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The VCE sequence plan I created was for a Year 12 Biology Cohort and utilised Unit 3, Outcome 1 of the VCE Biology Study Design (VCAA 2016). Whilst this was not designed for a specific cohort, it was based on my experience at a regional government school. The purpose of the sequence was for students to investigate cell communication and many relevant, topical areas such as vaccinations, antigens and immunity.

My VCE Biology sequence plan held the foundations for effective and realistic lessons and learning opportunities. It is important to incorporate reflective practice into professional development which is supported by many theorists (Rodgers, 2002, Killen, 2012). Professional development as an educational professional entails regular review of ones work, ensuring that improvements are made for future and differentiation is accounted for (Churchill et al., 2015). I will be reviewing my Biology Sequence plan and provide professional development strategies to improve future practice. Feedback was sought from an experienced mentor teacher and two peer pre service teachers. Collaboration in the educational field is essential in ensuring personal growth as a teacher and providing students with quality learning opportunities (Keefe et al., 2004).

My lesson sequence had a variety of learning activities, incorporating both group and individual work. Additionally, multiple hands on opportunities were provided, helping to break up the lessons and ultimately aim to maintain student engagement levels. The variety created in the lessons helps to cater for differentiation in the classroom, ensuring that students are able to try multiple activities and find an activity that provides the best learning opportunities for themselves. Additionally, I also offered student choice with a few of the learning activities, again, providing variety and differentiation opportunities. However, feedback was provided that I need to include timing for lessons and ensure that this is considered when conducting a unit plan. Additionally, it is important to ensure that I also allow enough time for explicit teaching opportunities, ensuring that students understand the knowledge before applying it to a learning activity.

My lesson plan applied pedagogical strategies such as using a student centred approach and providing explicit learning instructions. Whilst this is characteristic of constructivism, one aspect that requires further improvement is providing further attention to the alignment of the learning intentions, learning activities and assessments. Constructive alignment allows the students to explicitly know what they are supposing to be learning, how to learn it and the standard required (Biggs and Tang, 2010). I used the key knowledge from the VCE study design as my learning intentions for the lessons to ensure that the curriculum was being adhered to. However, further critical thinking should have gone into breaking down the key knowledge and ensuring this aligned seamlessly to the learning outcomes, learning activities and assessments. This would have further implemented constructivism into the plan, leading to increased student understanding by using clearer learning instructions (Biggs and Tang, 2010). Prior knowledge was assessed using a test at the start of the sequence plan, but peer feedback recommended to integrate this more effectively by using a hook to captivate the learners and engage them in the topic.

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Planning assessments for the final year of schooling can be stressful for teachers as there are many external outcomes and assessments that need to be completed. As per the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority, VCE assessments in all learning areas should be valid, reasonable, equitable, balanced and efficient (VCAA 2016). The science discipline involves many analytical elements such as mining databases, finding relevant scientific research and scientific communication such as essay writing, blog or video creation or creating presentations. A variety of formative, summative and peer assessments were scaffolded into the lesson plan. To ensure that students are understanding the knowledge, peer feedback suggested to integrate more low stake formative assessments as this allows for closer monitoring of student progress and to identify gaps and provide further individualised support (Earl, 2012).

A gap in my knowledge recognised by mentor feedback was requiring diagnostic tools to assess classroom behaviours such as participation, resilience or organisational skill. Whilst these are important skills to monitor, finding a way to effectively assess these can be difficult. One way this could be implemented in the future is by creating an observation checklist. However, it is likely that student-teacher rapport will be built and these assessments can be based off our own relationships and judgement.

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It is important to effectively embed ICT into learning activities whilst also considering the safety of the learners. ICT can be extremely useful to the field of Science as it allows students to access high quality and current information and enables students with a wider range of learning opportunities (Webb 2005). ICT also allows students to save time by recording scientific data more effectively and therefore allows time for deeper understanding of the data (Abdullahi 2014). Effective implementation of ICT is also crucial in the midst of a pandemic where remote learning is sporadically executed. Whilst ICT was implemented into my lesson sequences, peer feedback recommended further creative thinking when designing lesson plans to ensure that ICT is used in the most efficient way possible. For example, the feedback pointed out that a lot of the ICT components were research, where ICT could have been implemented by incorporating an interactive activity such as designing an mRNA vaccine which is relevant and applicable to the real world. This would be a great opportunity of professional development to determine the software available for student use.

