Prioritizing Pupil-Centered Teaching Strategies

As a teacher, pupil is always at the heart of what I do. I have created engaging and coherent lessons by using a range of different resources such as, ICT, cooperative learning tasks, outdoor learning and group work. What is most important, though the lesson is best suited to pupils, I teach, which is something I always ensure. I realise that, every pupil is different, and therefore I use GIRFEC as a concept to identify the interests, challenges and existing supports of the learners. But I am adaptable and realise that, what might work for one pupil might not work for another.

I communicate effectively with other members such as staff, parents and colleagues. If I am concerned about a pupil, I share these immediately with proper guidance of the staff or the schools’ senior management team. I currently share S1 and S2 classes with other teachers in the department and this requires us to communicate regularly. We talk about what we have covered, so pupils aren’t duplicating any material, pupils’ progression, any concerns we have over pupils and how to address these. We also share pupils’ assessment scores on an excel spreadsheet, so that we can see how pupils are progressing in each other’s classes and deal with any concerns we have. I also regularly talk to the members of support staff, as they are often the ones who see the class regularly, and they have adequate knowledge about ways to support individual pupils.

Starting at different schools, I have managed to build good relationship with all the pupils by making my boundaries clear from the start and reinforcing them. I am happy to work with the individual pupils after class and pupils appreciate this. Having a good relationship with the pupils, they are more likely to listen, respond and feel comfortable approaching you with any concerns. How feedback is delivered to pupils is also crucial where the pupils should be clear on the action, they need to take in order to make progress in their learning.

I also communicate with the parents in a professional and diligent manner for making them aware of how their child is progressing and ways they can offer them support and it contributes in helping to strengthen the partnership between home and school.

I understand the different policies and procedures used in helping safeguarding pupils. I have a sound understanding of the child protection policy, if I have concern about a child, I have a responsibility to report these to the child protection officer within the school. If a child discloses information to me, an accurate account of this should be taken and passed to the child protection officer in the school. If my concerns are serious enough, they should be passed onto social work department or the police.

In the Broad General Education, I have developed coherent and engaging lessons in Geography, History and Modern Studies. I use the relevant benchmarks and learning outcomes, while planning my lessons and assessing pupils. This year, I have taught an S3 History class, which has improved my knowledge of the curriculum content.

I have taught certificated classes including National 5 Travel and Tourism, National 5 Geography, National 5 Modern Studies, and Higher Geography. In the Higher Geography class, I taught a mixed ability class with some National 5 pupils. To combat this, I made sure that the pace was correct for all pupils in the class through a range of extension tasks linked to the main lesson for Higher pupils. I regularly update the schools’ spreadsheet with pupils’ assessment results, which allows me to monitor pupils’ progress in my class and across the school. If I have any concerns, then I am able to address these.

I have participated in subject development meetings for the recent changes to courses which are discussed and are able to share with any concerns. I have also taken part in moderation during subject development groups and internal verification, which has helped to ensure that my marking is consistent with other teachers.

I asses pupils using a range of summative and formative assessment techniques. Regarding summative assessment, I have prepared classes for formal assessments, which have involved the following duties, teaching pupils study skills, being involved in the checking of assessments before administration, taking part in the marking and moderation process within the department. This helped me to ensure that my marking was consistent with other teachers in the department.

Regarding formative assessment, I regularly incorporate AIFL strategies when assessing pupils. I have regular learning conversations with pupils setting realistic goals and small targets to achieve these goals. I use self-assessment tools such as ‘traffic lighting’ or ‘fist to five’ this not only allows me to see how comfortable pupils are with a concept, but it also allows them to take responsibility for their own learning. As they can identify were, they are gaps in their knowledge and address these. I use peer assessment as marking each other’s work gives pupils a better understanding of the marking criteria and can improve their answers.

Although, whatever assessment technique, I decide to use the best one to effectively asses the progress of pupils in my classes.

I am happy to run extra-curricular activities, as they fundamentally can improve in creating confident and responsible citizens prepared for life after school. I have helped run the Duke of Edinburgh Award, which gives pupils the opportunity to develop their confidence in camping outside and living independently by themselves for a short while. I have also created an eco-club, which promotes being more environmentally friendly around the school and is working towards pupils getting their green eco-flag.

I have attended different CPD courses such as on Google Classrooms, Cooperative Learning and a French cultural exchange. By attending cooperative learning course, I have learnt to structure simple strategies such as think, pair & share. Timing pupils to make sure each stage of the process is done and numbering pupils to make sure each person has an equal shot at discussing their opinion. Attending this French cultural exchange has allowed me to develop a course comparing Scottish and French culture.

Attending the Google classroom CPD has taught me how to use google forums, which allows me affectively to evaluate pupil’s assessment data and communicate with parents about how their child is doing. I’m happy to attend CPD sessions as they are important in helping me to become a more effective practitioner for pupils in my classes.

At my current school, they encourage pupils to have a growth mindset reflecting on their work, identifying areas they need to improve on and making these improvements. After any assessment task I remind pupils about having a growth mindset as they reflect on their work and identify targets to set themselves. The school also advocates being a nurturing environment I have taking part in a nurture questionnaire evaluating my own performance and creating a more nurturing environment based on the feedback. I have also taking part in the school meetings and participated in HGIOS 4 for evaluating my own practice against the indicators and making any adjustments.

I am a reflective practitioner and at the end of each week, I evaluate my own teaching practice. I identify what has gone well that week and set my targets for that upcoming week. I also ask for advice from more experienced colleagues and act on feedback given from the observations. This continues to ensure quality of my teaching practice which would be best for the pupils.