Literature Review and Reflective Narrative
Task 2
Classroom music poster breaking down a whole note into half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes.
This assignment asks you to:
This assignment asks you to:
1. Find or take a photograph while on placement to use as a source of critical reflection. Do not take photos of children. You may only take photos of learning spaces, artefacts, learning activities or wall displays for this task.
2. Write a critical reflection based on the photograph, around the theme of “learner and teacher relationships with numeracy”. Support your critical reflection with evidence (visual data, storied data, reference to research literature from this and other units in the course, reference to policy from schools, centres and/or government websites). 2400-2500 words.
3. Write a one page professional learning plan for your own ongoing professional learning. The plan
should start to address some of the professional gaps in knowledge and areas of interest which have been identified in the critical reflection, and in your placement report. A sample is provided. 500-600 words
Note: References, photos/captions and appendices are not included in the word count. This will allow you to develop your critical narrative as fully as possible.
Rationale:
1. The assignment is an opportunity to analyse and consolidate your learning in the program to date. You will write about your developing understandings, beliefs and values as an educator. The theme of “learner and teacher relationships with numeracy” will permit you to be succinct in your response while addressing some of the central ideas, theories and issues that you have engaged with so far.
2. One of the challenging tasks for teachers is to learning to recognise what, how, where, why and when learning is occurring. This task will help you to begin to develop these skills by practicing them on yourself. To do this you will analyse and discuss how and when shifts in your learning about teaching and learners have occurred in this program.
3. As teaching is a complex profession, you will need to use initiative and take responsibility for your own ongoing independent learning. This task will help you to begin the process of identifying your unique needs and gaps in professional learning, and what you might do to address them. Many of you will have made, or may be about to make your first attempt at the LANTITE test for Literacy and Numeracy and this will, no doubt, be part of the critical reflective narrative and perhaps, your professional learning plan.
The key points
• ‘Literature Review’ means you reference widely and demonstrate good familiarity with the theories of learning and bodies of literature that support your emerging understandings
• ‘Reflective Narrative’ means this is a document of your own personal and unique learning or journey. We want to know about what is important to you in education, and why. We want to know how and why your views
developed and how your understandings have shifted. You can exercise some choice about the structure: for example, use a chronological ‘journey narrative’ beginning with your understandings on entering the program and structured around subsequent shifts in understanding; or alternatively, a more conventional essay structured around 2-3 central themes in your developing teaching values. Make sure you tell us what these beliefs and values will look in practice – what will you actually do in the classroom or learning site to enact these values?
Your Literature Review and Reflective Narrative should be approximately 2400-2500 words
• This discussion should lead naturally to a plan for ongoing professional learning that identifies your specific needs, and the specific actions, resources, and timeframes for undertaking this learning.
Your learning should be around 500-600 words.
Assignment 2 Marking criteria unpacked
MARKING CRITERIA (equally We will look for a response that considers some
but not all of the following questions…
weighted). The submitted task:
Analyses evidence (visual data, storied data, What does the photograph tell you about numeracy in
learning? What does gaps and questions does it open
references to research literature and up for further investigation? How does it link with your
references to policy) to critically reflect on emergent understandings about learning theory and
and discuss their own relationship with the learner/teacher identity? How does this connect,
general capability – numeracy, the impact that challenge or reflect your own learner relationship with
this might have on their teaching and how this numeracy? How is your experience different to or the
might enhance their understanding of their same as your learners on placement? What is your
learners and their relationships to learning. understanding of the interdisciplinary connections
between numeracy and other subject disciplines? What
ULO 1, 3, 4, 5 does the learner perception of themselves in relation to
numeracy mean for teachers and teaching? Learners
and learning? What are your expectations of yourself
and the teaching profession, more broadly, in relation
to numeracy?
Creates a cohesive and theoretically informed What do you know and understand about the broader
response to the central research theme knowledge and practice of education that you didn’t
know before? To what extent have you analysed how
“learner and teacher relationships with numeracy”
placement, artefacts from your portfolio, discussions,
that identifies links between emerging and literature have prompted these shifts and deepened
beliefs, theory and practice and shifts in or changed your understanding? To what extent have
thinking (from personal to professional you used a wide range of literature to explore and
understandings) related to learners, learning, deepen your understandings and independently located
literature to pursue your own interests?
teachers, teaching by connecting emerging
beliefs to a wide range of relevant, academic
literature.
