PER 2/RP 2

2017

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & REFLECTION 2/REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 2

FINAL REPORT

PRESERVICE TEACHER: Jonathan Fritsch ID: 100082230

PROGRAM: Masters of Primary Education
SITE: Paralowie R-12 School
SITE COORDINATOR: Kim Copeland MENTOR/S: Ellisha Scordo
UNIVERSITY LIAISON: Sandra Wilson
LEARNING AREAS
YEAR LEVEL (S) TAUGHT: 5/6 N/a
(secondary only)
DATES OF PLACEMENT: 21.8.17 to 15.9.2017 TOTAL DAYS: 22
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE CONTEXT:
The primary section of the school has approximately 400 students. Paralowie R-12 School is a category 2 school in
the North, with a culturally and socially diverse cohort of students. At Paralowie we provide a supportive environment
for teaching and learning, with a focus on achievement and success for all in life, learning and citizenship. Laura
taught in a complex 5/6 class at Paralowie R-12 School. There were 32 students in the class, 15 boys and 17 girls.
In this class many students had complex needs and some had challenging behaviours, 2 students with Autism, 3 with
an intellectual disability, 8 EALD students, 2 ILP (Indigenous) students and 4 NEP students.

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY MENTOR TEACHER/S:

Jonathan provided some excellent examples of unit and lesson plans over his four week practicum. Jonathan was
successful in his areas of future development for PER2 as they were assessment and reporting. As assessment is the
ongoing process of gathering, analysing and interpreting, using and reflecting on evidence to make informed and
consistent judgements to improve future student learning this will help Jonathan to plan future lessons and assess
where the students are at academically. Behaviour Management is still an ongoing focus for future development, as
EU2 has some very challenging behaviour in the class and the behaviours vary enormously. By having a structured
routine in the class it will make it known to the students the importance of rules in the class.

__________________________________ SATISFACTORY
DATE: / / 2017
Mentor Teacher Signature

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY SITE COORDINATOR:

Jonathon has completed a successful placement at Paralowie R-12 School. He has been an active contributor to staff
meetings and professional learning team conversations. He participated enthusiastically in a one day training and
development day around Australian Curriculum, Digital Technologies and moderation. Jonathon has established
quality relationships with many of his colleagues, students and families. I wish him the best of luck for all his future
educational endeavours.

__________________________________ SATISFACTORY
DATE: / / 2017
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 Teacher’s achievement of the Professional Experience objectives.

__________________________________ SATISFACTORY
DATE: / / 2017
University Personnel Signature
 SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY PRESERVICE TEACHER:
In my year 5/6 class at Paralowie R-12 school, each student was very unique; they all had very different personalities, interests and
life experiences. I learned from this experience that all students learn differently and therefore it’s important to not make any
assumptions about how students learn. Through observation, I learned from my mentor teacher the need to acknowledge difference
and cater for this through planning/modification and making considerations for students when needed to allow them to have the
opportunity to learn. The need to create SMART goals, levelling, extending, differentiation and negotiated educational plans for
students helps cater and monitor their individual progress. I learned the importance of having a routine and a consistent approach to
behaviour and instructions, in order for students to stay engaged.

In order to effectively teach students appropriate and relevant content, teachers need to be confident and familiar with the curriculum
and sequences of content. Part of this planning process is considering student’s prior knowledge and sequencing the learning in
order to provide adequate modelling and scaffolding. During my placement I had the opportunity to develop the beginnings and
foundations of knowledge and skills to structure and sequence learning experiences in a variety of learning areas, being a
mathematics and economics and business unit. The sequenced lessons were designed to challenge and engage students through
active and practical learning experiences. As a result, all students within the cluster class were provided with an opportunity to
overcome a challenge and achieve their learning goals. This is evident in my unit plans and further supported by written and verbal
feedback from my mentor. My mathematics and economics and business unit with a two week sequence of lessons on statistics and
probability is attached.

Throughout the lessons, I was able to build-upon one another and demonstrate my competence in organising classroom activities
and provide clear instructions. Creating a classroom environment where students were actively involved in the learning process,
alongside appropriate whole – class modelling, prompting and individual scaffolding helped enhance student’s motivation, towards
greater independence in the learning process. Throughout my pre-service teaching experience, I have ascertained that providing and
maintaining a supportive and safe learning environment is paramount, so each student, regardless of their abilities or experiences,
are accepted and catered for.

