It is important to remember that what is valued by pupils can differ according to such factors as age and gender.
Muijs &Reynolds Pg92
I was given the class literacy planner (appendix 1) with the key learning objectives already filled in. It was up to me how to incorporate them into my lesson plans. I was asked to fill in the learning outcomes as well as what we did. Each lesson lasts around one hour. The first lesson I planned to segregate into three twenty minute sessions. Most teachers in our school tend to follow the Government’s National Literacy hour Strategy to some extent which suggests fifteen minutes to introduce the lesson objectives with the whole class, then fifteen minutes doing word or sentence work with the whole class. It is then suggested that for twenty minutes individual or group work should be done and then the final ten minutes to be a whole class plenary whereby we review what learning has taken place.
In the first lesson I explained to the whole class what we would be doing for the next few days during the literacy lesson. I have never taught this class before and although they had seen me around school they didn’t know if I was an assistant or a teacher therefore I could lay down my rules and ‘be’ their teacher. The class had already been given their seat positions; they had been put into tables of ability with some tables of six children or four. I also had a teaching assistant so this helped me manage them as we could take turns to sit with the poorest ability table and help them along with their work.
I used the interactive whiteboard to show them Roald Dahl’s website. I asked questions like:
* Who has heard of Roald Dahl?
* What books of his have you read or know about?
* Have you seen any of the films made from the books?
It is important to differentiate questions when teaching the whole class because of the rate of learning and to make the class think more. It also assists creation and helps develop motivation. I asked the children who had read Charlie and the chocolate factory and seen the film which they thought was best. This was one of the bright children who can read fluently and with understanding.
Skilful questioning helps to establish relationships and integrate groups through face to face interaction.
L Cohen and L Manion pg 140
This type of questioning may not be understood by the children who find the work difficult, but I like to let them know that there is more to seeing the film, that reading the book can sometimes be more enjoyable. Sometimes they have a short attention span and find it difficult to listen for a length of time. This led us to go into our carpeted book corner to read Fantastic Mr Fox. We only had three old copies so I showed them the up to date covers on the internet. This class have also not used the interactive white board in their lessons so they were very excited and because I was enthusiastic they were too. I am a great believer Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences and have attended many courses to help me understand the different learning theories. Using the interactive whiteboard helps children who need more visual learning even if it in pictures. It also helps auditory learners as a lot of sites have sound.
I explained that our task today would be to read just some of the story and to take particular interest in the characters of the story as we would be comparing the three main characters Boggis, Bean and Bunce. Many children relax and ‘turn off’ while reading and tend not to think work will be done with what has been read so I like to tell them the task first so they are prepared to think about it. It is also important that I read the story to them as opposed to them following the story visually and maybe contributing to the reading, not only does it help children relax without the fear of being asked to read but as pointed out by Jane Hislam pg 162 in the book ‘beginning teaching, beginning learning: oral story telling can enhance literacy understanding and knowledge in all children, including those whose reading and writing skills are not yet well developed
There are two children in this class who can be quite challenging and need constant reminders to stay on task. The Teaching Assistant in this class pays particular attention to them if she doesn’t they tend to stop work and distract the rest of the class. Sitting altogether in the carpeted area is the ideal distraction time for them so I gave them a book to follow the story because I wanted them to enjoy this time. They do find reading difficult so get distracted easily with this activity, but I felt by giving them a book I was giving them responsibility in holding the book and also distracting them at the same time.
Giving pupils responsibilities helps build up a sense of personal power, which will enhance self esteem.
Muijs and Raynolds Pg147
After we read for around twenty minutes we went back to our seats. As it was pointed out in the learning objectives ‘to identify the main characteristics of the key characters, drawing on the text to justify views’, we described what we thought Boggis would look like from the text we had read. The pictures in the old books we had were in black and white and not very good and didn’t give much away. I then found some pictures of the characters on the internet. I feel most children at this age need a helping hand with imagination and giving them a picture of the character Boggis would enable them to give me better describing words, we listed lots of describing words together. I let them discus in pairs what type of person they think Boggis would be. Working in pairs or small groups’ helps children bond therefore they make better friendships. Children quickly make assumptions as to who they like to work with and very often cast aside the quiet isolated child, by mixing them up they are able to reassess their choices if they so wish.
Isolated children are not openly unpopular, but are often ignored by their classmates, and are not always part of existing social groups.
Muijs and Raynolds pg 130
Their next task was to put the describing words in sentences and to draft a paragraph describing Boggis the farmer.
