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EDU4PEN

ASSESSMENT TASK 2: PLANNNG A LITERACY UNIT

RICK FOLEY: 14776359 (partner taken off due to privacy reasons)

JUDE WARRENGROUP 5

PLANNING A LITERACY UNIT

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1. CLASS

Our literacy unit has been created to suit a middle school Grade 4 class (AusVELS Level 4), with 25 students. Parents are generally interested in their children’s education and want to help where they can. Thirteen girls and twelve boys. There are five ESL students in the class that have been in Australia for several years. They have good reading and speaking skills but need support in writing. Three students are very high achievers, working towards Level 5. One of which has Asperger Syndrome (we will refer to AS), and is working more toward Level 6. This boy is very high functioning but struggles to work well in groups. Within the class there is a group of disruptive girls that argue a lot when put together, and a group of quiet boys that can tend to while away the hours without getting anything done. The class is used to a very strict teacher, but is getting used to a more relaxed approach this year.

2. TEXT JUSTIFICATION

We have selected ‘Mirror’ by Jeannie Baker as our touchstone text for this literacy unit. The text provides the opportunity for students to explore literature in a different context, build on comprehension strategies, and develop interpretation techniques. A main strength of the text is its’ ability to illicit group discussion. Small group work or ‘cooperative learning’ increases the amount of purposeful classroom talk, encourages reflection and deeper levels of thinking and promotes learning (Hill, 2011).

The picture book is multi-faceted and could be used for not only an English unit but for cross curriculum studies including The Arts, Humanities, Civics and Citizenship and Interpersonal Development. Our touchtone text is reflective which gives the class opportunity to explore their own views and make meaning from the images, which is well suited to this age group.

In addition, the text provides:

Detailed illustrations, created by drawing, collage and photography techniques Appeal to both genders Creates links with ESL students Connections and differences between cultures and communities An alternative genre; pictures only / side by side story Exposure to Arabic language

We have used a number of supportive texts for our unit (these supportive texts have been catalogued in our resource list). They consist of a range of genres as we believe

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that by using different genres, such as informational texts, poems, webpages and additional narratives, will further enhance the learning experience for the students and highlight the concept of diversity and differences or similarities that exist in their community. The supportive texts are relevant to our main learning focus of diversity, they draw on personal experiences of the author, present day current affairs and digital resources for the students to explore. This is in keeping with Ausvels Level 4 where students consolidate both ‘learning to read and write’ and ‘reading and writing to learn’ by exploring the language of different types of texts, including visual texts, advertising, digital/online and media texts (Ausvels, 2014).

3. UNIT SUMMARY

Our unit aims to deliver a balance of Language, Literature and Literacy as per AusVELS English strands. By building on what students have learned in Level 3, our focus is on developing knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and importantly creating.

Major learning purpose for our unit: Expose students to a variety of texts Build comprehension and interpretation skills Immerse students in main theme of diversity Develop speaking and listening skills

Our learning objectives and unit are based on AusVELS Level 4, with specific focus on the following:

READING & VIEWING Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand

content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELY1692)

Make connections between the ways different authors may represent similar storylines, ideas and relationships (ACELT1602)

Use comprehension strategies by way of research skills as extension activities, incorporating & linking ideas from various print and digital sources (ACELY1703)

WRITING Expressing and developing ideas, understand that the meaning of sentences can

be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases (ACELA1493)

Reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure (ACELY1695)

SPEAKING & LISTENING

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Recognise the importance of using inclusive language, understand that social interactions influence the way people engage with ideas and respond to others for example when exploring and clarifying the ideas of others, summarising their own views and reporting them to a larger group (ACELA1488)

In addition to the three focus strands of English, our unit also links to and incorporates the following AusVELS strands:

Civics and Citizenship Demonstrate understanding of the contribution of people from the many

culturally diverse groups that make up the Australian community. Explore the ways the Australians are connected to other global communities.

Interpersonal Development They are supported to develop relationships based on respect and the

valuing of individual differences; for example, speaking respectfully about others, listening and responding appropriately and encouraging others contributions.

