Choose one justice alert. How you would respond to it in terms of your own experiences of schooling?
The justice alert I have chosen is 'who is heard and who finds it difficult to be heard?' This means is everyone being heard and voiced in discussion and being active in classroom life. This does not just involve the student but the teachers as well. It involve the classroom being structured in a way that allow the entire class to be heard and no one to fall into the background and be unnoticed. In terms of my schooling I found that It was very easy to fall in the the background and not be heard or notice. This is why I always tried to be what is classed as an active student. I would be involved in classroom life and make I self notice in the appropriate manner. I found myself as a result being able to talk problems out with my teacher and fellow student and also being able to balance my work whilst still being able to help other and make use of my interpersonal skills. This was all as a result of gaining feedback from my teachers and fellow students and adjusting my behaviourism if I felt it was required. As a teacher I would need to make sure that I am paying attention to the introverts and the extroverts. Printable Document Available for Download Rationale for TeachingMiddle schooling (grades 6-9) is a crucial time in the lives of the young people that I teach (Main & Pendergast 2017, p. 47-48), there is a lot going on at the same time as their education. Students go through a wealth of physical, psychosocial, emotional and cognitive changes (puberty), that is only matched by the development that occurs in the first two years of life (Pendergast 2017, p. 4). During this period, my students will form values and dispositions that will direct their attitudes and behaviours through to adulthood and into the future (Main & Pendergast 2017, p. 47-48).
The students that I encounter within a middle school context are complex, unique and diverse individuals, each having learning and personal needs that needs meeting. They are adolescents and are going through the journey of adolescence (Main 2017), Meaning they are still developing. Diversity in gender, culture and ability are seen and I acknowledge that this is where the one size fits all approach, does not work. I feel that using this type of approach in the classroom only leads to student disengagement. Pendergast (2017), notes that disengagement in many cases is a product of not meeting these desired learning needs. Learning needs are to be met for the students to be successful and include how they learn and learning difficulties they possess. All students have the right to success through both a meaningful and differentiated curriculum and it is my role as teacher to facilitate this to provide equity in opportunity for student success. I need to differentiate student needs to cater for all in my class (Main 2017, p.97). When my students enter the middle school years of their education journey, there is an apparent focus on subject matter, rather than the student-learner as seen in primary school (Pendergast 2017, p. 7). The way that we expect students to learn changes and at this time there are increased expectations, new relationships and academic diversity are experienced (students at different levels of knowledge and ability in all subjects). Middle school reform is a response to claims that the middle years of young people’s learning either slows down, stops or even seems to go backwards (termed disengagement), at a time when learning should be progressing (Stringer 1998, p. 6 as cited in Chadbourne & Pendergast 2005). The middle school reform is the transition period for young people moving from primary school to high school (Chadbourne & Pendergast 2005). This reform is necessary due to unfamiliar structure, forming new relationships, different focus of learning and unique learning needs (Chadbourne & Pendergast 2005. It seeks to address students’ learning in a way that meets their complex, unique and diverse learning and personal needs in a meaningful, relevant way. Thus, enabling students to feel safe, wanted and included in their learning environments. Motivation and engagement are important, this is why a specific meaningful curriculum presented using a middle school approach is needed to build students in preparation for success for themselves and the world. Printable Document and Usable Presentation Available for Download 90-minute parent information session called ‘Aiding Understand’ was developed and produced. This session introduces to Made in the Image of God (MITIOG) program (the content and what is being taught) to parents who children are students in Year 8, whilst also aiding the parents understanding of core Catholic belief and theology that underpin the content of this program.
(Prestridge, S & Finger, G 2017, ‘Using Information & Communications Technologies’ in DL Pendergast, K Main & NM Bahr (3rd Edition), Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 170-187)
Digitally Annotated by Andrei Apostol Theme Summary: This theme looked a range of Middle Schooling Pedagogies and there uses in provide a meaningful and relevant curriculum to our middle school learners.
