Case Study on "Teaching Scenarios"

Case Study 7 pages (2730 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Teaching Scenarios, v

Scenario #3 -- the Use of Literature in the Classroom Program- Level

Classroom Decision Making- the use of literature to teach reading literacy is well-documented in pedagogy as a way children can enter the world of literature, imagination, and genre while they learn the basic skills of reading and writing. As this progresses through the levels, though, the teacher is fortunate to have an ever increasing toolkit of resources. Literature comprises so many different ideas, concepts and plots, that it can be easily used to buttress core competency in almost every subject. Rather than simply didactic in approach, the relevancy of stories shows children how concepts are taken from theory into practice, and also clearly expand the skills of critical thinking, analysis, and synergy (Lehman, 2007). If a task is pleasant and stimulating, the child will naturally gravitate towards it -- what could be more pleasurable that covertly teaching a science concept through a story about pioneers or ocean explorers.

Using a literature based approach to literacy and other core curriculum areas allows for a greater flexibility within the classroom environment. Different classroom seating arrangements can be used depending on the subject matter, the activity, and the resources available. For example, if one was studying the Columbus Day and the results, the classroom could be divided into three areas representing different points-of-view: the Columbus, the Native peoples, and the European Sponsors or Royalty. A core story or stories would be used to develop competency, and then teacher prepared excerpts with point-of-view thesis from each of the groups

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handed to individual groups to study, discuss, and develop. Of course, the major point would be why did Columbus come to America, did he find what he expected, and what were the overall results of his trip? Numerous activities could be assigned: illustrating the major point-of-view of the group; developing a presentation to the sponsors assessing the situation, writing a thoughtful feeling-based paragraph about the major issue the group identifies, or even using the basis of the individual group to write a short story, poem, or play. Using literature in this manner allows for a renaissance, and even Montessori-like hands on approach. One certainly has robust readings; but could bring in other disciplines as well:

Science -- use of technology, disparate technologies (primitive labels), boat construction, navigation, gunpowder

Georgraphy -- continent's location, the seas, distance, topography, land mass

Politics -- competition between European leaders, why colonies mattered

Economics -- what was the motivation to explore, what drove the economy of the time

Medicine -- disease as a weapon

Ecology -- introduction of new species, disease, and pathogens to the environment

Math -- distances, odds

Philosophy -- morality, utilitarianism (ends justify means, etc.)

Thus, in one unit/lesson, the use of literature-based studies has not only surpassed the goal of inquiry and critical thinking, it has allowed the creative instructor to tailor the curriculum to the needs of the students, and to reinforce concepts that now have relevance (e.g. If Mixtli owned a maize field of…; if we had 100 men per ship and our ocean voyage was 42 days, how much food and water would we need to make that journey).

Part 2 -- Practical Examples -- Monitoring progress in literacy using literature may be accomplished in numerous ways. For instance, Children can write a short paragraph about a book they liked (or did not like). Teachers can develop checklists to fill out as they listen to children read. Teachers can observe whether the students (1) show interest in words, (2) can tell a familiar story, (3) can point to individual words on a page, (4) turn the pages at the appropriate time when a story is being read aloud, (5) can find a familiar book on a shelf, (6) choose to read a book or to write during free time, (7) notice words and symbols in the classroom setting, (8) spell words developmentally, (9) ask questions about print, and (10) are aware that print has meaning. Teachers should become continuous observers who monitor the child's interaction with materials in the child's educational environment (Sloan, 2003).

Indeed, one can take one of two, or a combination thereof, approach to utilizing literature as a literacy based instruction model: Teacher-Centered Approaches or Child-Centered Approaches. In Teacher Centered Approaches the function of the guide is to transmit facts, skills and values through the mastering of knowledge. This approach focuses on learning, understanding, and identifying a guided approach to the themes in the literature and allows for larger groups of students to receive knowledge. This approach does enhance literacy skills, but is not as effective in allowing other skills to come to the forefront. Child-Centered Approaches, however, do not require such a clear definition of exactly what should be taught and "received" from the literature chosen. Themes may be presented, but individual children are asked more open ended questions about what it is they learned, how they felt, and what moral or culturally relevant issues were uncovered. In this approach, it is the guide's responsibility to elicit robust and useful questioning that engages every learner (Walsh, 2005).

