EVIDENCE SET 1 (TPA 3)
Planning for Learning and Assessment
INTRODUCTION
This Evidence Set 1 refers to Teacher Performance Assessment 3 (TPA3) which used researching and observing students to create a unit plan and summative assessment that was suitable and engaging for my Year 7 Drama students at a Department School in South Australia.
CONTEXT
This evidence set focuses on my unit, lessons and assessment planning process. It demonstrates my ability to research, observe and collect evidence to understand the student cohorts' backgrounds, socio-economic positioning, culture, learning needs, spirituality, emotional, social and physical health, and interests, to make informed decisions prior to actioning the plans.
The following examples of evidence address these APST focus areas:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
Excerpt of School Context Summary ( By Peta Shannon)
This government metropolitan secondary school teaches students from Year 7 – 12. This is category 4 school on the Department for Education Index of Educational Disadvantage with a budget of $6M per year and is surrounded by two category 8 schools. The school has been slated for closure by the government twice in the past 10 years but due to school and community engagement these were both overturned. The result of the last closure process in 2020 was that the school became un-zoned as it was established that 70% of students come from out of zone so students come from many locations across Adelaide suburbs. The school enrolment was also capped at 450 to allow for effective teaching of the complex cohort.
Currently the school has 229 students, 137 boys and 92 girls, 4% indigenous students, 46% with disabilities, 8% children/young people in care and 8% EALD. It has a balance of socio-economical students with a school index community Socio-Economic advantage score of 54% and they have an 82% attendance record. (Evidence 1)
Research
This summary demonstrates my ability to compile research about the linguistic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of my students which I refer to, to help me decide on appropriate tasks, resources and strategies in the planning of my lessons (Focus Area 1.3).
Student Case Studies (by Peta Shannon)
Student A: is a Year 7 student who is new to the school and requires targeted support due to his diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and sensory processing challenges. His One Plan has been developed to provide a structured approach to support his educational and wellbeing needs. He is a Special Class student who attracts IESP Level 7 funding. He can be sensitive to noise and has a short attention span.
He enjoys cars, history and art but struggles with writing, reading and social skills. He has not worn the uniform to school as yet but through his interest in costuming, is beginning to become more engaged in Drama lessons. He has a good sense of humour and wants to have fun with others but needs to build social skills. Working with this student in future lessons, I look forward to developing skills to monitor and manage his behaviour by getting to know him, providing him with engaging activities, brain breaks for self-regulation, using various management strategies and modifying the lessons to suit him and his cohort. His former school suggests using directive language such as “are you ready?”, “would you like to” etc. Giving him positive feedback and encouragement will give him confidence as it has been reported that he does want to please certain teachers and SSOs.
Student B: has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and social anxiety and is allergic to bees. Her reports from her previous school suggest she can be very confident and an excellent speaker, with a passion for imaginative and creative activities such as drama, art, music and writing but she sometimes is unable to self-regulate, maintain social awareness, demonstrate resilience and loses confidence, her ability to complete tasks and has a history of lateness and absences. In class, she is reserved and does not like loud noises. She is often absent and when in class, finds it difficult to find motivation and sometimes withdraws from speaking. She has a pleasant personality but is withdrawn which is concerning. Strategies for helping Student B, when attending school will include, rewarding her school attendance, encouraging creative ideas, reducing noise or allowing headphones, building her social and self-regulating skills and her confidence. (Evidence 2)
Research
This demonstrates my ability to compile research on students' physical, social and/or intellectual characteristics in the effort to improve student learning (Auspeld, 2014) (Focus Area 1.1).
Research
Knowing the student is sensitive to noise, has a short attention span, and struggles with writing, reading and social skills, lessons will need to be planned to cater to his needs and support his learning (Focus Area 1.2).
Research
Knowing that his interests are in comedy and costuming, incorporating these into lesson plans will support student engagement (Focus Area 1.2).
Research
Through understanding the needs of my student, I have demonstrated an understanding of the strategies I can implement in future lessons to support his participation (Focus Area 1.6).
Research
Evidence gathered from the student's files which indicated his previous teacher's reflections (collegial advice given) of how he learns will assist with planning of future lessons (Focus Area 1.2).
Research
Understanding teaching strategies that will support the student's willingness to learn will be beneficial in the planning of future lessons (Focus Area 1.6).
Research
This demonstrates my ability to compile research on students' physical, social and/or intellectual characteristics in the effort to improve student learning (Focus Area 1.1).
