PROF

EXP 4
2017

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 4
FINAL REPORT

PRESERVICE TEACHER: Jonathon Graham ID: 110144130

PROGRAM: Bachelor of Education (Primary)

SITE: Seaford Rise Primary School
SITE COORDINATOR: Chris Tippett MENTOR/S: Margaret Ford & Fiona Nicholls
UNIVERSITY LIAISON: Roslyn Kennedy
YEAR LEVEL (S) TAUGHT: 6/7 LEARNING AREAS: Upper Primary
DATES OF PLACEMENT: 21st August 2017 to 20th September 2017 TOTAL DAYS: 25
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE CONTEXT:
My teaching partner and I work in a Year 6/7 Middle School unit at Seaford Rise Primary School. We work as a team,
collaboratively planning and teaching together. The students are sometimes grouped in ability, upper and lower spelling
and grammar, Year level groups or the whole unit of 58 students together. A number of our students move onto Seaford
College for Year 7 and those that stay with us are from parent request because of learning, social concerns or those
moving to other public or private schools. We have a number of NEPs, IEPs, GOM students, and a large range of
learning needs, emotional needs and challenging behaviours. In the last 4 weeks, we have had a student from the local
High that was known to our students commit suicide and that has greatly affected our students.

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY MENTOR TEACHER/S:

It has been a pleasure having Jonathon in our Middle School unit. His positive and enthusiastic attitude to improving
and honing his skills has been evident from day 1. He demonstrated a genuine interest in seeking information about
our learners in order to support their learning, had high expectations of the students and himself and was willing to put
in the time and effort to achieve his goals. He has been able to successfully plan individually and collaboratively with
our teaching team, be flexible during hectic times and ensure that the students had a positive learning experience. We
will miss having the third teacher in the room, who is willing to engage and support our students, and spend the time
when they need to talk. It felt that we were a collaborative team, when planning and teaching which is not easy with a
unit of almost 60 students, especially with the emotional and learning needs we have. His professional, yet personable
attitude was evident to all the staff and I am confident that he will be an asset to the teaching staff at any school in the
future.
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DATE: / / 2017 SATISFACTORY
Mentor Teacher Signature (

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY SITE COORDINATOR:

Jonathon has displayed a high level of commitment during his placement at Seaford Rise Primary School. He made a
concerted effort to establish positive working relationships with members of staff and the students within the Year 6/7
unit, which laid the foundation for a very successful stint of professional learning. His professionalism, maturity and
work ethic is at a high level for a graduate teacher and are key attributes that will see him succeed as an educator in
the future. I personally observed Jonathon teach part of his Numeracy unit and it was clear that he knew both the
content and the individual students as learners. He was receptive to the feedback he received, however I would urge
him to find a balance between being overly critical and reflective on his own performance. I am sure that Jonathon will
develop into a very fine teacher. He is extremely well placed.
__________________________________
DATE: / / 2017 SATISFACTORY
Site Coordinator Signature (

VERIFICATION BY AUTHORISED UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL:

The Mentor Teacher, Site Coordinator and Preservice teacher have been consulted during the placement and this report
documents evidence of the Preservice Teachers achievement of the Professional Experience objectives.

DATE: / / 2017 SATISFACTORY

__________________________________ (
 SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY PRESERVICE TEACHER:

My final pre-service practicum has given me the opportunity to demonstrate my adeptness as a graduate teacher and
professional. Specifically, reflecting on the graduate standards, I have demonstrated my aptitude across all areas of the
professional competencies. I have used my relationships with students, and knowledge of the learning areas, to inform
my practice, manage the learning environment and ensure that the learning is accountable of students needs and the
curriculum. I have endeavoured to utilise student voice and inquiry based approaches throughout my practice and to
be consistent with my management of behaviour. I have also been an avid contributor in a collegial team-teaching
environment where we would regularly plan, teach and reflect on our practice.
As teachers, a central tenet of our professional practice is to be prepared for the unexpected. During the placement,
exceptional circumstances eventuated, outside of our control, that significantly impacted, either directly or indirectly, on
students wellbeing and their ability to engage with their learning. This further exacerbated the contextual complexities
of the placement and although I found these circumstances challenging at times, I believe that I handled them beyond
what is expected of a graduate level teacher.
Although I have grown exponentially over the duration of this practicum, I acknowledge that I still have much to learn.
Moving forward, my commitment to learning and improving the quality of my practice will not falter as I endeavour to
become the best practitioner I can be.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Preservice Teacher Signature Date

University Personnel Signature

NOTES FOR MENTOR TEACHERS AND SITE COORDINATORS COMPLETING THIS REPORT
The assessment criteria used in this report are the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

The Preservice Teacher may wish to submit this report with an application for employment. Please avoid the use of acronyms as student reports are
often viewed by interstate and international employers who are not always familiar with South Australian nomenclature.

The preservice teacher has completed the required the full 25 days of their placement including visit YES
days.

