Northcote St

Marrickville
NSW 2204
Phone (02) 9569 2444
Fax (02) 9560 3693
www.marrickvil-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

10-Jun-23
To whom it may concern

Xinyue Ru completed her 20 hours of observations at Marrickville High School Support in

March 2023. She spent time observing students from 3 different classes who have a
moderate intellectual disability, mild intellectual disability and Autism.

Xinyue Ru was actively involved in taking notes and observing how students learn. She
got to observe the different strategies teachers use in the classroom to ensure effective
behaviour management such as reward charts, behaviour flowcharts and planned
seating arrangements.

Xinyue Ru observed the lessons that teachers prepared and how each student requires
differentiation to complete their work. She got to observe the visuals and social stories
used for individual students to cater to their learning needs.

Xinyue Ru assisted staff in monitoring students on the playground at recess and lunch.
She saw the strategies put in place to ensure safety in the playground e.g. students
playing handball or reading a book

Xinyue Ru completed her field placement successfully and met all the requirements
necessary. She asked questions, demonstrating her willingness to learn and improve her
teaching.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to con tact me to discuss further.

Kind Regards

Brooke Jackson
Teacher Special Education Marrickville High School
 Field placement report
Personal Reflection
Filled with an intense curiosity about what awaited me during my special
education field placement, I eagerly embarked on a three-day observation at a co-ed
school in NSW. While each day presented me with support teachers who briefly
showcased the various special needs they had to address in different classrooms, I
was super aware of making consistent effort to approach everything with an open
mind, devoid of judgment and preconceived notions about the students faced, so I
diligently took descriptive notes while striving to maintain in an objective tone. This
experience turned out to be one of the most remarkable journey I have ever taken
throughout my pathway towards teaching since the things I witnessed were truly
amazing. I will expand my reflection in three dimensions - teaching practices,
behaviour support and participant interactions.
Teaching practices seemed to be combined with sensory integration as the
teachers and SLSOs were making knowledge tangible and accessible by the students,
eliminating as many potential risks in the process as possible. This requires the
thorough planning of teaching resources and activities prior to the classes. For
instance, when teachers and SLSOs delivered a lesson about buoyancy in science
curriculum, they used multiple resources from multimedia ones (e.g., a short video
from Youtube to bring down stress level) to some physical ones (e.g., a designated
seat plan for students to sit based on their preferences for the tasks, a transparent
water tank, a rubber duck, an unsharpened pencil - to prevent potential injuries from
its tip, a toy ring - round and without artificial adornment, a cotton, a cube, a slice of
wood, a small piece of wood strip, and a ladle for students to scoop objects out of
water if student(s) felt uncomfortable to use their bare hands to take objects out).
Students could have the freedom to choose what item(s) they liked to experiment.
Another example could be the service learning, where teachers and SLSOs
needed to scaffold and facilitate students’ community involvement throughout the
process. There was one service learning theme about making the learning
environment cleaner. The teachers and SLSOs began by organising the students into a
line and proceeded to demonstrate the necessary steps, ensuring clear visibility for
all. They then encouraged the students to describe their observations using their own
words. The discussion was further broken down into smaller questions, focusing on
the sequence of steps and the expressions used. Throughout the classes, the teachers
and SLSOs kept the students engaged in experiments while simultaneously
monitoring their real-time conditions through observation. If they noticed any signs
of fatigue or feeling overwhelmed due to the dense knowledge, they offered the
students the option to take a break in designated "chill-out zones”. These zones
provided comfortable sofa beds and therapy toys for the students' relaxation. The
therapy toys helped students calm down when they experienced frustration,
particularly when they struggled to answer questions or express their emotions
appropriately.
Turning to behaviour support, the school has established an explicit and
consistent system, where there were pyramid-shaped Classroom Behaviour Chart(s)
available in every classroom, visible to both teachers (plus SLSOs) and students.
Each student has their name card on the chart, enabling real-time progress
monitoring. Non-verbal feedback was provided by shuffling the cards, and verbal
feedback was given when necessary. The chart consisted of seven tiers from “Parents
Contact” to “Outstanding”, with students receiving rewards like stickers and small
incentives for demonstrating positive behaviour and meeting their learning goals in a
persistent manner.
Participant interactions focused on cultivating healthy relationships and a
positive school climate. At the beginning and at the end of each class, teachers
expressed appreciation for the presence and support of SLSOs and the students.
Positive behaviour support was consistently reinforced through polite and respectful
communication, which was built upon the foundation of providing practical choices.
For example, SLSOs would approach the student(s) discreetly, inquiring about
his/her mood and readiness for the lesson if the student(s) didn’t seem to follow the
instructions. If needed, alternative task(s) or chill-out zone warm-up(s) were also
ready. Teachers and SLSOs also acknowledged and validated students' efforts by
saying “Thank you so much for your effort, (student name). I could see you are on the
right track.” If the students were attempting the tasks in pairs or in groups, they were
encouraged to express gratefulness to their peers for their contributions too.
Throughout the placement, it was thorough consistent detailed instructions
(including classroom settings and management) and positive social interactions that
underpinned the success of each periods.

