2024 Early Career Teachers Conference

9:50 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will explore some of the reasons children and young people disengage from learning and become disruptive in the classroom. With an understanding of these in mind, the workshop will explain a series of teacher-centred strategies that can be put in place to encourage engagement in learning and minimise the potential for disruptive and anti-social behaviour.

Presenter: Michael Lincoln

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6)

9:50 AM

1 Hour

In our workshop we explored essential strategies to support your mental health and overall wellness as educators. The session, designed specifically for early career teachers, is aimed to equip you with practical tools and insights to enhance your personal and professional resilience in the demanding field of education.

Presenter: Emily White and Michaela Parker

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

9:50 AM

1 Hour

One of the struggles for all teachers is the time it takes to plan a quality lesson. Have fun in this session exploring: - what makes lessons most effective for learning - how to build variety into your lessons for optimum fun and engagement - how to plan quickly with limited resources and technology and put it all into practice with your own amazing quick-planned lessons, or challenge us to plan and resource a lesson in 5 minutes on your choice of topic.

Presenter: Lara Lang & Angeline Buckler

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10)

9:50 AM

1 Hour

We want to build a community of learners that love science! Want to grow your toolbox of hands on experiments for your junior/primary learners? Can hands on learning be assessed? Come along, be a risk taker, take away some ideas to try in your classes or junior science clubs.

Presenter: Sarah Todd

Target Audience: Primary (r-6)

11:10 AM

1 Hour

"All my students dislike science and would rather be playing games." This is a common story in schools across much of the state, where engagement and motivation for learning is the biggest battle for science teachers. Join us to explore 27 hooks and strategies for engagement in science, clearly linked to curriculum for instant use in your classroom.

Presenter: Lara Lang & Angeline Buckler

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

11:10 AM

1 Hour

[this presentation/workshop is aimed at Secondary school teacher audience for Year 7-12] ECT attrition is one of the most hotly discussed topics in the education sphere. How can we retain and train quality teachers? In this workshop, we will learn and discuss effective behaviour management strategies for the modern Australian classroom. Such strategies are undoubtedly beneficial for a plethora of reasons: - Enhanced teacher and student wellbeing - Enhanced student engagement - Better work satisfaction and fulfillment - Decreased burnout rate - Reduced administrative duties arising from behaviour management Specifically topics such as: effective instruction, restorative practice, seating plans, being the "strict" vs "nice" teacher, communicating with parents/guardians, consistency, reflection, self-advocating, working with and supporting colleagues will be covered. We will also discuss unique behaviour management strategies applicable to science/STEM/mathematics. Practical, demonstration based activities will be incorporated as well as lecture based content which attendees can take home.

Presenter: Andrew Lim

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

11:10 AM

1 Hour

Attendees will participate in activities crafted to explore the expansive, significant, and delicate soil ecosystem. This workshop targets the Year 7 Biological and Earth and Space strands of the Australian Curriculum Version 9, but can be tailored for both primary and senior high school levels. Activities will entail constructing a no-dig garden and developing a seasonal planting guide linked to lunar phases.

Presenter: Abby Macpherson and Rebecca Mumford

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6)

11:10 AM

1 Hour

Students love experiments in science! But have you ever wondered how much the students are learning while they are conducting their experiments? This workshop will get you thinking about how you can shift students from ‘completing a recipe’ to creating their own recipe when conducting their experiments – rather than just following instructions, students test their hypothesis by choosing different ‘ingredients’ and techniques to find their results. In this workshop you will see examples of how this might be done, and then try it out for yourself.

Presenter: Sarah Wheeler

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10)

12:11 PM

1 Hour

Classroom Tips: Discover simple yet effective check-in strategies to gauge student understanding, behaviour management techniques to maintain a positive learning environment, and methods to save your voice while keeping students attentive and engaged. Gamification in the Classroom: Learn how to transform your classroom and presentations into fun and engaging spaces through simple gamification techniques. Explore ways to incorporate game elements into your lessons to promote active participation and enthusiasm for learning. Immersive Assessment: Move beyond traditional tests and create immersive, application-based assessments that reduce anxiety and enhance problem-solving skills.

