Urangan
State High School has a strong focus on ensuring a guaranteed curriculum and
high quality teaching in every classroom. To enable this to occur, we have
adopted a research based pedagogical framework that aligns with the Department
of Education, Training and Employment Strategic Plan 2013-2014, Engaging Minds,
Empowering Futures.
The impact
of quality teaching and the evidence that research-validated pedagogy –
implemented with consistency across a school setting and supported by
instructional leadership – improves student performance and develops successful
learners.
At Urangan
State High School our pedagogical framework is Marzano’s Art and Science of
Teaching. The ASoT framework provides a
common language for the USHS school community to discuss effective teaching and
learning and provides a consistent whole-school pedagogical practice. It provides processes for professional
learning for teachers and procedures to monitor and increase the sustained
impact of the practices on every day teaching.
Every USHS
teacher participates in a classroom observation twice yearly and has regular
meetings with their mentor to reflect on their teaching practices and
observations.
The Art and
Science of Teaching is organised in the form of 10 design questions. These are:
DQ1 What
will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress,
and celebrate success?
DQ2 What will
I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
DQ3 What
will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new
knowledge?
DQ4 What
will I do to help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?
DQ5 What
will I do to engage students?
DQ6 What
will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
DQ7 What
will I do to recognise and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to
classroom rules and procedures?
DQ8 What
will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
DQ9 What
will I do to communicate high expectations for all students?
DQ10 What will I do to develop effective lessons
organised into a cohesive unit?
For more
information about the design questions or our pedagogical framework see related
links on the right.