Research
Knowing that the student is imaginative, lessons that build this capability will support student engagement (Focus Area 1.2).
Research
Evidence that strategies have been considered to support the diverse learning needs of this student (Focus Area 1.6).
Research
Understanding the student's social difficulties teaching strategies will need to be employed to build confidence (Focus Area 1.1).
Research
From noting the level of absences collected from data and observations of the students' withdrawn nature, strategies will need to be addressed to encourage engagement and build confidence (Focus Area 1.1).
One Plans
This evidence demonstrates my ability to understand the policies and legislative requirements of students with disabilities and the understanding of One Plans (NCCD, 2020) which would assist with my planning and strategies to support them in future lessons
(Focus Area 1.6).
One Plans
This evidence demonstrates through collegial practice, I was able to gather information to assist me in making informed decisions towards differentiated lessons for my diverse learners in my class cohort
(Focus Area 1.5).
Teacher Development Day - One Plans
(Journal Entry by Peta Shannon)
Today was a pupil free day, or professional learning for teachers as the teachers were working on students’ individual One Plans. Only a certain number of students will be able to obtain the One Plan which is then sent to the National Collection of Data of Students with Disability (NCCD) to give teachers, schools and sectors information, inform policy development, future planning to better equip schools, education authorities info to support students with disability, improve understanding of requirements and responsibilities of school teams and the broader community under the DDA and the Standards, capture the work of schools, allow access for students with disabilities, highlight the individual needs of each student with a disability by focusing on the support given to them at school and apply for funding through government bodies.
It was interesting to observe teachers talking about individual students and their backgrounds. It was difficult at times to not show emotion due to the complex backgrounds of some students.
The teachers took all day just to complete one or two One Plans. The level of detail is hefty with information documented by teachers about the students such as learning in various subjects, general capabilities such as literacy and numeracy, learning methods in which students are currently utilising, their diverse learning needs, suggested strategies to help teachers differentiate tasks towards student success and the level of adjustments required such as support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial and extensive adjustments. Students with substantial or extensive adjustments can partake in modified SACE. These will then be sent to the students’ parents and discussed at another day to refine them.
During these discussions, there was much talk of the various bodies that can support teachers with professional learning and resources to help students with diverse learning needs such as Statewide Inclusive Education Service https://sies.sa.edu.au/, ORBIS Professional Development for Teachers https://www.education.sa.gov.au/orbis, or Executive Functioning https://suelarkey.com.au/improving-executive-functioning-skills/. (Evidence 3)
3 Way Conference
(Journal Entry by Peta Shannon)
Today I sat in on three 3 way conferences with the focus on the One Plan. Teachers and parents are very patient with students who do not understand social etiquette such as listening and taking turns to talk. The plans involved the teachers asking the students what problems they may have with learning and goals they wish to set for themselves. The main goals seem to be around building social skills and literacy and numeracy.
Teachers were very polite to the parents and the parents were very supportive of their children. The conversations were positive and student focused, centring on One Plans, learning goals and capability skills and gave the parents ideas for helping to build skills outside of school.
SUMMARY: Continue to reflect on students’ individual one plan goals to ensure they are achieving them in class. Be clear, concise and positive when communicating with parents. (Evidence 4)
3 Way Conference Evaluation
This evaluation demonstrated one of many ways in which I can interact with parents/carers in the future. This 3 way conference provided me with insight into how to interact with parents/carers in a positive and constructive manner, as well as ensuring that future lesson plans would be centred on building students' One Plan Goals, learning goals and skills (Focus Area 3.7).
ACTION
From building a strong understanding of the school context, my knowledge of my students’ characteristics, social dynamics and learning capabilities and areas of the curriculum that needed to be taught from interactions with staff, this evidence demonstrates how I was then able to plan for teaching. It showcases the teaching strategies, activities and resources that would enable me to effectively engage, support and teach this complex cohort and create a unit of work and lessons that would build their knowledge, skills and understanding of the Drama subject and improve their general capabilities.
The following examples of evidence address these APST focus areas:
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
3.1 Establish Challenging Learning Goals
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
Collecting Data
In observing students' work from previous lessons, and reports, and knowing the low levels of literacy and social awareness within this cohort, I designed assessment criteria list to assist me in gathering information on what students could know, learn and do. This assisted me to design the unit to focus on building students' script writing, characterisation and self-reflection skills as well as critical thinking, collaboration and communication capabilities. (Focus Area 2.3).
