www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/learning_and_teaching/early_childhood_literacy/learning_to_spell.html

Six spelling principles

Teaching Kids to Spell by Richard Gentry and Jean Wallace Gillet (Heinemann 1993) has a chapter on developing each of the three main strategies.

Implementing spelling

Children need to have high frequency words displayed in some readily accessible place so that they can find them when they need them while reading and writing. Just having a Word Wall is not enough; you have to ‘do’ the Word Wall. Doing the Word Wall means:

1. Being selective and limiting the words to those really common words that children need a lot in writing
2. Adding words gradually – five a week
3. Practising the words by chanting and writing them, because struggling readers are not usually good visual learners and can’t just look at, and remember words.
4. Doing a variety of review activities to provide enough practice so that the words are read and spelled instantly and automatically.
5. Making sure that Word Wall Words are spelled correctly in any writing students do.

Each week children learn five words from an ever-increasing list of words collected from their writing or reading. Words are added to the list throughout the week. At the beginning of each week the next five words listed in ;the journal become the focus.

Process

An example of a spelling mini-lesson.
A year five/six class were reading the well-known story Alice in Wonderland

Early on, spelling can be taught within a phrase,
for example:
A piece of cake
A can of coke
A glass of milk
Add these to a chart (students can add more)

Once meaning is associated look and say the word (visual)
Chant the spelling (auditory)
Write the word (kinaesthetic)
Trace over the word (kinaesthetic)
Practise reading the phrases on the chart.

Keep the chart so that next week you add
A piece of cake for Tom

The week after you add
A piece of cake for Tom from Alice

The process of proofreading written text is not easy. The process requires the reader to move away from the powerful influence of the meaning of what is being read to allow careful attention to the actual letters and words on the page. Teachers expect students to proofread their work but are proofreading skills, knowledge and understanding taught? Students need to be aware of the writing process and where proofreading is placed in the process – after the draft writing has been edited for meaning.

Teachers need to model proofreading and think aloud as they do so, demonstrating how:

• to slow the reading down so they can ’see’ visual patterns and letter sequences
• to change from writer of a text to reader of a text
• the use of resources (Word Walls, dictionaries) in the room can assist with locating the correct spelling
• to make links between spelling patterns students know and new words

Students need teachers to model proofreading strategies. For example

• Use a slip of paper or a ruler to cover all but the line you are checking
• Experiment with starting at the bottom of the page and working upwards
• Read slowly, word by word
• Underline any word that needs to be checked
• Write two or more versions of a word and try to decide which one looks correct
• Sometimes exchange writing with a partner for proofreading purposes
• Teach some of the typical symbols used by editors to signal changes needed in the text

Taken from Peter Westwood 1999 Spelling – approaches to teaching and assessment ACER

Once students have completed their proofreading, they can copy some of the underlined words from their writing onto a Have-A-Go sheet like the one below. After students have tried alternative spellings a teacher or helper can provide assistance if necessary. The last column can be cut off and used as a personal spelling list or for individual cards for spelling games.

Download a copy of this card (32k)

Spelling strategies

Students should be encouraged to reflect on their learning and the strategies they apply in the spelling process (metacognition). Students need to develop the language to talk about their learning. These strategies should be explicit taught and constantly referred to in the classroom.

.

Have-a-go strategy: Do I know this word? How many syllables can I hear? Do I know any other words that sound almost the same? How are those words written? Does this word I have written look right? I’ll try it again. Does this look better? I’ll write the part I am sure of and leave a blank for the difficult part. I will try different ways to fill in the blank.

Talk to yourself chart The word is…… Stretch the word….. I hear the sounds….. I see ……letters. The spelling pattern is…… The vowel says……. Another word like…… is ……..

Brainstorm ideas children use to learn new words. Give time and practice to develop some of the following strategies.

.Brainstorm with the class the things you think make a good speller.
Place these on a chart in your classroom

It is not just important to teach knowledge about words but to include teaching of strategies of how to learn words. Students must be taught how to learn words and how to check spelling of words they have attempted.

Look Say Cover Write Check

• Look at the word
• Say the word
• Cover the word
• Write and say the word
• Check the word

(You could add another step to this)
Trace and say the word
Write the word from memory and check it.

Camera

• Use your eyes like a camera. Take a picture of this word
• Close your eyes and imagine you can still see the word
• Trace the letters in the air with your eyes closed
• What colour are the letters in your mind?
• Imagine the letters have changed colour. What colour are they now?
• Open your eyes and write the word on your paper
• Now check your spelling with the word on the card

Visual imagery

• Look at the word
• Close your eyes and imagine you can see the word as you say it
• Name the letters from left to right
• Open your eyes and write the word
• Check against the model
• Repeat if necessary until the word can be recalled easily

Ú Syllables

• Analyse the words into syllables

Analogy

• Think of other words with the same letter pattern

Motor Habit

• Include letter strings in handwriting lessons. Research indicates that linking the letters of letters strings assists recall of these patterns.

Cluster Analysis Glass Analysis
Glass analysis focuses on letter clusters, for example, the cluster ‘eigh’ taken from words in progress. Ask:
In the word weigh -

Which letter stands for the /a/ sound?
Children reply ‘e’ ‘i’ ‘g’ ‘h’ says /a/ in ‘weigh’

Which letter stands for the /w/ sound?
Children reply ‘w’ says /w/ in the word ‘weigh’

In the word ‘neighbour’ which sound does the letter ‘n’ stand for?
Which sound do the letters ‘eigh’ stand for?
Children reply ‘e’ ‘i’ ‘g’ ‘h’ says /a/ in ‘neighbour’

(Taken from Bolton & Snowball (1993) Teaching Spelling: A Practical Resource, Heinemann.)

To spell any unknown word that has not been seen before the writer may try to represent the sounds heard in the word. Beginning writers rely heavily on this strategy because they do not yet know a lot about written language. Experienced writers may use this strategy first and then try to apply other aspects they know about written language.

Example 1
The beginning writer who is aware of representing the sounds in a word may write the word said as S or SD or SED.

Example 2
An older writer who can apply many strategies may attempt an unknown word such as phagocyte as fagosite or fagasite or phagasite. Then they would apply knowledge about its meaning (a special type of blood cell), decide the spelling is more likely to be phagocyte (because other science words end with cyte) and then use a dictionary to check the correct spelling.

To develop sound symbol strategies:

• Teach students that letter-sound correlation is different in different words.
  Students need to learn that:

One letter can represent a number of sounds; eg. cat, able, car, probable, apparent, father, any;

The same sound can be represented by different letters; eg. ate, ray, rain, obey, steak, veil, gauge, reign, ballet.

• Teach students an awareness of onset and rime (eg tr-uck; sh-op; p-et)
• Sort words according to spelling patterns – strings or clusters of letters which occur in many words sharing common sound units (eg ite/ight)

• Teach children to listen to the order of sounds in a word and represent these with a letter or letters in the correct sequence. Map sounds into Word Frames or Elkonin boxes.

If a child asks for the spelling of ‘jumped’, the teacher might prepare a frame to help the child fill in as many letters as possible.

Teachers can ask:
What is the very first sound you hear?

Do you know what letter can be used for that sound?

In which box do you think it should be written?

• Teach phonemic awareness through shared book sessions – rhyme, alliteration and syllables. For example: Possum Magic by Mem Fox can be used as the basis for tongue twisters such as, ’The precious possum has a piece of pavlova in Perth.’ This could be followed by reading the rhyme, ‘Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater’ and further ‘p’ words could be collected.

Sometimes the writer remembers what a word looks like, or will try a word several ways and then decide which way looks the best. Sometimes they will recognise particular visual patterns of letters and know that some are acceptable patterns in the English language but others are not. They may know that a particular word is likely to have the same spelling pattern as another known word.

Example 1
To spell the word cake the writer may think of the spelling of words such as take and bake and presume it will have the same spelling pattern and then possibly check with a dictionary or wordbook.

Example 2
To spell the word misspell the writer may think that mispell looks better than misspell, but another strategy will need to be applied, such as adding a prefix to a base word (mis/spell)

To develop visual strategies:

• Teach students to look for highly predictable patterns or letter sequences of English. Encourage children to make associations with words of similar patterns. Focus on sequential letter patterns. Group words that contain common patterns; eg other brother, mother, bother. Word sorting and categorising activities are useful.

• Teach students that words must not only sound right, but they must also look right
• Choose a high frequency word to focus on each week. Every time a child reads or writes the word they are allowed to place a coloured dot on the word. This word can also be used as a screen saver for the week.

• Identify the critical features of words whenever children are shown how to spell a word, (i.e. the most significant features in the word and the pattern) Then encourage them to write the word from memory, not by copying. See Spelling Journals

• Collect words. Regardless of sound, collect according to visual patterns. When you have a collection, you classify them according to sound or pattern.
  For example:
  ‘ough’ or ‘cracked hoped planned cried‘
  double consonants ‘ll’, ‘bb’, ‘tt’ (Try to have vowel plus consonant cluster ‘ell, ill all’)

Example 1
To spell a word such as somebody the writer should use knowledge about the spelling of ‘some’ and/or ‘body’ and realise that a compound word will have the same spelling because it has the same meaning base.

Example 2
To spell words such as unnecessary (un/necessary) or commitment (commit/ment) the writer should use knowledge about adding prefixes or suffixes to base words.

Example 3
To spell words such as hopped, budgeted, carried, troubled, panicked the writer should use knowledge of generalisations about how to add suffixes to base words.

Example 4
To spell words such as pasteurisation the writer should apply knowledge about how the word was derived. In this case it is from a person’s name (Louis Pasteur). There are many words where the origin of the word provides valuable information about the spelling. This is often referred to as etymological knowledge.

In English language, most words that have the same meaning-base are spelt the same. If the meaning is different, then the spelling is different. The way a word is written (orthography) reflects meaning. In this way we can go straight to the deep structure or meaning of written texts without sounding-out the words. For example; sign and signature have related spellings and related meanings, while seen and scenery have different meanings and different spellings.

