2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
Proficient: Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
Recently having been working in a reception class I have developed strategies to assist students with developing literacy skills. A common problem I encountered when working with Junior Primary students is the broad rate that students develop literacy and numeracy skills. In particular when on my final teaching placement I focused a lot on the development of students' literacy skills. During my placement I worked on group students into literacy groups based on the development of their literacy skills over term 1. The groups are designed in a fluid way so students can be transferred between groups depending on how they progress throughout the week (Jarvis, 2013). The groups were named after flowers to eliminate any feelings amongst students regarding ability levels. It also encourages the growth mindset because students are made to feel as though there is no distinguishing between the two groups in regards to ability or readiness.
An example of this standard is the literacy plans I developed on my final placement each week. These plans were flexible and would often change throughout the week depending on what we were learning about in other learning areas or how the groups were each progressing. The groups were designed so that I could be working with one group while the other groups work independently. The group that I worked with changed each day so that by the end of the week I had worked with each group. I would be conducting guided reading, whole the other groups do a task based on their groups reader. Learning tasks set for the groups were not limited to working inside the classroom. Students often had choice as to where they wanted to work.
An example of this standard is the literacy plans I developed on my final placement each week. These plans were flexible and would often change throughout the week depending on what we were learning about in other learning areas or how the groups were each progressing. The groups were designed so that I could be working with one group while the other groups work independently. The group that I worked with changed each day so that by the end of the week I had worked with each group. I would be conducting guided reading, whole the other groups do a task based on their groups reader. Learning tasks set for the groups were not limited to working inside the classroom. Students often had choice as to where they wanted to work.
For my final teaching placement I designed an 4 week English Visual Literacy unit based on the text The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies. Throughout this unit of work tasks were designed to cater for all student learning needs. It was designed for students to critically look at the text from different perspectives. Throughout this unit we looked at the text from all different angles, and students even worked towards creating their own texts based on the events in the book. This unit on visual literacy was important because it helped students develop an understanding of how to decode visual texts. This corresponds with standard 1.5, where students were learning to develop their literacy skills through the use of drawings and texts.
Jarvis, J. M. (2013). Differentiating learning experiences for diverse students. In P. Hudson (Ed.), Learning to teach in the primary school (pp.52-70). Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press.