EDSE11024 TEACHING YOUTH

Central Queensland University

Rachael-Lyn Anderson

12143136

Teaching Youth-EDSE11024

Assessment Task 2: Critical Reflection

Vincent Mawn

5th June, 2020

EDSE11024 TEACHING YOUTH

A personal professional strength which I demonstrate regarding communication skills is the

use of differentiation in teaching strategies. I demonstrated this skill during practical

placement in my final year of secondary schooling. During the placement, I discovered my

strength in using different teaching strategies to teach Japanese to primary age students. At

the school, I taught students using the 3-2-1 and Know Want, Learn communication

strategies. Before explaining a new concept, I asked the students to recall 3 facts of prior

knowledge they obtained from the previous lesson. Secondly, I requested the students to list 2

phrases they want to know. At the end of the lesson, I played a game of Around the World

with the students as a way of reflecting on what was learnt. The feedback I obtained, was to

enable mastery in the ability to use teaching strategies.

A personal professional challenge that I currently face in literacy is spelling. Grammar is an

issue present in my previous assignment piece. The inability to spell words without the

assistance of spell-check devices will result in a loss of clarity and understanding in my

written expression. My apparent strength is the ability to comprehend and analyse visual

literacy materials.

A challenge that I struggle with in verbal communication is the pace of speech. At times, I

tend to speak at a very rapid pace. This occurs when I feel anxious and when I have a desire

to contribute to a conversation.

My greatest challenge that I constantly struggle with is numeracy. Addition, subtraction,

multiplication, fractions, number sentence, and coordinates are areas of my strength. While

area, geometry, percentage, and graphs are areas of my limitations. This is reflected in my

marks from the numeracy focused quizzes. I believe a refresher course in basic and complex

mathematical operations is required due to the lost of numeracy skills that were acquired
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throughout both primary and secondary schooling. The inability to recall and apply prior

knowledge is due to the changes in teachers and their learning styles.

As a pre-service teacher, I am charged with helping all young people make a

successful transition from childhood to adulthood (Welch et al, 2018, p.3). To be an

effective teacher, I need to have high overall literacy and numeracy skills, and strong

communication skills (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership,

2014).

Everyone has communication styles, as teachers, we can adopt techniques that

will enhance our teaching to better engage our students (Howell, . 2014). If teachers

have poor communication skills, this will have consequences on their abilities to teach

their students. As such, my rapid pace of speech will have a great influence on my

practices, and a greater impact on my students. Verbal communication requires

students to have comprehensible and interpretable skills (Burns, , Claire,. 2003). As

a teacher, speaking with an increased speed will result in the mispronunciation of

syllables, and the potential of miscommunication. However, language inaccuracies

will have an impact on the student’s ability to comprehend and interpret the message.

An area to begin critical reflection of literacy components is spelling. Spelling

will have a great impact on prospective students. It is crucial as a teacher to teach

students how to become accurate and fluent spellers, however slow and inaccurate

encoding of words can impede fluent writing. Knowing how to spell words correctly

and effectively is to better help others understand what is being conveyed. Inadequate

spelling can have an impact on the capability to provide appropriate instructions to

students as well as an explanation and an understanding. A possible adverse impact of

spelling is that the students may view the teachers as uneducated.

EDSE11024 TEACHING YOUTH

My numeracy skills will have consequences for myself as a future graduate teacher

and my future students. When students become numerate, they develop a broad range

of knowledge and skills to use mathematics confidently across other learning areas at

school. Students have opportunities to transfer their mathematical knowledge and

skills beyond the classroom (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting

Authority, n.d). The use of incorrect mathematical knowledge can reduce my

student’s level of confidence in their numeracy abilities.

If numeracy rules are not revised as a teacher, I will not be able to fulfil my role and

meet National Standard 2 description 5 “Literacy and numeracy strategies” within the

Australian Professional Teacher Standards guiding document (AITSL, 2017).