To develop meaning based strategies:

• Teach children word meanings and derivations; eg. graphics, graphology, telegraph or sign, signal, resign. Teach base word and its derived forms e.g. Latin ‘medica‘: medical, medic, medicine (teach the pattern as word is tied to meaning rather than sound.)
  Ask: why is medicine spelt like the following words? medical, medico, medication. This encourages students to think about the word meanings as a problem-solving approach to working out the connections between words.

Latin Roots

Greek roots

• Teach students to use morphemic knowledge, because this will also help them to recall spelling. Morphemes are units of meaning. Dissolve contains two morphemes dis and solve, and thus has a double ‘s’. Disappear only has one ‘s’ because the two morphemes are dis and appear.
• Practise word building – base words and prefixes and suffixes that are added to these
• Introduce word association — start with a word morpheme and build an ever — growing set of branches where the new word is related to the previous word
• Teach knowledge of word structure; eg past tense
  want-ed/ sounds id
  bang-ed/sounds d
  pick-ed/sounds t
  The common element is ed, which signals the past tense

Ask: why do all these words end with ‘ed’?
How many different sounds does ‘ed’ represent in these words?

• Teach other meaning knowledge through suffixes.
  For example ‘-er’ suffix
  Write these words on cards:

1. Place randomly along whiteboard; say words; ask students what “chunk” they have in common.

2. Arrange words in 4 columns as above. Ask, ‘Why have I put them in these groups?’ If students need help, say, ‘In one group the words are all for people who do something.’ ‘In another group the words are all things that do something.’

3. Explain and label the columns:

4. Add other words to the appropriate columns

Other suffixes

-tion (same applies for ‘ment’)

-sion

Adapted by David Hornsby, taken from Cunningham (2000) Phonics They use Addison Wesley.

Adapted by David Hornsby, from Cunningham, P. (2000) Phonics They use Addison Wesley.

• Teach students about compound words. Try sorting compound words according to the following categories.

• Provide grids for compound patterns (similar to the one illustrated), for students to develop patterns using compound words.

• Model consulting an authority and encourage students to consult an authority (a dictionary, word wall or a good speller) when they are unsure if spelling is correct.

• Dictionary skills need to be taught and systematically reinforced throughout the primary years. For example, develop an understanding of:

Alphabetic order, Function of guidewords at the top of dictionary pages, Words being listed under the root word eg ‘paint’, ‘painting’

• Word wall activities familiarise children with the words on the wall and ensure it becomes a resource for spellin

As word solvers students have categories for words in their head. As they meet unfamiliar words, they connect the unfamiliar words to those categories. Teachers need to help students expand the categories by making connections among words and drawing out important principles that they know.

One useful strategy to assist students make links between the words they are learning and those already known is outlined in the following chart.

Make connections

(Adapted from Fountas, I & Pinnell, G (1998) Word matters: teaching phonics and spelling in the reading/writing classroom Heinemann.)

Connections can be made with meanings, as in word association.

Memory Joggers/Gimmicks/Mnemonics
Most people have difficulty remembering how to spell particular words and they devise something that will help overcome this. As students learn about memory aids and share them they may like to make a class book for the class library. Students may also record the ones they find useful in a personal spelling book.

Some useful memory aids:

Strategies for teaching spelling Some useful strategies for the first years of school including word walls, spelling journals, individual lists,. Australia Spelling strategies Young children need a language to talk about how they spell words. It’s not just important to learn about words but to teach strategies for how to learn words. These should be explicitly taught and constantly referred to in the classroom. Australia Principles and practice of teaching spelling Teachers and carers have an essential role in increasing students’ interest in words, influencing their attitudes toward spelling and helping them to learn to spell. Effective teachers need to understand how spelling develops. Australia Invented spelling and spelling development An awareness of the five stages of spelling development can help teachers plan instruction. Invented spelling is one such strategy and refers to young children’s attempts to use their best judgments about spelling. United States How spelling supports reading Research has shown that learning to spell and learning to read both rely on the relationships between letters and sounds. For teachers making sense of the English spelling system, understanding spelling instruction and content, support the teaching of spelling through grades K – 7. United States. Teaching spelling – word study “Word Study “is an alternative to traditional spelling instruction. A word study program, is not based on the memorization of words, but rather a cohesive approach that addresses word recognition, vocabulary, and phonics as well as spelling. United States

]]> http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/19/c-a-t-spells-cat/feed/ 2 http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/the-oracy-project/ http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/the-oracy-project/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:38:46 +0000 telltales http://telltales.edublogs.org/?p=14

The Oracy Project

Oracy: Record an oral episode/s of your teaching 20%

This task requires you to make a ten-minute audio recording of your own teaching in a specific task such as Guided Reading, in a storytelling episode, or in a reading episode. Write a 300 word reflection to accompany the recording which describes what you notice and gives specific direction to the marker for feedback that would be helpful to you. The recording is to be given to the tutor on a CD or transferred to the tutor’s computer via memory stick. The task may be submitted at any time until Friday Sept 5. As there is no specific teaching

What are your thoughts now????????

My Observations about the project.

Some of you did this project with great enjoyment and for some it seemed like a chore.

Some of you started with the choice of reading a story,

Some set themselves the more difficult task of guiding, instructing and questioning.

Others distinguished themselves by the way they presented their material and I thank you for that. Those who went a step further, you now have a resource for your own teaching.

So I marked you for your ability, level of difficulty of the task you had undertaken and the understanding of the concepts involved in teaching “Listening and speaking Skills”.

So today I thought I’d go over 5 key points that you need to remember about Oracy

But first a definition and some guidelines:

Oracy

The term oracy was coined by Andrew Wilkinson, a British researcher and educator, in the 1960s. This word is formed by analogy from literacy and numeracy. The purpose is to draw attention to the neglect of oral skills in education.

o·ra·cy [ áwrəssee ]

noun  Definition:   Canada oral communication and comprehension: the ability both to convey thoughts and ideas orally in a way that others understand and to understand what others say

So for you this is going to mean, it is your job to instill a love of language and literacy, to “Give them Wings” to become proficient and critical listeners, speakers and readers.

1. VELS Levels

You need to acquaint yourselves with the VELS Levels for the students you are working with so that:

Select appropriate resources

Understand the concepts behind your teaching

Match questioning and guiding to the age group you are working with.

Below are Level’s One to Three of VELS for “Speaking and Listening”

Level 1

Speaking and listening

At Level 1, students use spoken language appropriately in a variety of classroom contexts. They ask and answer simple questions for information and clarification, contribute relevant ideas during class or group discussion, and follow simple instructions.

They listen to and produce brief spoken texts that deal with familiar ideas and information. They sequence main events and ideas coherently in speech, and speak at an appropriate volume and pace for listeners’ needs. They self-correct by rephrasing a statement or question when meaning is not clear.

SOME EXAMPLES : Class to Discuss

What are appropriate resources and questioning for this level

n Children need to hear 1000 stories read aloud before they begin to learn to read themselves. 3 stories a day will deliver 1000 stories in 1 year alone.

Developing Children’s Speaking & Listening Skills

File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint – View as HTML
Developing Children’s Speaking & Listening Skills. Presented by. Amanda Trouchet & Melissa Reinke. Overview of workshop. How do children learn to talk? …

harrfielss.eq.edu.au/wcmss/images/stories/Parent%20Info/Harris%20Fields%20parent%20training.ppt

Level 2

Speaking and listening

At Level 2, students listen to and produce spoken texts that deal with familiar ideas and information.

They demonstrate, usually in informal situations, that they are able to speak clearly using simple utterances and basic vocabulary. They organise spoken texts using simple features to signal beginnings and endings. They vary volume and intonation patterns to add emphasis. They contribute to group activities by making relevant comments and asking clarifying questions to facilitate communication.

After listening to short live or recorded presentations, they recall some of the main ideas and information presented. They listen to others and respond appropriately to what has been said.

SOME EXAMPLES : Class to Discuss

What’s appropriate material

Questions to ask?

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/english/literacy/strategies/tsvels12speak.htm

Literacy Professional Learning Resource – Teaching Strategies

VELS 1 and 2 – Speaking and Listening

Explanation of some strategies that can be used to develop student speaking and listening skills during reading and writing activities.

• Story reconstruction
• Sentence building
• Circle stories
• Character interviews
• Sharing circle
• Group brainstorming
• Barrier game
• Mystery object
• Recall tray
• Sequence chart

WHAT IMPLICATIONS DO THESE LEVELS HAVE WHEN YOUR ARE DESIGNING ” ACTITVITY CENTRES” AND “TASK MANAGEMENT BOARDS’ ?

Level 3

Speaking and listening

At Level 3, students vary their speaking and listening for a small range of contexts, purposes and audiences. They project their voice adequately for an audience, use appropriate spoken language features, and modify spoken texts to clarify meaning and information.

They listen attentively to spoken texts, including factual texts, and identify the topic, retell information accurately, ask clarifying questions, volunteer information and justify opinions.

WENDY AND NEWSPAPERS??????

SO!!!!!

VELS LEVELS

Select appropriate resources

Understand the concepts behind your teaching

Match questioning and guiding to the age group you are working with.

2. Reading/ Speaking to your class

In teaching, speaking to your class is hugely important.

1. You will set the tone for communication in your class,

( Get Examples. What do I mean?)

2. You will give instructions.

3. You will introduce concepts and ideas, language and vocabulary

4. Read for enjoyment.

Voice:

Quote from Ruth Sawyer the Way of the Storyteller

“Our voice is our instrument, the words are our colours or the clay on our pallette.”

Voice needs to be clear, warm and firm

You need to practice stories before you share them with a class, so that you get the timing, pace and vocabulary right..

Characters:

Start slowly with your efforts to do voices and characters. This will come in time.