Literature Review
In the reflective journal provided ample details about the establishment of
success classes in special education setting, I’ve selected a particular topic to
continue on my literature review - choices provided for students in special education
setting.
Research done by Lane et al. (2013) has articulated how choice-making
intervention becomes one of the effective strategies to navigate student behaviour.
They mentioned the provision of choices could have the student preferences
manifested and help students relieve some aversions towards the task (Lane et al.,
2013) since essentially speaking students are not given the option of not doing the
tasks. This finding is echoed by Dunlap et al. (1994) and Kern et al. (1998), where
students can gain some sort of control and navigation over tasks when they have the
choices presented.
Similarly, UDL framework also highlights the significance of the presence of
choices, where students can “Optimise individual choice and autonomy” through the
choice-based teaching practice (CAST, 2022). This is to say, the adoption of choice-
making strategy furthers the process of student autonomy, making student voice
evident in teaching practice.
If we look through the lens of motivation and engagement, we can also find out
choice-based teaching practice not only benefits student behaviour, but also provides
foundation for student motivation and engagement. Meanwhile, unlike extrinsic
prizes like lollipops and stationery, choices are served as intrinsic motivation where
students can generate self-determination under the conditions of them being
authentic, competence-enhancing and adopted in proper amount (Evans & Boucher,
2015). This requires teachers and SLSOs to know students well before implementing
it in real practice in daily routine, which is also a prerequisite and standard embedded
in AITSL (AITSL, 2017).
Offering choices for students could also have an overall positive outcome to
the school as a whole. Because offering practical choices for students, as known as
students have a say towards school businesses, it’s essentially empowering students
to get involved in constructing the schools into their ideal educational environment
(Fielding, 2011). And through choices perceived by students, teacher-student
partnership is shaped because students are seen as independent individuals who have
the potential to make a difference, which enhances their wellbeing such as self-
esteem and self-efficacy when navigating themselves in the learning process and
eventually it gives a booster shot towards students academic achievement (Mitra &
Gross, 2009, Bonati, 2020).
Despite the benefits of integrating choice-making implementation mentioned
above, it’s noteworthy that the authors and research given above are all from
developed countries. This is to say, authors from developing countries may display
inconsistent outcomes and conclusions. Furthermore, this brief literature review has
not yet touched on the challenges encountered by teachers and SLSOs when they
have the strategy applied. Last but not least, choice-making intervention may not be
applicable for students who are at their very young age, because they may not fully
understand what their choices imply and how they can make a difference through
choices. Therefore further research needs to consider these perspectives carefully and
come up with a more thorough research to better facilitate students and teachers in
the learning and teaching progress.

References
AITSL. (2017). Teacher standards. AITSL. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards

Bonati, M. L. (2020). Supporting positive peer social interactions and healthy

relationships. Inclusive Education in Schools and Early Childhood Settings,
115–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2541-4_11

CAST. (2022, September 2). The UDL guidelines. UDL. https://

udlguidelines.cast.org/

Dunlap, G., DePerczel, M., Clarke, S., Wilson, D., Wright, S., White, R., & Gomez,
A. (1994). Choice making to promote adaptive behavior for students with
emotional and behavioral challenges. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
27(3), 505–518. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1994.27-505

Evans, M., & Boucher, A. R. (2015). Optimizing the Power of Choice: Supporting
Student Autonomy to Foster Motivation and Engagement in Learning. Wiley
Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mbe.12073
 Fielding, M. (2011). Patterns of partnership: Student Voice, Intergenerational
Learning and Democratic Fellowship. Rethinking Educational Practice Through
Re exive Inquiry, 61–75. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-94-007-0805-1_5

Kern, L., Vorndran, C. M., Hilt, A., Ringdahl, J. E., Adelman, B. E., & Dunlap, G.
(1998). REVIEW PAPER: Choice as an Intervention to Improve Behavior: A
Review of the Literature. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41824219

Lane, K., Falk, K., & Wehby, J. (2013). Classroom management in Special Education
classrooms and Resource Rooms. Handbook of Classroom Management.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203874783.ch16

Mitra, D. L., & Gross, S. J. (2012). Increasing student voice in school reform.
Handbook of Implementation Science for Psychology in Education, 361–372.
https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139013949.027
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