and ways to keep them engaged.

The school uses Daymap for class roles and it is mandatory the role is completed in the first 10
minutes of the class to ensure all students are there. I have seen the importance of this with
students going missing and not attending classes. Parents are encouraged to be involved with the
students learning and it is mandatory that students’ diaries are signed once a week by a parent or
caregiver, or the student receives a detention. Parents are also expected to access daymap where
they can see their child’s progress. My mentor teachers have also explained to me that when taking
a class to the REC centre that its important to contact the front office of the school and let them
know that we are going to the REC centre in case of emergency they know where the class is
located.

There are many polices and principles in place, the school has been excellent in organising a folder
with all the relevant policies and behaviour management procedures. Student wellbeing policies and
procedures are also in the folder. Relevant curriculum links are made in the policies and rubrics have
been included also. Both of my mentor teachers have provided me with the relevant curriculum
information as well as informing me about any students that require specific strategies.
Journal entry 2: (10/06/2020) First day teaching

Week 1 of teaching: lessons 1&2.

Prior to teaching the year 9’s I created a unit plan and rubric for student assessment. The three
content descriptors are included in each lesson plan with the relevant ones for each lesson being
highlighted. The rubric created will be shown to the students throughout the unit to remind them
what they are being graded on. Focussing on teamwork, spacing and utilising different strategies
that are transferable across different sports.

Year 9’s double lesson, started lesson in class and students created SMART goals for the AFL topic.
Then a YouTube video was used to explain AFL 9’s. Feedback from teacher was that the lesson
should have started outside as kids were excited for me to be taking them and beginning the lesson
inside could cause students to have a negative outlook on my teaching style. The lesson ran smooth
more work in required on my routines, eg making sure you know how many students there are, and
they all return from changerooms, keys are ready for changerooms etc. Another thing I realised
today was cramming too much into a lesson my mentor discussed having simple goals/ outcomes for
the lesson can be more beneficial for the students. The first lesson should have focussed on
handballing and that be the aim for the lesson. Having clear goals and objectives for each lesson is
important and it is okay for them to be simple goals. I have adjusted my unit plan and changed it
around to make simple goals for each lesson.

Notes:

My mentors have been great in providing me with specific feedback that I can work to improve. They
have also been awesome in letting me teach the way I want to. I have taken in their feedback and
am adapting to things as I am feeling more comfortable. Things such as preparing for classes better
and body positioning are factors, I have worked on. My voice outdoors and in the gym needs to
improve and is an area I am also focussing on. This can be walking around asking students questions
while they warm up or while I set up. It is important to do this to continue to develop relationships
with the students. Little things like when splitting the class into teams ensuring students that
typically work together are split up and work with other students.

The feedback I have received from my first two days teaching has been great and helped me pick up
on areas I hadn’t previously thought about. I am very fortunate to have two great mentors who bring
a wealth of knowledge. Students are beginning to feel comfortable in my lessons and I am
experiencing some positive feedback from students and mentors which is great.