Evaluating my middle years program

Students in the middle years are confronted with a new world of social relationships, drastic changes to their minds and bodies and new awareness of the contexts in which they are learning (Dowden, 2017). In response to this context, Chadbourne and Pendergast (2005, p. 47) argue for a "progressive, constructivist, outcomes-based, community-oriented, developmentally responsive, student-centred, liberal reformist and contextually-mediated" approach to middle schooling. According to the literature outlined in this reflection, this kind of progressive, student-centred and contextualised approach to middle years education aligns with the needs of middle years students (Churchill, 2021; Dowden, 2017; Wyatt-Smith et. al., 2005). This critical reflection has identified a number of improvements to my unit plan to bring it closer to meeting these needs.

According to Ovenden-Hope and Blandford (2017), applied learning is learning that is made practically applicable to real-world contexts. In my own experience as a middle years student, one of the primary reasons I found myself frequently disengaging from the learning was that I could not understand how it was relevant to me outside of the classroom. I distinctly remember the impact that an applied learning activity had on my engagement as a learner in the middle years, when my maths teacher presented us with an activity where we had to learn about calculating the area of shapes by determining, using a simplified map, how much aid needed to be delivered to certain areas impacted by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunami. I was motivated to complete that activity and engage in the learning because it felt relevant to the real-world, especially to something that felt important and useful to me. These kinds of applied learning activities are also important for middle years...

The importance of differentiation for effective teaching and learning must not be understated. Each classroom is filled with a diverse array of students with different interests, capabilities, strengths, weaknesses and backgrounds. According to Krause et. al., (2012, p.267) inclusive classrooms are ones where “teachers recognise difference, and devise ways to address students’ differing needs and also take into account what each learner brings to the learning process.” The failure to differentiate the learning in the face of this diversity will lead to students becoming disengaged, resulting in poor outcomes (Krause et. al., 2012). From my experience, differentiation is also one of the most important strategies for behaviour management. This is because the moment a student feels they cannot access the learning, they will become frustrated and begin to act in disruptive ways. I have found that making the learning accessible to the whole classroom, although challenging, is one of the mos...

Like record keeping, communicating to parents/carers about students’ progress and achievement in the form of reports is a legal obligation of teachers and schools. Reporting also provides an important opportunity to check in with students and parents/carers about the students’ particular needs and how they can improve their skills, knowledge and achievement. It allows parents/carers to be included in the teaching and learning process, which can be a positive step towards providing the learner with extra support outside the classroom but can also come with its own set of challenges when it comes to building productive relationships with parents/carers. Churchill (2021, p. 424) argues that the most important “considerations when report writing” are to write “succinctly, truthfully and with the intended audience in mind”. This is important because students and parents/carers must be able to understand the reports in order for them to be of any use. They cannot be filled with jargon and t...

From my own experience, having an efficient system for keeping quality records about your students is a crucial part of teaching and learning. This is not only because it is necessary to have some basis for the grades you give and things you say about students come report time, nor is it just because it could be necessary as evidence in case of an audit or because it is our legal responsibility, although all of these are true. It is important because the gathering of information and data on students should contribute to shaping the teaching and learning as it progresses. Churchill (2021, p. 422) breaks down record keeping into two types: “formal records” and “anecdotal records”. Formal records are the lists of marks, grades and comments that will directly contribute to the students’ summative assessment whereas anecdotal records are the notes and observations that teachers collect to shape their future planning (Churchill, 2021). Confidentiality is central to record keeping, as breache...

Feedback involves opening what Black and Williams (2018) call a “guided learning dialogue” with learners. It allows students to understand how they can address gaps in their knowledge and identify skills they have yet to develop, which is of great importance to middle years learners (Dowden, 2017). Black and Williams (2009) argue that feedback is essential for purposeful learning. Formative assessment provides a basis for feedback as it demonstrates to the teacher what the learner can achieve and allows the teacher to gather information about the students’ learning. This is partly why the research of Wyatt-Smith et. al. (2005) shows that formative assessment is the most effective form of assessment in improving student outcomes, because it provides opportunity for feedback and the critical self-reflection in the learner that results from that feedback. Feedback from peers and mentors noted that there are multiple opportunities for feedback included in my unit plan including the “musica...

Assessment is a central aspect of any effective teaching and learning program. Assessment is most obviously necessary to assess whether or not students have understood the content they are being taught and have developed the skills outlined by the curriculum, but its uses and purposes go much further. According to Churchill (2021), for optimal learning to occur, students need to be active participants in the learning process. This means they must understand what it is they are being asked to achieve, which speaks to the importance of setting clear learning intentions, but also clear criteria for the successful application of their learning in the form of assessment. This is partly why, according to Churchill (2021, p. 393), “most contemporary curriculum designs” involve setting clear priorities around learning and assessment and then working backwards to determine the kinds of tasks and activities can build towards those priorities. Churchill (2021, p. 400) points out that while summat...

Welcome to my blog! This blog will critically evaluate the middle years program I submitted for Assessment Task 1 in ECN723. This reflection draws mostly on research literature, peer and mentor feedback to consider whether my program is addressing some of the essential elements that characterise a quality teaching and learning program in my specialised teaching areas. Each blog page is dedicated to one of these essential elements, please navigate through the pages to read my reflections on how well my unit plans align with the practices outlined in the literature.