Your’ telling and reading are an extension of yourself. Be yourself.

Be enthusiastic when sharing stories. “Each word is like a precious pouring forth of jewels” as Mem Fox said.

Be confident, students are very forgiving because they do love stories so much

Listening skills:

You may have to focus the students attention back to the task at hand, repeatedly.

Have different tricks to get attention.

Deep Voices help.

Students:

Opportunities for speaking and listening.

Activities to match student level.

Mem Fox’s Ten read-aloud commandments

1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud.
2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read.
3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot.
4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners.
5. Read the stories that the kids love, over and over and over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same intonations on each page, each time.
6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together doing clapping games.
7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short.
8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that start the child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always a fabulous game.
9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.
10. Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, (and teachers) because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

__________

PRACTICE ……PRACTICE …… PRACTICE

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOUR TEACHING OF READING?

YOUR VOICE IS YOUR NUMBER ONE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TOOL

3. Questioning

What are the reasons you question students?

What are you trying to find out?

What concepts, ideas or information are you trying to teach?

Are your questions headed towards these learning outcomes?

Ask open ended questions? Eg.(Student?)

VELS Levels. Do you have it mapped out, the practicalities of what you are trying to teach.

http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/Skill_Question.pdf

The Skill of Questioning

By Richard James

The importance of a well-developed questioning technique

Acquiring skills in questioning students is an important step towards becoming an effective teacher. A good questioning technique can:

• allow teachers to gather information about the level of students’ knowledge,

• actively involve all students in learning,

• develop the communication skills and confidence of students,

• encourage students to become self-directed learners, and

• provide recognition and reward for achievement.

Teachers develop the skills of effective questioning throughout their careers. Guidelines for effective questioning, such as those given below, will not of themselves create expert teachers, but can assist the ongoing development of an important asset for all teachers.

Some more ideas from a Medical Journal

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/182_03_070205/lak10788_fm.html

Teaching on the Run

Teaching on the run tips 7: effective use of questions

Fiona R Lake, Alistair W Vickery and Gerard Ryan

MJA 2005; 182 (3):126-127

Introduction; Types of Question; Promoting Higher Order Thinking and reasoning; Other types of Questions; Good habits when questioning; Coping with different levels of learners, Acknowledgements; competing interest,

When teaching in the clinical setting, you often quiz students, the junior medical officer and registrar on patients they present. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it makes the trainees clam up, sometimes you are not sure it is hitting the mark and wonder what they have learned. You wonder whether there are ways to make questioning more effective.

Your students and trainees learn better when they are involved in the teaching episode,1-3 and an effective way to involve them is to ask questions. By using questions you are able to:

· stimulate and engage learners;

· find out their learning needs and knowledge level, so that what you teach them is relevant and pitched at an appropriate level;

· promote higher-order thinking (ie, clinical reasoning);

· monitor how learners are progressing; and

· encourage reflection.

4. Resources.

http://www.worldwithoutbooks.org/ReadersQuest/ReadAloud.aspx

The Indigenous Literacy Project is a partnership between:

The Readers’ Quest : Read aloud booklist

The read aloud booklist is the ideal way to involve pre-readers in the Readers’ Quest.

How to get involved

1. Simply read (or listen to) 10 books choosing at least 7 from our specially prepared booklists.  You can read up to 3 non-booklist books if you wish. Download the read aloud booklist.
2. Record the books you read on your reading record form. Download the reading record form.
3. When you complete the 10 books you can download and print the Readers’ Quest certificate
4. If you participate in the Readers’ Quest we’d appreciate a donation to the Indigenous Literacy Project (large or small).  Click here for donation options.

· Booklists (browse or download)

· Read Aloud (pdf)

· 4 to 8 Years (pdf)

· 9 to 11 Years (pdf)

· 12 to 15 Years (pdf)

· Indigenous (pdf)

· Adult (pdf)

More resources

http://www.sandpiperpublications.com.au/what_cat_lan_oracyprogram.htm

Language Resources – Oracy Programs

Oracy around Australia

The Oracy around Australia program is ideal for use with a range of children, from 6 to 10 years of age. The program is based around a single book – “Are we there yet?“, by Alison Lester.

There are ten lesson plans in the program, each one based on four pages from the book. The activities, as in other oracy programs, are all based around the sounds, words, sentences and text levels of oral language.
Oracy for preschool

The Oracy for Preschool program is ideal for use with young children, from 3 to 6 years of age. However, the language activities in it are suitable for ages up to 8 years. It is based around a set of ten popular children’s fiction books, each focusing on a different theme.

Each of the ten books has an outline of the session plan, set out to cover sound, word, sentence and text levels of language. There are extra resource materials which can be made into a student activity booklet and a parent letter to inform parents. Also included in the program is a checklist of communication behaviours which can be used by the facilitator to monitor the program’s implementation as well as individual students’ performance.

The program encourages oral language development within a safe and supportive environment, and aids in preparing children for the language demands of the classroom. There is a set of Blank’s levels of questions based around each book, as well as games and comprehension activities to complete the set.

Oracy-too Program

The Oracy-too program is written for use with young children, from 4 to 7 years of age. It is based on the language demands that children experience when they enter school – the language of literacy and the language of learning. The basic program comprises ten lesson plans based around popular children’s literature, each lesson consisting of two sessions. The first session deals with examining the text and a number of different langage activities. The second session is based on a text innovation, where the child or group of children write their own story based on the same pattern and structure of the book they have just read.

Each of the ten books has an outline of the session plan, an example of a text innovation for that story, a student’s activity booklet and a parent letter. Also included in the program is an example of pre- and post- program assessments, and a checklist of communication behaviours which can be used by the facilitator to monitor the program’s implementation as well as individual students’ performance. The program encourages oral language development within a safe and supportive environment, and aids in exposing children to the language demands of the classroom. The program can be run by the therapist, teacher or trained facilitator.

Oracy for Ozzie Kids

Oracy for Ozzie Kids is an oracy program, based on a set of 10 books which are either – Aboriginal legends, or use Aboriginal characters, or have universal themes, popular to all children. The program particularly features:
- a clear and comprehensive lesson plan and resource materials for each book
- a focus on oral language through purposeful activities
- support for different learning styles
- value of each child’s language and contribution to the group
- opportunities for children, whose home language is different to school language, to practise and develop their language skills
- language which is used for hands-on learning, creating and exploring
- opportunities for children to take risks using their home language in a safe and supported environment
- an emphasis on activity-based learning style, contextualised by the literature and language of learning.

Although the program has been heavily based on Aboriginal stories, the themes, characters, and language activities do appeal to a broader audience. The focus of the program has been on language, learning and doing, and is therefore ideal for many young children who are still focused on physical activities and who may have limited attention spans. It would also be an excellent introduction to Australian themes for young children who are learning English as a second language, but from a migrant background.

Friends Talk Program – REVISED

Friends Talk is a program which helps to develop a student’s oral language skills particularly in understanding and mastering the language of friendship. It is not specifically designed as a social skills program, but does offer an excellent support for students who experience difficulties in establishing friendships and maintaining positive interactions with others.

The revised program uses fifteen stories from popular children’s literature to help them understand and evaluate others’ actions, and then compare their own responses in a supportive and non-critical environment. The program aims to increase learning outcomes for spoken language, as well as to improve social behaviours. Elements of language learning and literacy are also modelled through the program. It is aimed at the early childhood sector, but could easily be adapted to older children.

The program has been used very successfully with a range of children, including children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Intellectual Impairment, and those who use English as a second language.

Each book has a lesson plan, student activity pages and parent letter. The lesson plans follow two sessions. The first session generally explores the text, working through the friendship theme and discussing the lesson in the story. The second session focuses on personal experiences and recount, linking what the children have learnt in the book, to what they would do in that situation.

The revised version has an added element. Each lesson plan also features a conversation script that can be worked on with the children to assist conversational role plays such as the language skills of introducing, questioning and asserting.

Olympic Games Oracy Program

The Olympic Games Oracy Programaims to develop students’ oral language skills, particularly in understanding and mastering the six different text structures. It addresses spoken and written language texts and is targeted at middle primary to secondary school students.

The program is based around a single text Olympic Games 2000, published by Dorling Kindersley, but is supported with any type of literacy you wish to use. While the focus is the theme of Olympic Games, the language contexts are easily extended to the broader theme of sports.

Students are provided opportunities to deconstruct text and construct their own text, following the patterns of six text structures – list; description; sequence; compare and contrast; cause and effect; problem and solution. The program can be used with individuals, small groups or the whole class. Although written with the learning-language disabled student in mind, its contents will appeal to all students. The language skills that it promotes, are skills which are of benefit to anyone in writing assignments, reports etc.

Experimenting with Oracy

The Experimenting with Oracy program is specifically desgined for older students, aged 8 – 12 years. It is based on a series of science experiments, which develop simple science concepts, in a logical and clear manner, with a focus on oral language skills. The language activities emphasise problem solving, reasoning, predicting, describing and other text types. Although the written language demands of any task is kept to a minimum, this aspect is easily increased if working in a learning support mode.

All support materials are provided as black line masters, including the science experiment procedure. However, therapists and teachers will need to provide their own materials for each experiment. The physical demands of each experiment have been limited to what is readily available, but science suppliers have been listed in the materials.

The worksheets are fun, and the physical hands-on nature of the experiments provides motivation and interest, ideal for students who might otherwise be difficult to engage in work. The current work unit focuses on magnets and magnetic force, but future work units are planned for Matter; Motion; Simple Electronics and Kitchen Chemistry. Each work unit has four or five lesson plans, with two experiments in each lesson plan.

The program has been reviewed by science teachers for accuracy, and to ensure a logical flow in the development of the scientific principles. The important focus of the work units however, is not developing a strong understanding of these concepts, as much as exploring the ideas through oral language. A great approach for talking to learn.