To be an effective teacher, I have a responsibility to engage in professional development, 6.2-

Engage in professional learning and improving practice, and 6.4-Apply professional learning

and improve student learning. I believe personal development can help motivate

experimentation and changes (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 2011). Teaching graduates

are to have the ability to teach literacy and numeracy (Clarke, & Pittaway, , 2014).

Therefore, I have compiled a list of professional learning goals regarding my challenges in

communication, literacy, and numeracy.

As a teacher, I wish to be effective in my teaching. This can only be achieved by speaking at

a speed level of my student’s understanding and taking pauses briefly at the end of a

meaningful phrase, thus my students can understand what is being conveyed. Too frequently,

I will have a lot to contribute to a conversation and I do not stop to provide the receiver time

to understand and respond. The receiver’s response is the only way the sender can verify that
EDSE11024 TEACHING YOUTH

a message has been properly received (Anderson& Bolt, 2013). By taking a pause, I allow

time for my students to understand and respond to what is being said.

To develop my literacy skills of spelling, I plan to create spelling lists and turn them into

word -searches. I have previously used word searches to help with my spelling skills during

primary schooling. I use word searches to reinforce my vocabulary, improve my memory,

and improve my mental acuity. Another recommendation to improve my spelling ability is to

play Scrabble. The objective of Scrabble is to earn the highest score by spelling out words in

a crossword fashion onto a playing board. Scrabble is used to help improve vocabulary;

therefore, I will incorporate Scrabble into my teaching by playing the game with my

prospective students. I will also create a personal dictionary to determine the meaning of

unfamiliar words to help spell words I have trouble spelling. By writing a list of words I

have trouble spelling, I can learn their spelling rules (Geikhman,. n.d).

By reflecting on my numeracy proficiencies, I have identified that my basic and complex

formulaic knowledge needs improvements. This will achieved by weekly completion of

exercises in the Study of Mathematics, and the Basic Operations with Numbers booklets

(CQU, 2011a, 2011b).

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REFERENCE LIST

Anderson, L.E , & Bolt, S. B. (2013). Professionalism: skills for workplace success. 3rd ed.
Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall.

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (n.d). F-10

Curriculum, General Capabilities: Numeracy. Retrieved from
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/
numeracy/

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2014). report: Action
Now: Classroom Ready Teachers [PDF]. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from
https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/
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(1)da178891b1e86477b58fff00006709da.pdf?sfvrsn=9bffec3c_0).

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2017). Australian
professional standards for teachers: Graduate teachers. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from

https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards

Burns, A., Claire, S. (2003). Clearly speaking: Pronunciation in action for teachers (1st ed.).
[Researchgate Edition]. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282332684_Clearly_speaking_Pronunciatio
n_in_action_for_teachers).

Clarke, M. & Pittaway, S. (2014). Marsh’s becoming a teacher.Frenchs Forest NSW: Pearson
Australia.

CQUniversity (2011a) Basic Operations with Numbers. Retrieved from

https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/1592638/mod_book/chapter/61282/Basic
%20Operations%20with%20Numbers.pdf

CQUniversity (2011b) The study of mathematics. Retrieved from

https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/1592638/mod_book/chapter/61282/The
%20Study%20of%20Mathematics.pdf

Darling-Hammond, L., & McLaughlin, M.W (2011). Policies that support professional
development in an era of reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6), 81-92.
doi:10.177/00317217110900622
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Geikhman, Y. (n.d). How to Improve Your English Spelling: 9 Easy Techniques [Blog post].
Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/how-to-improve-english-
spelling/).

Howell, J. (2014) Teaching and Learning: building effective pedagogies. Sydney, NSW:
Oxford Press.

Welch, A., Connell, R., Mockler, N., Sriprakash, A., Proctor, H., Hayes, D., … Groundwater-
Smith, S. (2018). Education, change and society (4th ed.). Victoria, Australia: Oxford
University Press. p.3,