Supervisors Final Comment

Standard 6 - Engage in professional learning
Standard 6.3.1 - Seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practices.  

This is my Tertiary Supervisors Final Comment in the final week of my three-week practicum. This practicum was completed in a Year 3 class at St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School Annandale. As this comment was written in the final week of my practicum, I was completing full days of teaching with the assistance of my supervising teacher.

The tertiary supervisor noted that I quickly built a rapport with the students. By doing this so early on in the lesson, it bestowed positive effects on the classroom environment through “minimizing anxiety, increasing student participation … encourage social interaction, fostering a positive learning environment, and increasing learning. (Frisby & Martin, 2010).

By teaching the lesson with the tertiary supervisor observing, I was seeking constructive feedback to improve my teaching practice. As a teacher, I believe it is imperative to receive constructive feedback from others in the field as the perfect teacher does not exist. There may always be a better way to approach a task, but it is only through seeking feedback from others that you will gain exposure to new and unique approaches. In addition, seeking this constructive feedback clarified the expectations of myself as a pre-service teacher by reinforcing my positive behaviours and correcting where necessary. (Jug et al, 2019).

This report allowed me to deepen my personal learning as I understood what ideas I had done correctly (differentiation, linking between outcomes & content, ICT, communication strategies), and began to apply those ideas in my future teaching. As stated in the final sentence of the report, I sought feedback on my teaching and used this feedback in planning future lessons. Therefore, this practicum report clearly shows my attainment of Graduate Standard 6.3.1. (282 words)