To achieve our learning goals we have adopted a balanced literacy approach with particular focus on whole part whole teaching strategies. We have incorporated differentiated instruction throughout the unit, to help meet the diverse range of needs of our students (Tompkins, 2013). This includes the use of mini lessons and guided reading groups, where lesson focus will be based on needs and abilities of the group. Differentiated instruction is also incorporated within our daily shared reading sessions, during which we will complete various activities based on the shared reading text, for example; retell, reflection, making predictions, role-play, question and answer. The wide range of supportive texts all with diversity / similarities themes, have been selected with these activities in mind.

Our unit aims to immerse students in a variety of literature to develop their understanding of texts, forms and contexts. We believe that Mirror is developmentally appropriate to our Level 4 class, appeals to all students inclusive of ESL and AS students, and is culturally and socially authentic (Cooper et. al, 2012). The telling of side-by-side stories is unique and as noted in Cooper et al. al. (2012) wordless books are very effective in developing oral language and promoting self-expression. Also, picture books benefit the whole class in creating word / picture connections, but are particularly useful for ESL students. Creating a visual scaffold allows ESL students to hear and see words in English, while connecting them to a visual image (Herrell & Jordan, 2012).

In week 2 of our unit, we have invited the parents / caregivers to participate in a gallery walk through of student work, to further develop the parent–school community and relationships. This also provides an opportunity for students to display and showcase their creative work while building on their speaking, listening and interpersonal skills.

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To conclude the unit we have chosen to take the class on a field trip to the Immigration Museum. The outing will consolidate the diversity focus of the unit and further enhance what students have learned during the three week block, as well as celebrating the work that has been produced. The excursion is a rewarding and engaging way to complete our unit.

4. ASSESSMENT

For this literacy unit we have grouped our students in various ways, depending on the lesson and learning purpose. For guided reading the class will be split into 4 groups, based on ability. This will enable us to provide extension activities to the high achievers (working towards level 5) and AS student (working towards level 6) in order to challenge and engage them. The group of disruptive girls and quiet boys will be split up among the remaining groups ensuring that no two disruptive children are in the same group, to create a more cohesive learning environment. If our student diagnosed with AS is having difficulty maintaining group work, independent research tasks relating to the group focus will be set. We aim to extend his abilities but have his efforts contribute to the class.

We will group our ESL students together during focused mini lessons to work specifically on their writing skills, which is where they require more support. Furthermore, a buddy system will be set up between our ESL students and our high achievers, inclusive of our AS student. This will provide additional support to our ESL students and extend our high achievers by giving them the role of apprentice teacher / tutor. Peer tutoring provides positive feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment to the tutor, and can lower any anxiety or confidence issues for the tutee because of the one to one setting (Herrell & Jordan, 2012).

Assessment needs to be a combination of diagnostic, formative and summative methods and is based on the model of assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning.

Methods of assessment include: Conference records Running records Personal checklists Teacher checklists Annotated writing samples Performance indicators (AusVELS) Continuous listening Anecdotal inspection

We have used a selection of these assessments for our unit. To gather a baseline of knowledge from our students about our topic, we will use the K-W-L chart assessment

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tool. A chart is given to the students to complete. The chart has three columns, K – what the child knows, W – what the child wants to learn, and L – what has the child learned. This will give us an understanding of where the student is currently placed regarding our topic, and their learning goals for the topic. The K-W-L chart is a powerful assessment tool as it elicits talk amongst the students as they complete the K and W columns and to share new knowledge as they finish the L column (Tompkins 2013).

Reading, writing and comprehension will be assessed using checklists and running records. For comprehension we will use a retell checklist. Retelling is an effective comprehension assessment tool; it helps children to focus on the most relevant information and the sequence of events (Hill, 2011). The use of retell is also important as it enhances comprehension for both proficient and less proficient readers (Hill, 2011).

Running records can be taken using both novel (new & unrehearsed) and previously read text, based on the information the teacher wants to get from the assessment (Cooper, 2012). This assessment tool will inform us about a students’ use of reading strategies, and his or her ability to self-monitor; it is very useful to determine reading progress over time (Cooper, 2012).