Cooking with oracy

Cooking with Oracy is desgined for younger students, aged 4 – 6 years, or any student with a significant language disorder. The program is based on a set of ten recipes, which are simple and easy to make, with minimal fuss and requirements. Each lesson plan follow the same language framework as other oracy programs, providing activities to reinforce sounds, words, sentences and text. Additionally, this resource focuses on a math language concept in each lesson.

All support materials are provided as black line masters, including the recipes. (However, therapists and teachers will need to provide their own ingredients.) The worksheets are simple to follow, while the hands-on nature of cooking is motivating and fun for all. Sequencing language skills form an important part of the lessons. The program is also useful when working with a group of students who are moderately, intellectually handicapped, even up to high school aged students, as the language tasks are important in any communication program.

Another Book List:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar ………………. Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? ………………. Bill Martin
Shoes from Grandpa ………………. Mem Fox
Hairy Mcclary from Donaldson’s Dairy ………………. Lynley Dodd
Hatie and the Fox ………………. Mem Fox
Jennifer and Nicholas ………………. Kath Lock
When Frank was Four ………………. Alison Lester
The Shopping Basket ………………. John Burningham
Edward the Emu ………………. Sheena Knowles
Mr Gumpy’s Outing ………………. John Burningham

5. Consolidate

“Teach a little, then apply.”

Now you know the steps involved in “oracy” how are you going to get your students involved.

Training Critical Thinkers

]]> http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/the-oracy-project/feed/ 0 http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/lessons-resources-and-more/ http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/lessons-resources-and-more/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:34:30 +0000 telltales http://telltales.edublogs.org/?p=13 How the Years were named for the animals

Taken from Anne Pellowski’s The Story Vine

A long time ago the Buddha was sitting under his sacred bo tree. He Knew that his time was about to come to an end. Soon he would attain supreme and absolute wisdom and pass into Nirvana, the highest Heaven.

As he sat, he looked at the beauty of all life all around him especially the animals and the other living creatures.

“Wouldn’t it be fine,” he thought. “if all these livings things could visit me for one last farewell and pay homage to the Enlightened one?”

So he sent an invitation to the four corners of the earth, asking all the animals and creatures of the earth – one of each kind- to come to him on a certain day at a certain time, under the bo tree.

The he sat and he waited.

Biut when the day and the hour arrived, only twelve animals had shown up. For a moment an angry thought welled up in the Buddha.

“What if a flood were to come and destroy the earth and all the creatures on it?” he wondered. The Buddha remembered the flood brought down by the evil God Mara.

But the thought was hardly formed when the Buddha recalled his mission on earth.

“I am here to teach respect for life,” he said. “I do not wish to destory even the tiniest of creatures.

“Rather than calling for the punishment of the careless and indifferent animals who did not come, I must think of some way to honour the animals who did come, I must think of these twelve faithful animals that did come,” decided the Buddha.

He thought and thought then announced his plan; Henceforth, the years would be named for the twelve faithful animals who had answered his call. The years would be named in order that the animals had arrived.

And so, to this very day, in the countries of Asia where the teachings of the Buddha Spread, the people call he years by the names of those twelve animals, according to the order in which they came, to the Buddha.

First, the year of the Rat

Second, the year of the Ox

Third the Year of the Tiger

Fourth the year of the Rabbit

Fifth the year of the Dragon

Sixthe the year of the Snake

Seventh the year of the Horse

Eight the year of the Sheep

Ninth the year of the Monkey

Tenth the year of the Rooster

Eleventh, the Year of the Dog

Twelth the year of the Pig

And when the cycle is completed, it begins over again.

Lesson Plan 1 – VELS Level 1

VELS Oracy Skills for this Level

Level 1

Speaking and listening At Level 1, students use spoken language appropriately in a variety of classroom contexts. They ask and answer simple questions for information and clarification, contribute relevant ideas during class or group discussion, and follow simple instructions. They listen to and produce brief spoken texts that deal with familiar ideas and information. They sequence main events and ideas coherently in speech, and speak at an appropriate volume and pace for listeners’ needs. They self-correct by rephrasing a statement or question when meaning is not clear.

Find the figurines to match the 12 animals. (Chinese shops is a good staring place, or make your own.)

This story will be told at the beginning of each lesson and the then each lesson is planned to concentrate on the 12 successive animals.

For example.

Some Poems to Share

Two little mice sat down to spin Pussy passed buy and he popped his head in. “What are you doing my little men?” “We’re weaving coats for gentlemen” “Can I come in and bight off the thread.” “No, no pussy, you’d bight off our heads.”

Here’s something to incorporate an aboriginal theme

Adapt the action rhyme Pellowski illustrates in her book. My niece Esther was called Muk Muk by the aboriginal people of central Australia, the Jaowyn people, they say she had her big round eyes like an owl. The actions are in the book but this is how I tell it, once children have guessed that Muk Muk is an aboriginal word for Owl.

Muk Muk sat in the branch of a tree, As quiet as quiet can be. It was night and her eyes were open like this She looked all around, not a thing did she see Two mice started creeping up the trunk of the tree And they stopped below the branch To see what they could see The solemn old owl said ‘Twooit Twoooh Up jumped the mice and down they flew.

Or why not try

‘Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock.’

Okay everyone arms up nice and straight so we can watch your little mice run up them. With developing listeners it is a good idea to involve them with action rhymes, get them to join in, in a focused way.

Taken from Eisabeth Matterson’s This Little Puffin

Here’s a longer story to share, Two Bad Little Mice by Beatrix Potter.

Stuart Little The Movie

Activities for Learning Centres

Lesson 2

How the Years were named for the animals: The Ox

(Ox(en) is a sub-genus of Cattle where as Bull is simply the male form of cattle.)

Level 2

Speaking and listening

At Level 2, students listen to and produce spoken texts that deal with familiar ideas and information.

They demonstrate, usually in informal situations, that they are able to speak clearly using simple

utterances and basic vocabulary. They organise spoken texts using simple features to signal beginnings and endings. They vary volume and intonation patterns to add emphasis. They contribute to group activities by making relevant comments and asking clarifying questions to facilitate communication. After listening to short live or recorded presentations, they recall some of the main ideas and information presented. They listen to others and respond appropriately to what has been said.

How the years were named for the animals

The Ox or animal like him, the Bull

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Illustrated by Robert Lawson

Ferdinand is a little bull who much prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree and smelling the flowers to jumping around and butting heads with other bulls. As he grows big and strong, Ferdinand’s temperament remains mellow – until the day he meets with the wrong end of a bee.

The one day Ferdinand isn’t sitting quietly under the cork tree (due to a frightful sting), is the same day that five men come to choose the “biggest, fastest, roughest bull” for the bullfights in Madrid. Ferdinand’s day in the arena gives readers an education in the historical tradition of bullfighting, and a lesson in staying true to oneself.

Check out this Youtube reading of one of my favourite stories

The Story of Ferdinand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih5B8ID3zLA

Or the animated Disney version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO7NiqGhsGo&feature=related

Some ideas for lesson activities, taken from

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/fantasy-fiction/childrens-book/52542.html

Make a Hat
Many of the people in this story wear very interesting hats. Your students will enjoy creating and/or decorating hats for themselves. Below, you’ll find links to hat templates or you can encourage your artists to design a new hat on their own.

• A Planet Hat
• Reversible Bird Hat
• Firefighter’s Hat
• Three-Cornered Hat
• Police Officer Hat
• Patriotic Hat
• Leprechaun Hat
• Nurse/EMT Hat

Learn Spanish Words
Use these flashcards to help your students learn the Spanish words for some of the vocabulary from El Cuento de Ferdinando (The Story of Ferdinand in Spanish). Encourage students to color the images on the flashcards.

Count the Animals
In The Story of Ferdinand there are many images of animals. Create a class graph (similar to the one below) with the names and tallies of the animals you find in the story.

A Flag About Me
Children create a flag that celebrates the uniquely wonderful things about themselves.

Popsicle Stick Puppets
Your class will enjoy recreating The Story of Ferdinand as a puppet show after they have drawn and mounted characters or objects from the story on popsicle sticks.

Ferdinand’s Happiness Pasture
Have students draw pictures of what makes them happy on the flower template. Then glue the flowers to a pasture picture you create on butcher paper.

Be True to Yourself Book
Children will enjoy creating a book about themselves that includes pictures of what they like to do, their friends, and family.

Map of Spain
Use this map of Europe to talk about Spain’s location, climate, neighbors, and more.

Other Languages
Your students may speak a language other than English at home or with relatives or friends. Encourage them to share some vocabulary and bring in items from home that are written in a language other than English.

Explore Spanish Culture

• Host a Spanish cooking class. A great dish to try is paella, one of Spain’s most famous dishes. Or how about gazpacho or Spanish rice? If possible, invite students’ parents and/or other classes in your school to join the fiesta!
• Introduce students to Spanish music. Flamenco music and dance are an exciting way to expose your students to Spanish culture. There are numerous websites that have Spanish songs and music for your classto enjoy.
• El Greco, Goya, Picasso, Miró, Dali – these are just a few of the many, exceptional, Spanish artists to introduce to your students. Have them try to imitate the artist’s style and create a masterpiece of their own.

Lesson 3

How the Years were named for the Animals: The Tiger

At Level 3, students vary their speaking and listening for a small range of contexts, purposes and audiences. They project their voice adequately for an audience, use appropriate spoken language features, and modify spoken texts to clarify meaning and information.

