Multiliteracy

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PROMPT 8 2018 - Cloud Country (picture book)

When typing in #picturebooks into the search bar, I discovered heaps of different picture books. However, the one that seemed to be most popular was Cloud Country. I think this book is great and can incorporate not only english activities but is open to a range of subject activities. I think this book appealed to me the most was because as a child, I loved looking up into the sky and imagining different cloud shapes. Having students be outside and draw from their own experiences in the world is a great way to engage students in english/writing activities. I would never of known about this book or the many other ones, if I did not search #picturebooks. 

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Prompt 7 2018 - Eerie Encounter (recount activity).

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Phonics Debate - RAN Chart

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prompt 5 2018

Questions I would ask the students about the front cover:

 1.     What does the landscape of the front cover make you feel and think? Why might the ground be dry and cracked?

2.     What does the word dust mean? What is dust?

3.     Why do you think the book has a ‘save the children’ sticker on the front cover? Could it relate to the story?

4.     Why is it night time on the front cover? Do you think this has any significant meaning?

5.     Why are there a set of hands/fingers coming out from the ground? What could this mean?

 To get students to begin thinking critically, I would set the scene, such as using African music, or perhaps African children talking, with images of the food they eat and how little they get, and images of children. I would allow students to think about these for a moment, before introducing the front cover of the book and asking the questions above. I wouldn’t ask questions about the things I had displayed in the classroom, as I would want to see if children could connect the book and the displays together and to see if they could think critically and infer.

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Prompt 5 response: 

1.I have no food to give me strength, making me more transparent and hollow every day. There is no help coming, only silence, as the cold night approaches. I wish someone had given us food, before I died. 

2. The world will not hear the cries of the starving children, as they have shut their ears and moved on. 

3. 10-20minutes front loading activity:  I would have the book at the front of the classroom with the students sitting on the floor. I would discuss the front cover extensively, asking students a range of questions such as; why might it be called Dust? What do you think the book is about? Who knows what dust is? What does the picture on the front cover tell you about what the book might be about? Why do you think it has ‘save the children’ written down the bottom?Once students, have discussed the front cover, I would provide them with photographs of hungry children, websites of organisations trying to help these children, newspaper articles and even a small bag of food or a wallet that is empty. I would get students to talk about the items and what they could all mean and how they might relate to the book Dust. 

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Response to prompt 4

I was not on placement this semester; however, I did do some volunteer work at the primary school I use to go to. While volunteering in a grade 5 class, the teacher ensured she did two pieces of dictation each Friday in the morning. I have never seen nor have done or heard of dictation in the classroom. I found out that the teacher uses a select few of the spelling words, the students are learning for that week within the two dictated sentences. The teacher explained that she would repeat the sentence once by herself, putting up one finger per word, that she says. Then she had the students say it with her, three times before they had to write the sentence down in their work books. No one could help each other or ask the teacher for help. After they had done two sentences of dictation, they came together on the floor and corrected the sentences. The teacher had different students tell her the words, how to spell them and whether a capital letter or full stop was needed. She wrote the sentences on the board for the students to see. I asked why they did dictation and she said that it helps the students to learn the skill to retain information and can write and/or remember exactly what someone said. The teacher also said it helped students with note taking; especially for when they get into higher education and must take lots of notes. I found this writing exercise useful and I would have liked having dictation activities run when I was in primary school.

 I did not see the students read any books. The only books in the classroom were some information books about the Gold Rush, which was their big unit for the term. When completing activities or lessons, students mostly used their IPads to search up information, rather than opening an information book. I know students were still reading, because they were reading the information online, but what I did not like about their reading, was really the lack of reading and lack of time for students to read. When on placement in first year, students in my grade 5 class would come in after the bell and grab a book and silent read for 5-10 minutes; this was used to get them settled. I believe the class I volunteered in this semester, could have really benefited from this reading approach.

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Handwriting is important. 

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When I was on placement last semester I was in a prep class who were very young; with most of them only turning 5 a week or so before I arrived. While observing my mentor teacher doing a guided reading session, I noticed she would use the reading strategies to help develop students abilities to read and to figure out tricky words. These strategies worked really well and I thought it was a creative and fun idea; especially for preps. I took a photo of the reading strategies and then remade it for my future classroom. 

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I don’t remember a lot about the books teachers read to me when I was in primary school. But the two main things I do remember was always being read to in the library at the beginning and end of the session. My experience with Roald Dalh was similar as in grade 4 we had ‘The Twits’ and ‘James and the giant peach’ read to us as a class. I believe the teacher chose these books as the books were coming out weekly in the local newspaper as a collection item (you had to pay $2-$4 for a copy of the book weekly). I too also collected a few of them at the time and was reading them privately at home. The main three I really enjoyed reading were ‘The Twits’, ‘The Witches’ and ‘The Magic Finger’.