- Support Personal Development
And Participation In Society.

He showed an interest in learning about each child and their needs”

Gay Quelhurst - Practicum Report - Term 3, 2008

It is important to the formation of pedagogical relationships that teachers get to know their students, to understand their personal positions, so as to better tailor learning goals that  promote personal development and social participation (Queensland College of Teachers, 2008).  Students with a well-rounded participation in a variety social and personal activities are more likely to be resilient to mishap and to have better coping strategies for life’s ongoing pressures (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007).

Both in professional attachments and beyond them I have had opportunities to contribute to learning experiences that support students’ personal development and active engagement with the world.  These have involved sporting activities - cricket coaching;  community activities - clean-up and tree-planting drives and; co- and extra- curricular scholastic activities.    

For example, in the weeks leading up to the 40 Hour Famine awareness program I was involved in classroom delivery and other, informal, discussions with students about world hunger.  Many were curious to better understand food production and distribution and to learn about ways in which they participate in solutions.  As part of that program I made a video message which emphasises the need for personal involvement in a World problem.  I was able to tailor that message particularly to the practicum students involved - Grade 6-7 girls.

That video can viewed through YouTube - click here.

Similarly, in Refugee Week 2009 I created video translation of Michael Foreman’s book “A Child’s Garden.  It is a beautiful story of hope that resonated strongly with the students, stimulating significant personal development and more compassionate understandings of world cultures.  Click here.

“Mark was able to build up a positive relationship with the students in his care.
He worked hard at getting to know the children in a very short time and the students responded positively to his enthusiastic nature”

Bryan Simpson  - Referee Statement 2009

“He has developed a good working relationship with each child and has quickly worked out their individual strengths and weaknesses
Mark has great communication with the children and they respond to him in a very positive way”

Gay Quelhurst - Midway Report - Term 2 - 2008

 Bibliography

- Create And Maintain Safe And
Supportive Learning Environments

“The students are always made aware of expectations.
He has learned to manage learning and behaviour in a challenging classroom”

Gay Quelhurst - Midway Report - Term 3, 2008

The subtleties of pre-teen society are myriad and are difficult to accurately discern from the necessarily external perspective of a teacher (Thompson, 2001).  However, developing warm and open communication helps educators to be sensitive to social currents and aware of unhelpful or unhealthy developments as they arise (Danforth & Smith, 2005).  Having suffered several incidents of bullying at school myself, I am particularly aware of its insidious nature and how quietly desperate can be its victims.

On the other side of the coin, the benefits of cohort cohesion are also far reaching.  I have spent the last few years as a stay-at-home dad and I coordinate a playgroup (The MonkeyRats - click here - new window) that sees 9 mums, myself and 22 preschoolers gather together each week in our home.  The cooperation and the willingness to please that the children display towards me sometimes surprises their mothers, but I am convinced it originates in simple caring.  Remembering idiosyncrasies, personal preferences and circumstances is highly endearing to people of all ages and it takes little effort to have and to exhibit a genuine interest in individuals - especially little ones.  It is then a small step to coax a group of such individuals to function collaboratively under one's guidance thereby developing the social connections so vital to a supportive classroom ambience (USQ Faculty of Education, 2008).

The establishment and maintenance of cordial, respectful relationships is a key to both student safety and support.  Since enhancement of student inter-relationships necessarily involves an impetus toward ethical behaviour, it follows that values education has a part to play in creating safe, supportive environments (Newman & Pollnitz, 2005).  Of the nine values enshrined in the “National Values for Australian Schooling,” (2009),  Respect and Care & Compassion are the two most relevant to this Standard.  As well as direct instruction in these values the educator also better fulfils their duty of care by modelling value-evident behaviour and intervening consistently to ensure emphasised values are embodied in student demeanour (Marsh, 2004).  However, intervention to uphold emplaced values is less likely to be required if students feel a sense of self-agency in selecting those values (Keddie & Churchill, 2005).

Implicit in this is a shift toward more politically balanced teacher-student relationships and more a democratic classroom (Danforth & Smith, 2005).  Fifty years on Earth have furnished me with well-developed coping strategies and a strong sense of self; ramparts that I can use to confidently surrender significant classroom power to the learners while nonetheless garnering and exercising a mandate to impose structure and discipline in the classroom.

