MTeach Portfolio — Michael Chipman

I am a graduate mathematics and science teacher. I completed a Master of Teaching in Secondary Education at UTS in 2018 and undertook practicum placements at Pennant Hills High School (2017) and Epping Boys' High School (2018). In 2017 I was awarded a NSW Department of Education teacher scholarship.

After my MTeach, I worked for a number of years in the federal public service, and then for a short while in the private sector. I attained my ACT TQI registration in January 2025.

I have Honours degrees in information technology (Bond, 1992) and science (physics) (UNSW, 2000), and worked for more than 25 years as a software engineer, mainly in R&D settings. Notable past employers include Cisco Systems, Alcatel, Ingenico, Canon Information Systems Research Australia, and Silverbrook Research. I've worked as a contractor to IBM US (Raleigh, NC and Austin, TX), and led the software development teams at a CSIRO start-up (XRT Limited) and an Australian space services company (Skykraft).

I've always valued my own education and the opportunities it's given me, and would now like to use my skills — as a teacher — to help students achieve for themselves. It'd be great if I could assist students experience some of the real excitement that can follow new understanding, and to help them appreciate the value of learning and education generally.

My Linkedin profile can be found here.

The professional learning and personal development I experienced over the course of my MTeach degree and two prac placements has left me well prepared for a new career in teaching. Although I learnt a lot over the course of my degree, I'm very aware of the need to continue to learn as I undertake my first years as a full-time classroom teacher. Academic subjects in educational psychology like Understanding and engaging adolescent learners, and teaching methods subjects in mathematics and science have given me a solid understanding of theories of student learning and pedagogical approaches to best help that learning. The real-world experience of standing before a class of students also brought home to me the critical importance of classroom management to effective student learning. Student misbehaviour or disengagement can be difficult to overcome, and can affect the learning of all students in a classroom. I believe that building a sense of self-efficacy in every student is critical to establishing a constructive classroom attitude towards positive behaviour and learning.

To build student self-efficacy and self-belief, and to establish the growth mindset considered so important by many educators, teachers need to properly appreciate students' current knowledge, their skills, personalities and outlooks. Accurate assessment of current learning in a student allows the teacher to set questions and exercises to extend that student's knowledge and understanding, and, in so doing, to build up student confidence and self-esteem. Having 'tasted success', students are more inclined to further their learning. Students are also then better equipped to deal with the mistakes and errors inherent in all meaningful learning: to not shy from these but to rather use their mistakes and misunderstandings as a spur to greater learning.

Other significant personal insights I gained over the course of my degree included the importance of inclusive education and the way in which many of the techniques used there — such as explicit teaching — have application to most classrooms with a standard mix of students. The MTeach subject Literacy and numeracy emphasised for me the numerous ways in which student difficulties in literacy and numeracy can impede learning across KLAs, and consequently, the significance of developing these skills in all subjects. Finally, the subject Professional learning left me appreciating the importance of both self-reflection and collegial learning to the classroom teacher. An understanding of the nature of the teacher as a professional — possessing knowledge, responsibility and autonomy — was also personally significant.

I think my strengths as a teacher will remain those qualities highlighted by my supervising teachers on prac — in particular my content knowledge, use of engaging resources and the connections between learning areas I can illustrate for students (PE1 - report, PE2 - report). With further experience, I hope to better develop my capacity to communicate with, and relate to, all the students that I might encounter, including low-achieving students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. My aim as a teacher is to help all students, at whatever current level, to achieve to the best of their abilities.

I believe all students need to develop the basic skills and confidence to engage purposefully with high school learning. For struggling students in mathematics and science, direct and explicit teaching of foundational skills can help these students to learn and achieve. High teacher expectations, together with regular, meaningful feedback on student progress is essential to this end.

As well as explicit teaching of basic skills, when needed, mathematics and science teachers should always strive to make their lessons stimulating and accessible, but without misrepresentation or dumbing-down. I think that failing to do this short-changes not only individual students but the wider community too, deprived as it then is of school leavers with a capacity to help address some of society's most pressing issues. 

I very much believe in the importance of adopting real-world and evidence-based approaches to teaching. I take a pragmatic, results-focused view of how to best create deep knowledge and understanding in students. When faced with unfamiliar and challenging problems, a student's ability to respond meaningfully is the ultimate test of the effectiveness of the science and mathematics teacher.

The Zinn Inventory has me pegged as both Liberal and Behaviourist.

I'm a past member of the Science Teachers Association of NSW and the Mathematical Association of NSW. I previously subscribed to Teacher Magazine (ACER) and Education Week (US). I was a registered user with the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCTEM, UK), Education in Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry, UK) and TalkPhysics (Institute of Physics, UK). I previously followed an excellent online science education discussion group at #asechat as well as various Pinterest boards maintained by The Association for Science Education (UK).

On gaining permanent employment as a high school teacher I would rejoin these and similar networks.