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.