18563346

102086 Designing Teaching and Learning

Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

It is recognised that effective teaching involves planning. When we

plan a lesson as teachers we decide what to teach and how to teach
it.
Lesson planning is a highly crucial, highly effective tool in educational practise. It
is through careful planning that teachers are able to ensure that they effectively
address levels and modes of achievement within the classroom, that each
individual students needs are being met, that they adhere to a strict code of
professionalism and effectiveness and that they accurately analyse and utilise
what is learned through not only assessment and testing but also through
feedback from parents, students and other teachers. Four of the main criteria
used for creating and enacting a successful lesson plan are The Syllabus, the
needs of a diverse range of students, use of previous assessment data and
adherence to the National Professional Standards for Teachers.
Effective teachers recognise that an important factor in lesson planning is goal
orientation. The NSW syllabus, as prescribed by BOSTES (Board of Studies
Teaching and Educational Standards NSW), provides teachers with a thorough
outline of the levels of proficiency, comprehension and ability that the majority of
students should reach throughout each stage (BOSTES, Using Syllabus
Outcomes, 2016). This is achieved through objectives and outcomes i.e. Under
the Stage 1 English Objective B Use language to shape and make meaning a
student is expected to achieve the outcome identifies how language use in their
own writing differs (BOSTES, Table of Objectives and Outcomes, 2016). This
system effectively ensures that learning requirements can be met and measured
in a tangible way.
Syllabi are critical for lesson planning for several reasons. The skill and efficacy
of a teacher is measured by their ability to guide their students towards these
outcomes, through integration of the syllabus into their teaching practise. Use of
the syllabus within lesson planning also ensures that teachers can closely
observe students progress and plan and develop lessons that can accurately
guide students towards achievement (BOSTES, Planning for Effective Learning
and Assessment, 2016). It must be noted, however, that the effectiveness of
syllabus use is dependent upon the recognition of its flexibility, and the need for
the teachers to adapt these outcomes to ensure that they are accessible and
engaging for students.
Though the objectives and outcomes listed in the NSW syllabus are highly
important for measuring student achievement, and therefore crucial in planning
a lesson, there are extenuating factors that must always be taken into account.
In any classroom there are a wide range of diverse student learning needs; this
can include anything from physical, emotional or psychological disabilities, to
multicultural or multilingual students, or simply students who develop at
different physical and developmental rates to the majority. It is the role of
teachers to ensure that each individual students needs are met in an equitable
manner.
The NSW Department of Education and Communities lists a number of methods
that can assist in modifying content, processes and products for a variety of
different students. These methods include providing alternate formats for both
presentations and responses such as audio-visual presentations and physical
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18563346
102086 Designing Teaching and Learning
Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

models, particularly for children who may be between Piagets theoretical stages
i.e. concrete operational and formal operational. These children may not be able
to form ideas about hypothetical scenarios, and need tangible examples to
understand explanations (Clarke and Pittaway, 2014, p. 28). Other modifications
include seating children with difficulty hearing and seeing towards the front of
the classroom or setting a range of alternate tasks to suit different levels of
ability and allowing the students to select which tasks they wish to complete
themselves (NSW DEC, When One Size Doesnt Fit All, 2006). When planning
lessons, these methods and others must be taken into account, to ensure that all
students are being effectively taught and engaged.
Another important element of planning a lesson is to establish what is required
for a lesson to be successful, and this requires collection, analysis and
implantation of assessment data. Assessment data can come in several different
forms, such as day-to-day assessment, periodic assessment and terminal
assessment (Faultley, et al, 2013, p. 121-123). This assessment data can be
utilized to determine what teaching methods are working, what content
outcomes are being missed or underrepresented, and where individual students
are succeeding or struggling in the classroom. Teachers can look at this data and
adjust their lesson plans accordingly. Day-to-day assessment is one of the more
useful forms of data for planning lessons. This involves asking questions, to
establish starting points, to encourage critical thinking and engagement and to
determine what the children know about the course content. Then the class
should be critically observed, noting in particular each individual child and how
their experience might be improved. Holding discussions with students, with
individuals and as a group, to assess their understanding and engagement, is
another method that can be utilized, and encouraging self-reflection and
assessment can also be extremely beneficial. Outright testing and analysis of
students work samples are also important elements of this process (Clarke and
Pittaway, 2014, p. 314). Compiling all this data, a teacher can determine which
students need extra assistance or a different method of teaching, and in some
cases when a whole class might need an alternate form of lesson plan to the
ones they have been receiving.
In order to maintain high levels of professionalism and consistency in teaching
practise, teachers in Australia are held to a series of standards, known as the
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. These standards have the dual
purpose of improving teacher quality and enabling career progression. These
standards are a public statement of what constitutes teacher quality, providing
a mutual basis for professional knowledge, professional practise and professional
engagement. They also provide the stepping stones for teacher career
advancement, as demonstrating knowledge and application these standards
through evidence allows teachers to progress from graduate level teaching to
proficient level teaching and further on (AITSL, Unpacking and Implementing,
2014). The standards consist of the above three domains (knowledge, practise
and engagement) and thirty seven focus areas which deal with a number of
difference outcomes such as demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding
of the impact of cultural and linguistic background on education (AITSL,
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, 2014). All teachers must
implement these standards within their lesson plans for a number of reasons; to
ensure their lessons meet the levels of quality and professionalism expected of
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18563346
102086 Designing Teaching and Learning
Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

