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Prompt 8

The above image and following caption has been reblogged from user teachingtreats:

New teaching resources! ‘I have been wanting ‘The Rabbits’ for so long - such a great resource for the Australian colonisation. I picked up leaf littler today on sale, it has amazing illustrations and information about environmental impacts. The best part is the fold out flaps!’

As I perused the hashtag #picturebooks, I came across many images before I was immediately taken by the above image. Upon a closer investigation, I discovered a user who had posted some very relevant material that I could firmly relate to. I would recommend teachingtreats to any fellow Bachelor of Education students- she is a pre-service teacher herself and has some valuable posts relating to all things teaching.

I myself have read both these amazing picture books- ‘The Rabbits’ by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, and ‘Leaf Litter’ by Rachel Tonkin and thoroughly enjoyed them. 

The illustrations in both books (though very different stylistically) are captivating and beautiful; not only for young children but for people of all ages- very engaging resources for a classroom.

Both texts contain strong themes which would be ideal to study in a classroom, as well as deep, underlying messages which will facilitate critical evaluation and discovery- ideal for Middle Years Learners.

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Prompt 7

The following questions are posed using Bloom’s Taxonomy, based on a reading of the first three pages of ‘Thai-riffic!’ by Oliver Phommavanh.

CREATE: If you could create your own restaurant, what would the advertising poster look like? Can you think of a clever name like ‘Thai-Riffic’ or ‘Wok N Roll’?

EVALUATING: Why do you think Lengy feels different to the other students at school? Do you think this could change later in the story?

ANALYSING: Why does Lengy’s dad spy across the road at ‘Wok N Roll’ and throw darts at their flyer?

APPLYING: Have you ever been to a foreign cuisine restaurant? E.g. Japanese, Indian, Thai? What is your favourite foreign cuisine?

COMPREHENDING: Why do you think Lengy says that he ‘felt like a walking billboard for [my] parents?’

KNOWLEDGE AND REMEMBERING: Is Lengy’s brother older or younger? What year is Lengy in at school? Which type of cuisine does the restaurant next door serve? What is Lengy’s parents’ attitude towards the Chinese restaurant next door?

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Prompt 6

The following link is a video called ‘Dreaming about Country.’ It depicts creations by Edwin Lee Mulligan, an Indigenous artist. His paintings are inspired by his personal history and culture; connection to his land and the land of his ancestors. The trees, mountains, river and creatures of his culture are what he recreates in artwork to sustain and express his spiritual connection with his Country.

http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1647459/dreaming-about-country

I believe this link could be useful during a front loading sequence on the picture book ‘The Cave Painters’ by Percy Trezise. 

‘The Cave Painters’ is a picture story-book which explores similar themes to the video- Indigenous connection with land and ancestry; and the importance of upholding and keeping the Indigenous culture and traditions alive. Students would benefit from observing a modern-day example of Indigenous connection through art before delving into a deeper text which demonstrates the ancient and significant tradition of art and Indigenous connection with land.

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Prompt 5

Wordle:

They had died in the night; the longest night of silence, the need for for food was such that they had shivered, hollow, and no strength through the cold, because of who they were- transparent to all others.

Image Sentence:

“Greed is not a financial issue. It’s a heart issue.’ 

Andy Stanley.

I have chosen the book ‘Coral Reefs’ by Sylvia A. Earl to illustrate another example of Front loading:

A class discussion could be initiated based on what can be seen and read on the front cover of the book. Strategic questioning from the teacher would assist in students contributions as to what the book contains.

Following this, a YouTube clip about coral reefs could be played for the class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3kPgbPPqvQ

This video contains real-life footage of the Great Barrier Reef and will offer a realistic representation of what students are about to be exposed to in the text. The video will hopefully facilitate a strong engagement in the text and introduce students to some of the big ideas of the text; how important the environment is, how fragile it can be, our human impact on it.

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Prompt 4

The literacy lessons I was exposed to on my prep placement were both engaging for students and useful for their reading and writing development. 

One of the things I really liked about our literacy lessons was the weekly ‘Big Book.’ The first weeks’ Big Book was ‘Edward the Emu.’ Before the teacher read to the class, she would show the students the front cover and initiate a discussion about what they thought the book may be about. The illustrations captured the class’s engagement and spurred input from almost everyone. 

When the text was being read out to the class, the teacher would pause after reading a difficult word or concept, question the students and give an explanation. This was a useful way of both clarifying concepts and expanding students’ vocabulary.  

Another think I really liked about the literacy lessons I saw was the way my mentor teacher modelled writing structure to the class. Every Monday the class would write a ‘Recount’ of their weekend. (I was able to model this the second Monday). The modelling took place on a big board, and had a very clear structure: Title: ‘My Weekend.’ Introductory sentence- ‘My weekend was (amazing, terrible, fantastic, incredible).’ Body: ‘On Friday afternoon, I... On Saturday, I... On Sunday, I...’ I left my modelled example on the board for the students to refer to during their writing. The clearly modelled structure ensured that most of the students knew exactly how to write their recount.

The one thing I thought could have been improved during my literary experiences was the marking of students’ work. I often felt that it was rushed and returned to students without them being encouraged to consider how they could improve their writing. The teachers’ suggestions were clear and correcting was very evident, but there did not seem to be any time for students to reflect on the teachers’ feedback.

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Based on the 6 + 1 traits for writing, this prep student would benefit from developing their use of correct ‘conventions’ of writing. Conventions of writing refers to the traits concerning correct spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and grammar.

A colour-coded marking system may be useful for a teacher:

Red: Spelling errors e.g. ‘watched,’ ‘movie,’ ‘ride.’

Purple: Capitalisation

Green: Punctuation e.g. On Saturday, (comma)

Pink: Grammar e.g. ‘wochsh’ (watch) should be ‘watched.’

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Prompt 2:

On my most recent placement, I was given the opportunity to help set up a classroom display: ‘Good Reading Strategies.’ The four posters pictured are under the categories ‘Comprehension,’ ‘Accuracy,’ ‘Fluency’ and ‘Expanded Vocabulary.’ 

This was for a prep class and my mentor teacher and I chose the wall pictured as it is visible to all students from their various tables. During reading exercises, my mentor teacher and I would constantly refer to this wall and question the students on how well they were using the strategies pictured. For example, ‘One of the posters we have on the back wall details ‘comprehension.’ Do you understand what you’re reading? Let’s read it again so that we fully understand what the text is telling us.’

These posters were installed on the third day of my placement; by the end of the second week, I noticed that students would refer to the posters during reading (of a worksheet or a book) even without being prompted by a teacher. 

Parent-teacher interviews were also being conducted during my time at the school, and my mentor teacher encouraged parents to take note of the display for the benefit of the students’ reading homework.

Below is a personal Classroom Display Poster:

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Prompt 1:

In year 4 my teacher would set aside one or two afternoons a week to read to us after lunch. I always enjoyed these sessions no matter the book, but the most memorable and treasured story I can remember being read to us was Holes by Louis Sachar. My classmates and I would ask our teacher every day, ‘When’s our next reading session?’ Every time we got to sit on the floor for a chapter or two, the most energetic of us would sit still and listen with full focus and attention. At the conclusion of the term, our teacher showed the movie for us during lunch time which both enhanced understanding of the text and heightened our sentiment for it. I can’t ever remember having a more gripping or moving text read to me- it encouraged me to start to read to myself and I have enjoyed years worth of fiction ever since. For this reason, I am excited to use Holes as a read-aloud story for my own classes in the future and I hope to impress upon my students the enjoyment this story holds for me.