Part 3 -- Theory, References- Most parents will accept a teacher's observation that a child is making progress in reading, even without the reinforcement of test results. And a child who is an enthusiastic reader by the end of the 3rd grade will continue to develop competence in the upper elementary grades (Forgan, 2003). The literature approach has been similarly documented to be superior to basal learning programs, and allows a more robust development of the language. In fact, students accustomed to reading widely using literature are less perplexed when dealing with narratives of increasing complexity (Anderson, 2000). They have been "reading" actual reading materials for so long that their task is simply to learn new vocabulary and adjust to smaller typefaces, more intricate sentence structure, and complexity of plot design (Johnson, 1987; Yiio, 2009). Literature is also quite relevant in teaching problem solving skills. Many moral isues and quandries are listed in library and teaching sources that break down the appropriate book for the concept needed (e.g. death, loss, anger, etc.).

Scenario #2 -- Literacy Learning at the word level (Level 1)

Part 1 -- Classroom Decision Making -- Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness in which subjects are able to hear, identify, and manipulate the smallest units of speech. This manipulation to the micro level requires phonemic awareness and has been found to improve children's reading comprehension as well as help children understand the basic parts of world. For instance, the spoken word "cat" can be separated into three individual phonemes, / k/, / ae/, and / t/. The more common approach to this has been the age old aphorism, "sound it out" (Linan-Thompson and Vaughn, 2007, 1-3).

In fact, in the National Reading Panel selected PA instruction for additional review and analysis, and found that using PA in early childhood reading programs, as well as evidence-based remediation programs, significantly improved reading comprehension and scores across the board when compared with other methods. The three major reasons for such excitement regarding PA were:

First, correlational studies have identified PA and letter knowledge as the two best school-entry predictors of how well children will learn to read during the first 2 years of instruction. Such evidence suggests the potential importance of PA training in the development of reading skills.

Second, many experimental studies have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of PA training in facilitating reading acquisition.

Third, there is currently much interest in PA training programs among teachers, principals, parents, and publishers because of claims about their value in improving children's ability to learn to read (NRP, 2000).

Part 2 -- Practical Examples

Example 1 -Phonemic Awareness intervention - Phoneme Segmentation: Say a word, have students say each sound of the word they hear; ensure they say each sound. Repeat the word until the sounds are clear; use daily to intervene until basic phonemes are mastered. Words Read by Teacher: 1) Yes, 2) Dig, 3) sip, 4) ten, 5) Hum. Show students how to segment sounds in word and demonstrate. Follow same routine, say with word "man" -- work in pairs and continue with sounds: tan, cat, mat, can, stop. Continue daily instruction until 3 and 4-phoneme word skills are mastered ("Phonemic Awareness Intervention," 2006; Guidry, 2003).

Phonics -- Use of cuing system to move from simply understanding clues of sound to clues of meaning:

The Three Cueing Systems (Source: "Phonics Interventions," 2003).

Meaning (Semantic)

Structure (Syntactic)

Visual (Graphophonic)

What is it?

Does it make sense? making sense of text and relaying meaningful connections context clues found in the text and/or background knowledge (comes from the students own experiences)

Does it sound right? making sense of the actual words in the sentences structural cues come from the students' knowledge of correct oral language structures the way in which language is put together into sentences, phrases, paragraphs, etc.

