QCAA Unit Planning

Unit planning is one of the most constructive and critical elements of teaching, as lessons must align with Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) criteria, the school syllabus, and students’ individual learning abilities and needs. My first step is to analyse where the unit correlates into the overall learning requirements. I would ensure my unit aligns with QCAA aims, historical skills, and historical knowledge and understanding of the subject and year level I am teaching. For instance, if I was teaching year 10 History, my aim would be to cover content that recognises imperative aspects of the Modern World and Australia for the period of 1918 to the present. I would also make sure I have covered a range of historical skills

The summative assessments should facilitate students to inquire knowledge they have learned into real world situations. Implementation of historical skills and Bloom’s higher order thinking will allow students to achieve this. Teaching and expecting students to engage in activities that require creating, evaluating and analyzing will enhance students’ inquiry skills not just for history but will transfer into other subject areas as well. As a beginner teacher I realize that I may lack in excessive knowledge, research and resources in my teaching area. Thus, I will reach out to experienced teachers for feedback and recommendations to develop an effective and an applicable unit

During my Supervised Professional Experience (SPEs) I had the opportunity to teach students with a diverse range of abilities including students with intellectual disabilities, students with low autism spectrum disorder and students who varied greatly in learning styles and abilities. I had to prepare a differentiation category for each lesson plan for students who are registered with special needs and for students who are fast finishers. For example, some students may need more visuals, or need handouts instead of copying down notes. Specifically the student with autism liked routine and needed to know exactly what was going on so I would make sure the learning goals and tasks were written on the board and that I followed through with the goals. I would make sure the lesson was easily organised and tried to follow a similar structure every class. Alternatively, other students in the same class needed extension activities that afflict reward and not punishment for completing the activity. So I had crossword puzzles prepared that aligned with the lesson