Miss Slade

Pre-service teacher

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Prompt EIGHT

After typing #picturebooks in the search bar of Tumblr, I was extremely surprised with what I found. While I did enjoy scrolling through looking at all the wonderful and creative illustrations under this hashtag, I was most definitely expecting to see many more posts than what was displayed. One post that came to my attention was one made by @harpercollins. The publishing company had shared a post on a book called ‘Goodnight Moon’, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. After conducting research on the book, I discovered that it was about a nightly routine of a rabbit saying goodnight to the world, including to his painting of a cow jumping over the moon displayed in his house. In @harpercollins post, the publishers recognised that the picture book came out 22 years before the first human landing on the moon in 1969. 

Upon discovering this post, I thought it was really interesting that the picture storybook was published before the very first human landing on the moon. If I were given the opportunity to teach a literacy lesson based on this book (providing that there was still no success on any moon landings), I would love to discuss students thoughts on landing on the moon, or if they thought it was even possible. This sequence could then involve students designing their own rocket ship that could take them to the moon, followed by an activity that required students to write about what they thought they might see or do on their travels to the undiscovered planet. 

Both images sourced from: 

http://harpercollins.tumblr.com/post/163217219811/on-july-20-1969-humans-first-landed-on-the-moon

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Prompt SEVEN

Based upon the book ‘Thai-riffic’ written by Oliver ,Phommavanh I was able to implement Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to produce a variety of questions appropriate for a literacy lesson at primary level. 

CREATE:  -It seems that Albert’s family restaurant has some serious competitors woh are located across the road. How could we improve their flyer in order to draw in the attention of customers?

-Albert suggests that the name ‘Thai-riffic’ and the sign situated out the front of the store will one day make customers ‘spew’. If you were given the opportunity to change the name of the restaurant and improve the design of the sign, what would you do/change?

EVALUATE:

-Do you think that Albert was treated fairly at school?

-What do you think about the other kids calling Albert names? Is it appropriate?

ANALYSE:  -How do we know that Albert doesn’t love their family restaurant? (provide evidence)

-What is the difference between ‘Thai-riffic’ and ‘Wok N Roll’?

APPLY:

- Have you ever been called a horrible name that you don’t like/ appreciate? How has this made you feel?

-If not, have you ever witnessed someone in the schoolyard being called mean names?

COMPREHEND:  -What does Albert mean when he classifies himself as a ‘fake Aussie’?

-Albert states that his parents have gone ‘cashew nuts’ over their 10 year anniversary. What does he mean by this?

-Can you provide a short summary based upon the information given in these three pages of the book? What happened?

KNOWLEDGE/ REMEMBER: 

-What is the main characters name? What is his brother’s name?

-What is the family Business called?

-How long have they had their sign for?

-Who is their competitor? What food do they sell?

Image sourced from @ecl310deakin

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Prompt SIX

In order to introduce the topic of ‘Uluru’ into a literature based lesson, I would begin the sequence with a front loading activity that incorporated the video ‘Meet Uluru’s Traditional Land Owners’, sourced from the website http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/home. The video highlights the famous Indigenous Australian landmark Uluru, and discusses its traditional owners (the Anangu people) who have an extremely special relationship with the big red rock. 

The activity would begin with the grade 5/6 students completing a K-W-L chart based upon their knowledge of Uluru and its traditional landowners (activity sourced from My read website: Wilhelm, 2002). Drawing up three columns on a sheet of paper, students would label them: 

‘K-What I know’

‘W-What I want to know’ and 

‘L-What I have learned’

Each student would be required to fill the first two columns before watching the video resource, with information on what they already know and what they want to know in regards to this topic. 

Template sourced from: Blake Mash; Pinterest

Then I would expose students to the video, and ask them to jot down some notes on a pad that they might need to refer to later on. I would allow students to view the video 2-3 times so they can pick up as much information as they can. Students would then be required to fill the 3rd column with information they learnt from watching the video. From this front loading activity, it creates an opportunity for students to develop an understanding on the background Uluru and its traditional land owners which can then be referred back to when further reading about more sophisticated and specialised topics about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and their communities. Reference list: 

http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/2182479/meet-uluru%E2%80%99s-traditional-owners

Wilhelm, J 2002, ‘Frontloading: Assisting the reader before reading’, Myread, date retrieved 12th September 2017, http://www.myread.org/guide_frontloading.htm

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Prompt FIVE:

Sentence one: In the silence of the cold, dark night, she died; with no food, no strength and a hollow feeling in her stomach it was transparent she wasn’t going to make it until the morning.

Sentence two: ‘there is enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed’- Mahatma Gandhi 

(Image sourced from: https://emilysquotes.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/the-world-has-enough-for-everyones-need-but-not-enough-for-everyones-greed/)

Front-loading: 

By incorporating front-loading activities into any literacy lesson provides students with an opportunity to further develop their own critical thinking processes and their ability to comprehend. These activities can be related to the text such as making predictions on what the book is about, or can focus on going completely beyond the text such as making connections between text clues and their background knowledge. A front-loading activity that would be suitable for the picture storybook ‘Dust’ would involve students making a prediction on what they think the book is about. Before reading or opening the book, students should thoroughly investigate the front cover, taking note of the title and any minor details in the illustration or images. From here, students should be able to make some sort of prediction about the book. Does it look like a fairy-tale, or more of a nonfiction story? Does it look like a comedy, or a mystery? Then ask ‘why’? What are some clues that indicate the genre of the book? The task will then involve students creating their own blurb for the chosen book (Dickins, 2017). Before reading the real blurb, students should produce their own, somehow linking it to their own prediction of the book. Students should be encouraged to introduce the main character/s and the setting, while focussing on incorporating short sentences and even cliffhangers in aim to draw in the attention of the reader. This task should encourage students to use their imagination, also drawing on the text clues and illustrations to infer the intention of the book. 

