Marisa Lodge

U 2 /31-33 Bristol Ave, BICTON, WA, 6157 | 04 2341 6681 | marisa.lodge@hotmail.com

My professional portfolio: http://ndmarisalodge.weebly.com

To Whom it May Concern,

Thank you for the opportunity to present this information, as an expression of interest for
positions for 2018.

The contents below outline my competency within the three domains of the Australian
National Professional Standards for Teachers.

Professional Knowledge:
As a graduate teacher, I have used my practicums to explore different approaches to
teaching and to develop different programs that are innovative and learner focused. The
aim of my teaching program is to ensure that I am creating a positive learning environment
that caters to the different needs and abilities of my students whilst implementing a
purposeful curriculum.

I take the time to observe the students, to know their learning preferences and adapt my
teaching to accommodate for them. On my internship, I created personal profiles for each
of my students which outlined their learning styles and the 21st-century skills that they
demonstrated or needed further development. The information for these profiles was
gathered through anecdotal notes, observations, having conversations and getting to know
my students. This provided insights on what I needed to work on with my students and how
to adjust my planning to cater to them. It also gave me a platform to measure any progress
that they have made over the term and allowed me to highlight any specific attributes that
the class, in general, were struggling with (eg: resilience) and incorporate steps and
processes into my teaching that will give the students tools to build on developing those
skills as a whole class.
It is important that the students feel like their learning is being supported and I have
endeavoured to achieve this through differentiation. Through my professional practice, I
was mindful that differentiated tasks or processes were inclusive in the classroom
environment. In my Internship class, I had a range of students with varying needs both
intellectual and social. My aim was that they would complete the same task and could
demonstrate learning in a different way. These accommodations enabled the students to be
included within the classroom dynamic and able to contribute to classroom experiences.

During my professional practice I have been exposed to numerous whole-school

commercial programs, such as; Soundwaves, Words their Way, Talk for Writing and New
Wave Mental Maths which has provided me with the opportunity to work collaboratively
with other teachers and track students progress. I have also had the opportunity on my
internship to research and experiment with different strategies that I think would benefit
my classroom. For example, to improve the use of punctuation and grammar in my year 5
class of thirty-one students with nineteen boys, I combined Kung Fu Punctuation in
conjunction with the Big Write Punctuation Pyramid to encourage the class to use and
improve punctuation in their writing. Since incorporating the two strategies the class
demonstrated an increase in the correct use of punctuation within their writing and the
quality of writing improved.

Digital Technologies is an important feature for enriching teaching practice. During my

degree, I have completed a unit on integrating Digital Technology into the classroom. This
permitted me to build a high level of knowledge of how to use technology purposefully to
enhance and support the classroom lesson. I have used Digital Technologies throughout my
practicum to display my lesson sequence digitally or to enhance learning opportunities for
students. I am skilled in using IPADS as a means of supporting and enhancing students
learning. By using Apps and IPAD programs I have been able to compliment my teaching
through differentiation and enrichment. I will continue to use Digital Technologies to
enhance student learning and prepare students for todays technologically advanced
society.

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I believe in life-long learning and creating an atmosphere where learning is nurtured. A
hands-on approach to learning and incorporating cooperative learning strategies in each of
my lessons to provide the students with multiple sources to learn information and on-teach
others is essential. I endeavour to create an atmosphere in my classroom that inspires
students to learn and be eager for knowledge.

Professional Practice:
On my practicums, I have set authentic learning goals for the children to achieve, whilst
taking into account the broad range of abilities within the cohort. I collect and use a variety
of data from different sources. Using this information and following the plan-teach-assess
cycle, it enabled me to construct meaningful and authentic teaching sequences. I constantly
self-reflect on the lesson and outcomes in order to improve the effectiveness of my lessons
and to maximize the quality of the learning and teaching my students receive. For example,
I used exit tickets to ascertain the next learning steps for the following lesson,
differentiating as the data revealed.

Through my professional practice I have completed and executed, ten and five-week
forward planning documents in English, Mathematics, Health, Science, Drama, and History.
I have also planned and assisted in an integrated learning sequence using childrens
literature and a classroom theme. On my internship, I planned a unit of work around Anne
Franks Diary and organised an excursion to her travelling exhibition. By completing ten-
week teaching sequences it meant that I could see a natural progression in my lessons and
know the curriculum was being covered effectively and thoroughly. Throughout my lessons,
I aim to incorporate cooperative learning strategies, group work and formative assessment
within the units of work. I believe it is important to remain flexible and adaptable to the
classroom environment and the students abilities.