Does it look right? breaking words… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Teaching Scenarios" Assignment:

“

Topic:

Preamble

Length: 2,100 words (equivalent) (1,050 for each scenario chosen ï¿½ï¿½*****"choose two scenarios from the five given)

Below (scroll down after the assessment task details) you will find information about three early years classes (Prep ï¿½ï¿½*****" Year 3) in a typical primary school and five scenarios related to literacy program planning situations that teachers of these classes may encounter. The information about the classes is general and intended to create a general context for your thinking.

The scenarios provide some typical program planning situations in which teachers of Prep ï¿½ï¿½*****" Year 3 children may be involved. Imagine that you are a teacher in a similar context, participating in a similar collaborative planning situation where you contribute your ideas and understandings about planning and implementing the classroom literacies program.

The assessment task

Read the five scenarios. Select two of these and in relation to each one:

*****¢ You will take the role of a classroom teacher and provide your responses to each of the selected scenarios by describeing and explaining the typical classroom decision-making about planning and implementation of the classroom program relevant to that scenario i.e. what the teacher might plan and how he/she might implement the plans. In the response to each scenario you should describe and explain: relevant teaching strategies, resources, classroom organization and use of syllabus/curriculum documents. You are not expected to write unit or lesson plans in this section. (For each response you will write approximately 650 words. Write this section in paragraphs, though you may make use of very limited point form.)

*****¢ To illustrate your decision-making, include practical examples in an appendix. These may be: specific teaching strategies; descriptions and references for effective resources; specific, relevant teacher-designed materials; or an exemplary lesson plan or unit overview. One to three items would be sufficient. (Do not include extensive quantities of resources or downloaded lists of general materials. Careful selection will demonstrate your abilities much more effectively than large quantities of copied materials.)

*****¢ Each response should focus on a different Year level. (For instance, don*****t focus on Prep for both scenarios). As a context for your response, you may select a particular class from those outlined in the typical classes below. However this is not required and you may write more generally.

*****¢ In addition, provide a brief justification (or rationale) for each response (with a reference list) referring to the research/theory that would support your planning and action. (Write approximately 400 words. You should write this section in paragraphs, providing in-text references. Attach a reference list (not included in the word count) to each scenario.

Presentation: Present the parts of your response to each scenario in a sequential order. Use the headings: planning response, justification/ rationale, references, appendix. See above for the appropriate text structure for each part. The headings, reference list and appendices are not included in the word count.

No particular planning format is required for practical examples. You may make some use of point form, where appropriate, but avoid long lists of points.

Scenarios

Scenario 1: Learning literacy in the context of play

As preparation for a presentation to teaching colleagues on the next pupil-free planning day the Prep -Year 1 teachers are discussing the ways pretend play provides meaningful social contexts for literacy learning and opportunities to participate in meaningful oral language, reading, writing and multimodal literacy experiences. The teachers will explain and describe the literacy teaching/ learning strategies they use to support, extend and build on negotiated play to support children*****s achievement of literacies curriculum/syllabus outcomes (e.g. in the EYCG Communication learning area; English Essential Learnings; Year1 Learning statements).

Scenario 2:

Literacy learning at the word level (phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling)

In consulting about the whole school literacy program, the school curriculum coordinator meets with the early years teachers (Prep to Year 3) to find out how the teaching of *****word level***** understandings and skills (phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling) occurs in Prep and Years 1-3. The teachers explain how they teach word level understandings in their daily programs and describe the types of teaching/learning experiences and resources that are used to support the children*****s learning. The teachers provide their comments on the relative merits of commercial and teacher designed programs for children*****s word level learning and suggest the types of materials that could be made by the teacher aides and parent volunteers to support children*****s literacy learning at the *****word level*****.

Scenario 3: Use of literature in the classroom program

The impending national curriculum (in Australia) incorporates a focus on enhancing children*****s understanding and appreciation of literature. The Prep ï¿½ï¿½*****" Year 3 teachers are planning to include literature-based strategies and resources for the teaching of literary understandings in their classroom programs. They identify strategies and resources that they could use to teach: different types (genres) of stories, features and structure of narrative text, comprehension and critical analysis of stories. In addition they consider how stories, rhymes, poems and songs can be used to enhance oral language development and phonemic awareness. They have invited to Teacher Librarian to join their discussion to share ideas about utilizing the school library resources and the use of literature to enhance teaching across the curriculum (other KLAs).