They listen attentively to spoken texts, including factual texts, and identify the topic, retell information accurately, ask clarifying questions, volunteer information and justify opinions.

http://www.savethetigerfund.org/Content/NavigationMenu2/Community/KidsandTeachers/TigerStories/default.htm

Korean Stories of the Tiger

by Laurie Baker

The Legend of Dan-gun

A long, long time ago, Hwan-In was ruling over the kingdom of Heaven. He had a son, whose name was Hwan-Ung. Hwan-Ung was a clever, compassionate, and constructive man and Hwan-In treated his son lovingly. One day, Hwan-Ung looked down into the world of mortals and became interested in them. He asked his father to let him go to the beautiful Peninsula of Korea to govern. Hwan In granted his son’s request and sent him along with Pung-Beg (the Earl of Wind), U-Sa (the Chancellor of Rain), and Un-Sa (The Chancellor of Clouds) to supervise the world of mortals, and help maintain their livelihood. The ministers were able to control rain, wind, clouds, and all natural elements so that grain could grow, life would prosper and good and evil would be judged. Hwan-Ung and his ministers ruled wisely.

At that time, a bear and a tiger lived on the earth in a cave near a sandalwood tree. They both wanted to become human. When Hawn-Ung discovered their sincere desire he wanted to grant their wish. Hawn-Ung called them and told them, “If you endure 100 days in a dark cave eating only garlic and mugwort, you will become a human.”

The bear and the tiger took the mugwort and the garlic into the cave and began their ordeal. They prayed that their wish might be granted. But the tiger was extremely restless and dissatisfied, as it could not control its energy. The tiger said, “I can’t endure these days of sitting quietly in the cave.” And the tiger ran away. But the bear held fast to the end, and after 21 days her wish was granted and she became a beautiful woman.

The bear-woman was overjoyed and visited the sandalwood tree, where she prayed that she might have a child. Hwan-Ung married the beautiful bear-woman and made her Queen. Soon she gave birth to a prince, which they named Dan-gun, or the Sandalwood King. When Dan-gun grew up, he reigned as the first human king of the peninsula. He established a new capital at Pyongyang (now in North Korea) and named the kingdom Zoson (Choson—Land of the Morning Calm). This all happened 4,283 years ago.¹

Even today, there is a monument in the Taebaek Mountains near the 48^th parallel of the Korean Peninsula where Dan-Gun was believed to be born. All Koreans know that the tiger still roams the mountains. While bears are known to have the patience and fortitude to sleep in caves for long periods of time, the dramatic, active tiger is not. Though the poor tiger was not turned into a human, its plight has vibrated in the Korean people’s hearts and even today their affection for the tiger is special. The Korean tiger is depicted as frightening, yet familiar; brave and almost sacred, but at the same time rather slow-witted. He sometimes repays debts, and scolds the hypocrisy of human society; but other times he is the thief and hypocrite himself, as in the following story:

The Tiger and Dried Persimmons

A long, long time ago, a tiger who was proud of himself lived in a mountain valley. The tiger thought he was most powerful and wise, so he was very arrogant.

One day the tiger came down to a village for food. The tiger walked into the garden of a small house where it heard a child crying. The grandmother scolded the child, “Stop crying this very minute! The tiger is here!” But the child took no notice and went on crying. The tiger, surprised, said to himself, “This child must be very brave. He is not the least bit afraid of me. He must be a hero.” So went the thinking of the arrogant tiger.

Then the grandmother said, “Here is a dried persimmon. Stop crying!” And the child stopped crying immediately. This time the tiger was frightened and said to himself, “The persimmon must be a terrible creature.” And he crept away quietly, giving up his plan of attacking the child.

The tiger went to an outer house to get an ox to eat instead. There was a thief in the outer house also trying to steal the ox. The thief thought the tiger was the ox so he jumped on the tiger’s back. The tiger jumped up, terrified, and ran off as fast as it could go. “This must be the terrible persimmon attacking me!” it thought. The thief still rode the tiger and whipped it so that he could get away before the villagers saw him stealing the ox.

When it grew light the thief saw that he was riding on a tiger and jumped off and ran away. But the tiger kept running to the mountains without looking back at the dreaded persimmon!²

There are dozens of folk tales about the tiger. One collection divides the stories into chapters which reflect people’s attitudes about the tiger: The Personality of the Korean Tiger, Patron of Filial Piety, Tiger’s Gratitude, Tiger the Matchmaker, Tiger with Famous Historical Personages, Tigers as Divinities, Greedy and Stupid Tiger, Tips for Catching Tigers, and even Tiger Dung which features two scatological stories.³

The Mountain Spirit

In ancient times (and probably even now) the tiger was the messenger of the mountain spirit, San Shin. In paintings at Buddhist temples San Shin has a shrine behind the main buildings, up on the mountainside. The tiger always lies quietly at the side of the old mountain god, waiting to do his bidding, as in the following story:

named Ok-bun. Her beauty was often compared to the rising moon. Pak, a commoner, lived in the same village, and had a son whose named was P’al-bong. It was said that he was as bright as the rising sun.

These two young people were of different class, but they were very close, and they had been playing together since they were children. They often went hiking together in the mountains, Ok-Bun with her herb basket, and P’al-bong with his jige, or A-frame pack.

As they got older, Ok-bun’s father could see the inevitable…they were getting serious about each other, and he did not want his daughter to get any mischievous ideas about marrying some commoner. He was determined to marry his daughter to Tol-swae, who was also a nobleman. He told his daughter to stop meeting P’al-bong, scolding that was not proper for a young noblewoman to wander around with a common no-account like P’al-bong.

Ok-bun was not rebellious and did not have the heart to disobey her father, but at the same time she despaired over her impending marriage and separation from P’al-bong. She lost her appetite, and in time, started wasting away. Her father was not worried, though, since he knew she would forget P’al-bong when she married and settled down. He wanted to get her married quickly, however, before she got sick. So he arranged for the engagement and set an early wedding date.

P’al-bong felt awful. Whenever he thought of losing Ok-bun, just because of the class system, he gnashed his teeth and his eyes became fiery balls of pure fury. But neither P’al-bong nor his father had the power to do anything to prevent Ok-bun’s marriage.

The wedding day came. After a splendid feast the bridegroom entered the bridal chamber, where Ok-bun was waiting for him. And then.….What?!?!? A tiger in the bedroom!!!

There was such a commotion that everyone in the house was soon scrambling and running in all directions. In the turmoil the tiger escaped with the new bride.

Grief stricken, P’al-bong and his father had not attended the wedding. They were at home, fast asleep. But then they were wakened by a loud thump in the next room. When they went to see what was going on, they discovered none other than Ok-bun lying there unconscious on the floor.

In the meantime, Tol-swae had gotten a search party together to look for Ok-bun. He thought she had surely been killed by the tiger. They all went looking for the tiger and the poor bride. P’al-bong’s father, who was a righteous man, felt obliged to report what had happened and he went immediately to Ok-bun’s father and explained everything that he could. On hearing this everyone nodded and said that it was the mountain spirit, San Shin, at his matchmaking again, and that no human should interfere. What else could Ok-bun’s father do but go along with this? Even the bridegroom saw that their marriage was not to be.

So a marriage between the two childhood sweethearts was arranged and they lived happily every after.⁴

In this story, the sometimes fierce tiger plays the romantic go-between, restoring order to the village and happiness per the instructions of the mountain spirit.

In other folk paintings, the tiger is accompanied by a magpie. One interpretation states that the magpie is the village spirit that announces good omens, and the tiger is the servant that does his bidding; another that the tiger is a yangban (aristocrat) and the magpie is the representative of the common people, scolding him for his insensitivity to their plight. According to another folk tale a woodcutter saves a tiger from a trap but the ungrateful tiger tries to eat his benefactor. The magpie intervenes and saves the woodcutter, and in the paintings he is berating the tiger for his meanness to the woodcutter. In the pictures the magpie sits above the tiger and the tiger seems gaze at it with an indifferent, comical or almost crazed expression.

References

1. The Dan-gun Legend has been told often with slight variations. I have used two written sources for this article: Folk Tales from Korea, 3^rd edition, by Zong In-Sob, 1982, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey and Tiger, Burning Bright: More Myths than Truths about Korean Tigers, by Kathleen J. Crane Foundation, 1992, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey
2. Folk Tales from Korea, 3^rd edition, by Zong In-Sob, 1982, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey.
3. Tiger, Burning Bright, Kathleen J. Crane Foundation, 1992, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey
4. ibid.

Here are some Activities about tigers from the Save the Tiger Website

The link to it is

http://www.savethetigerfund.org/Content/NavigationMenu2/Community/KidsandTeachers/Teacherresources/default.htm

Teachers should try these fun activities with their kids

Watch this great“Jungle Warriors” video from ACAP. It’s You tube Link is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzV-MVBr6eM

Download the New Amur Tiger Book For Children from the Wildlife Alliance website – a downloadable adventure book originally written for kids in Russia, is now available in English.

Tiger Coloring Sheet -  a great tiger coloring sheet that comes with a fun tiger factsheet that can be printed out for the whole class.

Geoguide/Tigers—Classroom Ideas (Kindergarten-Fourth Grade)
From National Geographic: In this lesson, students will learn some of the threats to tigers in the wild and some of the challenges of keeping them in wildlife preserves and zoos. They will then sketch and explain their designs for sensible tiger enclosures in zoos

Kids For Tigers (elementary grades)
a page from India with some lesson plans, interactive games, tiger news, and information on why tigers are endangered and what kids can do

Geoguide Lesson Plan: Tigers (Grades 5–9, but adaptable to lower and higher grades)
Another guide from National Geographic, in Adobe Acrobat format. Includes use of another National Geographic interactive Internet feature at Geoguide Tigers

India’s Endangered Tigers
From WNET Public Television a lesson plan for older students that uses the Internet, videos of Nature, a vocabulary list, a globe—4 to 5 class periods

Wild Wildlife: Exploring the Moral, Economic and Ecological Impacts of Animal Extinction (Grades: 6-8, 9-12)
From the New York Times Learning Network, Subjects: Geography, Language Arts, Science
Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students investigate the moral, economic and ecological impacts of the extinction of various animal species

Cats! Wild to Mild – Teacher Curriculum (you must scroll down the index on the left, then click on Teachers’ Curriculum) This guide of background information and instructional lessons is written for students in grades 3-8 who are interested in exploring the world of cats. It is designed to help them investigate wild and domestic cat biology, behavior and environment. The curriculum was designed by the Natural History Museum’s Education Division as a companion guide for the traveling Cats! Wild to Mild Exhibit and to supplement the Cats! website.

