EDN248 Assessment 2- Lesson Reflection

This lesson reflection is of mini lessons performed at Piara Waters Primary School with pre-
primary to year one aged students. The lesson we developed was based on fundamental
movement skills which is important as the HPE curriculum has an explicit focus on the
development of FMS in the early years (Hands, 2012). We planned a lesson on teaching
students to perform a gallop in the correct manner, which is developing a student’s FMS
greater. It is shown that a child with a higher level of competence in an assortment of FMS
can confidently participate in a wider variety of activities (Hands, 2012). Hands (2012) also
stated that students benefit from many physical, social, and emotional health outcomes in
both the long and short term. Using the approach to student learning that all students
develop and learn differently, as not all students are the same, we developed a lesson that
used differentiation to cater for all the students’ different needs.

What worked well in the FMS lesson.

Our feedback as students were performing FMS step by step ensured that when we finally
galloped at a faster pace with music the technique itself was performed correctly. Having a
small number of students in the group worked well because when giving students individual
feedback it catered exactly to their needs to help them perform and understand the FMS
better. Feedback assists learners to reflect on their learning to better understand their level
of understanding of the skill (State Government of Victoria, 2020). Thus, making feedback
very important to the students.

The assessment process to measure students process we used was a laminated printout of
an assessment sheet we created that asked students to rate how they felt they did and if
they enjoyed it. This showed us how the students felt about the FMS and if they were able to
perform it well. Using this type of self-assessment is to boost learning and achievement and
to promote self-regulation (Pintrich, 2000). Research suggests that self-regulation and
achievement are closely related (Andrade & Valtcheva, 2009). We also had an assessment
sheet we filled out when we watched and assessed how far students could gallop using the
correct technique if students showed they understood the FMS and if they could gallop
effectively around the set area. The assessment forms were completed during the last part
of the activity after students had been shown and performed the correct technique.

The process used to assess the teaching aid used. The teaching aid we used were cones to
mark distance FMS was to be performed in and music to encourage FMS movement. The
main process used to assess the teaching aid was the student’s outcome of performing the
FMS and the student’s outcome was shown through the assessment taken on each student.
The students’ outcomes were mostly all good, with every student understanding the FMS,
but with some students having a slight difficulty performing the FMS.

Another area I believed worked well with teaching this FMS lesson was the ability to take the
lesson. Walking in to take this lesson with little to no prior knowledge of the students or
environment, I believe we improvised well under pressure. We had planned and set up our
lesson on the oval, and within five minutes we had to change the whole plan and move and
set up in a small, crowded area due to the weather. So overall I believe the FMS lesson
worked well under the circumstances and had a good outcome with all student’s continuous
involvement.
Things to change if implementing FMS lesson again.

To change some aspects of the feedback, would be to cater certain aspects of teaching to
certain student’s needs. For example, some of the students had never galloped before, so
using words that they would understand better when giving them feedback about their
progression. Relating words to words students can understand, using less technical words.

Changing the assessment process to measure students process by having more questions
on the assessment sheet for students, so we can gain a better insight into what they have or
haven’t learnt. By making our assessment sheet more accurate by changing the way we
assess to just ticking boxes if they meet the requirements or if needs more work and making
small notes if they need to do more work to achieve the requirements.

Can also improve on using numerous ways to assess the teaching aid used instead of just
one way. Next time can also improve on creating a teaching aid that assists students better
and helps with their understanding of performing the FMS better, as we didn’t have a set
teaching aid that made a dramatic difference in teaching the skill.

Reflect on your communication, management, and organisational skills, and your

professionalism, during the FMS learning experience.

