SCHOOL OF EDUCATION MENTOR TEACHER NOMINATION FORM 2015 Your Name: Lachlan McFarlane Year Level 2015: Grad. Dip. Your Email:
[email protected]
Nominated Mentor’s Name: John Rowe Nominated Mentor’s Email:
[email protected] School Name: ASMS Practicum One
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Practicum Two ☐
Please tick the award you are nominating your mentor teacher for: ☐
Knowledge (Wealth of information on all aspects of teaching)
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Support (Showed support beyond my expectations)
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Inspiration (Fuelled my passion for the Profession)
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RoleModel (Demonstrating practice)
I feel very lucky to have John Rowe as a mentor teacher at ASMS in Practicum 1, 2015. During observation time and through coaching me, John demonstrated how to be a successful senior maths teacher in the modern classroom. He was a fantastic role model and I will use the experience gained through teaching with John as a basis for my teaching methods, style and attitude. John demonstrated an innovative use of Problem Based Learning activities that he had developed himself, either from scratch or using examples. The engagement that the students had with the material was clear, and in large part because the material was tailored to them. This showed me that it was possible to, using modern ICT tools, generate engaging ‘realworld’ examples myself. This certainly inspired me to try and find examples for ways to bring the relevance of the material to the fore, before resorting to the textbook examples or practice problems. He made me realise that the biggest asset I bring as a teacher is my life experience of applying knowledge to the real world, be it in my past career experience or just everyday life. John’s relationship with the students was also exceptional: the students saw him as not just a knowledgeable educator but as a trustworthy mentor who would do whatever he could to help them. Part of this was John’s devotion to sport in the curriculum. Although it was his job as sports coordinator, he went above and beyond the minimum required in that role. He didn’t just organise sports for the school, he enthusiastically participated in it on a daily basis and brought many of his colleagues in as well. He also encouraged unusual sports, such as the Harry Potterinspired ‘quidditch’, which meant students with no prior skills could participate more easily. I hope to emulate some of his attitude in the extracurricular area as I could see how it was a great way to build rapport with students and teachers alike.