Do you know of other great tiger resources? Tell us about them.

]]> http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/lessons-resources-and-more/feed/ 0 http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/teachers-and-their-reading/ http://telltales.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/teachers-and-their-reading/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:31:52 +0000 telltales http://telltales.edublogs.org/?p=12 Teachers and their reading 19/ 08 / 08

Eammon:

Welcome to radio 103.8UB. The University of Ballarat’s Education radio and online network . I’m Eamon Jones and today we’re streaming live from the Literacy Lecture of Dr Wendy Warren.

But before we start the show a quick weather update.

Seems from the freezing cold start to the lecture series in this theatre we’re finally starting to warm up. So take off your coats and scarves and sit back and listen while we talk about TEACHERS AND THE READING THEY DO.

Our first guest is a storyteller Anne E Stewart who has been involved with the students telling stories about “Literacy”

Thanks for joining us

Tell us Anne how did you start to acquaint yourself with the material Wendy wanted you to tell stories about?

Anne E

Actually it must be nearly a year ago when Wendy approached me at the Ballarat City Council’s Early Literacy conference and asked me to become involved in the project. Of course i said yes. Developing a love of language and literacy has always been a prime motivation of a mine as a librarian and storyteller. And i was hoping to understand a little bit more about the actual nuts and bolts of teaching literacy.

But I must say, when Wendy gave me the text book I was floundering a bit.

With that invite though, it seemed everywhere I looked there was something for me to read about literacy.

It was newspaper articles that helped me into the subject..

The first one I read was in the Australian newspaper

Bring on the reading revolution Janet Albrechtsen | April 09, 2008

This was to lead me back to another article

Education failures creating a lost generation

By Helen Hughes Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008 8:56am AEST
That’s when I went on line and found an article by Mem Fox, a personal mentor of mine because as well as being one of Australia’s most highly regarded Children’s authors she is also the patron of the SA branch of the Storytelling Guild

Phonics has a phoney role in the literacy wars August 16, 2005

By now I had involved my mother an ex-teacher and she got the bug and bought us a copy of the newly published book we’d read references to “The Literacy Wars”

This book was organised into the following chapters: Literacy under Attack, Grammar Reading, Culture, Gender, Testing, Technolgy, Curriculum and Literacy Fights Back. Now that we’re at week 5, I can say in retrospect that with all this reading I was doing I was using the 4 resources model as a way of gaining understanding.

This early reading was like Code breaking. it was introducing me to the Language of literacy, I think it would be fair to say the Meta language of literacy.

As I rang or emailed Wendy with my findings, she’d shoot back questions or more readings to question my views.

Are you reading legitimate resources?

Eammon:

So as well as being a user of this material Wendy was having you analyse it too?

Anne E

That’s right. I remember an early e-reading of Shannon’s and the notions of “The Politics of teaching.” and how much it got me thinking about the responsibilities of the teacher. And just recently the academic paper Trash Aesthetics and Utopian Memory : The Tip at the End of the Street and The Lost Thing by Kerry Mallan. I actually knew her name because she has written a book called Children as storytellers. I have to admit that I read this article with a dictionary beside me to try and decode some of the terms she used. And I had to reread it as well. And I’m glad I did

Eammon

And what did you take from this reading?

Anne E

Well you know I was rapt Wendy had passed on this particular article because I gained a better understanding of the intent of the authors and the multi literacies involved in both books.

Words and pictures at play and cultural preconceptions and understandings. It was hard work but this academic paper offered huge insights I would not have understood or been able to share and dissect with a class without having read it. I t had a profound effect on how I now looked at those two books.

I realised that if I was a teacher I’d make sure I subscribed to professional journals both on-line and hard copy to develop more profound reading of texts. From my days working as a children’s librarian I also knew there were some great Children’s Literature Magazines that would point they way to a multitude of books and resources. Magazines like “Magpies and The Horn Book” review and critique children’s books. I mightn’t be able the read all the new books coming out but these journals were a great signpost.

Eammon

Do you read many children’s books?

Anne E

Well as a matter of fact I do. In my days as a children’s librarian it seemed that’s all I read. Picture Books, children’s novels. I was pretty good at matching books with readers. It’s great when colleagues point out good reads to me. In fact I remember about 6 months ago visiting my friend, a children’s librairan. “Read this Anne E, it’s great” And so it was, what was interesting was it went on to win the Children’s Picture book of the Year, early childhood section. You must look it up.

Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley. It’s also been great in this class to have Wendy draw so many great reads to my attention.

Eammon

And what about the student blogs have you managed to read any of these?

Anne E

As a matter of fact on Sunday afternoon I read through everyone of them. I realised teachers would do this everyday, read student journals, appraise the uptake of ideas by students and readjust their strategies to fill in the gaps in their learning . It really was a great insight into how everyone’s progressing, in fact I was so impressed with people’s thoughtful approaches to their learning.

It was reading through these that I realised that the students that are progressing are the ones doing extensive reading of topics associated to what we have been studying

Eammon

And what about reading for pleasure, do you still have time for this?

Anne E

Not as much as I’d like but i do try to read novels for the sheer escapism and cultural signposting. At the moment I’m reading The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. It puts me in mind of Midnight in the Garden Good and Evil. Story of factional story. My other great pleasure is the Saturday papers. In fact Eammon I was wondering did you happen to read an article in this weekends Australian newspaper. I know that Wendy is talking today about Visual Literacy but the article coined a new phrase “Visuacy”. What do you think? Eammon you have been using lots of images and connected meaning to it. Do you think students need to be taught how to create and analyse images?

Eammon

???????

I wonder want the audience thinks, maybe we’ll throw the interview open to the students, particularly as you mentioned to me Anne E, that many of these students come to teaching with artistc backgrounds.

AnneE.

Yes Eammon, the main premise of the article was that a recent report calls for a rethinking of school art education to end the distinction between art and other images and to overcome the idea that the purpose of teaching visual arts is to train artists.The arts should form the basis of the national curriculum alongside English, maths and science.

Eammon

We’ve just about run out of time here on 103.8UB. so in summary Anne

What are teachers reading?

Anne E

To produce good readers, fluent, critical readers we need to read widely as well

Eammon

Thanks Anne and that’s it for this mornings broadcast live from Dr Wendy Warren’s Literacy Lecture. You’ve been listening to 103.8UB, The University of Ballarat’s Education radio and online network

I’d like to thank the Australian Literacy Coalition for inviting me to address this afternoon’s meeting and handing over my “framed” Certificate of appreciation’ from the Education Department for 35 years teaching.

“I can’t believe it’s that long ….. it’s gone in a flash.”

So, many of you will know that I’ve been lumbering away at my Masters in Education for years and I just want to first give you a little pre-history to the work I’ve been doing and the title for discussion.

I think it was during my children’s transition from Primary to High School and the swirling hormones of teenagers that unnerved me for a while and prompted this study.

Articles started appearing in the newspapers that quite frankly depressed me.

Headlines screamed out at me, “Literacy Levels falling in Australia” and, “Education failures creating a lost generation” and then this book was published The Literacy Wars.

A slinging match was carried on in the media and “Teaching Literacy” became a hot political issue

You younger staff members won’t realise but during my time as a teacher I’ve gone through at least four different approaches to teaching literacy and worked with several frameworks designed by the Victorian Education Department including the Curriculum Standards framework and the current Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

What the articles I read seemed to indicate was that it was an either or situation.

But I looked at some of the writers: right wing journalists that had never been in a classroom, economists that measured literacy in terms of fiscal benefits, and old teachers that hadn’t moved with the times and still thought they were teaching homogenous classes of anglo celtic children. Even my guru Mem Fox weighed in, but typical of the media they took a section of her beliefs out of context and had her as the leader of the Caring and Sharing Movement. If children are loved and read to they will become great readers. Of course indigenous education was laid bare and one writer took great delight in rubbishing, “Mem Fox’s picture book Wombat Divine as the only book used to teach literacy to indigenous children from years 1 to 10 during the final term in 2005………a dismal failure” the article reported.

Having the benefit of working at the coal face, so to speak and knowing that I have taught hundreds of children how to read and write I decided to wade through the mire of mud and hype and actually look at the different ways to teach literacy. I want to disperse the idea that there is a war and I want to remind everyone that education with literacy at its core is a basic human right for all of our students.

“In an ideal world”, I heard Mem Fox say at an early literacy conference, ‘where there is no influence of socio economic or cultural background let me tell you the story of a family of readers and a family of non readers”. She is a spell binding storyteller. I could almost hear the collective sigh in the room at the end of the story.

But it isn’t an ideal world and literacy has taken on a much more expansive meaning than when I started. Things have come a long way since I learnt to read with, “John can jump. Betty can jump”

So I decided to call my paper “The Many Roads to Literacy.”

The way I see it, the crux of the matter, “the main arenas of contestation… are grammar, reading, culture, gender, testing, technology and curriculum” Illana Snyder The Literacy Wars pg 10

In this talk today time necessitates that I omit the history of the different movements involved in teaching literacy but after studying them I know they are crucial to how I teach today and each movement has contributed to philosophies on education.

How long have we been teaching the masses to read and write, perhaps we’re all still learning?

But it was around the 1920’s that teacher focused learning, the ‘transmission’ of knowledge from the teacher started to change to child focused and “constructing paths of leaning’ which became known as constructivism.

Here is where the argument has ranged

Number 1. Definitions of literacy have changed over time, making the word one that is “contested” across the division. This evolving definition requires teachers to keep learning in this field. You will all remember the visit earlier this year by Mary and Bill and their talk on Multiliteracies. Adapt, expand your repertoire of resources, learn to use the technology. Children learn in different ways.

