3.3 Use teaching strategies
Include a range of teaching strategies.
3.4 Select and use resources
Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
While on placement, I taught a Year 11 biology class in a state school. I was tasked with creating 3 lessons based on points from the Queensland Curriculum Assessment Authority (QCAA). My mentor asked me to focus on stem cells, so I created a lesson with various resources. Artefact 7 displays my lesson which I created as my lesson plan. Within my PowerPoint, I reference and include many resources I found to assist my teaching.
I found that preparing for these lessons was tricker than I expected. I did not know that I had not understood the content until I started my lesson planning. This then made it difficult to be able to answer questions from the students, I found that I needed to refer to my mentor for answers.
Whilst I was teaching, I implemented the Teach Like a Champion (Lemov, 2010) strategies into my lessons. I used cold calls, made sure I gave students wait time and an entry routine. I made sure that I called on students who were not answering questions to understand if my students were engaged with my lesson. Cold calls are an engaging technique which allows students to understand that they should be attentive in the lesson. I frequently would ask a question and have the same two students answer, there were a two students who were inattentive and being disruptive so I called on one of them on my next question. I noticed that after I had done that they became more attentive and engaged in my lesson.
As I was asking my questions, I made sure I took up wait time to give my students an opportunity to process and articulate their answer. According to the NSW Government (2022), wait time increases the quality of students answers and gives them the opportunity to think and extend their answers. This technique allowed for my students to have meaningful discussions about the content, they felt as though they could share that they did not understand how I explained something. My students wanted to know more about what we were learning because I let them take up that time to stop and reflect.
I made sure I included a variety of resources into my lesson to meet certain content descriptors. I made an online quiz that allowed my students to compete and test their knowledge. I added my quizzes at the end of my lessons as a recap and summary of what had been learnt. I used this method of question/answer to keep track of how my students are understanding my content as the website recorded which question they answered correctly/incorrectly. I embedded videos into my lessons to give my voice a break but to also allow for another perspective/ explanation on the topic. I had also brought in a human model so my students could physically see how the body works. My students enjoyed looking at the different parts and asked many questions about the task. Lastly, I made an activity sheet that allowed students to see different cell groups and to organise them. this was also to keep track of their progression.
