Critical Reflection on Teaching Strategies and Lesson Planning

This report presents a critical reflection on teaching strategies employed during a primary school placement. The student identifies Professional Practice Standard four, focusing on creating and maintaining supportive and safe learning environments, to enhance student participation. The report details a five-lesson plan sequence, incorporating strategies like interactive activities, emotive language exercises, and digital education tools to improve teaching quality. The student reflects on the effectiveness of these strategies, including the use of YouTube videos, worksheets, and interactive whiteboards, and how they addressed AITSL standards. The report also discusses the importance of a safe classroom environment, effective communication, and positive teacher-student relationships. The student incorporates personal development lessons and enquiry-based approaches to foster student engagement and build a supportive learning community. The report references various educational resources and provides a comprehensive analysis of teaching practices, lesson planning, and student engagement, aiming to enhance teaching skills and improve student outcomes. The student explores the process of talking stick approach that enabled the students to talk while the other students would listen to the speaker. Each student was then provided with a blank template in the shape of a heart in order to resemble his or her emotions towards their friends and the way to treat others in order to establish positive relationships. Creating a sense of bonding among the children is important to ensure that each student support one another at time of crisis or during team assignment. The student tried to create this lesson in order to develop an authentic relationship with the students and manage the negative behaviours between the students in the class. The engagement of the personal development lesson provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their own thoughts.

Running head: TEACHING
Teaching
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Part 3:
Critical reflection on teaching strategies:
In order to improve the teaching strategies I will apply Professional Practice -
Standard four: create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments (Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. This would enhance the active participation of
the students. In order to ensure that effective learning takes place, I would like to apply five
lessons that were mentioned earlier. To do so it necessary to ensure that the students are
engaged in participation in the class activities that are undertaken. I used the strategy of
involving the students in different class activities. The implementation of the five-lesson plan
helped me to undertake effective strategies related to the quality of teachings undertaken.
This can be termed as a planned pedagogy. I played a YouTube video on persuasive writing
that includes introduction and conclusion. I explained it to the children and I arranged for an
interactive session with the students. I taught them to write a proper introduction and
conclusion. I concentrated on having a discussion with the students on whatever I taught
them. I made proper plans before so that a proper feedback session can be provided to the
students about their performance. I decided to conduct this plan in all the five lessons. In
lesson, two I decided to teach the students the use of emotive language. I did this with the
help of some examples. I distributed the work sheets to the children and further worked on
their persuasiveness. I initiated an environment of competition among the students. This
initiated the interest of knowing the lessons more properly as it increased their concentration.
At the same time, I took care of the fact that the environment is not harmful for the students.
This included providing better opportunities to the students to participate in competition and
gain experience required for future career growth. At the same time, bullying from other
children was also prevented so that the children feel safe to work in the environment. The

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children are provided with encouragement and motivation to perform better in the education
environment.
Concentration in teaching is an important aspect (Dang & Dearholt 2017). I further
concentrated on teaching them the process of writing the rebuttal paragraph. I did it by
showing them many examples on the interactive white board. I tried them to give the main
points that they needed to know. In order to make the class more interactive I used the digital
form of education. I made the students explain with the help of a projector on the white
board. I managed to provide them with a written note that would be easier for them to refer
once they reach home. I had thought of adopting this strategy so that effective learning
experience can be provided to the children. Apart from this, I planned an evaluation process
in order to test the skills of the children and to extract the things that were learned by the
students. I further designed some presentation on my laptop in order to make the students
understand about the different types of referencing style. I initially showed them the
examples on my laptop. As stated by Arnold and Boggs (2015) referencing is a crucial part
for denoting the authenticity of a written assignment. Therefore, I tried to teach the students
all the forms of referencing that are commonly used. Initially I provided the students with an
example of referencing and then encouraged them to undertake the process on their own
while providing assistance in case they make mistakes. It made easier for the students to
access the website and to have a practical understanding of the way to do referencing. The
student clarify any problems with me such as problems while conducting the referencing.
While the students looked at the website, we practiced the referencing style together. After
the session, I took a test of referencing where I divided the test into two halves, one is the
practical test and the other is the theory test. This would motivate the students to perform
better and extract the materials in a better way. The final activity I followed was conducting a

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standard session of proofreading. This included the activities like editing and peer
assessment.
Answer to question 4:
Critical reflection on how you addressed the area of your teaching identified; the
AITSL Standard strategies:
It is extremely important to have a critical reflection in order to develop the way of
teaching. As stated by Priest and Gass (2017) safety in the educational institution is one of
the most important aspects that need to be provided to the students for proper development. I
tried to create a safe environment where all the students can be comfortable. I learned that I
am the person who is solely responsible for creating a good culture inside the classroom. The
relationships are crucial in order to maintain a safe and supportive learning environment.
However, the one thing that I lacked was good communication skill. I was unable to inspire
the students and I found difficulty in connecting with the students. However, I tried to rectify
the same. I believed that the relationship between teacher and a student should be positive. I
tried to facilitate the same with the help of effective communication. I tried to establish
cohesion and support to the students. The cohesion with the students helped me to develop a
proper communication with the student and at the same time inspired me to become a good
communicator. I drew inspiration from the words of Oxford (2016) who had said that
listening is essential to effective communication. I tried to practice a personal development
lesson in order to foster trusting, positive relationships within the classroom. I followed an
enquiry approach in order to establish the opinion of the student on the importance of the
friendships in order to provide support inside the classroom. This would increase the
participation of the students and their engagement towards the class activities. I explored the
process of talking stick approach that enabled the students to talk while the other students

4TEACHING
would listen to the speaker. The whole discussion of the class was an opportunity for the
students in order to express their opinions and views. As stated by Burden (2016) public
speaking plays a crucial role in developing the confidence among the students so that they
can address the class without any nervousness. This would increase their confidence. Each
student was then provided with a blank template in the shape of a heart in order to resemble
his or her emotions towards their friends and the way to treat others in order to establish
positive relationships. Creating a sense of bonding among the children is important to ensure
that each student support one another at time of crisis or during team assignment. I tried to
create this lesson in order to develop an authentic relationship with the students and manage
the negative behaviours between the students in the class. The engagement of the personal
development lesson provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their own thoughts
(Meyer 2015). It gave a chance to identify the prerequisites in order to establish a positive
relationship with the students.

5TEACHING
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