Justification of unit

There are four main domains for facilitating Teaching for effective learning (Tfel), learning for effective teaching, creating safe conditions for rigorous learning, developing expert learners, and personalizing and connecting learning. To illustrate quality teaching within my unit plan I will run through the key domains and demonstrate where and how each part of the Tfel framework is being implemented. 

Domain 1- Learning for effective teaching

In my role as a leader of learning (instructional leader) I will develop awareness of myself as a learner and a leader (Department of Education and Children’s Services, 2010) by continually planning and developing, in order to create strong, safe learning environments. I will understand that my preferences for thinking, learning and leading will shape my lessons and that this leadership must be strong and positive. It is important to have clear goals and that the students are aware of these goals. Leadership will define the unit, so in order to be successful I will continually develop strategies to enhance my leadership and its effect on learning within my classroom. I will develop an appreciation of the differing strengths and dispositions of my students in relation to their learning and adjust plans to suit their needs. Tasks will be aimed at drawing out these strengths and acknowledging the subsequent good work of students. Students will be given opportunities to extend their learning practically, theoretically, and strategically through the use of differentiated task options. The volleyball journals will give students (and the teacher) a chance to reflect on their learning and give feedback in future planning of units and lessons. As students are entering the senior strand of SACSA they will be given more responsibility and therefore be actively encouraged to have discussions and debates with minimal teacher guidance. Students learning will be aided by the use of specific and memorable teaching cues for example to help students remember the “W” formation, the “westside” hand signal and call (see video) are used, which allows for students to easily remember the “W” formation for receiving the ball in volleyball. Another useful way of aiding students learning is to provide information through a number of outlets in order to cater for the differing styles of learning. For the volleyball unit I will be providing audial cues before, during and after games and practice tasks, technically sound demonstrations throughout the lessons when required for clarification or consolidation (If you cannot personally show “correct” technique then use a YouTube clip), and finally a whiteboard will be used to give students a clear understanding of formations, positioning, and tactics that are required. Another key aspect to this unit of volleyball will be the implementation and encouragement of guided discovery, which will enable the students to personally discover each tactic or movement during the games. This will give students a deeper understanding of the required tactics and formations and enrich their overall learning experience. Guided discovery also encourages students to become more independent learners, allowing them to work with less teacher instruction and at higher levels. For the effective teaching of this unit I will need to utilise my strong level of content knowledge. Strong content knowledge will allow for my instruction and leadership to be more efficient and effective. With strong content knowledge students also become more comfortable, as they know that you are teaching them well.  While constructing this unit I was heavily involved in a number of professional learning communities. Professional learning communities like The PE GEEK, and FLO (discussions with peers) help in a number of ways, including being able to work collaboratively, a valuable source of ideas, and great for answering any questions that arise.  Being involved in professional learning communities is a great way to share experiences and develop units and lessons that are proven to be effective. During the unit students will be given information on local community clubs where they can play volleyball (or other sports) and be encouraged to investigate these. Community clubs will also be approached to provide a spokesperson or guest teacher to come to a lesson and spruik their club. Encouraging community participation is an important aspect of the SACSA framework, and would fall under all of the Health and Physical Education strands (physical activity and participation, health of individuals and communities & personal and social development) if students get involved.

Domain 2- Teaching for effective learning: Create safe conditions for rigorous learning

For effective teaching and learning it is important to develop a safe and autonomous learning environment as well as forming democratic relationships. In order to nurture these relationships it is important to construct a unit that allows for student input and suggestions. Giving students a say in the classroom both empowers and motivates them, while also giving them a sense of belonging within the class. A key aspect to any relationship is healthy debate, within an effective classroom, ideas and theories will be unwaveringly, yet sensitively debated to ensure that all students’ opinions are heard and respected. Learning is not black and white, so norms should be questioned if it improves learning. During this unit students will be encouraged to work together and share ideas in order to form a learning community. Often students when working in a community of learners can solve problems that they otherwise would have asked the teacher, consequently giving them more independence and the teacher more time to assist learning challenged students. Besides forming a community of learners, students will be given the tools and strategies to become more independent learners. Encouraging independence will help in their transition from year 10 into year 11, where independent learning and study is crucial to success, and ultimately in their post school lives of adulthood. A key to being an effective and independent learner is to continually question things, for example why is that formation more effective? How can I improve my technique through the use of biomechanics? Etc. Another way to foster  safe learning conditions is to structure work to suit students zone of proximal development or readiness, this can be done by differentiating learning tasks in order to keep students at a level where they are all motivated and challenged appropriately. Tasks can also be differentiated by interest and learning styles in order to increase motivation. An example of a task differentiated by interest could be offering different practice tasks such as spiking, blocking, digging, which will give the student the opportunity to choose which area interests them more. The assessment tasks included in the unit are also differentiated for interest giving students the option of a PowerPoint presentation, a video presentation, or an online blog style poster. The depth of analysis can also be altered to cater for different levels of readiness. Students who complete this unit will be pushed beyond their comfort zones resulting in increased motivation and a deeper understanding/connection to the content. Whilst students will be pushed, it is also paramount that they all achieve success in order to encourage lifelong physical activity, personal development, and community participation.