Throughout my pre-service teaching experience, I have participated in staff meetings, professional development sessions and
participated in professional conversations to improve my teaching knowledge, skills and capabilities. It is through these experiences
that I have realised the importance of Professional Learning to update and maintain my skills, knowledge and professional thinking,
whilst critically reflect on my teaching practice.

I am very thankful for the learning experiences that Paralowie R-12 School have provided. The school community, programs and the
personal support of my mentor teacher Ellisha Scordo, has made my pre-service teaching placement a very enjoyable and
comfortable learning experience.

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
Preservice Teacher Signature Date

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 number of full days of their placement including YES
visit 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
students
1.2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and
socioeconomic backgrounds
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of
students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
 Outstanding
Over the practicum, Jonathan continued to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies used in his teaching areas
of Mathematics and Economics and Business. He has successfully been able to apply knowledge ☐
and understanding grained through professional experience conferences with myself regarding his
unit and lesson plans. Jonathan recognised the importance of differentiated teaching in order for each Good
individual student to be successful. Within any classroom, not all students are working at the same
level and to cater for all the students’ needs (not just the majority), differentiation is essential.
Jonathan successfully demonstrated that he can differentiate by content, process or product or in

terms of the students’ readiness, interest and learning profile.
Satisfactory

Jonathan constructed a foundation of skills over his practicum to enhance his ability to be an effective
educator. He showed competence of knowledge and understanding that he obtained from learning ☐
experiences in EU2. He demonstrated to have acquired a repertoire of useful resources to assist in
sourcing relevant information to support his understanding of a concept and the learning of his
Unsatisfactory
students. Jonathan made a conscious effort in seeking advice from me (his mentor teacher) during
his practicum to completely understand the content, prior knowledge of the students and strategies to
teach it certain topics. ☐

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
When planning and structuring learning sequence Jonathan placed an important emphasis on Outstanding

building upon prior knowledge and skills and consolidating this knowledge. This was important for
Jonathan as he was able to assess prior knowledge and skills prior to planning as information was ☐
used to help foster student engagement and critical thinking in his units that he created.

Throughout Jonathan’s lessons, he ensured that he maintained a safe and positive learning
environment for all students where they felt safe and confident to attempt the learning and all of their
individual needs were met. When students disrupted the positive learning environment, Jonathan
attempted to use a range of behaviour management strategies to ensure that the disruptive
behaviours were prevented/stopped through respectful communication. Jonathan will continue to Good
improve in his behaviour management strategies with more classroom experience.

Jonathan successfully developed and selected the correct assessment strategies for his students and
their learning. He used a range of informal and formal assessment types and successfully utilised a Satisfactory
combination of diagnostic, formative and summative assessment strategies to assess and track his
students’ learning. Jonathan and I engaged in a professional conversation regarding Assessment
and Accountability. He demonstrated that he had a strong understanding that it is one of the most ☐
significant practices for successful teaching. Over his practicum, he used a combination of
summative, formative and diagnostic assessment techniques to gauge each individual student. This Unsatisfactory

showed that Jonathan understood how important it is to differentiate and use a range of assessment
techniques and modes. This gave Jonathans students a variety of opportunities to demonstrate their ☐
understanding of the content he had taught during his lessons.

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

Jonathan attended a professional learning day while he was on placement with myself ran on the Outstanding

school site. During this professional development we focused on how we can improve data as a
school. Jonathan learnt how to analyse NAPLAN data to improve learning needs of students in ☐
Literacy and Numeracy. Throughout this professional development, Jonathan engaged with multiple
staff and our site leader, Kerryn Cousins to discuss ideas on how they have applied professional Good
learning to therefore improve student learning.

Jonathan and I had several conversations where he demonstrated that he understood that teaching is
an ever-developing practice, which must reflect the learning and growing needs of the students in the Satisfactory
classroom. Professional development and professional conversations with future mentors/myself will
continue to help Jonathan grow as a teacher and to apply this professional learning to help build on
student achievement and their classroom learning.
☐
Unsatisfactory

☐
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.