The key performance domains of children are self-care, play and school (Case-Smith, (1996). We intend to use informal observation as a means of collecting information about our students so we can assess where they are at with their literacy skills. Informal observation of children in their natural environments is a powerful and reliable part of a teachers’ assessment and evaluation process (Cooper, 2012). Observing students as they perform authentic literacy tasks such as reading aloud is just one area that informal observations will benefit both the child and the teacher.

We place a high level of importance and emphasis on our assessment phase; the data we retrieve from our students will guide our teaching strategies and instructional decisions. The assessment tools we have chosen will help us evaluate our program and make necessary adjustments if required.

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5. DAILY OUTLINE WEEK 1

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday FridayRead Aloud

Title: Mirror

Class discussion on key themes & text features

Title: We Are Australian: Multicultural Australians


Title: Cherry Pie


Current News Article


Title: Immigration Museum Webpage

Class discussion

Shared Reading

Poem on whiteboard: A Box of Crayons

Teacher reads, then read together as whole group - discuss

Title: I’m Here

Group Reflection – how this text relates to similarities / differences

Title: Immi

Ask class to make predictions, what will happen next

Title: Collecting Colour

Picture walk through book

Title: A Boy Like Me

Ask class to make predictions, what will happen next

Guided Reading Groups

Group 1Teacher selected text appropriate to reading level

Focus: Text features


Focus: comprehension strategies


Focus: text structures


Focus: Text purpose

Whole GroupWord Wall Creation – topic diversity

Independent Activities

Self selected reading from a variety of informational and narrative texts





Shared Writing

Workshop writing ideas

KWL Charts

Roving conferencing with individual students

Workshop writing ideasTheme from Mirror: diversity

Journal ideasMind Map


Build on / elaborate journal ideasUse teacher questioning strategies to assist student ideas.

Review & edit journal ideas Select a focus for the writing.

Independent Writing

Buddy system




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Ongoing Assessment Informal Observation Running Record Reading checklist – text

structuresWriting checklist – text purpose

* Adapted from Jude Warren via LMS

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WEEK 2


Title: Same, but little bit different


Title: The Little Refugee


Title: Current news article


Title: Website of author

Class discussion

Parent / Caregiver Morning

Gallery Walk - Presentation of student work

Students display and describe work (how, what, why)

Shared Reading

Title: We are Australian - two new pagesStudents retell to a partner

Title: Cherry PieDraw picture and write words/sentences about it

Title: Mirror

Question & answer

Title: The Little Refugee

Picture Walk through text



Focus: Text features


Focus: comprehension strategies


Focus: text structures


Focus: Text purpose


Exploration of format for presentation

Research skills

Drafting of presentation pieceConsolidating research

Conferencing with individual students

Drafting / editing of presentation piece


Final edit of presentation piece for Gallery Walk


Shared Writing

Group activity – word wallTeacher directs topic Students to contribute and write words

Small Group activity

Interactive writing free topic

Group activity Teacher directs topic Students to contribute to topic using sentences and words.

Group activity – own mini word wallTeacher directs topic

Independent Writing

Mini Lesson: ESL writing group

Complete KWL Charts

Roaming conferencing with individual students

Brainstorm what you like or dislike about Jeannie Baker’s style of writing


Edit and finalise your draft ideas on author Jeannie Baker

Buddy system



Create letter to an author


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Ongoing Assessment Informal Observation Checklist - comprehension Reading checklist – text

structuresAnnotated writing samples - final draft of letters


WEEK 3


Title: Special Kev


Title: Say Hello


Field trip to Immigration Museum Title: The Peasant Prince


Title: Whoever You Are


Shared Reading

Title: The Keeping Quilt

Talk to friend about favourite part

Title: One Day in Our World

Retell the story to a partner

Title: Immigration Museum Brochure / literature

Reflective discussion

Title: Immigration Museum WebsiteAct out scene inspired from Museum


Group 1 Teacher selected text appropriate to reading levelFocus: Text features

Group 2 Teacher selected text appropriate to reading levelFocus: Comprehension strategies

Group 3Teacher selected text appropriate to reading levelFocus: Text structures

Group 4Teacher selected text appropriate to reading levelFocus: Text purpose


Independent readingWord Work / games

Independent readingWord Work / games

Group Writing WorkshopIn groups, draft reflective writing piece / report, based on field trip to present to class with reference to KWL Charts.

