School of Education

Professional Practice 3
102605 Secondary PP Community Engagement
Self Reflection Form

Pre-service Teacher Details

Pre-service Teacher Name: Pre-service Teacher ID:

Amy Ryan 17203904
Pre-service Teacher Phone Number: Pre-service Teacher Email Address:
0408714449 17203904@student.westernsydney.edu.au

Placement Details: If you haven’t complete 60 hours face to face you must provide a
detailed statement of how your experience meets the outcomes for Professional
Practice CE. Attach evidence.

Placement Name: Placement Phone Number:

Home Tutoring 0407452778
Placement Address: Placement Email Address:
N/A brendamehew@live.com.au
Contact Person:
Brenda Mehew

Describe in about 500 WORDS any features and benefits of the setting you attended. Consider
number of students, location details, age of students, types of educational programs offered and any
other salient aspects of the experience. Consider how this experience will contribute to your
development as a beginning teacher.

AITSL Standards

The criteria for pre-service teacher reflection focus, the first, second, third and sixth standards.
 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full
range of abilities
 2.2 Content selection and organisation
 3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
 6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice

Subsidiary questions:
What surprised you about your learning in your community setting?
What research about communities did you engage with before you commenced?
What goals did you set for yourself in your service learning activities?
What do you believe the participants in your service learning project learned?
What did you learn? How will the experience shape you as a teacher in a classroom?
Check Due Date accompanied by your Timesheet and signed Report.
Submissions after due date will receive an N grade. At the following HECS census date, if
the work is still incomplete, this will become an AF grade. This is University policy.
The AF grade can be changed when you complete the work. You must also keep a hard or
electronic copy of your assignment.

Submit this form online via InPlace. Your PPCE Report written by the Contract
Person, is mailed by them or delivered by you to the PP office in the SOE.
Self-Reflection

Throughout my Master course I have developed an understanding that not all students have
the same access as one other. Having been brought up in low income house hold myself I realise
how important someone’s help can be and decided to give out my own help to less privileged
students in the Western Sydney Area. I completed my 60 hours for PPCE as a tutor. This not
only helped students in need but also allowed me to develop my own skills as a teacher and
reflect on my pedagogical approaches.

I began tutoring a particular student when he was in year 6 and continue to do so to this day. I
spent one hour a week working with him on his maths and giving him feedback and guidance
with assignments. This was a valuable experience for me as it allowed me to engage with
younger students and see the transition from primary school into year 7. He often found school
challenging and had been bullied through primary school causing him to changed schools in
year 5. Understandably the transition into high school came with its own anxieties. This
placement allowed me to not only focus on the content side of teaching but also focus on a
student’s wellbeing which I found influenced in my own teaching practices.

Being able to help a student through the process of changing schools and going into high school
was very fulfilling. This also helped me develop stronger communication skills and greater
empathy for these young students and the struggles they go through with this transition. As a
future high school teacher, I found this experience and the knowledge I gained very
empowering.

Helping him with math also allowed me to develop skills in different curriculum areas. In
tutoring him from year 6 I was able to observe where he had come from and this helped me
develop a deeper understanding of the importance of primary school teachings. It also enabled
me to reassess and reflect on my own future teachings reading through the primary school
science syllabus and make connections between what students have learnt in their primary
schooling and what they will go on to learn in high school. I am science trained so getting this
exposure to other curriculum areas was insightful and allowed me to develop my own skills in
cross-curriculum objectives.

I also worked closely with a year 11/12 student and tutored her in chemistry and biology. I
found this challenging and felt the pressure of the HSC at times. I was able to pass on the skills
I had acquired throughout the HSC and together we worked on setting learning goals
throughout the year to help her improve. It was really easy working with her and it made me
excited to share my science knowledge and skills. This also gave me more exposure to the HSC
and understand the stress it can cause students. I developed my differentiation skills and learnt
how to break content into smaller parts to be better understood and then build on this
foundation.

Through these two very different tutoring experiences I was able to develop a deeper
appreciation of the struggles year 7 students face when entering high school and also the
struggles year 12 students face when tackling the HSC. I was able to mentor and pass on my
own knowledge and skills not only in science but in other curriculum areas and life skills which
will help to produce successful members of the community.