First Nation's Students
This evidence is taken from my essay (Shannon, 2025) and demonstrates strategies I would use if I were to have an Australian First Nation's student within my classroom. (Focus Area 1.4).
EDUC 9400 Critical Indigenous Pedagogy Assignment 1 - Critical Review (by Peta Shannon)
I recognise it is my responsibility to challenge cultural deficit discourse and create a classroom environment where all students feel safe, connected and valued (Shay, M. & Oliver, R., 2019) and Aboriginal students can become proud and confident and achieve at their highest level (Aboriginal Education Strategy, 2019 – 2029). This will require me to be consistently self-aware, acknowledge my whiteness privileges, apply anti-racist pedagogies, naming racism when it occurs and advocating for change (Reconciliation South Australia, 2023), promote culturally safe practice and guidelines, model respect, use Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, histories and perspectives in lessons and continue to build respectful partnerships with communities.
Curriculum Knowledge
This evidence is demonstrates the Achievement Standards from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2025) and I was planning to address within this unit of work (Focus Area 2.3).
TEACHING STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT DIVERSE LEARNERS
Context Cohort description:14 x Year 7 mixed gender students who are all new to the school and to Drama. Students in this cohort have a range of interests from cars, gaming, gardening, coding, art, music, creative writing and basketball. There are often a lot of student absences, trauma backgrounds and diverse learning needs. Such as, 2 in a custody arrangement, some come from separated families, 4 x ASD, 4 x ADHD, 1 x OCD, 1 x ODD, 1 x Sensory Processing, 1 x Mild Intellectual Disability, 1 x Mild Hearing Loss, 1 x Dyspraxia, 2 x Social Anxiety.They have already completed a radio play based on selling a product using skills in script writing, voice work, performance, prop making and collaboration.
Theoretical and Pedagogical Framework
I use three pedagogies: Universal Design for Learning, I Do, We Do, You Do and Learning by Design.
Firstly using UDL, I have all students learning needs and will incorporate a variety of methods to help students learn such as clear instructions, visual aids, individual and group activities, brain breaks, etc. Through I Do We Do You Do, I will demonstrate how I would like them to perform, enable opportunities for them to apply their knowledge through activities with the whole class and then individually or with their groups. The Learning by Design is a multimodal literacy pedagogy whereby students learn to analyse multimodal texts, respond to them through verbal or written communication and then apply their knowledge through written, verbal or multimodal communication.
Adjustments to meet the needs of all learners
This evidence demonstrates the complex teaching pedagogies such as, UDL (CAST, 2018), I Do We Do You Do (Killian, 2015) and Learning by Design (Works & Days) adjustments and resources required to meet the needs of all diverse learners in this complex class. (Focus Areas 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.3)
Teaching
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Get to know the students
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Encourage school attendance
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Scaffolded teaching
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Provide Differentiated learning tasks
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Connect to real world contexts
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Clear instructions
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Ask students to repeat instructions
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Engaging activities - have a list of games
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Use social stories
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Confidence building exercises
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Character building exercises
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Vocal exercises
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Check ins and check outs
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Brain Breaks
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Monitor and observe social interaction and reward them with positive feedback
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Develop their communication, creativity, self-autonomy and social skills
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Consistent feedback with grading and positive reinforcement
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Consistently refer back to the learning intentions
Behaviour Management
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Give roles e.g director of the day
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Make sure instructions are clear
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Teach social emotions
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Use positive reinforcements
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Clear consequences
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Adjust content, process and work products where necessary
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Keep students engaged
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Negotiate learning goals
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Provide work examples
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Read students’ facial expressions
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Give brain breaks as rewards such as the following games:
Two truths one lie, Heads and Tails, The Bubble (personal space), Museums, Guess the Mime, Play Music - close eyes and later describe what you see, Queen’s Garden, Simon Says, Would you rather?, Keep the balloon up in the air, Celebrity Head, Hangman, Verbal Tennis, Cheese Shop (Do you have any .. No and excuse why with no expression) No smiling or laughing, Count to 21
Environment
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Classroom 1 - has a typical classroom with desks and smartscreen
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Classroom 2 - Black Box Style Drama Room
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Create a sense of belonging with posters about themselves
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Provide tactile objects
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Create a calm environment with music
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Provide Visual cues
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Create ‘safe’ zones in the classroom and personal spaces
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Drop Down Screen and Projector for slides and videos to be played.
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Seated Auditorium useful to observe others and to watch performances.
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White Board for Ideas and Discussions.