MENTOR TEACHER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE

1. Know students and how they learn 2. Know the content and how to teach it

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of 2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
students 2.2 Content selection and organisation
1.2 Understand how students learn 2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
socioeconomic backgrounds people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians
students
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
Outstanding
Jonathon has demonstrated a positive, professional attitude to the pre service experience. He has
communicated effectively with students, and colleagues, often working in team teaching situations,
either taking the leading roles or supporting. Jonathon has been able to successfully plan, teach and
reflect on a series of effective lessons in a number of learning areas. He has been keen to seek
constructive feedback and use it to guide and improve his practice. His communication skills are strong, Good
effectively giving instructions, explaining concepts or concerns over behaviour. If he thought that some
of the students had not grasped a concept, he would adjust the language or come at it from a different
angle. Using student voice was an important component of his teaching style, understanding the need
for students to share their ideas, concerns, debate or share their personal journey. He worked extremely
Satisfactory
hard to develop a relationship with all students in the unit, listening to them and finding time to talk.
Jonathon has a good understanding of the Australian Curriculum, and was able to utilise this in his
planning, taking into consideration the achievement standard, content descriptors, general capabilities
and cross curriculum priorities. The inquiry unit, he planned on biodiversity, addressed the indigenous
perspective and he worked collaboratively with the ATSI teacher to ensure that it was embedded in the Unsatisfactory
unit of work. He planned an excursion to Moana Sands Conservation Park, a local area of significance
for the Indigenous people and the students in the class.
MENTOR TEACHER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning 4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals environments
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs 4.1 Support student participation
3.4 Use teaching strategies 4.2 Manage classroom activities
3.5 Select and use resources 4.3 Manage challenging behaviour
3.6 Use effective classroom communication 4.4 Maintain student safety
3.7 Evaluate and improve teaching programs Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
3.3 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student 5.3 Make consistent and comparable judgements
learning 5.4 Interpret student data
5.1 Assess student learning 5.5 Report on student achievement
5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning
Outstanding
Jonathon was able to create a safe and supportive learning environment where our behavioural
education policy was followed skilfully. Jonathon confidently worked with individual, small group, class
groups and the whole unit, He dealt with a variety of challenging behaviour calmly and effectively, using
varied strategies to gain attention. As with all pre service teachers, developing consistency takes
experience and time. Jonathon encouraged student voice by, listening open-mindedly to students Good
perspectives and encouraged discussion to help explore reasons for differing views. He established
challenging learning goals, but ensured scaffolding was in place to allow all students to experience
some success. Learning tasks were structured to allow students to use a variety of modes to access
and process information. He has demonstrated a connection between pedagogy and assessment, Satisfactory
setting formative tasks, using the data to differentiate within the class and give the feedback to the
students, allowing them to set goals and develop their understanding and skills. Jonathon discussed
the student data on Scorelink and the ways the data could be interpreted to improve student outcomes.
He set a summative task for the Maths unit, that aligned with our recent SLIP work, on setting A-E
grades achievements for the task and wrote comments to be used in the final year reports. ICT was Unsatisfactory

used to hook students such as Google Earth and the Starboard used to demonstrate and record ideas.

MENTOR TEACHER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT

6. Engage in professional learning 7. Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and
the community
6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs 7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice 7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice 7.3 Engage with the parents/carers
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
He has demonstrated a connection between pedagogy and assessment, setting formative
tasks, using
Jonathon wasthe datatotolisten
able differentiate
carefully within theand
to advice class and givereflect
feedback, the feedback to thepositively,
and respond students, with Outstanding

changes shown in the next lesson. He would seek and discuss any issues that he felt were affecting
allowing them to set goals and develop their understanding and skills.
his teaching and, more importantly, the students learning outcomes. During our discussions, he was
able to add to our discussions, sharing ideas that we were able to use in our teaching. The students
were always at the forefront of his enthusiasm to improve. He took opportunities to engage with all Good
staff members, TRTs and leadership in professional discussions, inviting leadership to critique his
lessons and give feedback to improve practice. Jonathon attended staff meetings, and actively
participated in professional learning during the staff meeting time. He was able to comply with
legislative, administrative and organisational requirements. When planning the excursion, Jonathon Satisfactory
organised the risk assessment forms, the permission note to parents and the correct ratio of helpers
and students to meet the WHS requirements and organised a volunteer from the Friends of Moana
Sands to meet with us at the site to discuss sustainability. During the excursion, Jonathon engaged
with parents and volunteer. He has a very personable manner and clearly understands the needs to
Unsatisfactory
have positive interactions and relationships within the wider school community. At the beginning of the
practicum, Jonathon sent out an introductory letter to all parents to ensure they were aware of who he
was and his purpose of being in our unit. He also attended parent conferences that were either initiated
by parents or ourselves.
Professional Experience Office University of South Australia,
Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes SA 5095
This is a certified copy of the original assessment document provided by the site in which the student was placed for the professional experience. It
may be used for employment purposes.