“Mark always ensured that students felt safe in his lessons”

Chris Cawley - Referee Statement 2009

“Mark’s experience in other fields helps him realise that safety is a top priority”

Damien Coman - Referee Statement 2009

“Mark has managed to ascertain the behaviour patterns of the students and respond to each in an effective manner, particularly those students with some challenging behaviours”

Gay Quelhurst - Practicum Report - Term 2, 2008

 Bibliography

- Foster Positive And Productive
Relationships With Families And The Community

At the heart of fulfilling this standard is the ability to relate to and to empathise with the broad spectrum of humanity that one could reasonably expect to encounter in a school community.  I anticipate leveraging the empathic potential  (Keeffe & Carrington, 2006) of a considerable breadth of socio-cultural and vocational experience in fostering community relationships.   To say that I grew up in the shadow of the Newcastle Steelworks exposes my lower-working class roots.  I worked for years as a steel-mill labourer and retain the soul of a tradesman despite lengthy periods on both sides of the tertiary lectern and considerable professional engagement.  In short, I am a well travelled parvenu, as comfortable with whiskey on the wharves as with cocktails at the consulate.  Being able to identify with a wide range of social and cultural strata will be an invaluable tool in understanding my students' families and their social support structures (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007) and hence, in relating to them positively and productively.

To date, opportunities to interact personally with families in an official, professional capacity have been limited.  Nonetheless, I have participated in sports coaching, in community activities like tree planting, working bees, and clean up days and I enjoy the casual end-of-day conversations with parents that can be so insightful when well handled.  I understand that if I am to be a quality educator my first inclination will be to embrace the learning that is brought from home.  Children’s world-views are constructed largely outside of school (Hickey 2006) but there are often ways of transposing them into usefulness as scaffolding for concepts whose classroom explication is ongoing (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007).  And as Keefe and Carrington (2006) note, the understandings derived from informal contexts are always at school even if the parents themselves are not and the wise take care to nurture these relationships.

In Term 1 of 2009 I conducted a case study, part of which examined potential parental involvement using web pages of renewably current information about a Science Unit on (family) genetics (click here - new window).  Almost immediately the families began to engage with the material using multiple communication channels (Friend & Cook, 2007).  Email, notes, show & tell artefacts and face-to-face communication with respect to the Science Unit increased in frequency, eventually culminating in many members of students’ families physically participating in the end-of-unit assessment presentation.

I understand that my written persona is formal and can seem exact and unemotional.  It may therefore surprise the reader that in person I am a very sociable fellow and I relish the filial interaction that will necessarily accompany being a primary school teacher.  While many teachers consider interactions with families as potentially fraught (Porter, 2008), Graham-Clay (2005) maintains that cultivating partnerships with parents can often provide valuable strategies and insights that contribute to the resolution or prevention of student issues that might otherwise be insoluble or inscrutable.  Accordingly, I see strong relationships with students’ families and with the surrounding community as like good investments - they always return the principal with interest.

Bibliography

- Contribute Effectively
To Professional Teams

“Mark was very confident and professional in his relationships with other staff.”

Bryan Simpson - Practicum Report - Term 1, 2009

While Lortie (1975), Little (1990) and others have noted that individualism is important to teachers, years as an architect have convinced me that effective teamwork is more valuable, a position with which Friend and Cook (2007) concur.

For beginning teachers this is even more true since the ability to join effectively with a professional team helps avoid the sink-or-swim, trial-and-error entry to the profession that they often face (Inger, 1993). It brings experienced and beginning teachers together and reinforces the competence and confidence of the beginners.

The members of effective teams must be committed to group norms and shared understandings (Grasha, 1995). These may include simple things such as awareness of team membership, respectfulness of individual strengths and accommodation of limitations and personal preferences. An orientation toward good work habits and related skills such as punctuality and ability to give, follow and understand directions are also all simple but vital attributes (Inger, 1993). Implicit in those habits is a proclivity toward realistic personal and team goal setting and an understanding of management techniques, particularly time management.

From time to time human interaction quite naturally involves conflict. Indeed, almost all forms of creative and artistic output centre around tension - first generated then resolved (Gardner, 1970). Hence, the means of conciliating personal variance through negotiation is not only prerequisite to effective team membership, but can represent opportunity for the synthesis of original solutions (Grasha, 1995). The corollary is also true;  poorly handled, such conflict can atrophy team function. Accordingly, the adoption of transactional communication styles as outlined by Friend & Cook (2007) is valuable in engendering the relational trust that Fullan and Hargreaves (1991) posit is fundamental to the functioning of effective teams.

As evidence of my ability to fulfil this Standard I offer the following testimonials from Mentor Teachers with whom I have worked:-

“Mark worked well as a member of our year level teams”

Chris Cawley - Referee Statement 2009

“Mark proved to be a valuable team member, contributing in variety of areas and developing good relations with all parties”

Gay Quelhurst - Referee Statement 2009

 “He immersed himself fully in the life of the college and was well respected”

Chris Cawley - Practicum Report - Term 3, 2007

 “He has also quickly developed a good working relationship with myself, our teacher aide and the Principal”

Gay Quelhurst - Midway Report - Term 2 2008

 “Mark was also able to establish positive professional relationships. He contributed positively and confidently to our teaching team”.

Bryan Simpson  - Referee Statement 2009

 Bibliography