Coaching

Over the years I have supported many pre-service teachers. It has been fantastic to be able to share experiences, mentor, coach and guide so many students in their last professional practice. In order to support pre-service teachers to reflect on their practice I quickly establish a collaborative relationship to ensure that their professional learning opportunities are expanded and of a high quality. 

I showed them the many ways we can engage our students, model good teaching practices and ensure that their experience at our school was enjoyable and stress free. I was also able to supervise their performance in the classroom, provide opportunities for them to critically reflect on their achievements  as well as offering  feedback after every class. Apart from helping them to create a portfolio to support their learning , I monitored their classroom practices to make sure they were aware of and taking into consideration the predetermined student ILP goals

Me mentoring a pre service teacher and an LSA on how to use Proloquo2go

 

When I started at the Woden school, most teachers in the school were not confident at using smartboards. I initiated and organised a coordinated schedule of ongoing training. Although the school had a number of martboards installed, the use of these resources was limited to a couple of teachers. With the strong involvement of the school as a lead national school for designing teaching and learning modules for students with disabilities, I provided staff with the skills to deliver newly developed modules in a way that ensured access and engagement for our student cohort, ensuring that school learning and teaching programs truly reflected the developing Australian Curriculum. In line with the Disability Standards for Education a huge amount of additional modification and differentiation is required to ensure that students with a range of disabilities, particularly those with significant expressive language challenges could access the full range of curriculum entitlements. The idea was widely welcomed by my colleagues and I conducted fortnightly sessions to share current ICT skills and more importantly, learn how to create new and innovative activities to supplement and enhance the curriculum modules to keep our students engaged for longer periods of time.

After a year, I reviewed the ICT plan in consultation with the Principal. A plan was formed to increase the use of iPads in the classrooms and improve our technology culture. Every member of the teaching staff was provided with an iPad to improve their expertise in their own time and to support students in the classroom. Stage two of this plan, will involve support staff also having their own iPad. Stage three will involve every student at our school having their own personal devise. BYOD model.

I am responsible for leading and building a strong technology orientated team.[Evidence 8]

Teachers getting their iPads and training: Evidence 8

An important aspect of this role has been the initiation, development and implementation of procedures and policies to support the increased budgetary expenditure and accountability of the resources. I have worked collaboratively with a member of staff to ensure that staff comply with newly developed compliance documentation. This has been a challenging task but essential for our organisational responsibility. The high costs of the ICT equipment and the need for high level training and support are roles that I take very seriously within the context of our school improvement planning cycle.

This year I organised and led some extensive training at the Apple store in Canberra for 10 of my colleagues. These “field trips” were provided with three, 2 hour sessions in the use of a complete new operation system to maximise our student’s learning experience. More of this type of training is due to happen by the end of the year as well as being in the process of team teaching the rest of our school community in the use of the iMac, iMovie and garage band. The feedback from the teachers who were part of this first training cycle was very positive. More of these training sessions are scheduled for the rest of the year to accommodate more members of our staff. We are now considered one of the pioneer schools in the ACT in the use of iPads, iMac, Smartboards and technology in general.

As a result of this partnership with Apple, I have been approached by Apple to be part of a series of interviews and documentaries which seek to promote their educational products.[Evidence 3]

Here I am leading my team at the training sessions at the Apple Store in Canberra: Evidence 3

I have an excellent working relationship with my colleagues. I get along with all team members and I am always willing to help others. I have actively participated and shared information at whole staff meetings through to system wide presentations. I am heavily involved with reporting and assessment development groups, curriculum meetings. I actively participate in sports carnivals and swimming events, and I also attend social functions and community achievements such as the Special Olympics to support students and colleagues. 

I constantly share my skills and coach staff outside my school in a number of ways, offering ETD training workshops, I have an open door classroom policy where everyone is welcome to come and see how I model my extensive range of skills including selecting and incorporating technology into the classroom activities, particularly for students with a disability. Many mainstream teachers have attended the workshops and have contacted me afterwards for advice and support in using these strategies in their classrooms.

Executive staff, teachers, support staff and parents from schools across ACT visited my classroom several times to get ideas in devising modified and differentiated resources to support non-verbal students at their school. [Evidence 6]

Screen shots of some of my Presentations teaching teacher how to create engaging activities, reward charts and understanding what ICT really means... (It Can't Teach) I demonstrated with real activities how important is to be engaging and dynamic to promote quality teaching. 

Evidence 6

Evidence of my engaging classroom environment, where students participate and learn in a comfortable and calm way.

I have a positive attitude and great sense of humour that is well appreciated by my colleagues. This has contributed tremendously to the positive attitude my colleagues have had in the many changes taken place at our school since 2011.

In my role as the Year 7 Transition Co-ordinator I work hard to forge relationships with ACT Primary Schools and with the DET Inclusive Technology team. I engage Parents, teachers, LSAs and students in many activities, meetings and strategies to make sure the transitions between primary school and high school are successful for all parties involved, particularly students. I have also worked with teachers at TWS to transfer the information collected from my visits to the primary schools, to ensure everyone is informed about our new students.  [Evidence 9]