Independent readingWord work / games

Shared Writing

Watch You Tube clip reviewing text Mirror

Note taking / summary of clip

Teacher models on whiteboard ideal bookshelf

Create & write own list of ideal bookshelf

Group edit of reflective fieldtrip report / KWL Charts

Roaming conferencing with groups

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Independent Writing

Independent writing



Independent writing

Buddy system


Independent writing



Groups present their field trip reflection to class

Ongoing Assessment Anecdotal inspection Checklist -comprehension Running Record Informal Observation


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6. RITUALS & ROUTINES

We note the importance of creating daily and weekly, rituals and routines in order to utilise class time productively and purposefully. Furthermore the use of rituals and routines helps to establish a community among the class, and communicates what is important. The use of specific artifacts during lessons reinforces learning, leading to creation of solid learning habits (Lewis, 2003). While the whole class benefits from the repetition, it is especially useful for our ESL students and our AS student to reinforce and build on knowledge through consistent processes.

We have structured our unit to incorporate the principles of whole part whole, demonstrated in our unit outline.

Rituals & routines included within our unit: Read aloud – whole group Shared Reading – whole group followed by paired or small group reflection Guided Reading – small group / ability group Shared Writing - whole group Independent Writing – individual / Buddy System, paired reflection Focused mini lessons – whole group / small group / ability group

Providing clear and negotiated goals, processes, expectations, rituals and routines encourages and aids students in taking more responsibility for their own learning.

Reflection is an important learning tool to be encouraged on a daily basis. We have incorporated a small group reflective task at the conclusion of the unit to consolidate what has been learned. The field trip celebrates the completion of the unit and further establishes the learning community in a unifying or bonding way (Murdoch & Wilson, 2005).

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7. INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION OF RICK FOLEY

Whilst the process of planning is not totally foreign to me, planning this unit with a colleague has reiterated the value and importance of working within a team. Like students in the classroom, colleagues all have different strengths and weaknesses and by working together towards a common goal it has made the process a lot easier than having to burden the load singularly. I see the value of working with your peers to develop the best possible programs that will deliver the best possible outcomes for the students. In terms of teaching, it has consolidated my beliefs that every process has to be meticulously planned, each child’s particular type of learning style needs to be taken into account and that all children learn at different rates and will always be at different levels. I have learned that it is important to stick to routines and rituals to assist students with their learning and to be constantly assessing and reviewing students work. The process of planning this unit has underlined to me that child centred teaching is pivotal to any teaching module. I have learned that the role of the teacher and how the teacher uses them self in the classroom is integral to the success of the unit or block as well as and more importantly, the development of the student. There were moments of anxiety as I felt myself become overwhelmed with the enormity of this assessment and the fact that this is what teachers do. This assessment task has made me feel ill-equipped or under prepared as I head into practicum.

As we got further into the planning I found myself becoming more immersed in the project. I kept thinking of different ways and strategies we could incorporate that would enrich the unit and at the same time would enrich the experience of each student. It was really nice to bounce ideas off one another and it was evident that we both wanted the same thing and that was to provide the students with an engaging unit of literacy in which the children were at the centre. Working with a colleague ensured complacency didn’t set in which I see will be very important in the school environment, I was very lucky to work with a diligent and very well organised colleague. I didn’t want to let her down so it was a motivating factor for me to not ‘switch off’. I had been feeling quite fatigued leading in to this assignment and so the main struggle I had was early on in the task in getting organised and preparing for it. I think this lack of motivation was fuelled by thoughts of, “how am I supposed to write up a literacy unit when I’ve only been here 8 weeks!” Of course the triumph for me was overcoming this and working with my colleague to produce a literacy unit that we are proud of.

