Matt Pearce
A Learning Journey
As listed in the National Professional Standards for Teachers, educators must “plan for and implement effective teaching and learning.”
This standard is broken down into a few subcategories:
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
3.3 Using teaching strategies
3.4 Select and use resources
3.5 Use effective classroom communication
3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
I believe that I have met the criteria by doing the following:
- I structure my lessons to allow student to work at their own pace and set their own goals.
- I have helped rewrite our curriculum in Design and Technology to allow students to develop skills sets over the 5 years at our school. This sequenced program has enabled students to see their own development and recognise real life examples in their learning. We have noticed a real difference in the standard of our Year 12 work by adopting this approach.
- I use a variety of teaching strategies so that the learning is differentiated. Demonstrations on skills and techniques can be teacher/student or student/student or videos, you tube clips or research tasks. I try to keep my demonstrations short so that students can be engaged in what they are doing rather than watching me.
- I am a good communicator who asks questions of the students to reinforce their learning. Teaching is not about me but my students so I need to make sure both my verbal and non verbal communication is effective. I find that students often say” I’m no good at this” when they are learning a new skill. I usually reply with “How many times have you done this” This gives them the opportunity to reflect on how their efforts for a first time is excellent and to stick at it. This is also a pathway for me to give them some positive reinforcement.
- I am always evaluating what I do. Change for change sake is wrong but by using the feedback you get from students to enhance your programs is beneficial. I ask for feedback most lessons , this is usually verbal or I observe it in how the lesson has gone. I use to be concerned about negative feedback but over time I have taken it on board professionally rather than personally.
- I have started using OneNote as a tool to keep student work in one place. This has been well recieved by the students and helped with the organisation of their own work.
- I establish good communication channels with parents by being open and honest. If a student is struggling or doing well a phone call or email keeps the parents informed. Participation in parent /teacher interview nights or showcases allows me to invest in the communication channel. Blogs/websites and online assessment will in the future allow us to have a regular deliberate approach to communication as well.
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Matt Pearce 
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