Approaches to Teaching & Learning 2 Elizabeth Ferguson, s4492512 1,043 words

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CASE WRITING
PRACTICE DESCRIBE: What happened? What context? Who was involved? What did you do? What
did others do?
A specific experience from my placement that raised several questions about teaching and learning
occurred on the 19
th
of May when I was teaching a last period history class to year nine students on
the topic of World War I. In this lesson, the students were introduced to the skill of source analysis
by examining different examples of propaganda from this time period. This lesson was my least
successful one to date (despite careful planning) due to a lack of engagement from my students,
which resulted in feelings of uncertainty about the effectiveness of my teaching practices.
To learn about propaganda, my students listened and took notes as I defined the term, then listed
and explained different propaganda techniques that were used during WWI. I tried to engage the
students by asking for contributions and directing questions to specific individuals, but they showed
little interest in the topic and couldnt understand how they could practically use these skills. On the
board, I demonstrated how to conduct a source analysis and provided students with a list of
questions to assist in conducting their analysis. Two propaganda images from WWI were tacked onto
the whiteboard, markers were given out, and students reluctantly broke into groups to come to the
front of the room and collectively conduct a source analysis. When they had completed the task, the
whole class briefly discussed their interpretations of the images and identified the propaganda
techniques that were used in creating them. This discussion (and the lesson) concluded with the
ringing of the bell, and the departure of students.
PRACTICE EXPLAIN: So what do you think this all means? How are you interpreting the situation?
What questions or issues are raised?
Students verbal and physical reactions to this lesson indicated to me that they didnt find the
content or my teaching interesting or enjoyable. My personal reflections and mentor teachers
comments led me to interpret the lesson as a poor one which failed in its aim to educate individuals
about propaganda using source analysis. The lack of engagement from students also indicated that
my teaching techniques and planning practices needed to be improved on. I left this lesson feeling
dissatisfied with the lessons outcomes and uncertain about my abilities as an educator, and thus it
took some time and perspective to objectively evaluate the lesson. When I carefully examined the
teaching and learning that occurred, I thought of several questions around the issue of experiencing
a poor lesson, specifically;
- Where did I go wrong when planning and executing the lesson?
- What could I have done during the lesson to alter its outcome?
Approaches to Teaching & Learning 2 Elizabeth Ferguson, s4492512 1,043 words
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- How could I avoid a situation like this in the future?
PRACTICE THEORISE: Why do you think things are the way they are? What are your assumptions?
Where do your ideas come from? Why do you maintain them? Whose interests are served by your
practice? Who has what power in the situation?
Upon the conclusion of a class, it is important to conduct a post-lesson analysis, with a support
network who can guide you to teaching effectively (Marsh, 2010, 126; Kwo, 2010, 136;
Groundwater-Smith, Ewing & Le Cornu, 2003, 197). Frequent feedback to a learner can be an
integral motivator for improvement and provides them with the opportunity to receive practical
advice such as; building a rapport with students to plan and deliver personalised lessons, letting the
lesson flow, trusting in your instincts and relaxing into the lesson (Fetherston, 2007, 322; personal
communication, Claire Thompson, 20-05-14; Kounin, 1970, 295). I think that students lacked
engagement in my lesson because they werent quiet before I gave my instructions and thus my
delivery was not as clear, audible and free of distracting matter as it could have been (Borich, 2000,
8). Personal communication with Rose Tassone (22-07-14) taught me the 3, 2, 1 countdown
strategy and counting each minute you have to wait for silence on the board as detention time to
avoid this issue in the future.
Another issue with this lesson was students participating in off-task behaviour. I let many of these
behaviours slide, but I should have made quick, precise interventions in these situations (Arends,
2000, 173; Fetherston, 2007, 164). It may also be beneficial in future lessons to teach students
strategies for being aware of and monitoring their behaviour (Szwed & Bouck, 2013, 10). Having a
teacher talking for most of the lesson is not an ideal learning situation because students are merely
passively receiving information (Fetherston, 2007, 266; Borich, 2000, 184). Therefore, students need
to be given the time to complete meaningful work by practicing their newly acquired skills to link
new information with old content (Borich, 2000, 30; Fetherston, 2007, 8, 139; Marsh, 2010, 196).
To teach in the interests of students learning most effectively, it is important to plan in respect to
individual learners characteristics and the limitations of the traditional Australian curriculum
(Borich, 2000, 112). However, when executing this plan it is important to keep the end result in mind
which may necessitate spontaneously changing the lesson plan to re-engage the students (Personal
communication, Claire Thompson, 20-05-14; Fetherston, 2007, 199). With my lessons, I need to
change how I conclude them and allocate more time for wrapping up the lesson successfully through
summarising material, getting students to write down homework expectations and due dates, and
dismissing the students verbally (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing & Le Cornu, 2003, 197). By maintaining
Approaches to Teaching & Learning 2 Elizabeth Ferguson, s4492512 1,043 words
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these changes in my teaching practices and techniques, I have the power to become a better teacher
who delivers more engaging lessons which will help my students to become more efficient learners.
PRACTICE CHANGE: How what might you do? What might you do differently? Should you maintain
this practice? Why was an approach successful or why might changing a practice be more
effective?
To improve my teaching, I planned my subsequent history lesson for this class using the above
research and feedback given by my mentor teachers. I incorporated several student-based activities
into the lesson, avoided over-talking at the students and encouraged them to be more physically
active. By doing this, I was able to plan and deliver one of my best, most successful lessons so far, as
evidenced by the students full engagement, positive reception to learning, and good behaviour.
In this lesson, students had to act more thoughtfully as they were called upon to provide answers to
different types of exam questions based on content learnt in previous lessons. The students were
more physically active in this class as each student individually contributed to the interconnecting
mind map on the whiteboard of all the things that they had learnt in the unit. As a mini-activity to
break up the lesson, the students successfully undertook a think-pair-share of tips for preparing for
exams. The main activity of this lesson involved students being presented with an activity booklet
which they were advised to complete for homework. To learn about WWI trench warfare and
weapons, students completed booklet activities such as, cutting, matching and pasting pictures with
descriptors, fill-in-the-blank sentences and crossword puzzles. Through the incorporation of more
effective teaching practices in this lesson, the quality of the teaching and learning improved, and
thus I intend to maintain my practice of these techniques in the planning and execution of future
lessons.








Approaches to Teaching & Learning 2 Elizabeth Ferguson, s4492512 1,043 words
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References
Arends, R. I 2000, Learning to Teach (5
th
edition), McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York.
Borich, G. D 2000, Effective Teaching Methods (4
th
edition), Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Fetherston, T 2007, Becoming an Effective Teacher, Thomson Learning Australia, Australia.
Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R 2003, Teaching Challenges and Dilemmas (2
nd

edition), Nelson Australia Pty Ltd, Australia.
Kounin, J. J 1970, Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms, New York, Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc.
Kwo, O 2010, Teachers as Learners: Critical Discourse on Challenges and Opportunities, Comparative
Education Research Centre, Hong Kong.
Marsh, C 2010, Becoming a Teacher: Knowledge, Skills and Issues (5
th
edition), Pearson Australia:
New South Wales.
Szwed K., & Bouck E. C 2013, Clicking Away: Repurposing Student Response Systems to Lesson Off-
Task Behaviour, Journal of Special Education Technology, 28 (2).