Hello everyone! My name is Stephanie and I am one of the contributors/authors here. I wanted to create this blog as a way for all Australian Teachers to connect and learn from each other.
American Teacher turned Aussie!
First thing you should know about me is that I was born and raised in USA! I graduated from the University of Central Florida and taught in Florida for 5-6 years before moving to Australia last year. It took a few months to get certified but after 6 months of living here I was able to start my Aussie teaching career. I started out as a relief teacher for two schools in a regional area in WA.
I'm still currently working as a relief teacher and hoping to reach more schools, but I was hired on Prep teacher for one day a week as their regular teacher could plan their lessons. I truly enjoy being with the Prep kids, even though I was worried since I didn't have any experience with students at that age.
My Teaching Style
I'm a big fan of hands-on activities and lessons that encourage students to develop concepts on their own. I taught most my teaching experience in a grade level where it was all about standardise testing, which scared & worried the students and can cause lessons focused on test taking. It was all about the data!I focused on my attention on the students and what worked best for my students. I found my students were most successful with developing concepts on their own. For example, instead of telling the what a concept is I gave an example and described it. I had students tell me what they saw, then showed another example and brainstormed what was common. Eventually the students were able to tell me what the concept/skill was in their own words and this made information easily retained for the future.
I love lessons that focuses on student engagement. I often referred to my students as explorers or detectives. Through this I was able to create an environment that was full of knowledge, encouragement, exploration and nurture!
What You can Find at my TPT Store
My products started off as focused on USA education, but you can find more products geared towards BOTH Australia & USA. Since working in Prep I will also be working on lesson activities towards that age group. I'm a big fan of graphic design, so my products are usually clean with bright colours and easily read fonts.
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