Pedagogical

The Competency

The international teacher in primary education must stimulate the children’s socio-emotional and moral development. He/she must help them to become independent and responsible individuals. That is the international primary school teacher’s responsibility. In order to be able to fully take this responsibility the international teacher must be pedagogically competent.

A pedagogically internationally competent teacher creates a safe learning environment in his/her groups and lessons. Such a teacher makes sure that the children

know that they belong and that they are welcome
know that they are appreciated
treat each other with respect
are challenged to take responsibility for each other
are able to take initiatives and to work autonomously

Feedback

Hannah shows awareness of holistic pedagogical practice. She has a repertoire of music, dance and learning activities that are developmentally appropriate.

- Debbie Smit (Year 1 Mentor)

Hannah effectively uses signs with body and hands to interpret a short spring story. She compliments this with good voice skills-clear pronunciation, pace and volume. Differentiation is used and an appropriate activity has been organized that mirrors the learning outcomes of the main activity. A teacher’s assistant scaffolds these students and this is a good use of classroom support. Hannah checks on this group throughout the lesson to encourage inclusiveness

-Caroline Ferguson (Year 1 Visiting Lecturer Observation)

Hannah has shown an ability to be aware of students’ emotional needs and is responsive to them. The

ability to recognize students’ different needs thoroughly can take time, but in the short time Hannah

has been with us she has shown she is perceptive and sensitive to differences in thinking, culture and

the socio-emotional maturity of the students.

-Caroline Starnes (Year 2 Mentor)

Hannah consistently takes into account the identities (including experiences, culture, backgrounds, etc) of her learners, not only when designing and implementing learning experiences, but also when reflecting on how to improve and extend the learning taking place.

- Jason Wilson & Martin Van Hooijdonk (Year 3 Mentors)

[Hannah] could participate in pedagogical meta-level discussions about particular elements of her lesson. [...] Good, effective differentiation between the Year 5/Year 6 level. [...] Hannah was able to interact, observe, act on her observations and overall lead the class with confidence and humour.

- Natalie Shaw (Year 3 Visiting Lecturer Observation)

Year 4

Experience & Self-Assessment

Developing in a Digital Context

When moving to distance learning, (due to COVID-19) my mentors and I immediately recognized the need for continued verbal communication with teachers. However, we also knew it was important for the students to interact with each other. Since I had made group interaction a significant aspect of the unit I designed, we decided to host group sessions where we could answer questions from the students and they could have a moment to chat with each other. Though this was not the ideal way to develop my skills, it provided interesting opportunities to develop my classroom management skills in a new context (online).

In the group sessions, I would allow the students to lead the direction of each session. Similar to how things were conducted in the classroom, I was there as a resource. I wanted the students to take their learning into their own hands and try things out for themselves. So, the sessions primarily consisted of the students coming forward with their own questions and I would guide them in the right direction with some further explanation or information. Rather than me just talking to the passively listening students, the students were interacting with their learning.

Implementing Gamification

For my bachelor thesis project I designed and taught a gamified IPC unit. My motivation for researching this topic is due to my belief that we should support the student holistically and encourage autonomy, problem solving and critical thinking through choice and differentiation. Based on my previous knowledge and research of gamification, I hypothesized that by implementing a meaningful combination of game elements and dynamics could positively effect multiple aspects of students' holistic development.

Although there were some design aspects that I would reconsider in a future design, I believe I was successful in attending to the various needs of each student. As well as providing opportunities for students to develop socially, emotionally, and academically.

Evidence of Development

Choice, Autonomy, and Differentiation

When designing the gamified unit, I aimed to incorporate as many opportunities for students to take control of their learning. By providing multiple routes to success, students had a choice in what path they wanted to take in the "game". This allowed students of various abilities to access the same material through natural differentiation and encouraged autonomy.

Unfortunately, the choice part was limited when the unit was moved to online learning. However, students who wanted to earn more points could take on bonus-quests (extension activities,) and students who had difficulties were supported through level-appropriate materials and extra guidance. Many of the learning goals had multiple activities which students could choose from. This allowed students to work at their own pace and in their own interests, while achieving the same learning goals.

Student Study Plan

Differentiated Study Plan

Student Holistic Development

Throughout the unit there was a focus on the students' holistic development. Each week my mentors and I completed a rubric for each student based on our own observations. The rubric consisted of several holistic development categories and constructs I had compiled from my literature review. By doing this, I was able to track how the students were developing socially, emotionally, linguistically, and behaviorally, on top of the usual academic development.

Though completing a weekly rubric for each students can be too time consuming in normal circumstances, I believe it is important to at least consider and observe students' holistic development. Understanding what to look for and how to monitor it is something that will take continuous development, but this experience has given me valuable insight.

Holistic Assessment Rubric Template

Reflection & Future Development

Throughout this teaching experience, I was presented with multiple obstacles which could have severely hindered my ability to implement the autonomy and differentiation my unit was designed for. However, I was quickly able to come up with solutions that continued the opportunities for students to take learning into their own hands and develop at their own pace.

There are many valuable lessons that I take with me from this experience: from how to manage an online lesson to how to formatively assess students' holistic development. I hope to continue to develop my understanding of how we, as educators, can help our students by providing opportunities for holistic growth and development.

Hannah Nicole Taylor