About

I am 38 years old, a husband, father, student, and teacher. I left high school after completing grade 10, working in Woolworths Supermarkets for 13 years in various roles. I started as a casual worker then completed a retail traineeship before working as a shop floor worker then moving to appointed managerial positions.Retail provided me with the experience of working with and serving a vast array of people requiring different approaches and skills to communicate and integrate successfully with. Desiring to move higher into permanent store management positions I studied and worked through Certificate IV in Woolworths Retail Management. The challenge of returning to studying was enjoyable and rewarding, rekindling the desire to continue learning as a lifelong habit. Woolworths provided me with many challenges but no longer gave me the mental stimulation or sense of purpose towards achieving worthwhile or desirable outcomes.

I searched and applied for many jobs failing to find anything that really appealed to me, also attempting to find jobs in training and adult teaching positions. Teaching was a field that interested me and my involvement in under-age cricket coaching and work developed  within me the desire to work as a Physical Education Teacher. My application to study the Bachelor of Human Movement was successful and I was able to achieve my starting goal of completing honours in the last year of study. This taste of research provided the focus of returning to higher postgraduate study completing the Master of Education by coursework in 2013. The Doctor of Education will provide me with the opportunity to participate in higher level research and give me valuable experience and knowledge  in the area of technology integration in education.

My first year of teaching was very challenging yet also extremely rewarding presenting me with a steep learning curve that provided a vast amount of experience and learning opportunities. I was the first specialist Physical Education teacher at the school and developed a structured learning program for Roebourne District High School, an Aboriginal school in the Pilbara, Western Australia. This was the first experience for the students in having a structured and progressive curriculum program to develop the multiple aspects of physical and sport skills. My behaviour management strategies were challenged both as a reaction to problems and to develop preventative proactive skills. Targeted professional development assisted me in identifying good and bad practices whilst intentionally implementing plans to support positive learning environments.

2011 provided me with a different challenge in moving from health and physical education teaching to classroom based mathematics and science teaching. This challenged me to adopt my teaching practices towards delivering effective learning environments for students to gain successful outcomes. Teaching grades 7-9 presented me with various challenges towards how to teach subjects that I had no prior experience or major training in delivering. The Master of Education mathematics subjects I studied were used to fill  in content knowledge that I felt was lacking from my skills. I developed successful learning relationships with my students enabled me to take over classes mid-term and develop learning environments that suited my teaching style and students learning preferences.

Relief teaching has provided me with the opportunities to teach many varies students in multiple schools. I have been required to develop teaching plans for most subjects and year groups, sometimes adapting and changing plans depending on the student cohort been taught. I have had the chance to experience team teaching in many schools working collaboratively with various teachers. I have been required to use different behaviour management techniques and been challenged with developing working relationships with students in short time spans. I have enjoyed the challenges of relief teaching and the chance to develop and learn more about my teaching through these opportunities.