teaching portfolio

 

Clusters: 1 (Standards 1 - 5) | 2 (Standards 6-9) | 3 (Standard 10)

Standards: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

 

Standard 6 - Support personal development and participation in society

 

Students should be encouraged to live and contribute in the real world. I agree with Pritchard (2010) who said that experiential learning contributes to the socialisation of students, a major element in the journey towards adult citizenship. Lingard and Mills (2003) say that collaborating with external higher education, professional and industrial associations can provide preparation for students to become effective in the real world of work. I strive to create authentic tasks for students that contribute directly to the community and as a result, allow and encourage social skills and personal growth.

 

While working as head of Information Systems and as an ICT teacher for an international school in Macau, I was charged with the task of creating the school’s new website within a two month timeframe. As part of the International Baccalaureate syllabus for upper secondary at the school, many students required activities to satisfy their Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) projects. The website was an excellent opportunity for students to experience a project linked with the local and global community.

 

Having organised two other teachers to the project, four students from Form Five (grade 11) volunteered to help (artefact 3). From the first day I explained that the project was to be run as if it were a business project (artefact 1 p3). This meant that I would allocate tasks which required deliverable content if students were to achieve their CAS goals. I organised all meeting times and agendas, going into great depth as to the topics for discussion.

 

I took charge of student contributions, providing feedback for work and motivating students to achieve their goals. If students provided high quality work, I would give positive feedback and appreciation (artefact 1 p4-5). Conversely I tried to encourage students if I felt they were not meeting their goals (artefact 1 p6). I learned important team management skills; delegation, relinquishment of duties and motivational and organisational skills. As a result of the project, the website (artefact 2) went online ahead of schedule. The response from the parents and teachers from the school was overwhelmingly positive.

 

The project helped me identify the talents of students involved and encourage them to use these talents for the good of the team. For example I encouraged artistic students to focus on website design, and technically skilled students to work on the website coding. Students took much confidence from the knowledge that their work was valued and utilised in the final product.

 

As a teacher I believe it is important to involve students in the real world. One of my goals in the future is to forge relationships with higher education and the business community. By using these resources I hope to create experiential learning tasks that are authentic and promote connectedness to the community. These are essential for students to grow personally and become effective citizens of society.

 

References

Lingard, B., & Mills, M. (2003). Teachers and school reform: Working with productive pedagogies and productive assessment. Melbourne Studies in Education , 44 (1), 1-18. 

Pritchard, M. R. (2010). Experiential learning programs in Australian secondary schools. PhD thesis. Melbourne:The University of Melbourne.