Number 2. A balanced approach to the teaching of reading is best.

Arguments I read had scientific data, empirical proof that “the initial teaching of the alphabet and phonics was essential and the best way to teach reading”. The answer to raising literacy levels is phonics. They didn’t believe their opponents that you could teach children to read like they learnt to speak through language immersion and the whole-language approach. The divide clearly fell along party political lines.

Well guess what? They were both right. What’s the fuss about you have to range your teaching between both.

Early years is introducing the letters and the sounds and the handwriting, the sight words and basic grammar. With these building blocks, read stories, recite poems, sing songs. Expose children to language, language language and a range of activities, mediums and ways to learn and respond.

3. Standardised testing does discriminate against students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Broadly speaking ‘in the 1970’s a culture of assessment reigned in Australia, today a culture of measurement is the ascendency.’ (Snyder: pg 128) Viewpoints have changed overtime but when I’m with my class, knowing I have children from 10 different cultural backgrounds sitting there, two have never held a pen in their lives and several have very limited English I wonder the point of the tests.

On the otherhand I have developed these tests and adapted them to my own needs. Some have helped me considerably in accessing and focusing my teaching strategies for particular students. But don’t forget some students do thrive on these tests and academic measures

4. English as a subject has historically been associated with a form of moral regulation and (national) identity that is particularly English.

Many of the writers wishing to go back to the good old days, often, realistically mean go back to when English Literature reigned supreme. The classics, the nod to Royal Britannia, does anyone hear “White Australia Policy.” I have throughly enjoyed getting to know about different countries around the world by working with students and parents and I have actively sort out material to expand my classroom resources. We are still learning best practise when it comes to these areas of, technology, cultural diversity and learning outcomes verses taught knowlege based learning. My advise is to keep an open mind, seek guidance from VELS and the standards for year levels they have defined and employ whatever teaching methods and material suit your students.

5. One final thing: Work versus playfulness

And finally I’d like to thank all my colleagues from the Australian Literacy Coalition who have supported me during my masters. When they literacy wars raged around my head they brought moments of clarity and practical approaches to teaching that were available on line. I thoroughly recommend their website to all of you who are interested in teaching literacy.

http://www.literacyeducators.com.au/

4 resources model – Give them Wings

NIGEL – Laid back

Wendy Warren – “I was hoping to introduce our next speaker, an old friend and colleague of mine Nigel but he’s not here so we might go on with………”

With a flourish and whir of breeze Nigel bounds into the room.

“Sorry I’m late. Someone left the gate open and the few cows I’ve got left were out on the road”.

Wendy Warren - “This, everyone is Nigel who I have invited here to talk to you about the four resources Model of teaching children to read.

Thanks Wendy, I just wanted to read you a short poem to start, it’s by Emily Dickinson

He ate and drank the precious words,

His spirit grew robust,

He knew no more that he was poor,

Or that his frame was dust.

He danced along the dingy ways,

And his bequest of wings,

Was but a book. What liberty

A loosened spirit brings!

Quoted in the book Give them Wings: The Experience of Children’s Literature By Maurice Saxby and Gordon Winch.

It was this book that was my inspiration plus a couple of events that lead me to take it up teaching as a career.

First, the drought had just about knocked us over and my wife and I had been thinking about downsizing for a while. She would need to go back to nursing at the local hospital and I’d also been thinking about a career change for quite a while.

Second impetus was my youngest son; he struggled with his reading from early on. And as it said in the poem and the book, I wanted to give My son “wings”, so he could read for himself

I used to say to him, “Don’t worry Tom, your just like Leo the Late Bloomer

“Do you know that book by Robert Kraus? About the Tiger that can’t do anything right. He can’t run, jump or skip properly and his dad calls him a late bloomer. Then after the snow and the first signs of spring, Leo finally blooms he can walk with dignity, eat properly and run and skip and jump for joy.”

I spent a lot of time with Tom and I read lots of texts book to discover what was hindering his learning.

When I first read about the different components or the strategies that are involved in becoming good readers I had a hard time making sense of it, it may has well have been in Greek, the language was so strange to me

But I was so keen to help my son and I had just embarked on a teaching course. It took me a while to understand it all and when Wendy asked me to come and talk to you today I had to think, What does she mean “The Four resources Model?”

I have been working with this model for so long now that I forgot that’s what it is called.

You see the one thing you have to really understand about the Four Resources Model is that each component is absolutely necessary for students to become skilled readers.

You may have one or more of the components but this is not sufficient the model works as a whole.

I ultimately wanted my “late Bloomer” to become a reader but my studies made me realise there was a whole lot more to it, We would need to take him from emergent reader to a skilled one, where he could interact with a variety of literacies, become a critical reader that questioned the role of the writer. A person who could understand the different roles of literacy and become a functioning member of ours and the wider community.

Readers are a lot more sophisticated these days, with a lot more variables part of the learning process.

Now, how can I put this simply

Let’s look at all the components used in driving. There’s the type of car you drive and the reason you drive, is it a manual or automatic, road rules, which are not the same the world over, then there’s signaling other drivers.

Now, knowing one of them isn’t enough. Sure you’ve turned on the engine, but what next? A lot’s going on when you’re driving but an intergrated approach of many skills are needed to be a safe driver.

Same with the Four Resources Model, all the components must work together

So what are the four practices good readers utilize to become good readers.

Number 1 is the code breaker practice. I’ll never forget the day Tom asked me a question while we were sitting at a petrol station.

“Hey Dad, does that say “Car Wash” he asked

For the first time Tom seemed to realise that letters were code for spoken language, words he already knew and had heard.

“Yes, that’s it” I said

This was a turning point for Tom

Once Tom got that I knew which practise to focus on if he couldn’t read things.

His mother and I both realised Tom had suffered because of the drought. Whereas with his older siblings we’d taught them the alphabet and read to them continuously we were always too dog tired with Tom. So we started an intensive catch up session matching the alphabet with the sounds

“Ants on the apple; a a a” We had sight words stuck to everything, we taught him the patterns in words, sentence structure and we saw that little boy come on in leaps in bounds.

No 2 resource in learning to read is the text participant practise. Where the reader participates in constructing meaning. We bought and borrowed lots of books for Tom in areas that he had an interest in. For example we bought him a book on the solar system and because he had watched plenty of documentaries and had his own telescope he was able to decipher and put together all the components of quite difficult text and images that supported it. He was now starting to construct meaning from his reading.

Now 3 in the model is the Text participant practise. We exposed Tom to all sorts of different texts used for different purposes. Railway timetables, menus in restaurants, the football fixture in the newspaper. At school he actively took part of discussion around different forms of text and would you believe in Year 7 he played the lead in the school play of Bugsy Malone. This little non-reader was now participating with text so much that a whole lengthy script didn’t even phase him. I was incredibly proud of him taking that on.

And the final resource in this model, number 4 is the text analysis practise. This is quite a sophisticated approach and I realised that Tom was now starting to get the idea that texts are not neutral, that they have built into them the writers point of view, assumptions and biases. I saw the penny drop with my son around the time that discussions about a local windfarm were in full swing. we’d received two pamphlets in the letter box, one supporting the farm and one against it.

He saw how either side had skewed the facts for their own purpose. It was such a lesson to Tom and opened his eyes to the need to consider the authors intent. His final year essay on the media’s look at the Tampa incident was truly insightful. He’d come a long way my little fella.

It was this experience with my own son that saw me develop my expertise for teaching reading and writing.

I knew that all the practises involved in reading needed to be developed together.

As I said, I’d almost forgot it was called the four resources model, but re visiting it for this discussion I realise that I try to involve students in all the practises.

Like driving, I don’t think about all the parts, but I do know that all the components are necessary for students to become good readers.

VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING STANDARDS – LEVEL 2

Reading

At Level 2, students read independently and respond to short imaginative and informative texts with familiar ideas and information, predictable structures, and a small amount of unfamiliar vocabulary. They match sounds accurately to a range of letters, letter clusters and patterns, and work out the meaning of unfamiliar phrases and words in context. They locate directly stated information, retell ideas in sequence using vocabulary and phrases from the text, and interpret labelled diagrams. They predict plausible endings for stories and infer characters’ feelings. They self-correct when reading aloud and describe strategies used to gain meaning. They identify that texts are constructed by authors, and distinguish between texts that represent real and imaginary experience.

Writing

At Level 2, students write short sequenced texts that include some related ideas about familiar topics. They write texts that convey ideas and information to known audiences. They select content, form and vocabulary depending on the purpose for writing, and describe the purpose and audience for their own and others’ writing. They use appropriate structures to achieve some organisation of the subject matter. They link ideas in a variety of ways using pronouns, conjunctions and adverbial phrases indicating time and place. They accurately spell frequently used words, and make use of known spelling patterns to make plausible attempts at spelling unfamiliar words. They use capital letters, full stops and question marks correctly. They reread their own writing and use a range of editing resources to revise and clarify meaning. They write upper- and lower-case letters legibly with consistent size, slope and spacing.

Speaking and listening

At Level 2, students listen to and produce spoken texts that deal with familiar ideas and information. They demonstrate, usually in informal situations, that they are able to speak clearly using simple utterances and basic vocabulary. They organise spoken texts using simple features to signal beginnings and endings. They vary volume and intonation patterns to add emphasis. They contribute to group activities by making relevant comments and asking clarifying questions to facilitate communication. After listening to short live or recorded presentations, they recall some of the main ideas and information presented. They listen to others and respond appropriately to what has been said.

Diane Wolkstein

The Cracked Pot

Retold by Mary Dessein
a Tale from India

A water-bearer carries two large pots on a yoke across his shoulders up the hill from the river to his master’s house each day. One has a crack and leaks half its water out each day before arriving at the house. The other pot is perfect and always delivered a full portion of water after the long walk from the river.