Scenario 4: Appropriate assessment and monitoring of literacy learning and development

The teachers of Prep ï¿½ï¿½*****" Year 3 classes monitor children*****s ongoing literacy learning and development to ensure each child is making optimal progress and to identify and cater for children who may progress very quickly and those who may experience ongoing challenges in literacy learning. The teachers are aware of the importance of communication with parents about children*****s literacy learning. They are planning a repertoire of assessment strategies that they will use to ensure that the children*****s literacy learning is assessed in a manner appropriate for young children. They also discuss how they can document each child*****s literacy learning regularly and comprehensively so as to create an ongoing literacy learning record for each child that can be shared with his/her parents.

Scenario 5: The daily literacy session

The Year 2-3 teachers have been asked by the Principal to explain to parents how they implement the classroom literacies program so that the children will demonstrate optimal achievement of the Essential Learnings for English in Years 1-3 and optimal performance in national literacy assessment activities. The teachers are planning to explain how the children participate in a comprehensive literacies program that provides: (i) a daily literacy session comprising a balanced range of teaching /learning opportunities, using a variety of strategies including explicit teaching; and (ii) meaningful literacy activities integrated with other key learning areas. The teachers explain how, altogether the activities of the classroom literacies program enhance children*****s learning and use of multiple literacies, while not neglecting conventional alphabetic reading and writing processes and understandings about texts at *****text, sentence and word levels*****.

Scroll down for background information to provide a typical context for the scenarios.

The school context: A typical outer suburban primary school where the children and their families participate in local community activities. Most children*****s parents work locally. A few children from small rural areas not far from the town also attend the school. There is some diversity of socioeconomic status and ethnic background within the school population, but this is not marked. There are two - three classes at each Year level including some multiage classes that are team taught by two teachers. It is Term 2 in the school year.

The school has a school literacies program to ensure continuity throughout the Year levels P ï¿½ï¿½*****" 7. The broad Year level programs are prepared collaboratively by the Year level teachers using the relevant curriculum guidelines (in Queensland these are the Essential Learnings and related materials and the Early Years Curriculum Guidelines) with considerable consultation between adjacent Year levels. The school has a well stocked and equipped library and the teacher librarian engages in cooperative planning with classroom teachers to support the classroom program. All children have a weekly class library session and borrow books to take home.

Monitoring children*****s ongoing literacy learning and development is given high priority and teachers document progress in an individual portfolio of authentic assessment materials for each child.

Some of the Early Years classes in this school

Prep (Queensland; equivalent to Kindergarten in NSW)

Ms Z. teaches Prep.

Most of the children in the Prep class have some prior experience in group settings (child care, kindergarten, regular playgroup). The children have settled into the routines and play experiences of the program. Ms Z. takes every opportunity to extend their skills in the *****˜Language Learning and Communication***** learning area of the Early Years Curriculum Guidelines, by building on the language and literacy experiences related to children*****s interests and their play. Current play interests include transportation vehicles and camping (several of the children went camping during the recent school holidays).

Most children interact socially with their peers, confidently using their oral language skills to participate in play with others and to share information in conversation with their teacher. However a few children rely on the encouragement and support of the teacher to do this. The children often discuss afternoon TV shows with each other, particularly animal documentaries and programs that have related merchandise such as *****Transformers*****. At morning session, Ms Z. is encouraging children to participate in group discussion on topics of interest. This is also when, with Ms A*****s scaffolding, children plan their play, expressing their interests, intentions and thinking and the materials they will need. Ms Z. writes down the children*****s play idea on a chart that all can see. She encourages careful listening to each other. When problems arise in play she prompts and guides children to negotiate and solve problems; and models appropriate language to use in these situations.