(Dowden, T 2017, ‘Curriculum’ in DL Pendergast, K Main & NM Bahr (3rd Edition), Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 170-187)
Digitally Annotated by Andrei Apostol Theme Summary: This theme looked at the elements of the curriculum in the middle schooling years, specifically general curriculum, literacy, numeracy and physicality. These chapters made it evident that we as teachers where possible need to practice integration in our subjects – this means to utilise the cross curricular links in the curriculum documents we use and the capability. This can be seen as making a meaningful curriculum for the student, who can then link how the skills they learn in one discipline can be used in another. An interesting and valuable take home is that it is not just the role the literacy/English or numeracy/math teacher to create literate and numerate student, it is all teachers. (Pendergast, D 2017, ‘Middle Year Education’ in DL Pendergast, K Main & NM Bahr (3rd Edition), Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 3-20)
Digitally Annotated by Andrei Apostol Theme Summary: This theme showed the increasing importance of having a middle school philosophy (direction and purpose for practice, as well as evaluation) and specific pedagogy for the student in the middle years (a middle school philosophy will include directed and relevant curriculum). A point that was highlighted here was that middle school is the pedagogy and curriculum not just about the structure of a school. The middle school reform (transition period for young people (year 6-9) moving from primary school to high school) is necessary due to unfamiliar structure, forming new relationships, different focus of learning (subject not student focused) and unique learning needs. Motivation and engagement are important as is tailoring the curriculum your students. Disengagement is a common theme. (This disengagement occurs substantially, and due to reasons specific to adolescence) (Main, K 2017, ‘Catering for Individual Students’ in DL Pendergast, K Main & NM Bahr (3rd Edition), Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 80-97)
Digitally Annotated by Andrei Apostol Theme Summary: This theme acknowledged that the students we work within a middle school setting are complex, unique and diverse needs, they are adolescence (still developing). It looked at the complexities of the transition to Middle schooling from primary school and the change from the focus of the child learner in primary and the secondary school focus of subject matter. It also noted that just because students are orientated to Middle school doesn’t necessarily mean they have transitioned fully either, schools and teacher need to assist, positively with this transition. Key approaches explored include differentiation, personal learning methodology and maturation. (Main, K & Pendergast, D 2017, ‘Student Engagement and Wellbeing’ in DL Pendergast, K Main & NM Bahr (3rd Edition), Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 47-65)
Digitally Annotated by Andrei Apostol Theme Summary: This theme looked at what I feel to be the basis of a fully functional middle school classroom. I can divide it into three distinct areas that all our middle school classroom should include Student Wellbeing (Socially, Emotionally and Physically) and Engagement (how they learn and are they learning), Relationships (how to build these, student/teacher and student/student) and Community (importance of student's voice and community involvement of engagement). Taking into consideration these areas teachers can effectively manage learning environment with effectively building rapport and relationships. How can a home cook in the northern suburbs of Adelaide plan, prepare and serve nutritious and high-quality dinners at home whilst being food savvy, safe and hygienic in the kitchen? Outcome>>> http://cooktolive.weebly.com/ In the northern suburbs of Adelaide there are 4643 one parent families.[1] This contributes to the varying age of home cooks, as it might be children or youth cooking for each other, themselves or families. One parent families could have lower incomes than those of two parent families, meaning they may not be able to afford to feed their families. 66.8% of one parent families with dependent children had an income of less than $800 per week,[2] while only 6.1% had an income of $1,400 or more per week.[3] In contrast, 42.2% of couple families with dependent children had a weekly income of $1,400 or more.[4] Along with this, youth and children may lack the time, the skills, techniques, knowledge and understanding of nutrition, hygiene and safety procedures, thus affecting the quality and nutritional levels of the meal. This is why learning to cook is important. Learning to cook gives a person the skills, techniques and knowledge to prepare dishes within the home kitchen. It is essentially a skill used for survival and over time a cook’s level of knowledge and skills will develop and their confidence will increase to enable the tackling of complex skills, techniques and production of more difficult meals. Click below to read the full report that I wrote back in 2013 as part of Stage 2 Research Project B, this is the Project Outcome:
Printable Document Available for Download How I would ensure that students develop and adopt safe working practices in practical areas of schools?
Work Health and Safety (WHS) is the responsibility of everyone, this includes the students (Wright, R 2015) and is particularly evident in the setting of a Home Economics kitchen. This is why developing safe work practice in students is essential in these practical areas of schools. Safe work practices not only keep myself as a teacher safe but also the students in my care safe and harm free (Marple, P 2015 &Allwright, L 2015)). The impacts of not having a safe work practice developed in students is detrimental to the safety and wellbeing of all, as there could be physical and mental injury as a result of unsafe practices being employed or even bullying and harassment (Wright, R 2015). For a safe work practice to be developed students need to be involved and want to adapt the practice themselves. This should be completed using a whole school approach and from the very start of the subject (Commonwealth of Australia, DEWR 2006), so it becomes ingrained in the students and staff and is the norm. |