MTeach Portfolio — Michael Chipman

This annotation addresses APST Standard 2, descriptors 2.1 (Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area), 2.2 (Content selection and organisation), 2.3 (Curriculum, assessment and reporting) and 2.6 (Information and communication technology).

On placement, my knowledge of the mathmeatics and science curricula and how to teach these subjects was recognised as a strength by my supervising teachers (PE1 - report, PE2 - report), with my achievement against a majority of descriptors here judged to exceed expectations for both practicums. Although I taught only one senior mathematics lesson on my second placement, my supervising teacher was keen for me to take her Yr 11 Extension 1 class during a two-week period of leave in Term 3, 2018. The help I gave students in this class and the way I was received by the students gave my supervising teacher confidence in my ability here, and contributed to her assessment (PE2 - report, p. 3) that I could "cater for all students at all levels" (2.1).

My capacity to organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence (2.2) was demonstrated early in my first prac where I conducted eight review lessons covering each of the four preliminary Stage 6 physics topics. This required me to review syllabus dot points, lesson material previously used by my supervising teacher, and textbook content covering the entire Yr 11 syllabus. While possibly erring on the side of covering too much content, rather than concentrating on specific elements and questions, I nevertheless did manage to develop relevant, cohesive review lessons, as evidenced by my supervising teacher comments for revision of topics The World Communicates (PE1 - observation - 170901 - 11PH2) and The Cosmic Engine (PE1 - observation - 170906 - 11PH2). In the first of these lessons I used computer simulations (2.6) to revise and solidify student knowledge, while the second saw me testing students, in pairs, on a sequence of questions presented to the class as animated slides. An additional element of this lesson (2.2) was my linking of the motion of alpha and beta particles in electric and magnetic fields with uniform circular motion — something these students hadn't previously appreciated. This was acknowledged as "good work" by my supervising teacher (PE1 - observation - 170906 - 11PH2).

I demonstrated use of curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans (2.3) during my Teacher Performance Assessment from my second prac. This saw me design a sequence of lessons on the Stage 4 mathematics topic Fractions, decimals and percentages. Two formative assessment tasks and a summative assessment were developed together with additional remedial questions for students with unsatisfactory performance on the formative tasks. The average class result on the summative task was a marked improvement on corresponding results for the formative tasks.