Outlines and justifies a plan for ongoing How well have you demonstrated that you are taking
responsibility for your own development as a teacher
professional learning based on these critical by outlining a workable plan for ongoing professional
reflections and the discussions with supervising learning? Have you identified your own professional
mentor teachers in the placement context. The questions, aims, gaps and areas of need and discussed
plan should draw on your reflective work in this why these are important for your learners? Have you
task, your professional experience report and your presented some preliminary research identifying
professional experience portfolio and journal to specific steps, people and resources which you might
justify inclusion of specific elements in your draw on? To what extent have you identified when and
learning plan. how you intend to implement this plan? Have you
ULO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 included the feedback from others in helping you to
identify gaps and construct your professional learning
plan?
The submitted task is logically and clearly Have you structured, expressed and referenced your
structured, and free from spelling, ideas in a way that is not only appropriate for a Masters
grammatical and typographical errors. It level audience but in a way that engages your reader?
meets the required length (+/-10%) and REFERENCING, PROOFREADING, EDITING,
complies with Australian academic rules and PRESENTATION, LANGUAGE, GRAMMAR, SYNTAX,
conventions. It is referenced (as necessary) PROFESSIONALISM, WORD COUNT.
through the consistent and accurate use of a
recognised referencing convention.
You only have a small word count so you need to develop a critical narrative that really tells us who you want to be as a teacher and how you are working to get yourself to that point. To do this you will need to be selective and stick to some central ideas.
SAMPLE Professional Learning Plan: Your learning plan might include 2 or more ideas similar to the following;
My Professional Learning Plan 2017
Nature of the Professional My Learning Objective to My Success Criteria
Learning Gap address this gap
e.g. In my critical reflective By the end of the year I will seek By mid-year I will:
narrative I realized that I out opportunities improve my - revisit my LANTITE results to understand my
have low learner optimism confidence in Literacy and gaps in literacy and numeracy.
in relation to literacy and Numeracy. - access the Study Support website for
numeracy. This makes me LANTITE preparation and engage with the
specifically nervous about By the end of the year I will have resources.
interpreting data and a better understanding of learner By end-year I will:
communicating with data and how it is used. - Have sought out opportunities to talk with
parents. It may have had an my mentor teachers about how they use
impact on my LANTITE test By the end of the year I will seek learners data
results. My mentor also out opportunities to improve my - Have sought out opportunities to sit with my
made comments on my confidence and communication mentor during meetings with parents
spoken communication in with parents.
my report.
e.g. In preparing for my By mid-year I will get my By April I will:
critical narrative and other Trimester 1 unit resources - Have downloaded EndNote and
aspects of study in my organized and have settled on an completed the online training
course, I realized that I am ongoing system for the - Have downloaded all the readings from
not as organized with my remainder of my study. my units of study to date and organized
resources as I could be. them for future use.
By June I will:
- Have created the structure for my
professional experience portfolio and
have populated it with notes, resources
and reflections from my first placement.
e.g. In my critical narrative By end-year, I will seek out By July I will:
and in talking with my literature to help me to - Make contact with my mentor teacher
mentor, I realized the understand the cohort of to negotiate the class I will complete my
importance of knowing how students that I will engage with Tri 2 assignments with and find out as
learners learn. I now know the most in my next placement. much about this group as possible.
that I have a knowledge gap - I will go back through my readings to
in developmental learning look specifically for learning theory and
and how physiology might student engagement and add this to my
impact learner engagement annotated bibliography.
in the classroom.
e.g. In preparing photos for By end-year I will do some During the mid-year break, I will complete some
my critical narrative I began professional development in online training in Lynda.com on layout and
to notice the work that creating classroom resources and accessibility.
teachers do to enhance accessibility training. By end-year I will have built up and annotated
learning environments and the resources in my professional experience
the ways they use folder with samples of visual displays and
visual/aural/kinesthentic learning resources created for learners.
resources and activities to
make them more inclusive
for learners.