A pitfall of my lesson plan that ICT safety was not explicitly considered. ICT safety is crucial in the scientific field as it ensures that reputable scientific sources are utilised and students avoid plagiarism by recognise others work (Webb 2005). One way to rectify and improve this is to use my future schools policy on ICT safety which can be explicitly told to the students and implemented in the sequence plan.

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I am fortunate to begin a teaching position in Term 1 at a regional government school. This school utilises a whole school approach to behaviour management and curriculum planning. The following professional learning opportunities will be based off my future opportunities at this school whilst finishing my tertiary studies.

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1. Science Teachers Association Victoria

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1. Science Teachers Association Victoria

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It is essential to communicate with other VCE Biology teachers and analyse the study guide to ensure that the knowledge requirements and learning opportunities of students are fair and consistent with other Victorian schools, therefore reducing the chances of disadvantaging the students. To gain expertise from fellow science teachers, it would be worthwhile gaining membership with the  Science Teachers Association of Victoria (STAV). The STAV provide many professional development opportunities to science teachers such as conferences that dissect the VCE study designs, provide newsletters with science education publications and staff support and advice (STAV 2020). This would benefit me as an emerging educator in the science field and help to refine my knowledge on teaching Biology in the later years.

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Ecolinc is a science and technology centre located in Bacchus Marsh, approximately 30 minutes away from the school I will be teaching at. Ecolinc provides hands on opportunities for students and directly links to the Australian Science Curriculum. Whilst Ecolinc focuses on environmental science, there are many aspects that are applicable to the field of Biology. Ecolinc would be a useful centre to incorporate into my professional development as they also offer free PD for teachers. This also provides a great opportunity to network with other teachers, which can help to improve educational outcomes and improve mental health by reaching out for support by peer collaboration. Excursions to Ecolinc would also benefit the students to learn about the importance of environmental care. Excursions will also help me as a teacher gain ideas for future learning opportunities and expand my knowledge on these topics.

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I am grateful to be able to have a Personal Development day in Term 1 of 2022 with Dr Bill Rogers. Bill Rogers is an educational professional that has completed extensive research into classroom management skills (Rogers 2015). He encourages a whole school approach to implementing these strategies, which is already used at the school I will be teaching at. This day will be very beneficial to me as an emerging educator with minimal classroom management experience. The preventative measures will be useful to ensure that I am able to teach effectively and help students that may be struggling. The theory also encourages students to self-regulate and take responsibility for their own behaviour, decreasing the likeliness of teacher authority (Rogers 2015). This will also help with my own mental health and I may be able to utilise these tools to mitigate stressful situations in the classroom.

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Biology software will be a focus of my professional development to ensure that I can effectively implement into the classroom. As previously mentioned, effective ICT use was a pitfall of my sequence plan and is something I would like to consider improving. I would utilise the Department of Education and Trainings ICT Strategic Planning Workshops to refine the use of ICT in the classroom. These workshops help educational professionals identify strengths and challenges in their current pedagogical practices and suggest ideas to improve ICT use and make it a collaborative process (DET 2021).

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I will have three educational mentors that will help me refine my teaching skills as an emerging secondary teacher. This will be very valuable for my professional development as collegial collaboration helps to gain a deeper understanding and become a reflective individual (Churchill et al. 2015). I will have weekly meetings with my Deakin Mentor which will be used to debrief about my teaching week and for the mentor to provide guidance and strategies to mitigate any issues that may arise. I also have internal mentors at the school who will help me with curriculum planning, classroom management and teacher organisation. Collectively, this will be the strongest point of professional development that I can lean into regularly.

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One technique I wish to implement is regular reflection. This will be utilised by ensuring that I debrief at the end of the day and write down what went well and what requires improvement within a lesson. Reflection will also be implemented by regular consultation with my mentors and other staff members.