The Prep children love listening to stories and commenting on them, although a few find it challenging to sit and listen to a longer story. They also enjoy looking at picture books from the class book corner. Some children prefer catalogues, particularly those from local shops, about machinery. A few of the children can locate and read some common words in storybooks and on signs and labels in the room. Each of the children can recognize his/her own name and many are becoming familiar with the names of their peers. Many children write their names on paintings and several add written captions in their own emergent writing. Ms Z. models writing related to classroom activities many times during the day. The children are learning to take photos and these, along with their drawings, are used to illustrate the simple recounts of classroom activities that Ms Z. and the children create and display for parents to read with their children. The children often read these texts with their peers.

Year 1

Ms A. teaches Year 1.

Most of the children attended Prep at the school, but a few entered Year 1 after attending the local Kindergarten and child care centre.

The children in this class have settled into the school routine well and are enjoying the literacies program where most are beginning to read simple repetitive texts, focusing on the print. When they encounter challenging texts, most adopt emergent reading strategies such as storytelling from the pictures and memory of repetitive phrases and sentences. They are building up a sight vocabulary of the frequently used words in the texts they read. A small group of children are already confident early readers who are beginning to read simple texts with some fluency. A similar number are still very much in the emergent phase. These latter children are aware of most of the concepts about print. Each night, each child takes home a simple book to read to his/her parents. All the children enjoy listening to and discussing stories read by the teacher. They are becoming familiar with the features of traditional narratives by drawing story maps collaboratively as a class, with teacher guidance.

Most children are creating written messages associated with everyday activities such as diary writing and labeling drawings. These children are using *****phonetic***** spelling strategies as they try to represent the phonemes that they can hear in words. As their phonemic awareness skills and knowledge of sound symbol correspondences become more extensive, they include both consonant and vowel sounds in their spelling. A small number of children are still developing phonemic awareness skills and these children find phonics and spelling activities challenging. Recently the children have learned the features of recount and procedure text types by comparison of diary entries and recipes. The children are currently learning to take photos to illustrate their writing and the labeled wall displays of classroom activities that are created to share class activities with parents.

Almost all children participate in class discussions on familiar topics and enjoy learning new words associated with class projects and investigations. They explore and talk about information on web sites (related to these topics) selected by the teacher. In collaboration with the teacher, they also plan and help set up play contexts associated with these such as the current *****˜Vet clinic***** associated with a study of caring for animals in different contexts. They enjoy role taking within these play contexts.

Year 2-3

Ms P. and Mr Q. are team teaching a combined Year 2-3 class.

The assessment records of the children indicate that many of the children are confident early readers, while a substantial group are fluent readers who read an extensive range of texts (both literary and information texts). The children enjoy listening to *****˜chapter books***** read as serials by their teachers. As a result of activities involving critical analysis of texts, they are currently enjoying *****fractured fairy tales***** where the stereotypes of the traditional fairytale world are challenged.

Most children are early *****s who are becoming familiar with the features of common text types. After the teacher explicitly teaches a new text-type, the children engage in the writing process to create texts in these types. Some children are transitional *****s who write simple narratives, recounts, descriptions and procedures with relative control over the generic structures of these text-types. All children need ongoing guidance and support in using the writing process and extending their knowledge of language features at word, sentence and text levels. A small group of children are experiencing some challenges in mastering conventional reading and writing processes and are not yet confident in using these.

Most children are confident in participating in class oral language experiences and can join in discussions, make simple presentations about projects to the class in the morning session and can greet and thank visitors on behalf of the class. Guided by the teacher, they enjoy improvised drama activities related to classroom topics of interest, thinking carefully about the language associated with particular roles.

The children are familiar with, but need guidance in using communication technologies for accessing and using online resources to support their learning. They can contribute to and help create multimodal contributions to class projects such as PowerPoint presentations and simple newsletters which include photographs that are used to inform families about class activities.

*****

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