Presenter: Ross Riach

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6), Senior secondary (10-12)

12:11 PM

1 Hour

What do you do when little Johnny won't sit and listen? What about Sally over there who's ripping up bits of paper and throwing them around? That kid who's never organised for class, or the one who regularly rocks up late? Then there's Timmy who just sits there... All lesson... At least he's quiet? Understanding the underlying wellbeing issues affecting our young people can help you connect with them and build a learning program that allows everyone to be successful. And you. Your wellbeing is just as important! In this workshop, I share some strategies and tips, based on my own experiences in the classroom. Things that will hopefully keep your ship afloat, and your sanity intact.

Presenter: Dina Matheson

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6), Senior secondary (10-12)

12:11 PM

1 Hour

Join us for an engaging session at the SASTA Early Career Teacher's Conference where Jarrod Johnson will delve into the practical applications of AI in science education. Explore, through prompt engineering, how AI tools like ChatGPT can be used as a lesson and unit planner, dynamic feedback mechanism and timesaver. Discover innovative strategies that can transform teaching methods, enhance student interaction, and streamline educational workflows, equipping you to integrate these technologies into your science classrooms.

Presenter: Jarrod Johnson

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Can be tailored for any, or split it to run separately as a repeat for different cohorts, Primary (r-6), Senior secondary (10-12), Tertiary

12:11 PM

1 Hour

The secondary science lab can be busy; when you fill it with 20-30 adolescents, it needs to be organised. This workshop is designed to discuss how to organise yourself and the practical environment to ensure it is a safe space where work gets done efficiently. Jason will use several practical examples plus provide resources on how to accomplish this.

Presenter: Jason Greenslade

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

1:50 PM

1 Hour

There are things experienced teachers say and do in the classroom (and laboratory) to increase student engagement and decrease the chances that students will misbehave – it’s not as magic as it may seem. In this workshop I will discuss and model strategies for gaining students’ attention, managing student movement, asking whole class questions and group work. Using these strategies we can increase the likelihood students will be on task and thinking about Science and we can better manage safety risks in the laboratory. These skills are backed by recent research and AITSL papers but the workshop will focus on learning and using practical classroom management and engagement skills, not listening to research. This workshop is aligned with AITSL Standard 4: Create and Maintain Supportive and Safe Learning Environments, HITS 5: Collaborative Learning and HITS 7: Questioning.

Presenter: Lara Golding

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6), Senior secondary (10-12)

1:50 PM

1 Hour

In a field where Artificial Intelligence is interjecting in a range of teaching and learning spaces, it helps to have a better understanding of how it's being used. More importantly, strategies to not only manage challenges in AI but to get ahead of the game and use it to our advantage as educators. This workshop will focus on ways teachers can use AI to save time, plan, report and differentiate for learning.

Presenter: Amanda Salha

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

1:50 PM

1 Hour

In South Australia, we want to empower our children and young people with the dispositions, capabilities and knowledge they need to thrive in a constantly changing world. That's why we're adapting the R to 10 Australian Curriculum V9 to develop an SA curriculum for Public Education, to support meaningful and authentic teaching, learning and assessment in our public schools. We aspire to develop a curriculum framework that reflects what students will be able to: understand, do, and be - as a result of their learning at school. This session will outline and explore the essential knowledge, capabilities and dispositions that form the SA Curriculum: Science.

Presenter: Denise Rule and Anthea Ponte

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Primary (r-6), Senior secondary (10-12)

1:50 PM

1 Hour

The workshop is aimed towards new or early career teachers in Secondary or R-12 schools wanting to enhance their teaching of Science. As a newly qualified, or 'early in your career', Teacher of Science, practical science lessons are a necessary part of daily school life, but an aspect of the profession that is not covered in detail during Teacher Training. The thought of those first practical lessons can be quite daunting. This presentation aims to provide information to assist in negotiating a range of skills, such as risk assessment, managing practical equipment and classes, student engagement in the laboratory, and will also offer many hints and tips to help achieve the best outcomes possible from these lessons.

Presenter: Jane Hosking

Target Audience: Junior secondary (7-10), Senior secondary (10-12)

2:51 PM

1 Hour

An informal setting for multiple presenters to share innovative teaching ideas. Each presenter will share a strategy or tool during a 10-minute presentation and delegates will rotate around the room. Check the PDF program for more information