School of Education

102605 Secondary PP Community Engagement

Self Reflection Form
Pre-service Teacher Details
Pre-service Teacher Name: Pre-service Teacher ID:

Jeremy Odang-Rohan 18017742

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

0420 998 090 18017742@student.westernsydney.edu.au

Placement Details: If you haven’t completed 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:

Doonside Technology High School (02) 9622 2463

Placement Address: Placement Email Address:

15-39 Power St, Doonside NSW 2767 doonside-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Contact Person:

Helen Shandil – Pre-service Teacher Coordinator

Manvir Singh – Head Teacher HSIE

Describe in 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.

Before entering Professional Practice Community Engagement, I was left with an eagerness

to teach Stage 4 students coming off my first professional practice experience. Throughout

PP1, I had taught Stage 5 (Year 9 and 10) and Stage 6 Ancient History with minimal

engagement and experience with Year 7 and 8. Additionally, throughout my curriculum units,

I had only created lesson plans and unit programs tailored for Stage 5 and 6 as I found it more
comfortable to create and teach students within a certain age group and above. With the

realisation that I would eventually need to teach Stage 4, I believed that I required immediate

experience in that field which eventually led to the selection of completing PPCE through the

DTHS Year 7 Middle School Program.

Throughout my experience, I was provided the opportunity to work with students 1:1, in

groups and class when delivering lessons. Being immersed in Stage 4 content, viewing how

lessons, activities and resources were scaffolded and differentiated was quite eye opening

towards understanding how the students learn and their capabilities at that level. A large

majority of my 1:1 support was in a Year 7 Mathematics class where I was paired with

several students during different lessons to support them with content. I came across

roadblocks at first when attempting to assist them as they were quite unfamiliar with the

basics of mathematics and therefore found their work challenging. I remember reflecting

upon my own understanding of this content when I was their age and remembering that I

found it easy to complete which detached me from the fact that all students learn differently.

This changed my perspective and approach towards assisting them, scaffolding and wording

my explanations differently for them to understand and complete the work. Similar situations

occurred when assisting groups in both Year 7 and 8, educating me on how I could better

improve my understanding students learning and knowledge and how to prepare for different

learning needs, particularly in a Stage 4 environment/level.

The most beneficially feature of my PPCE experience by far was the chance to deliver Year 7

English and Geography lessons. My initial plan for PPCE was to provide 1:1 and group

support, though due to a teacher going on leave, I was asked to deliver lessons to her class for

the duration of my stay. This occurred spontaneously, including my first observation lesson

during PPCE when the casual teacher asked me to continue the delivery of a geography

lesson halfway through. This not only provided an excellent opportunity to finally deliver
lessons to Stage 4 students but to also teach geography, a subject outside my learning area. It

was a reminder that as a casual or permanent teacher, there will be times when we’re

expecting to teach outside our comfort zone, that we need to be prepared and open to expand

and develop our skills. This opportunity provided insight into potential requirements for

myself as a beginning teacher, to grab opportunities to learn more about the profession and

how to improve my pedagogy for a wide range of learners.

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?
 Multiple aspects of my learning at DTHS surprised me. Firstly, the capabilities of
Stage 4 students in comparison to Stage 5 and 6, and the adjustments that are required
to help assist these students in completing work. An example of this would be the
scaffolding of content, structuring in a manner that helps them complete it step by
step with assistance from the teacher. Additionally, the unexpected requirement to
deliver content both in and outside my teaching area spontaneously demonstrated my
ability to adjust to certain situations quickly and professionally.
What research about communities did you engage with before you commenced?
 I conducted minimal research on the community before I commenced as I had
previously done my Professional Practice 1 at the same location. Additionally, I
consider myself to have a good general knowledge of the local community being
someone from the area. In saying that, I believe I could have conducted more research
 prior to my commencement at the school to see how it may have changed since my
departure.

What goals did you set for yourself in your service learning activities?
 Develop understanding, knowledge and skills on Stage 4 content and delivery
 Interact with a wider range of staff members outside the HSIE faculty
 Observe other teaching areas to see variations of classroom management
 Gain additional experience in the school environment in preparation for PP2
 Develop understanding of administration requirements for a teacher outside the
classroom
What do you believe the participants in your service learning project learned?
 I believe the key participants would be my students. From what I’ve observed when
teaching them/providing additional support, I believe they’ve learnt key skills to assist
them in understanding and completing the work they’ve been assigned after my
departure. Examples include comprehension skills, mathematic formulas,
geographical mapping and understanding about liveability in certain environments.
What did you learn? How will the experience shape you as a teacher in a classroom?
 During my PPCE experience, I learned not to forget that each student learns
differently and have varying levels of knowledge and understanding about certain
areas they’re learning about.
 I’ve learnt methods of preparing and delivering Stage 4 content alongside strategies
for behaviour management suitable for that age/year group.
 The delivery of content both within and outside my teaching area as a common
requirement for teachers, and to be open-minded towards opportunities I may not be
comfortable with.
 Interacting with different teachers to gain knowledge on lesson and behavioural
management strategies. Additionally, a better understanding of administrative work
for a teacher.
 These experiences will help shape myself as a classroom teacher to become more
open-minded, flexible and eager to develop my professional learning through various
methods to improve my practice.