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White board with classroom tasks outlined to keep students on task
Resources
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Poster
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Coloured pencils
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Paper
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Music player
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Posters
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Smartboard
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Laptops
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Examples, and videos to keep students engaged
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iPads/Laptops to record voices and useful for meditation tracks for performance anxiety if necessary
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Cameras, tripods, clapperboard
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Modified Task Sheets
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Reflection Sheet
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Props for ADHD student to use as a ‘fidget’ them stay focused during performance
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Brain Break props
Assessment (Refer to lesson plans)
CREATIVE CREW APPLICATION
Building confidence and abilities of the students will require consistent positive feedback from the teacher and their peers.
CREATIVE ACTING APPLICATION VOCAL SKILLS
Those who find it difficult to speak in front of others may opt for voice over recordings
CREATIVE ACTING ADAPTION OF PHYSICALITY
Students with performance anxiety may go first/last or perform to a smaller group at recess/lunch. Those with less fine motor skills will be assessed more on their concentration and commitment rather than expression.
COLLABORATION
Mulitple students do not have the social
skills and lack empathy so will need to have extra feedback, check-ins to see how they are feeling or breaks
SELF-ASSESSMENT & REFLECTION
To self-assess their work, they will need to be guided by questions to answer.
Goals
This evidence demonstrates in knowing what my students knew, understood and can do, what goals for learning would be appropriate and/or challenging to build their skills. Students within this cohort have low literacy, social anxiety which contributed to communication, social awareness, self-regulation and behaviourial issues and I aimed to build these capabilities.
(Focus Areas 2.3, 3.1)
Goals for Students’ Learning
Fortnight Overview:
Students will work to develop:
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Scriptwriting capabilities
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Understanding the parody genre
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Vocal Techniques
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Facial Expressions
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Gestures
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Work collaboratively
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Use Dramatic resources to improve performance e.g. costume, props, etc
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Self-Reflections
What can students already do?
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Most can write a script (some have very low literacy levels so may need to adjust so that those students create a shorter introduction
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Most have the ability to demonstrate facial expressions in exercises but only some can maintain this in performances
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There are some strong voices. Some are developing an awareness of slowing their pace. Some, with instructions, are improving their clarity
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Some wonderful gestures. Confidence needs to be built in this group to ensure these are maintained in performance
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There are some behavourial issues and social anxiety in this class and some are forming strong friendships which can distract them or cause aggression at times. They are building their social awareness and skills.
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Students are building their ability to analyse their own learning
What do I want students to do in this unit?
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Write scripts that showcase characters and engage with an audience
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Build strong impersonations of real people using their voice, facial expressions and body language
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Build social awareness and skills which will be achieved through positive reinforcement and set clear boundaries such as ‘hands to yourself’
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Build students’ autonomy and ability to self-assess their learning
Assessment Strategies
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Observations of writing
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Observations of drama games
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Questions and Answers during recapping of learning intentions
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Check-Ins
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Student Self-Assessment Checklist
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Exit Cards
Success Criteria
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I will write my own script (adjustment - introduction only or scribe to write it)
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I will collaborate with others
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I will develop an impersonation with my voice, facial expression and body
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I will self-reflect my learning (adjustment - verbal reflection)
DRAMA
Yr 7
Parody - TV Hosts
6 Weeks
Timeframe 2 x 105 mins a weeks
Unit summary:
Students will collaborate in small groups to present and create a short 5 minute TV Talk Show to camera and to a live audience. Students will develop character impersonations, devise a script, use costumes and props, perform to camera or work as a crew.
Students will reflect on their final video answering questions on a task sheet.
Assessment will consist of:
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Write your scripts
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Developing character impersonations.
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Collaboration in the development of final product.
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Answer questions to reflect on their learning.
Unit Plan
This evidence from my unit plan demonstrates my ability to plan lessons that contain engaging activities, clear learning intentions, use of resources, assessment and strategies to promote learning. The structure of the lessons are engaging, aimed to build teacher knowledge of students and relationships to support wellbeing, and scaffolded with engagement activities help to focus attention and prepare students with diverse learning needs, diagnostic activities, explicit teaching, use of ICT, teacher modelling activities, individual tasks and reflection exercises.