Within the unit/block itself, the triumphs for me was to see how the unit evolved and how we could come up with relevant resources and ideas to use within the unit to make it successful. I feel the unit is one that could be implemented without issue in the school curriculum and one that targets our demographic and allows us as teachers to take on roles such as mentors, facilitators and instructors. For me there have been a couple of factors that I feel have helped me to contribute to this unit. My previous career as a paediatric occupational therapist where planning and implementing programs was integral in my daily life was very helpful. The prescribed text, Literacy; Helping students

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construct meaning, was a valuable tool as it clearly defined and outlined the different processes applicable to a literacy unit.

As previously mentioned I feel as though our unit is student centred and allows the teacher to take on the different roles within the classroom that facilitates learning. It’s practical and has different and engaging components to it that ensures the experience will enhance the learning of each student. We have deliberately set out to ensure that each student does not get bored or feel as the though they cannot contribute and that any activity or task is suitably matched to their ability. I feel as though there is a nice balance between extending the students and not pushing the boundaries to far so as learning does not occur.

It has been frustrating, pleasing, reassuring and thought provoking, an experience that I’m glad I went through.

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REFERENCES

Case-Smith, J., Allen, A. S., Pratt, P. N., (1996). Occupational Therapy for children. St. Louis, USA: Mosby-Year Book, Inc.

Cooper, D. J., Kiger, N.D., Robinson, M.D., & Slansky, J.A. (2012). Literacy. Helping Students Construct Meaning. (8th ed.). USA: Wadsworth Cengage.

Herrell, A.L., & Jordan, M. (2012). 50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. USA: Pearson.

Hill, S., (2011). Developing early literacy; Assessment and teaching. Prahran, Victoria: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.

Lewis, L., (2003). Rituals, Routines and Artifacts. NCEE. Washington, USA.

Murdoch, K., & Wilson, J. (2005). How to succeed with Creating a Learning Community. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.

Tompkins, G. E. (2013). 50 Literacy Strategies. Step by Step. (4th ed.). USA: Pearson.

Warren, J. (2014). The Writing Process Handout.

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RESOURCE LIST / WEB LINKS

Competent Assessment of Reading (CAR), Retelling: Assessing Comprehension

Firdaous Arabic English Translation Website

WA First Steps Assessment Tools

Immigration Museum - Identity: yours, mine, ours Exhibition

Jeannie Baker Author Website

KWL Chart

Mind Map

Museum Education Kit AusVELS 3 - 4

Storybird

Teachers Notes The Little Refugee

Wordel

You Tube Clip Music and Sound Effects to accompany Mirror

Touchstone Text:Mirror by Jeannie Baker,

Supportive Texts:We Are Australian – Multicultural Australians by Wendy Graham

The Little Refugee by Anh Do & Suzanne Do

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBCBcAqQI_E

http://www.wordle.net/

https://www.allenandunwin.com/_uploads/BookPdf/TeachersNotes/9781742378329.pdf

http://storybird.com/

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/education/education-kits/melbourne-story/ausvels-levels-3-4/

http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/mind-mapping

http://notebookingfairy.com/pixiedust/all-purpose/KWL-graphic-organizer-notebooking-page.pdf

http://www.jeanniebaker.com/mirror.htm

http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whatson/current-exhibitions/identity-yours-mine-ours/

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/stepsresources/detcms/navigation/first-steps-literacy/?oid=MultiPartArticle-id-13602018

http://www.firdaous.com/en/0023.htm

http://www.serve.org/uploads/publications/CAR.pdf

Cherry Pie by Gretel Kileen

Collecting Colour by Kylie Dunstan

Same, but little bit diff’rent by Kylie Dunstan

A Boy Like Me by Libby Hathorn

I’m Here by Peter H. Reynolds

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

One Day In Our World by Sara Mithen

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Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Say Hello by Jack & Michael Foreman

The Peasant Prince by Li Cunxin & Anne Spudvilas

Special Kev by Chris McKimmie

Immi by Karin Littlewood

A box of Crayons by Shane De Rolf

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