Effective teaching reflection

 Day 1 

• One point that really stuck with me was the idea that a school should have a shared definition of learning. This never occurred to me before and I really do think this is something so important but many schools fail to form one. I believe this shared definition will help educators in a school strive for the same goal and standard of learning. I would like to pitch this idea to my current school. I can see it being somewhat like a motto to live by, something specific to and reflects the ideologies of the school. 

• I also learnt the definition of learning and some of the key aspects of it. We spoke about, discussed many different ideas and peoples own definition of learning; however, the definition of learning begins with the phrase “a process that leads to change”, this is something that I did not think of. Although I knew learning helps us grow, I did not think of that growth in terms of ‘changing’ us. We spoke about how learning can change the way we think, feel and act, and how a teacher can deliver a lesson that is impactful enough to change the way a student not only thinks and feels, but how they act. I realized that when we learn something new, we tend to think and feel it more than we act on it. This brought me to the idea that acting on what we learn is long term and that learning is a process that eventually leads to change in action, it just takes time. 

Day 2

• One thing I learnt today was actually something about myself. I learned that I am both a Self-Actualizer and Technologist in terms of my educational belief system. I have never given this much thought before and upon reading the definitions of each system, I really do find myself in those categories; however, more to the self-actualiser side. On the whole, the whole educational belief system was my favorite discussion of the day, I found it very intriguing.  
• Another concept from today that I found interesting was the importance of collective efficacy, which is the shared belief among educators that they can collectively make a positive impact on students learning and development. It it like their confidence in their ability to work together effectively to achieve common educational goals. As a group, we discussed the 5 conditions enabling collective efficacy for an effective school and we realised that it is hard place an importance one just a few, we need all 5 conditions to be met in order for schools to be effective. However, the reality is that many schools may not be willing to adopt these conditions, either do not have the means to or that they are stuck in very traditional ways.

Day 3

• One thing I learnt in this lesson was the characteristics of an effective teacher and how to identify an effective teacher or effective teaching. Putting the information we read about, in the readings and group discussions, into practice with the case studies, made me realise that the information really stuck and I was able to identify effective teaching vs not so effective teaching. I really enjoyed the reading on effective teaching, the 9 principles of an effective teacher, and the group activity with sharing the different information from the different readings. My understanding of the term and its characteristics has pushed me to be more aware of my own teaching practices.
• I also learnt about key performance indicators (KPI) in this session. This was a term that was unfamiliar to me, however after the exercise we did in class, I feel that I have a good grasp on the topic. We had to find KPI's for the teacher in the case study we read and suggest ways to they could improve. From this, what I understood is that KPI's are specific and measurable criteria used to assess a teachers effectiveness, performance and impact in the classroom.

Day 4 

• Today the one thing that really stood out was the characteristics of the UDL lesson plan template. I learnt that you need to include teacher actions, learner actions, the barriers to learning and the UDL strategies. When comparing it with my school's lesson plan, I found many differences, shedding light on the many gaps in my school's template. Also, by comparing the two templates, the points of the lesson planning sections from UDL stuck with me, it was a form of reinforcing the concepts and I know it will be something I won't forget. I will definitely be able to recall all the characteristics of the UDL template.
• Another new thing I learnt today was how to correctly use AI. I have used chat GPT many times before, but today I learnt how to refine my searches to get exact answers and/or accurate information. I need to train the AI in order to get what I want, the AI needs context and specific information and it needs examples of what/or how you want something done; which one thing I did not consider before. The example explained in class really opened my eyes to correctly using the tool to get the best outcomes and to save time.
• Lastly, Enduring understanding was introduced in the session. I was quite confused at first, having trouble with identifying the characteristics of enduring understanding. But after the task we did in class and having gone over it with the group, I feel that I have a better take on it. I learned that it is a statement that captures the big idea in a unit, however, I am still unsure if it can be multiple statements or just one. I also gathered that it needs to be written in a way that your students will understand it. For example, if your students are yr 3, it needs to be written for a yr 3 student to understand, you cant have big, higher level words that students do not know meanings of. And lastly, the statement(s) should apply in a variety of contexts, the one statement can be used across all subjects or can be used in a few subjects that be linked to that unit of study. Although I began to understand it, I know that it is not something that I have fully grasped; if someone has to ask me to explain this concept to them, I won't be able to give them an answer without referring to my notes.

Day 5

• In this session, I learnt the meaning of flexible and constricted verbs, and this was something very new to me. I never thought about how often we use constricted verbs when setting goals for students, this session really opened by eyes to the importance of using more flexible verbs in learning goals for students and that students should have chances to reach their goals by using their strengths effectively; their learning should be tailored to their individual needs and abilities. I also learnt that if we are forced to use a constrictive verb, we should be scaffolding with students. Scaffolding was also a new term that I learned from this session and it means giving work to students relevant to their level of learning. So, if you have a constrictive verb of 'read', as in 'students should read...', then you have to scaffold and give different levels of text according to all the students reading levels. As a result, all your students are reading but the level in which they can successfully achieve the goal.
• I also learnt how important it is to ask questions. This is more of a personal point, but the was a point in the class where I was lost and a bit confused. I decided to ask Cameron the questions that were bothering and after that I was back on track. From this, I was able to reinforce my understanding of enduring understanding and was able to create an enduring understanding statement for my unit of study that captures the important areas of knowledge for students in the unit, it can be applied to a variety of topics (I was able to identify 3 subjects that it can be applied to), and it is written so that year 3 students can understand.

Day 6

• Today I learnt that teaching a unit is a hierarchical process where each step links and builds on the previous one that all eventually leads back to your enduring understanding. Starting with your daily classroom activities, this links to your daily assessments, this is not marking work but checking what your students have grasped from the activity; asking questions or getting some type of feedback. The two previous steps link to the next step of the learning targets, which link to your main learning assessment, which ultimately links to your enduring understanding. However, all stages or steps are influenced by your enduring understanding; which summarises the main ideas in your unit and has a lasting impact on the students.
• In this session, I also learnt about barriers to differentiation, which is something I never really thought about before. Being a learning support teacher, I realised that I have to be aware of these barriers as I constantly have to differentiate for learners of all levels and abilities. Some of the barriers we discussed in class where partially known to me, however, there was one that I have never heard of before. Schools are seen as 'Social good products', which means that schools are designed to serve the needs of society rather than to make profits, resulting in some schools lacking sufficient funding and relying on government support to receive essential funds.
• The activity of revising learning goals taught me how important it is to be precise in forming goals, to narrow down goals to be exact and measurable. It should also focus on one thing, the main thing that students will be learning today, this way, your lessons can be focused one topic, making it easier for students to grasp the new information. I enjoyed playing around and tailoring my goals with AI.