Our planning and organisation skills were well planned which is very important as perfect
planning prevents poor performance, stated in the topic 3 planning and assessment lecture
(McSporran, 2021). I believe we planned and organised the lesson well that when we had to
pack up our whole lesson and move it inside due to the rain, not much changed and we were
still able to implement the lesson how we planned. One thing to change next time to improve
our management skills is to have better time management as the last group we taught didn’t
have time to complete the last activity. We could tell by the end of each lesson that we had
good organisation skills as we didn’t have and poor performance or misbehaviour from
students as they kept on task and enjoyed learning a new FMS. I believe we also
communicated well with each student as the groups were small and were easier to help
individual students. At the start of the lesson, we used language the students would
understand to demonstrate the teaching cues. We also gave students a SMART goal that
they would be able to complete by the conclusion of the lesson. We showed our
professionalism by introducing ourselves and the lesson objective at the start of the lesson,
which gave students a good idea of what would be required from them by the end of the
lesson.

Reflect on the effectiveness of the teaching aid/s used. Explain the contribution the teaching
aid/s made to student learning. If it didn’t contribute to student learning, tell us why and what
you might change in the future.

The teaching aid we used contributed somewhat to students learning, we had cones set out
for students to complete the FMS correctly between set areas and we also used music as a
guide to gallop around and be able to stop when the music stops. These elements were the
main parts of our lesson and helped the students understand the FMS well. But we didn’t
have a set teaching aid that physically helped students perform the FMS. I don’t think we
would change anything to do with our lesson regarding the teaching aid, because our lesson
ran smoothly, and students understood and were able to perform the FMS. If we were able
to attempt the lesson again, we could plan to use something that could make learning to
gallop easier, possibly an obstacle to physical gallop over. But overall, I believe our lesson
went well and we had good feedback from students when asked about the lesson and all
students had a good outcome regarding performing the FMS.

What three learning activities would you provide in future lessons, to consolidate students’
learning?

A follow up to this lesson to consolidate students learning would be to re-introduce the skill
then do an activity that involves progression such as adding obstacles to gallop over. This
builds on the knowledge they learnt by also adding to the skill. You could also follow up by
doing a reflection and then asking students to perform what they already know and then
helping students with the skill further. We could also do another lesson and include self-
assessment deeper or even peer assessment. So, students can learn the skill and assess
themselves to see what they can do to improve. Our lesson was very basic as we didn’t
know the student's prior knowledge so future lessons have a lot of room to add activities and
make more complex activities for students on a higher level of understanding.

Consider how your FMS teaching experience has highlighted areas of the APST that you will
focus on developing in the future to improve your teaching.

The APST areas that were highlighted during this teaching experience were 1.1 physical,
social, and intellectual development, and characteristics of students, 1.5 differentiate
teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities and
3.2 plan, structure, and sequence learning programs (AITSL, 2017). I will focus on
developing each of these APST areas further in my future teaching. With APST 1.1 I will
develop this area further by catering learning to student’s needs and by trying to understand
my students better physically, socially and intellectually. In developing APST 1.5 I will have
lots of levels to learning activities that use differentiation to cater for each student's needs. I
will have to identify each student’s range of abilities to be able to cater lessons around their
abilities. Lastly, I will develop APST 3.2 further by planning a sequence of learning activities
that gradually progress to build upon prior learning and gain new knowledge and
understanding of new skills.

Reference list

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2017). Australian
Professional Standards for Teachers. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards

Hands, B. (2012). How fundamental are fundamental movement skills. ResearchOnline.

https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1066&context=health_article#:~:text=The%20importance%20of%20fundamental
%20movement,the%20short%20and%20long%20term.

Heidi Andrade & Anna Valtcheva. (2009). Promoting Learning and Achievement Through

Self-Assessment. Theory Into Practice, 48:1, 12-19, DOI: 10.1080/00405840802577544
McSporran, G. (2021). Week three: Planning and Assessment.
https://moodleprod.murdoch.edu.au/pluginfile.php/2639101/mod_resource/content/1/Topic
%203%20Lecture%20Planning%20and%20Assessment2021.pdf

Pintrich, P. (2000). The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. In Handbook of

self-regulation, Edited by: Boekaerts, M., Pintrich, P. and Zeidner, M. 452–502. San Diego,
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State Government of Victoria. (2020). Feedback and reporting.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/Pages/insight-
feedback.aspx