AITSL Standard 2 Elaboration

Standard 2.1
It is vital that an effective teacher is able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of their teaching area. It a
teacher does not appear to know their subject area well, the learning of the students in
disadvantaged. It is also vital that the teacher knows the structure of the subject in line with the
curriculum, and know what tasks must be completed in order to ensure the SACE requirements are
met.
Digital resources and tools can certainly complement teaching strategies and assist the teacher in
promoting deep learning and firm engagement with their teaching area. Ideas and concepts can be
re-enforced through online dictionaries and encyclopedias, for example Wikipedia or the oxford
online dictionary. The use of ICT tools such as 'Prezi' are not only useful to convey students
information quickly and efficiently, but also are a great tool for students to undertake tasks with.
In Senior History, there is so much vital information that must be portrayed to the student. It is
critical that my general knowledge of the topics are sharpened, as it is my job to ensure students are
asking questions, and I am able to give them the correct and enthused answers. The use of ICT tools
not only allows a teacher to quickly portray this information to students, through the use of Prezi or
online polls, information is recorded and is easily accessible for later use or revision by the students.
ICT ensures that the information is all covered and traceable, and allows for the incorporation of
visual materials for kinesthetic learners.
Standard 2.2
The ability of a teacher to organise their teaching material and ensure that content is selected
correctly is critical to effective teaching and learning. Without such organisation, the needs of the
students are not necessarily being met and their SACE requirements may not being satisfied. In
order to provide stimulating material to students that engages them in the lesson, the use of ICT
tools can greatly assist in this process.
Teachers must have structured and ordered unit and lesson plans, to ensure they are prepared and
meeting requirements. I believe it is important to create a diversity in the unit plan using different
non ICT and ICT tools to engage all students. Through the use of 'Prezi,' a range of different materials
such as film clips, graphs, text and so on can be easily portrayed to students. Again, through the use
of such presentations it is easy to track what material has been covered, and also can be used a
source to refer back to.
Within my teaching areas of Senior English and Senior History, the use of organisation and content
selection is critical to the effective engagement of student learning. Content must be picked through
the use of ICT tools as to portray film to students that may not be able to just learn from constant
text sources. 'Prezi' would be a useful way to show photographs in Senior History of a range of
different sources, and can prompt activities such as source analysis.
Standard 2.3
Knowledge of curriculum, assessment and reporting is critical to design learning sequences and
lesson plans. If you are not aware exactly the requirements of SACE for your subjects, then you
cannot ensure that your students will be able to complete their SACE requirements.
ALANA THOMPSON

Teachers must know the curriculum requirements for their particular teaching area. For teachers
teaching senior classes, this is critically important. These requirements can be found on the SACE
website: http://www.sace.sa.edu.au/subjects/stage-2. This website is most important as it outlines
all of the requirements and expectations of the SACE. ICT becomes important as a tool to share
lesson plan structure and lesson or unit ideas between teachers through the use of email, or
education websites.
Even through Facebook, teachers can join local teaching groups to engage in conversation with other
teacher's about learning processes and is a useful platform for generating new concepts and sharing
ideas. For example, as a Senior History teacher I would find it very useful to join a 'History teachers
of South Australia' group, and use ICT through this way to share my ideas about how Senior History
may be taught, and learn from others.

Standard 2.4
It is critically important that as teacher's we understand effective ways to understand the Indigenous
and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. A respect for the land and not showing
images or video's that contain deceased without permission, is vital to the understanding of these
cultures, and promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and non - Indigenous Australian's.
Knowledge of the Indigenous culture is vital to this reconciliation. Through the use of ICT tools, this
understanding can be more easily reached. Websites such as government websites about Indigenous
education and culture are very good starting points for such understanding:
http://australia.gov.au/topics/education-and-training/indigenous-education. Promotion of current
programs such as 'Dare to Lead,' that encourage Indigenous students to excel in leadership programs
through education, are key to aiding education.
Digital tools can easily engage students with the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Students can access information websites on Indigenous art, that also encorporates story telling
through such artwork. Teacher's can be aware of not showing video's that include the deceased
without permission. Through Senior History, there are so many secondary sources of Indigenous
artwork, documentaries, and films that are useful in the aid of the understanding and respect of
Indigenous and Torres Straight Islander cultures.
Standard 2.5
The understanding of literacy and numeracy teaching strategies is vital to the effective well rounded
education that should be provided to all students, no matter their subject area. Literacy and
numerical skills are at the foundation of education. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure
that their students are learning these skills throughout their education and over their specific subject
areas.
The use of laptops in classrooms is effective as if students are constantly typing their work, they
have access to 'spell check,' which is a quick and easy way to ensure students are learning how to
spell. Although this may not be effective in all circumstances, it certainly aid's the teacher. The
internet is a crucial ICT tool that provides access to online games that aid students in learning
literacy skills such as improving their grammar: http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/.

ALANA THOMPSON

Through senior history, the use of ICT tools to aid literacy skills is crucial. Senior History involves an
incredible amount of writing, for example source analysis. It is vital that students are capable of
good grammar to be able to keep up with the work and produce writing that is clear and
grammatically correct. Through the use of a discussion board, teachers can monitor their student's
literacy skills, and provide help to those who need it. Numeracy skills, although not as crucial to this
particular subject, can be taught through the use of such programs as Excel, to create graphs on
figures and facts, of which history is full of.
Standard 2.6
Teaching strategies are greatly aided by ICT tools, which in turn expands curriculum learning
opportunities for students. Through the use of ICT tools, teachers are able to engage all types of
learners. For example, visual learners are engaged into learning through the use of film and task's
that are hand's on or involve watching, and this is something that ICT tools has greatly expanded the
opportunity for this type of learning.
Tools such as Facebook and Edmodo can widen the teacher's horizon as to how their subject area
can be taught through the use of many ICT tools such as Prezi and polling. The wider the knowledge
of the teacher with regards to new and exciting ways to engage students through ICT, the more
likely students are to become involved with the subject area and feel enthused. The use of
discussion boards is incredibly important to get student's talking and discussing their ideas and
thoughts, in a way that they might not face to face in the classroom. ICT tools provide the teacher
and students with endless resources of information that may not have been previously accessible 10
or so years prior.
Through my subject area of Senior History, I could incorporate many different ICT tools to engage my
students. A lesson plan could include showing a 'Prezi' presentation of different pictures of sources
from the time period being studied, for example the civil rights movement in America, and then the
students would have to answer questions on a poll about each source, about what the source
correlates specifically to the civil rights movement, e.g. a picture of Rosa Parks relating to the
freedom rides, and then an incorrect alternative is given and the students have to pick what they
believe is the correct answer as to what the picture or source is in relation to.

ALANA THOMPSON