References:  Marsha Dickins, 2017, Deakin University Burwood Campus.

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Prompt FOUR:

Although I was fairly nervous and worried, I thoroughly enjoyed my recent placement rounds. Being placed in a grade 5/6 class was a huge challenge for me as I have only ever taught the lower grades, however I overcame my fear and had an absolutely terrific time within the classroom. Unfortunately my placement rounds was hugely effected by the schools production, therefore my time in the classroom was very limited. During my whole two week experience, I only witnessed 4 lessons that focused on literacy. I believe that this is a ‘not so good’ literacy experience. As the students were constantly being pulled out of the classroom to practice their lines for the production, the teacher found it extremely difficult to teach the students new content. Meaning that in order to catch up with the curriculum content, the teacher was going to have to rush through teaching new literacy concepts. As the majority of the students within the classroom were Burmese refugees, teaching literacy to them takes quite a long process as they are still learning how to speak English. Therefore the teacher can’t afford to be rushing through the ‘English’ part of the curriculum. As mentioned in my previous post, the students participated in a ‘100 word challenge’ every week. With a different topic and focus each week, students were able to practice their writing skills. I believe that this exercise is a good example of a literacy lesson as although the students are in grade 5/6, it is vital that they are still focussing on the basics of English. Another good experience of literacy during my placement was that after lunch time every day, students’ were provided with roughly 30 minutes to read a novel. I think that reading is a plays a crucial role towards the development of a child. Some students aren’t encouraged to read at home, therefore this time after lunch provides students with an opportunity to practice their reading skills. Overall, I enjoyed my placement rounds at my school and I can’t wait to volunteer and help out for the rest of the year!

(NOTE: photo taken by Madison Slade, 2017).

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Prompt THREE:

While on placement, my mentor teacher introduced me to the ‘100 word challenge’. The aim of the 100 word challenge is for the grade 5/6s to practice their story writing. Each week, the students’ are given one aspect of writing to focus on. This may include spelling, punctuation and grammar, sentence structure, handwriting and editing. While some students’ struggle with coming up with an idea to write about, the whole class is given a topic to focus on. Here is an example of a student’s work. 

(NOTE: photo was taken by Madison Slade 2017)

The topic for this 100 word challenge was:

‘I looked through the keyhole’.

Using the 6 + 1 traits for writing, I believe that this student could focus on further developing their ability to effectively use the ‘conventions’ of writing. Conventions of writing in regards to the 6+1 traits concentrates on correct spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and grammar. The use of capitalisation has been overused in some places for example the words ‘knocking’, ‘looked’ and ‘but’ have all been given capital letters, even though the word is in the middle of a sentence. This student has also failed to use capitalisation correctly in the first sentence for the word ‘I’ spelling it with a lower case letter. Spelling is another aspect of conventions that needs to be thoroughly worked on. Words that this student has spelt incorrectly are ‘challenge’, ‘turned’, ‘watched’ and ‘through’.

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Prompt TWO:

While on practicum rounds earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to create a display of student work for around the classroom. As the students had recently been on holidays, I thought it would be effective to create a display that exhibited what the students had gotten up to over the two week period. ‘The holiday selfie’ worksheet required students to draw a picture of one event or activity that occurred during the break, whilst being expected to give a brief description of what was happening in their picture. Once students had completed their drawing, they were asked to take a selfie holding their artwork so we could stick it in a template of a mobile phone. I believe that this activity was extremely effective as the students were given an opportunity to reflect on their two-week holiday, as well as being able to see what their peers had gotten up to. The display was colourful and the task itself demonstrated to be a new and exciting way to report on their break. Throughout my primary school experience, we were expected to write postcards when reflecting on our holidays. However in order to keep up with the current times, I thought it would be appropriate for the students to report on their holiday by taking a selfie of themselves holding their artwork.

Here is also a photo of a poster I made, focusing on the concept of ‘Visualisation’.

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Prompt ONE

It was my favourite time of the day when my primary school teacher asked the whole class to pack up, collect our lunches and sit on the floor ready to listen to another chapter of ‘The Adventures of the Wishing Chair’ by Enid Blyton. If the class had worked well (which was most of the time), our lunch eating time would consist of Enid Blyton books. I personally loved the ‘Wishing Chair series’, ‘Adventurous Four’, ‘Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven’. I remember visualising every word my teacher read. I was able to create images in my head of what each character looked like, as well as being able to envision the different setting of each book. A second, favourite memory that occurred throughout my first year at primary school was when my principal gathered our entire year level (prep), into the library once a month for a story and sing-a-long. The books he chose would focus on a variety of popular nursery rhymes. Once the principal had read the book to our class, he took hold of his guitar and encouraged all students to sing along with him! As a student, I really looked up to my principal, as I loved how he was able to spend some time reading and singing to us.