an Australian teacher, to ensure that they are using the most effective means of
providing their students with a well-rounded and thorough education and to
utilize these lesson plans to progress along the teaching career path.
The teaching plan utilized in this essay has been taken from a selection of
BOSTES sample lesson plans (BOSTES, Sample Lessons, 2016). It concerns the
Year Nine/Stage 5 Depth Study subject, Movement of Peoples.
This lesson plan clearly denotes which syllabus points it is addressing; HT5-1
explains and assesses the historical forces and factors that shaped the modern
world and Australia and HT5-4 explains and analyses the causes and effects of
events and development that shaped. These outcomes correlate well to the
content of the text; factors influencing migration from Europe and Africa to
Australia and other nations. There are however, other outcomes within this
Depth Study subject that could have been addressed, at least partially within this
lesson. HT5-2 sequences and explains to the significant patterns of continuity
and change that shaped could have been demonstrated through either a
presented timeline showing correlating dates between historical events and
developments and migration patterns or an activity in which students matched a
series of events with their corresponding results, i.e. the Irish Potato Famine in
the 1840s with the gold rush of the 1850s. This would allow the students to gain
a better understanding of the sequential process and patterns of immigration
between countries of origin and countries of destination. Another possible
outcome that could have been examined was HT5-6 uses relevant evidence
from sources to support historical narratives utilizing a digital research lesson
in which students select a historical narrative about immigration and match the
information in the passages with the information in the novel to determine
historical validity. This also supports the History Life Skills outcome HTLS-8,
develop skills to undertake the process of historical enquiry as it encourages
students to think critically about historical novels and source materials (BOSTES,
History K-10 Outcomes, 2016). Overall, though this lesson plan does address the
syllabus, additional activities beyond summarisation of the text would assist in
greater outcome attainment.
This lesson plan is very straightforward in that it only really consists of one
activity. This activity, to read and summarise a text, does allow for some
differentiation for different skill levels, this might be a whole class activity, or it
could start with the whole class and then be completed individually or in groups,
depending on the needs of the class and the time available. This means that
students who need extra assistance with reading and comprehension can do so
in a group, while more confident students can progress with the summaries on
their own. It also has very clear, informative texts which is unbiased, and has
clear learning outcomes, which levels the playing field for the class (Butt, 2008,
p. 40). Other ways to assist in this would be to read passages aloud as a group or
to pair up students with linguistic difficulties with children with higher level
reading abilities to work together. The timeline exercise suggested above could
be adapted for visual or kinaesthetic learners (Clarke and Pittaway, 2014, p. 183)
by creating dated cards, perhaps with images or photographs, that can be
physically rearranged in order of decade. This would also allow children who
have language difficulties i.e. multilingual or dyslexic, to engage with the lesson.

