Selina Pang
Teacher Appraisal 2013
Myself as a learner
My personal philosophy
Achievements for 2012 & 2013
- Wakakirri Finalists for 2013 – Best Team Work Award & Most Sustainable Production Award
- Having student voice as much as possible, such as; class meeting, teacher evaluations, math summaries, student driven provocations, student led lessons
- Pen Pal writing to Wallarano Primary School 2012 & 2013
- Lorax production 2012
- Making links with the wider community, for example; Read Like a Demon Program 2012 and Health & Wellbeing Project 2012
Read Like a Demon Program
Students got to meet AFL players from the Melbourne Football Club. They shared with them their narratives they had written, interviewed them for the Grade 4 Newsletter and the footy players read their favourite stories to the children as well.
Risks and challenges I have taken this year
- Taking on Wakakirri in 2013 - As a team in Grade 4, we ran a whole production. This way a big task because we are all graduate teachers and this was the first time we had done a production together.
- WPPS Designers design and making elective group - Students surveyed their peers in grade 4 and designed items to place into specific areas in the Grade 4 unit.
- Looney Scientists elective group - Students choose a science topic they are interested in and passionate about and they are currently running science lessons this term.
- Grade 4 Teacher surveys
- Planning BYOD
- Patrick Griffin
Looney Scientists
How I have extended my ICT skills
- Blogging as often as possible on the Year 4 blog, to update the community about the daily ongoings in Grade 4. For example, it is used a method to share documentation with families about LA, workshops and target teaching
- Evernote to take anecdotal notes in during lessons and to document student understandings
- Smore for documentation such as Wakakirri and Time workshop
- Apps are being embedded into all curriculum areas to enhance student engagement. Apps which have been used in Grade 4 unit are Tellegami and Pandora
Plans for the future
- Teach in the 5/6 unit or Junior school to broaden my skills and experiences as a teacher
- Be better organised and attend more PD in 2014
- Doing a teacher exchange program either interstate or internationally (in 2 - 3 years time)
Areas of improvement
- Gaining more experience and knowledge about EAL and Koorie learners. How? Through PDs and professional readings
- Using the following school documents more effectively in my teaching and planning; School’s raison d’être, curriculum profiles and understandings and project proformas. How? By looking at the documents more regularly during team planning meetings
- Utilising the learning spaces in other units
- Getting better at conferencing with students regularly
Myself as a teacher
How I cater for students with special learning needs (Gifted; Koorie; Disabled; Learning disability; EAL)
- I modify the curriculum
- ILPs
- Authentic learning activities
Teaching approaches I have used
- Authentic tasks
- Cognitive apprenticeship
- Collaboration – social constructivism
- Incorporating different learning styles and incorporating hands on, visual, auditory, and bodily kinaesthetic experiences into my lessons
- Open ended tasks
- Student ownership of learning
Student ownership
Collaboration, i.e. social constructivism
Incorporating different learning styles example - Project Immersion
As students listened to music from countries across the world, they had to draw lines, symbols and patterns which represented the sounds, feelings and lyrics they could hear in the song.
Cognitive apprenticeship example - What are you an expert at?
In the mathematics restaurant students can nominate themselves as an expert for a particular math provocation which they have mastered. Other students can then approach them during LA if they are having difficulties with that provocation.
Open ended tasks example - Pancake Parlour
Students selected menu items from a Pancake Parlour menu which would feed every member in their family and calculated the total cost. This task demonstrated students' ability to add with trading using numbers with decimals.
How I use the Stimulating Learning Platforms available in the school
There are no SLPs in the Year 4 unit however both last year and this year we have transformed spaces into a Lorax Reading space, a Mathematics Restaurant and a student created reading tree.
How I develop children’s...
Creativity – Osho and Arielle’s mural, WPPS Designers, learning journey documents, Wakakirri, Lorax Production, Waka reflections, mandalas, art space in LA
Entrepreneurial skills – 2012 projects Junior Sports Day book/event, Keera’s quote cards, Fresh Fruit Stall, Prezi presentation at schools
Interests and passions – Class meeting, Wakakirri, provocations designed by students, Japanese Whaling
Leadership roles being undertaken
- Wakakirri 2013 – costumes & liaising with parent helpers
- Lorax Production 2012 – costumes
- Camp Wooranna 2012
How I contribute to the school beyond the classroom?
- School fundraisers, i.e. Woolies BBQs
- School events; Neon Disco, Winter Wonderland Disco
- After School Wakakirri practises
- Out of hours PDs
- Wakakirri heats and finals
- Camp
- Read Like a Demon program
- Volunteering time for upcoming fundraiser BBQ for outdoor playground to do face painting