hayley millerick
about me
"tell me and I will forget,
show me and I may remember,
involve me and I' will understand
- Chinese Proverb
My name is Hayley Millerick I live on the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
I am currently studying a Bachelor of Primary and Secondary Education and a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Southern Cross University, focusing on secondary Geography.
I love all things science, the fascination and intrigue that comes from discovering the world around you is what ignited my love of travel. I generally try and travel overseas once a year, along with travelling most of Australia with my young son. I am deeply creative and have a love of painting and photography.
While completing my year 12 studies I obtained a Certificate IV in Auslan through TAFE and began to learn sign language. This added skill dissolved some of my ignorances and allowed me to observe the world around me with a different filter, I feel deeply that it made me more perceptive and understanding, I could not help but experience life through Auslan (Australian Sign Language).
I have always had the ideology that experiences are the key to enrichment, I have had a myriad of jobs in my life and generally ‘fall’ into an industry through pure chance, from being a butcher to working at Draculas.
Although I have tried a lot of things, the one thing I do know is that I love working with people. I have always enjoyed learning new things and learning from others is how I like to learn. This ideology led me working as a professional photographer where I was ‘discovered’ when signing Auslan to a deaf student while I was taking the yearly school photos. I was asked if I wanted to work as an interpreter and just like that, I was training and working with deaf and special needs students.
I was hooked.
It completely ignited my passion to work in education and began my journey to become a teacher.
To begin with, I was not confident and didn’t think I had the skills needed to teach. I always admired my teachers, and it wasn’t something I thought I could do. I didn’t think I was academically minded, but the longer I worked in this industry the more I knew this was where I wanted to be. I knew I had the passion, drive and determination to help students from all walks of life.
Working as an educational interpreter gave me a unique perspective into the teaching field, I was seeing the teaching world from the inside, the hard work, passion teachers had and I enjoyed watching teachers be flexible and develop students love of learning.
Working with deaf students has become my world, I see the potential in all students and have had the honour and pleasure of working with some amazing people, people who have encouraged and guided me through my university studies.
This e-Portfolio is a digital fingerprint of my personal, educational and current teaching experiences. It is designed to demonstrate the development and goals I have set for my teaching career. I will be using evidence and self-reflective assessment to create a resume that will showcase the vision and passion I have for education and the teaching profession.
The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Graduate, will act as the framework that I will align with my teaching practices throughout my career.
This e-Portfolio is a virtual resume that will allow me the opportunity to map my development from a university student about to start my first practicum, to a graduate teacher to a fully experienced deeply entrenched yet a highly flexible and creative effective teacher.
my philosophy
If my teaching philosophy could be summarised into one word it would be kinaesthetic.
I love learning through others and tactile learning is what engages me best. I will always try something, and I see failure as a learning point to try a different way. This is my personal teaching philosophy, not just in academics but socially and emotionally as well. Students need to see us fail as adults, as teachers, as people - they need to see teachers show resilience in the face of adversity and I believe we can foster a safe, inclusive and productive environment for students to develop their sense of self, and become resilient lifelong learners.
Teaching is a multi-faceted position, it requires flexibility and sensitivity the foundations are developed through a combination of pedagogy, adaptable management, a strong knowledge of content.
Learning is the mirrored development of these teaching foundations. It essential has a framework that is built around creating inclusiveness, a safe and engaging space, and providing an environment that focuses on promoting teachers implementation and understanding of the diverse learning demands of students’. Learning develops and occurs in many different ways, teachers must learn how to facilitate learning for a variety of students, they need to be constantly updating their skill set and creating progressive developments in understanding how student engagement with content.
Self-reflection and authentic evaluations of how teaching methods are developed and implemented are essential in explicating successful outcomes for both teachers and students. Teachers must evaluate the successfulness of their pedagogy. It is important to reflect on what has and has not worked. Self-evaluation stems from a place of respect and honesty and should be embraced as such. While striving to create the most affecting teaching methods, teachers must be critical and have a healthy understanding of their own skillset and limitations.
Creativity fosters critical thinkers, finding teaching strategies that are engaging and delivering them with enthusiasm, is an essential aspect of learning for students. The creative mind permeates all academia. Developing creative thinking is necessitous in comprehending the world, it encourages students to become life-long learners.
Communication develops identity and establishes the discourse needed for students to be inquisitive and critically question. Acknowledgement of both achievements and places students need improvement without fear develop strong relationships that foster a safe and respectful environment.