18563346
102086 Designing Teaching and Learning
Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

There are ways in which this lesson could be adapted for students with other
diverse needs. As most Australians are descendant from immigrants in some
form, an activity could be organised in which students can chose to explore
immigration within their own family or cultural history or the immigration history
of a famous individual i.e watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?,
allowing the students to engage in multicultural and multilingual exploration. For
indigenous students, an examination of the effect of immigration on the lives of
indigenous could also be examined. This lesson plan is simple enough that it can
be adapted for various diversities while still achieving its syllabus aims.
This lesson plan can be utilised to assess a number of student abilities, including
language skills and critical thinking, through selective summary of a text.
Students must read and analyse the text using reading comprehension and their
own ability to recognise important information over trivial details. A number of
different assessment strategies can be used to both analyse and improve this
lesson. Questions of assessment can be used at the beginning of the lesson to
gauge the students understanding of the subject i.e. a brain storm with
Immigration in the centre, to determine what words and ideas the students can
relate to this subject. To engage visual and kinaesthetic learners, a map of the
world can also be examined, having students identify parts of the world from
which people have immigrated in large quantities to Australia and why. This can
inform whether time should be taken to explain terms like immigration,
persecution, revolution, emigration, and industrialism. After the students have
summarised the text, the students knowledge can be tested by selecting topic
headings from the lesson summary i.e. Push factors, pull factors, Revolutions
and ask students to volunteer information. For students that are not comfortable
volunteering information, ensure that during the course of the exercise the
teacher walks around the classroom and asks individual questions such as how
did religious persecution influence immigration to the US? etc. to gauge how
much information they are taking in (Haynes, 2010, p. 150-152). This lesson
gives the opportunity for teachers to determine how much information a student
can intake through wrote analysis and whether visual and kinaesthetic
techniques such as those in the above two paragraphs influence learning
strategies.
Though this lesson plan doesnt specify the standards that are being
implemented, an overview of the standards reveals of number of applicable
areas and a number of ways in which these areas can be justified to demonstrate
proficiency. The lesson as it is covers several standards i.e. Standard 2, 2.1 and
2.2; Know the content and how to teach it, which focusses on selecting,
organising and applying knowledge of content for a lesson plan. This lesson
requires the teacher to know the subject of modern world development in depth
in order to assist students in engaging in the subject content. This lesson has the
potential to demonstrate a number of other standards. Standard 1, for example,
Know students and how they learn can apply to this lesson plan when it is
adapted in the various ways demonstrated above (AITSL, Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers, 2014). There are a number of other standards that could
be applied to this lesson plan if it is adapted in different ways, such as inclusion
of ICT resources to make it more engaging for students.

18563346
102086 Designing Teaching and Learning
Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

The lesson plan chosen for this essay has to capacity to conform to all four of the
criteria of a successful lesson plan. However, other elements need to be applied
to this lesson plan, in order for it to not just conform to these criteria, but to
utilise them to create a thoroughly engaging and informative experience for all
students.
Word Count: 2180

Works Cited:
AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved:
15/3/2016. Retrieved from: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professionalstandards-for-teachers/standards/list
AITSL. (2014). Unpacking and Implementing the Standards. Retrieved:
15/3/2016. Retrieved from: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professionalstandards-for-teachers/resources/unpacking-the-standards
BOSTES. (2016). History K-10 Outcomes. Retrieved: 16/3/2016. Retrieved
from: http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/hsie/history-k10/outcomes/
BOSTES. (2016). Planning for Effective Learning and Assessment. Retrieved:
13/3/2016. Retrieved from: http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/supportmaterials/planning-programming/
BOSTES. (2016). Sample Lesson Plans. Retrieved: 16/3/2016. Retrieved from:
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/7-10-literacy-numeracy/samplelessons.html
BOSTES. (2016). Table of Objectives and Outcomes Continuum of Learning
in English K-10. Retrieved: 12/3/2016. Retrieved from:
http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/english_continuum.pdf
BOSTES. (2016). Using Syllabus Outcomes. Retrieved: 12/3/2016. Retrieved
from: http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/standardsreferenced-assessment/
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18563346
102086 Designing Teaching and Learning
Gabrielle Magee
Assignment 1

05/03/2016
1H

Butt, Graham. (2008). Lesson Planning, 3rd Edition. New York, USA:
Bloomsbury Publishing.
Clarke, M and Pittaway, S. (2014). Marshs Becoming a Teacher. Frenchs
Forest NSW: Pearson Australia.
Fautley, M and Savage, J. (2013). Lesson Planning for Effective Learning.
Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: McGraw Hill Education.
Hayes, A. (2010). The Complete Guide to Lesson Planning and Preparation.
London, England: Continuum International Publishing Group.
NSW Department of Education and Communities. (2006). When One Size
doesnt Fit All. Retrieved: 13/3/16. Retrieved from:
http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/pdhpe/prolear
n/reading/pr_007.htm