Finally, after years of arriving half-empty and feeling guilty, the cracked pot apologized to the water-bearer. It was miserable. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t accomplish what the perfect pot did.”

The water-bearer says, “What do you have to apologize for?”

“After all this time, I still only deliver half my load of water. I make more work for you because of my flaw.”

The man smiled and told the pot. “Take note of all the lovely flowers growing on the side of the path where I carried you. The flowers grew so lovely because of the water you leaked. There are no flowers on the perfect pot’s side.”

Just a little something to cheer you on your first day

You’re probably wondering whether you’ve made the right decision, Teaching, as a career that is.

The little surfer in the dome is to remind you of my favourite quote and is something you need to remember everyday when you’re working with a variety of students

“You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust the sails.”

Everyday student will need to be treated differently, you may need to change tack for every student, everyday. It is a given, so be prepared for change.

In your first week

1. the most important thing is to get to know each student individually. Knowing their background, the lives they come from, may help you to deal with their individual problems. You need to earn their respect and build positive relationships with all your students. Show them that you care.

2. Start slowly, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You’re training readers, writers and listeners for life. Be patient and kindly firm

3. Remember it’s your job to motivate and engage. You have to try and stay upbeat most of the time and don’t give up on any of your students

I’ve included a list of traits necessary for a successful business, my father passed it on to me in the early days of my teaching, after he had attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting where the guest was a motivational speaker from America. (*) My mother added the notes.

Relationships are key. Customers don’t buy products from people they don’t like. A condescending capitalist will struggle to turn a profit.

A teacher who expects respect from his students — or parents or colleagues — without giving any in return is bound to fail.

Business marketing must excite the customers; they are your bottom line. Successful businesses effectively market their products or services by linking them to positive feelings. Slogans, jingles, attractive models, and celebrities are tools of the trade for accomplishing that goal.

Being able to motivate and engage learners is of paramount importance for any teacher. Our paying customers — parents and other taxpayers — really do take note when their children come home from school engaged and excited.

Being able to deal with change with a positive attitude is a key to success. What ever became of the tech exec who proclaimed in 1979 that home computers would never be practical?

While many teachers might not be endeared by “No Child Left Behind,” most of us are able to strain its vital message: the status quo isn’t good enough. Thinking outside the box to reach under-performing students is a cause whose time has come.

MORE IN COMMON THAN YOU THINK

Experimentation — and, yes, failure — is a part of every business; it is at the root of almost every success. Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” A certain level of that adventurous spirit is required to succeed at developing new products and services to woo customers.

Teachers must honor the best of education’s established practices, but they can’t shy away from investigating new methods to reach students. Instructional methodology must be perpetually evaluated and improved upon — or tossed aside as ineffective.

Sweat the details, and go the extra mile. Our speaker regaled his audience on how movie actor Jim Carrey goes to great lengths to choreograph his antics in each scene of a movie. Similarly, he said, business people must anticipate and have a plan for meeting their clients’ needs; they must always be willing to go the extra mile to accomplish that.

The most successful teachers take time to write students congratulatory notes, dissect the pace of each day’s lesson, and give concerned parents timely updates. And they use their summers to develop new skills. Successful teaching, like a successful business (or successful acting), is not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation.

Lead your people; don’t push them. The speaker’s most animated comments were reserved for the relationship between a boss and the worker bees. A business manager who can appreciate and capitalize on the strengths of each employee is one who can develop a well-rounded team and a business that will thrive.

One of a teacher’s primary objectives is to recognize and build upon each student’s strengths. Often a student’s strengths can be used to improve skills that might not be so strong. Our aim is to engage all students — one student at a time — in achieving our learning goals.

WITH ONE BIG DIFFERENCE…

While I was one of just a handful of non-business leaders in the audience, I found little in our speaker’s remarks to which I could not relate. I found myself nodding in total agreement until he made one last comment. “I’ve never gotten angry with my personnel,” he said. “I’ve only gotten angry with the suppliers of inferior material. I really let those suppliers have it for jeopardizing my business!”

And therein lies the difference between teaching and business: Teachers may rage internally at the dysfunctions of families and society that our students endure. We cannot, however, unleash our anger at the materials we are expected to transform. Businesses can reject inferior material; we embrace our “materials” and nurture them.

I left the awards ceremony wondering how many of the movers and shakers of local business in that audience really understood how closely their best practices relate to those of teachers. With such significant common ground, I have to wonder how much more could be accomplished for students if members of both professions worked together more closely. If business leaders connected with schools in their communities they would quickly learn what you and I know: Those who can, do… teach!

The thoughts on the similarities between business and education were outlined by Max W Fischer

in an article written by Brenda Dyck; Education World® Copyright © 2005 Education World

It is posted at the following web address

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/voice/voice141.shtml

Remember teaching is very labor intensive: It’s practicum and practice. Like sports players, teachers need to practice on the “court” in order to learn the skills.

Above all trust in yourself and realise that teaching is one of the most important professions around.

Anne E Stewart July 2008

When I think back to my first day as a teacher I often wonder that I went on to have such a long career and that teaching actually became my great passion

I remember the first day I was so organised, prepared and pumped.

Noble quotes about teaching covered my workbook. I imagined I was following a great tradition in a long line of teachers, from Socrates, and Aristotle through to my own grade six teacher who had inspired me.

But the thing I hadn’t banked on in those early days was the students. Nothing I had studied prepared me for the diversity, the complicated lives, and the difficulty in managing a large group of independent minds.

For my first day I had prepared a whole series of lessons around the study of Rosie’s Walk.

Not only would I be able to assess each student’s capabilities I would move on from introducing them to reading and visual literacy, through to numeracy and science. I had it all worksheets, activities, baby chicks hatching in the class, honeycombs dripping with honey. I was ready

The Sunday night before I started I was so excited, I had gone over and over in my head how it was going to work.

All these beaming faces would look up from their desks in admiration at their teacher as they started on their school journey.

I had borrowed a “big book” of Rosie’s walk, along with smaller copies for students to work with indivdually. As Time magazine had said itself, “A single excursion through Rosie’s Walk could make a reader for life.

The first few sessions were occupied with ‘housekeeping’, my class rules, where they would sit, when lunchtime was, the toilets, all those thing they needed to know to fit in to the school environment

Then I started

“Today we are going to read this story, “Rosie’s Walk”

A little voice piped in from the back of the group. “Miss, my baby sister’s called Rosie and I’m allowed to hold her on the couch when mum’s getting tea ready”

“Thank you Frances but you shouldn’t interrupt when we’re reading a story”.

Now, here is the Title of the book “Rosie’s Walk” and it is written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins.

I turned the page

“Rose the hen went for walk” I read.

The moment I read, it was like a cue for young Dom to stand up and walk across to the school bags to get his play lunch.

No Dom, not now, we have to wait for the bell. Sorry Miss but Mum said if I felt tired I should eat something for my sugar levels

“What, sugar levels?” Nobody had told me this boy was diabetic

Oh! I suppose I would have to let him.

Back to the book

‘Can you see who’s following him”

“The fox, Miss” answered Anna

Good, yes it’s the fox

Next page

“Across the yard”

Little Patrick had been sitting wriggling the whole time I had been reading

“Miss, I have to go to the toilet”.

Oh No, “Well Patrick you will just have to wait till we finish the story.”

Bad mistake, instead of asking again he sat there quietly and wet his pants and the carpet, which I didn’t discovered until I sent them all back to their tables.

I struggled on, reading the text, asking questions about the illustrations, slowly, laboriously until finally I had finished.

“Okay, back to your tables!”

“Hang on a minute, Jessica had fallen asleep and the kids were walking around her.

“Jessica, wake up”

I didn’t realise, I hadn’t known. Not every child gets a good night sleep.

I made Patrick change his pants, I had wondered why the teacher before me had a cupboard full of spare clothes and quickly mopped up his mess

All ready now on your desk is a worksheet

Does anyone know what it says?

“Rosie the hen went for a walk”

I’d already pegged Cass as a helper. “Okay everyone take one of the pages and you can do your own drawing. Cass will you give everyone a box of crayons?”

They set to it; a quiet hum filled the room for a fraction of a second.

“Give me the yellow” screamed Paul

“No, I want it” Jane retaliated

‘Here have this one’,

I said to Paul grabbing another one from a spare box.

I wanted to work individually with each student to check their ability and knowledge of books and reading

Patrick was up and wandering around the room, he couldn’t seem to sit still

“Sit down” ‘ I urged a little louder than I needed to.

“I’m finished my drawing miss” said Esther

I looked at her drawing, ‘Why don’t you add some more things you’d find in the farmyard”

“I don’t want to miss”

“Alright, here’s an extra piece of paper. You may draw whatever you like I said in desperation as I threw the sheet at her.

As the morning progressed, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was sinking. I knew I’d really lost it, when close to tears I screamed at Patrick that if he moved one more time I would tie him to his chair.

The louder I got the more the children played up.

My carefully laid plans had not figured on, or taken into account the children I was working with.

I hadn’t know Patrick lived on a diet of sugary junk food that made him hyperactive, or that Jess’s mum had a new boyfriend and let her children watch television late into the night. I didn’t realise that not every child had a parent that read to them or that some parents didn’t think education was important for their child. I didn’t know that I would sometimes get a class who spoke very little English.

I just didn’t know all these things on my first day

By the end of that first day I was exhausted, overwhelmed and wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.

I dragged myself to the supermarket, I need chocolate and comfort food.

I saw one on my students with her mother, I could barely look at her I felt so useless.

“Miss,” she said.

I turned on a fake smile

“Yes Jane, I said as sweetly as I could muster

“I really liked that story today miss and my mum put my picture on the fridge and said it was excellent work.” “Thanks Miss”

I could have almost swept her up in my arms and lavished her with kisses.

Maybe I would go back the next day.

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