I consistently utilise assessment methodologies that are fair, explicit, comprehensive and
valid. In order to ensure that assessment is effective in enhancing teaching and learning, I
believe it needs to be an ongoing process, and that students play an active role in the
assessment process as this encourages them to become reflective learners. On my
internship, I incorporated self and peer reflection into the writing process. This provided

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the opportunity for students to self-edit and participate in two stars and a wish peer
reflection. From this information and feed forward comments, they set themselves
individual writing goals to focus on for the week. The learning was personalised and
provided a specific target for improvement. The joy exhibited when a student achieves a
goal, makes teaching meaningful.

In my practicums, I was able to participate and conduct numerous assessments. These

included both summative and formative assessments on a regular basis. On my practicum,
I participated in the diagnostic assessment of reading levels and sight word knowledge for
year one students. I designed summative assessments on my internship at the conclusion
of my units of work and were a variety of forms including, diary entries, mind maps and a
traditional pen to paper tests to test the students knowledge of the content. On a daily basis,
I conducted formative assessments to gauge the students understanding of the content
covered thus far in the unit of work and if I needed to redirect my lessons to revisit a
particular topic or idea for clarification. For example, this was achieved in my maths lessons
using individual white-boards. After I had introduced and taught a topic I would ask
students questions or to show me their understanding of the concept on their whiteboards.
This snap-shot showed student understanding and highlighted those students who could
advance through the activity and those students who needed further assistance of the topic.

I have consistently utilised strategies to encourage students to achieve and set goals for
their learning. I was introduced to a new strategy within my practicum classroom, and have
now adopted this technique into my own teaching. The strategy involves articulating the
Learning Intention for each lesson which is made visible and discussed with the students,
this was achieved in my class as W.A.L.T (We are Learning To) and W.I.L.T (What Im
Looking for ) and also as a learning outcome. I use the strategy currently to have students
involved in checking at the end of the lesson if we have met the success criteria.

It is important that students in my care feel safe and supported. In order for this to be
successful, there needs to be a high level of trust with the students and teacher. I worked
hard over my professional practice to establish a positive rapport with my class ensuring a
safe and secure working environment. This encouraged students to try new things, embrace

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change and acknowledge their failures as opportunities for success. I did this not just
through knowing my students and how they learn but also through focusing on positive
behavior management and clear expectations of their learning outcomes.

One student in my class suffers from high levels of anxiety. It would manifest when he had
the possibility of getting any answers wrong which made classroom mathematics lessons
particularly stressful for him. I was able to cater for his needs by incorporating maths
rotations. This opportunity to explore a hands-on approach with a small group of his peers
was a successful tool for him. We were able to incorporate the brainstorming aspect of
group work into more of the classroom discussions through think-pair-shares and jigsaw
cooperative learning strategies.

Creating a safe and secure classroom learning environment was important to me and it was
reflected in the comments made by my internship mentor teacher Edwina Allen, this is
an area in which Marisa was able to shine throughout the term. She has a genuine love of
teaching and concern for the well-being of the children, linked with quite a pragmatic
approach to problem solving issues that arose as the term progressed. She is very
knowledgeable about what strategies and agencies could be called upon and thinks laterally
to resolve problems in the school environment, always able to remain calm and seen to be fair
by all parties. Marisa has a strong moral compass which reflects well upon her.

Professional Engagement:
I have learned through my teaching experience so far, how important it is as an educator to
constantly look at alternative learning and teaching strategies to maximise student
learning. It is crucial to remain current and constantly be looking at new strategies and
systems that could benefit the students and make your teaching more efficient and
beneficial to the overall learning of the students.

I subscribe to numerous teacher resources pages and participate in online forums, I am a

member of ALEA (Australian Literacy Education Association) and I incorporate ideas from
these resources in conjunction with my own teaching ideas to enhance my teaching and
professional development. I am committed to using the varied professional development

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sessions available to me to develop my skills and understanding of teaching. I will continue
to conduct research into new strategies and programs that will allow me to acquire further
skills that support me in delivering effective, stimulating and relevant teaching programs.

I believe it is fundamental to extend my own knowledge and skills as a teacher and

facilitator by continuing to explore a variety of teaching methods. Collegiality,
experimentation, teacher reflection, and school-based staff development are important for
me to grow professionally. Being a participating member of the school community is
important for me to develop my skills as a teacher and to build on professional
relationships.

I have learned that teaching is not an enclosed system limited to the one-year group.
Students need to develop skills and knowledge that will pass through the years across
different disciplines. It is important to me that the students have the skills and knowledge
that will support them in their future schooling years and across the different learning
areas.

I am passionate about learning and teaching and one of my hopes as an educator is that I
can pass this on to my students. I feel it is imperative that teachers continue to learn and
fine-tune their skills as educators to be the best teacher that they can be and provide the
best educational experience to their students.

Thank you for considering my application.

My professional portfolio can be accessed through http://ndmarisalodge.weebly.com or by

scanning the QR code below.

Sincerely,

Marisa Lodge

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