(Focus Areas 2.2, 2.3, 3.2)
The entire Unit Plan can be viewed here: UNIT PLAN
CONTENT SELECTION
Content Selection and Organisation
These powerpoint slides demonstrate how content used throughout the unit such as this engaged students and assisted them in understanding concepts and ideas with simple graphics, images, videos and music in powerpoint presentations. Other content included, games, visual cues, brain breaks, social stories, vocal, facial and physical exercises to develop characters also assisted with building their confidence, creativity, self-autonomy and social skills. (Focus Area 2.2)
WatchMojo.com (2014) Top 10 Late Night Talk Show Hosts
Using ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
This clip is from a video that was viewed by me before playing to the students to scope for inappropriate content and the school had a blocking system for certain sites to ensure the ethical, responsible and safe usage of ICT websites and video links. (Focus Area 4.5)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives
Building respect and understanding for cultural perspectives students would be taught about the significance of conducting an Acknowledgement of Country prior to performing their TV Parodies to camera and during Reconciliation Week. (Focus Area 2.4)
Parent/Carer Engagement
This evidence demonstrates how I would engage with parents/carers to keep them informed about the learning process and assessment. (Focus Area 3.7)
Engaging Parents/Carers (by Peta Shannon)
How could you encourage parents/carers in the educative process?
I will provide details of the learning intentions and lesson plans on DayMap for students and parents/carers to view. I will provide any significant feedback to parents/carers when necessary to give to my mentor to email to parents. I will write a reflective report on student learning.
RESULTS
The evidence in this section demonstrates the examples of students’ work and response to my Year 7 Drama TV Parodies 6 Week Unit Plan, lessons, teacher strategies, activities and resources that supported their diverse learning needs.
The following examples of evidence address these APST focus areas:
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
2.6 Information and Communication Technology
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
4.4 Maintain Student Safety
Journal Entry (by Peta Shannon)
In attending the staff meeting today, the Wellbeing Leader spoke about ‘At Risk Students’. In analysing student data, things to look for are low results in; Academic Performance, Attendance, Behaviour, Wellbeing, Family & Social and Cultural Factors. We were given clear instructions on how to maintain their safety, such as building positive relationships (to which I am so pleased I have done so with most of my students), creating a safe and inclusive environment (it was mentioned the importance of saying all students’ names and I am so pleased I do this every lesson), monitoring and supporting wellbeing (again, so pleased I always do this in class), and protecting privacy and acting professionally (there have been teachers who talk openly in front of other students which decreases students’ trust).
Maintaining Student Safety
The powerpoint slides were taken from a Staff meeting. The journal entry response to this meeting below, demonstrates my self-reflection in how I had already considered Safety and Risk Management prior to teaching and how effective I had been during lessons (Focus Area 4.4)
Engaging ICT
The powerpoint slides and videos used throughout initial lessons, effectively engaged with students giving them clear understanding and motivation to explore dramatic skills of voice and body language in parody comedies. Later scaffolded scriptwriting software, camera equipment and editing software, provided the same level of engagement for the students (Focus Areas 2.1, 2.6).
Scaffolded and Differentiated Tasks to Support Literacy and Numeracy
Building students' literacy and numeracy capabilities, they were given the task of writing their own scripts, which included questions on the age of their characters. Students were given a powerpoint template which scaffolded steps to write their scripts. Text was either modified into larger font or smaller steps to support students with diverse learning needs through this method of differentiation(Sousa, D & Tomlinson, C, 2024) (Focus Areas 1.5, 1.6 & 2.5)
Mentor and Liaison Responses
The responses from my mentor and liaison officer demonstrate how effective my teaching strategies were in motivating and engaging learners due my knowledge of the students and the curriculum, selection of resources and thorough, yet flexible, lesson plans (Focus Areas 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 & 3.2).
All lessons plans can be viewed here: LESSON PLANS
Mentor Response
Great topic to focus on - Facial expressions and they then used these skills in the run through of the informercials.
Liaison Response
Lessons plans were done well in advance and Peta had to pivot last week when there was no internet, so the lesson observed was adjusted from the one originally planned. Showed good flexibility and advanced planning.
Examples provided to student to help scaffold the task were engaging and age appropriate.
The content was appropriate, and the tone of the lesson was positive and fun.
Good scaffolding provided to students to set them up for the task they would be doing independently.
You have a very good knowledge of the content enabling you to develop lesson content that is engaging and involves variety.
EVALUATION
The following evidence showcases self-reflection on the teaching strategies and approaches I employed for this class as well as feedback and responses from my mentors and university liaison. Based on these, this section also documents specific adjustments that were made to improve my teaching performance.