Domain 3- Teaching for effective learning: Develop expert learners

As opposed to the “traditional” style of teaching physical education, my unit will have a game sense and TGFU (teaching games for understanding) pedagogy. Using these new pedagogies allows the students to cultivate a deeper understanding as well as developing sound tactical skills and knowledge. A games sense approach allows teachers to use games as the focus of the session. By focusing on the game, rather than on technique and skill practice, players are encouraged to become more tactically conscious and make better decisions during the game, as well as beginning to think tactically about game concepts whilst developing skills within an accurate context and most importantly, having fun. Essentially by focusing on the game (not necessarily the 'full' game), players are encouraged to develop a greater understanding of the game being played. Therefore players/students are more tactically aware and for that reason are able to make better decisions during the game. At the same time skills are being developed within a realistic and fun context rather than practice in isolation (Towns, 2002). To implement TGFU successfully a teacher needs to have a strong knowledge of the sport in relation to sequence of skills, tactics and strategies (Hopper & Kruisselbrink, 2002). It’s paramount that a teacher implements a suitable progression sequence of skills to develop student’s game knowledge, tactical awareness and problem solving skills (Hopper & Kruisselbrink, 2002). In the volleyball unit the progression of skills students learn and develop was created using research and knowledge of the game. Another way to for students’ to develop a deeper understanding is to promote dialogue as a means of learning, for example Learners are asked to actively engage with the content being learned rather than being reliant on the teacher for learning. Ideas are presented to learners as open questions to be reflected on and integrated into the learner's own context (Vella, 2004). This promotion of dialogue as a means of learning encourages independent learning and gives students a sense of ownership with their learning.

Domain 4- Teaching for effective learning: Personalise and connect learning

Making learning personal and being able to connect it to other subjects, aspects of life etc. is crucial to effective teaching. This will be achieved in my unit of volleyball by connecting learning to students’ lives and aspirations by demonstrating how it will be useful to them in a multiple number of ways, not just when they play volleyball. This can be done firstly through the idea of transfer of knowledge, where it is commonly known that there are certain types of games/sports that are similar to each other and therefore there will be some knowledge that can be transferred between these games e.g. other net games like tennis, badminton will use similar tactics and formations to volleyball. The notion of teaching sports with a tactical approach will be useful to all students in their everyday lives as well, because life is not straightforward therefore you have to devise tactics and strategies to best deal with situations that may arise. Strategic and tactical thinking is a must for anyone in the business sector, so most questioning and thinking skills covered in this unit will be transferable to the real world, at least loosely. Another great aspect to this unit of volleyball is the ability to assess students’ performance during game situations (Mitchell et al, 2006) rather than through drills, this form of assessment gives the teacher a much better idea of whether the student can perform the skills when they need to, not just during drills.

References:

Department of Education and Children’s Services (2009) Building Learning Power conference, Adelaide, 19 March 2009. Conference papers. Teaching for Effective Learning Team, Curriculum Services, DECS, South Australia

Department of Education and Children’s Services (2010) SA TfEL Review Tools handbook. DECS, Adelaide

Department of Education Training and Employment, (2001). SACSA framework. Retrieved from website: http://www.sacsa.sa.edu.au/index_fsrc.asp?t=CB

Hopper, T., & Kruisselbrink, D. (n.d.). Teaching games for understanding: What does it look like and how does it. (2002).

Mitchell , S., Oslin, J., & Griffin, L. (2006). Teaching sport concepts and skills:

A tactical games approach. (2nd ed.). Human Kinetics.

Towns, J. (2002). Game sense. Retrieved from http://www.activehealth.uow.edu.au/gamesense/

Vella, J. (2004). Dialogue education at work: a case book. John Wiley & Sons.