For the plenary some of the children read out some of the sentences they had made. I pointed out that we would be able to describe each of the characters and be able to eventually picture them as real people. This would then help us predict what each character would do with the troublesome fox.
The lesson the next day was very similar we read some more of the book then compared the characters Boggis and Bean as they were so different the children could come up with opposite words to yesterday e.g.
Boggis Bean
Fat, huge, gigantic, large, short thin, slim, skinny, scrawny, tall, etc
I printed out a picture of each farmer for the poor ability table and gave them some words I had laminated which they had to put next to the correct character then they wrote sentences in their books with the help of the assistant. These children even with support find academic work difficult so it is important to give them some work that they can achieve.
We then went on to discuss Bunce the last of the farmers and then chose who we liked best. Some children wanted to describe them as ugly and I pointed out that this was an opinion and not fact, I said he may have a girlfriend who thinks they are attractive this made me and the assistant laugh because when I came to read their work some girls believed I thought one of the characters was attractive so they changed their opinion.
For the last twenty minutes of this lesson we looked at ‘ly’ words so we could make our writing more interesting when the characters were doing something. Some children remembered that there were already some ly words used in the story.
The last session we read some more of the book and tried to predict what would happen and looked at the fox characters. There was Mr and Mrs Fox and three children. They had been trapped by the farmers so we discussed how they worried and felt about the prospect of no food. Emotions in this story went from fear to confidence of believing Mr Fox would save his family. This gave lots of discussion. At the end of this lesson I had an interactive questionnaire for the children to use. This helped them to put the story in order and to choose characteristics of the characters. This appealed to the poorer ability children as they tended to get very little description wrote in their books so this helped me see what they remembered about the story.
At the end of most lessons I ask the children to tell their partner what the lesson objectives were and if they thought they were successful in their learning. Although some children tend to copy what one child has said I still feel they need to question themselves as to how effective they listen and learn. I also have two types of self assessment sheets (appendix 2 and 3). One is in tick form for children who find putting things into words or find filling forms in a bit tricky and one for the more able child where they can actually say what they have achieved. I not only use these for my benefit but for them to be able reflect on the lesson. This is a new activity for this class and I might be the only teacher they have that does this but I feel it is an important aspect of learning. One of the 2002 ten principles points out:
The process of learning has to be in the minds of both the learner and the teacher when assessment is planned and when the evidence is interpreted. Learners should become as aware of ‘how’ they are learning as well as ‘what’ they are learning.
www.assessment-reform-group.org.uk
I don’t give these self assessment forms to every child or to the same children every time, I pick maybe one table because there is usually one child who has copied another’s work. I may also pick a table that has given little contribution to the lesson just so that I can monitor if they have listened or understood what we have been doing.
I find assessing if children have understood or learnt anything to be one of the hardest things to do in teaching. I can usually tell if they have enjoyed my lesson because they tend to be so engaged they do not to want to stop work. I tend to think the lesson went well if there was very little disruption from the children who have a very short attention span but I have come to learn that sometimes that is just luck and they have still not taken any notice of what has been taught or taken in anything I have said. Because there are so many different abilities in a class I find it difficult without a Teaching assistant in class it is a struggle trying to help each child that needs support. For the gifted child I always have an extra task for them to continue with if they have finished the planned task. Some lessons I have a tasks to complete poster appendix 4. I did not use this for these lessons because we had short bursts of activities.
I adapt a lot of my ideas in teaching a whole class from other teachers in school I think it is important to use set methods and principles of my own so that the children know what to expect when I walk into their classroom as a teacher. I believe these lessons went well because firstly the children told me they enjoyed the book as well as the work they did also the work they produced was of a good standard and I felt they stretched themselves in the descriptions they did. They tried to make their work more interesting by using the ly words and most seemed to understand the benefit of this. The children I gave the self assessments to ticked good and said that they listened well. They also said the work was ok or easy. I gave three children the Assessment sheet with more information and they gave good feedback. This could have been because it was a novelty using these forms I think I would get a more truthful feedback once they were used to filling them in.
2948 words
LLLC 1201 Being a learner and supporting learning.
Case Study
Bibliography
Cohen L & Manion L, (1989) third edition, A Guide to Teaching Practice. London: Routledge
Cotteral S, (2003) second edition, The study Skill handbook. Hampshire and New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Moyles J & Robinson G, (2002) second edition, Beginning Teaching: Beginning Learning in Primary Education. Great Britain, Biddles Limited,
Muijs D & Reynalds D (2005) second edition, Effective Teaching. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Assessment for learning – 10 Principles
Fantastic Mr Fox website - with an interactive game.