The following examples of evidence address these APST focus areas:
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
2.6 Information and Communication Technology
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
4.4 Maintain Student Safety
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
Lesson Observations by Peta Shannon
Vocal Game - Greetings Your Majesty
Using my powerpoint slides, I explicitly explained the importance of varying the voice for characterisation and demonstrated this through varying my own voice with the game “Greetings Your Majesty”. Through these instructions, as I am aware that some students can be physical with others, I provided a social distance by placing a chair between the students and instructed them not to yell, in case they might hurt the other students’ ears. I used my knowledge of the students and observations in prior lessons to make this decision about behaviour management.
Strategies and Maintaining Safety
The following set of evidence demonstrates, through knowing my students well, I was able to manage the classroom to ensure student safety and the use the effective strategy of modelling to engage students
(Focus Areas 2.1 & 4.4).
Lesson Observations by Peta Shannon
Vocal Modulation and Student Participation
I then proceeded with discussing vocal modulation using my powerpoint slides and asked students to read aloud “Fox on Socks” by Dr. Seuss, varying their voices to demonstrate characters and mood.
I was observant of their attempts and gave them positive feedback in varying their voices. One student froze when making her attempt, (I had remembered in my studies that anxiety can cause the broca to stop working which is the part of the brain that activates speech, Talwar, 2007, as cited in Gray, 2019) but I told her that just standing up in front of others was great, as this is building her confidence. At the end of the lesson, I sat with her and communicated with her via her writing to me on her laptop about how she was feeling to ensure she felt supported and safe. She then told me she was going to lunch to get a hug from a friend which indicated to me that she was able to re-regulate and seek supportive networks.
Student Engagement & Safety
The following set of evidence demonstrates my ability to select appropriate content, use ICT effectively to engage students and use effective teaching strategies to safely support students with diverse learning needs
(Focus Areas 1.6, 2.2, 2.6 and 4.4).
Content and Strategies
The following set of evidence demonstrates through my understanding and effective selection of content and teaching strategies that students were developing their drama skills and general capabilities in alignment with the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2025)
(Focus Areas 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6).
Lesson Observations by Peta Shannon
Lesson Overview
Throughout this lesson, I could see students were engaged, motivated to learn and built their vocal modulation capabilities towards the ACARA achievement standards of: Developing and Practicing Skills AC9ADR8D01 and AC9ADR8D02 and General Capabilities including Literacy (in particular listening, speaking and reading), Critical Thinking (in particular inquiring, generating, analysing and reflecting), Personal and Social Awareness (in particular Self-Awareness and Self-Management) and ICT (in particular investigating).
Indigenous Perspectives
The following set of evidence demonstrates, my respectful understanding of indigenous perspectives in the teaching of the Acknowledgement of Country
(Focus Areas 2.4).
Safe Environment
The following set of evidence demonstrates, my ability to create a classroom environment that is both physically, emotionally and technologically safe for all students (Focus Areas 4.4 & 4.5).
Liaison Observations
Obvious that you are building a warm, and trusting learning environment. Really good in this area of your practice. Respect for each other built into the class expectation.
The monitoring of laptop use was good. Excellent check in re students using computers when this wasn’t the task.
To view how my teaching addresses the APST focus areas, click on the evidence listed below:
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
1. Know students and how they learn
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
(Evidence 3), (Evidence 8), (Evidence 16), (Evidence 17)
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
(Evidence 2), (Evidence 3), (Evidence 6), (Evidence 8), (Evidence 16), (Evidence 19)
2 Know the content and how to teach it
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
(Evidence 8), (Evidence 15), (Evidence 17), (Evidence 18)
2.2 Content selection and organisation
(Evidence 10), (Evidence 11), (Evidence 17), (Evidence 19), (Evidence 20)
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
(Evidence 5) (Evidence 7), (Evidence 8), (Evidence 9) , (Evidence 10), (Evidence 17), (Evidence 20)
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
(Evidence 16), (Evidence 20)
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
(Evidence 15), (Evidence 19), (Evidence 20)
STANDARDS
The Graduate Teacher level APST focus areas addressed in this Evidence Set are:
1.1, 1.2, 1.3. 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.7, 4.4 and 4.5
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
3 Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
4 Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
4.4 Maintain student safety
(Evidence 14), (Evidence 18), (Evidence 19), (Evidence 22)
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
REFERENCES
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Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2025) https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/.
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Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) (2017) Teacher Standards https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards.
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Auspeld (2014) Understanding People with Learning Difficulties
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CAST (2018) Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/
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