Bou Ovington, 17383497 1

Professional Practice 3
School of Education
102605 Secondary PP Community Engagement
Self Reflection Form

Pre-service Teacher Details

Pre-service Teacher Name: Pre-service Teacher ID:

Bou Ovington 17383497

Pre-service Teacher Phone Number: Pre-service Teacher Email Address:

0403 727 521 17383497@student.westernsydney.edu.au

Placement Details: If you haven’t complete 60 hours face to face you must provide a
detailed statement of how your experience meets the outcomes for Professional
Practice CE. Attach evidence.

Placement Name: Placement Phone Number:

Junior Rugby League Sports Coaching Sharyn Carter – Secretary

0423 098 916

Placement Address: Placement Email Address:

Stromeferry Reserve, St Andrews, NSW campbelltowncitykangaroos@hotmail.com

Contact Person:

Sharyn Carter
0423 098 916

Describe in about 500 WORDS any features and benefits of the setting you attended. Consider
number of students, location details, age of students, types of educational programs offered and any
other salient aspects of the experience. Consider how this experience will contribute to your
development as a beginning teacher.

AITSL Standards

The criteria for pre-service teacher reflection focus, the first, second, third and sixth standards.
 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full
range of abilities
 2.2 Content selection and organisation
 3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
 6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice

Subsidiary questions:
What surprised you about your learning in your community setting?
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What research about communities did you engage with before you commenced?
What goals did you set for yourself in your service learning activities?
What do you believe the participants in your service learning project learned?
What did you learn? How will the experience shape you as a teacher in a classroom?
Check Due Date accompanied by your Timesheet and signed Report.
Submissions after due date will receive an N grade. At the following HECS census date, if
the work is still incomplete, this will become an AF grade. This is University policy.
The AF grade can be changed when you complete the work. You must also keep a hard or
electronic copy of your assignment.

Submit this form online via InPlace. Your PPCE Report written by the Contract
Person, is mailed by them or delivered by you to the PP office in the SOE.
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Reflection

Working within Junior Rugby League as a coach has numerous features and benefits. The setting can be

dynamic in the sense that the players have their differing personalities and needs that need to be appropriately met.

I work with an under 9’s team – there are 12 players in total. As a coach, I prefer to breakdown my sessions

at the macro and micro levels in an attempt to ensure continuous progression as players. The program embedded

attempts to pervade numerous elements of Rugby League. I teach how to complete certain tasks, however, I

additionally choose to teach why and when.

This philosophy aims to instil a set of principles that the players can always return to; rather than having a

structure that minimises creative development. Players are taught why they do each drill. This is to justify its

necessitation in training, so it can be utilised in a game. Similar to learning intentions in the classroom – if students

understand why they are completing tasks, they are more likely to respond positively to it.

I choose to extend this into teaching when they should transfer this into a match-setting. Progressing the

skills from its basics into a game, or games based activity. Discussions and guided discovery are a tool often used to

facilitate players’ own perceptions of when certain tasks should be completed. For example, a structure would tell

players what to do on every play. This does not take into account variable change. The defenders can present issues

for these structures, and often children aren’t allowed the creative freedom to alter that type of game plan. Principles

however, are an awareness of what can work in different situations, yet players can choose whatever way they wish to

get there.

Ultimately this philosophy runs in parallel to the development of myself as a beginning teacher. If students

can understand the why and when, then what they are learning is far more justified. I have found teaching and

coaching to assist one another in my own development. I have players who suffer from Autism, deafness and blindness

(in one eye). The diverse nature of the classroom is not dissimilar in this sense. Like teaching, I have to facilitate

training session that encompass the learning styles of my players, whilst differentiating to suit the needs of them all.

For example, the player with blindness in one eye, prefers to stand on the right hand side of the field so he can use his
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left eye to see the players coming. With him being unable to see on that side, it increases his chances of injury. In

defence drills we focus on his left shoulder tackles and keeping his head up as he is right handed and needs to

maintain sight of the runner of the ball. As a beginning teacher, there have been instances of students who necessitate

differentiated learning. The ability to dynamically adjust to the suit student needs is a skill that comes from a

multitude of experiences that are pervasive, both inside and outside of the classroom.

I have been coaching for a number of years, and have been working in schools since 2011 – though I am still

surprised each year at the new adversities that need to be overcome. Time management and organisation was

necessary this year whilst undertaking my second practical, as was communicating with parents on a consistent basis

about their personal issues, and issues related to anxiety, stress and pressure of their children. Being a competitive

team, parents often have high expectations and only consider their physical wellbeing when it comes to sport. I was

surprised this year, when kids – at the age of 9, were pressured to play well. The culture of sport is creating a lasting

impact on young children, therefore I saw fit on occasion to educate parents in what is beneficial to their child’s

mental wellbeing.

Research about the community in all honesty has not been at the forefront of my coaching. I grew up in the

area, and played for the same team as a junior player, so I believe I have a thorough understanding of the community.

I do however, research sports related articles about players that have any (dis)abilities. As aforementioned, there are

players with differing cognitive and physical issues. I research consistently throughout the year multiple approaches in

participation for players with similar (dis)abilities1.

As a group, I create goals based on what I hope for them to be able to do, and on an individual level I set

goals as to what I hope players can achieve. These vary, but an example of a team goal towards the end of the year

was to not allow teams to make more than 30 metres (per set). At the micro level, we partook in drills that increased

1
The term disability is often used as a negative connotation. The prefixal use of “dis” by definition has a primitive, negative or
reversing association. Therefore, when discussing individuals with disability, the parentheses of (dis) is used to present a more
apposite term that puts more foci upon the base word of ability.
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our speed of moving forward and practiced getting three people involved in tackles that assists in slowing down the

play the ball so players had more time to get ready and move forward quickly on the next play. In terms of my

service of these learning objectives; as a group, we often made training goals that we wished to understand by the

end of the session. Acknowledging the drills purpose, made more sense to the players and how it can be used

effectively in a game. Akin to teaching, larger concepts necessitate smaller sub topics to gain an idea of the entire

picture. In this sense, players learnt multiple sub-areas, in order to reach the central topic/goal – defensive line

speed.

I have learned a myriad of things since becoming a coach. From differentiation to communication, I have

acquired skills over more than 10 years that have transpired into my capabilities as a teacher. Specifically, I have

learned how to correctly manage players, and by extension, students who have diversified learning needs; I have

additionally been provided with experiences in communication with variant age groups that are emblematic of the

stage four, five, six and staff in a secondary schooling environment.