Flexibility is essential in all aspects of teaching; things change day to day, and teachers must adapt to manage these changes in a positive way.
Organise your knowledge, pedagogy and space. Being organised can be crucial in being flexible.
The overall outcome for teachers is to create students that are life-long learners. Individuals that can be integrated and productive as adults, encouraging them to produce a better tomorrow for the next generation to come.
My personal philosophy is one that is still being shaped and structured as I explore my way through the teaching field. I can only presume that it will evolve and develop as I delve into my career and learn more about who I am as a teacher. Right now, my philosophy is fostered by my personal beliefs and values, experiences in early childhood and primary school settings as well as my own life encounters.
I believe every child has a right to be respected for who they are regardless of their background, class, ethnicity or gender. Each child is unique and thus should be treated as an individual with a right to quality care and education. As a qualified teacher of the next generation I feel as though this is my main priority. I will strive to bring the best out of each child by applying myself to their educational needs and learning being guided by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2011).
As technology is becoming more dominant in classrooms, I believe it is important as a new teacher to become aware of the advances and employing its use. It is vital to the children’s learning to create a program assisting children in new developments. Bottle (2005) suggests the use of technology in the classroom often “allows more interactive engagement…” thus enabling each individual child the opportunity to be exposed to the ways of the world.
As a teacher, I want to allow the children to make sense of their world and believe in the person in which they are becoming. This can be supported by Erikson’s psychosocial theory where the “ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society” (Berk, 2013, p. 16). The teaching strategies I have employed therefore reflect real-life scenarios where each child will be able to openly bring experiences into the classroom.
As a white middle-class member of society who has experienced a favourable upbringing, it is very easy to assume we all have the same opportunities. Through my experiences, in various settings, I am becoming more aware of my biases and prejudices and consequently, try to treat each child with the same amount of enthusiasm. By interacting and communicating with each child and their family, I will be able to discover more about them and adjust my teaching to ensure each child receives the most out of their learning. It is important for me to do so as I want to be able to contribute to many children’s worlds by influencing their educational journey.
Becoming a teacher and educating children will benefit society and the local community for years to come. By sharing knowledge and teaching to younger generations (Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory) a sense of self-fulfilment will occur as I create an educational path for children to travel down. Young people are our world’s future leaders thus, to be a part of that by becoming a teacher will be inspiring and enriching.
goals for professional experience
"the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors in to windows"
- Sydney J. Harris
expectations and requirements
As a student endeavouring to begin my first professional experience, there are a series of expectations and legal requirements I must adhere to.
Although teachers from all walks of life engage with their teaching practices in the classroom in many different ways, government bodies, both federal and state-wide dictate legal and ethic obligations that teachers must not only know but constantly be upskilling themselves on.
First and foremost, there are human rights for students. All children have the right to have access to an education (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2000). Along with this is the right to a safe, inclusive and accessible learning environment, this is where all state and territories have a put in place safeguards such as a working with children check (National Crime Check, 2020). This criminal history check ensures anyone with access or contact with children are vetted for any history that could endanger a child’s safety or place them in harm's way. Along with this each state and territory has an Educational Act (Australian Education Act, 2013) this legislation is an overarching set of laws that govern how teachers conduct themselves, teach controversial issues, address classroom management and develop appropriate punishments. Subsequently, this article maintains that all teachers must be accredited and registered to teach in Australia, holding appropriate qualifications and training to maintain child safety and educational integrity.
Teachers are trained and mandated to report to authorities any breaches of child safety, security, discrimination, health and safety, social and or family law breaches. This duty of care is encompassing all aspects of school life from working with integrated ICT to accessing community services. All teachers are bound by the laws that govern both nationally and state-wide in a civil, criminal and professional setting, however, they hare also guided by specific school regulations dictated by individual schools, although these are seldom enforceable by law.
Along with legal requirements, all teachers are guided by societal and academic expectations, this help provides continuity within the profession. A profession that strives to be progressive and ever-evolving. Teachers are required to adhere to a strict code of conduct and professional ethics that are designed by the Department of Education and can be different in each state and territory. First Aid, Anaphylaxis training, child protection and some specific medical training are just some of the requirements all teaching and pre-teaching staff must obtain before working with children. Child safety is paramount in all aspects of education and all shareholders in a students’ education are responsible for upholding these standards.
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