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Here is my hand-written, mind-map style analysis of the ABC resource ‘Controlling Koalas; points of view’ taken from http://education.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1497955/controlling-koalas-points-of-view 

Prompt  7 2018

I would like you all to have a look at the fantastic teacher materials on this website.

For this weeks reflection, I would like you to browse the many grade 5 and 6 videos and materials available. CLICK into Resources, check the grade 5 and 6 boxes as well as the ENGLISH box.

You may or may not be able to match these resources to your particular AT2 book, either way, it is worthwhile knowing that the ABC always provide teachers with classroom worthy materials.

Your task is to critique one of the 5 / 6 English resources and critique it as if you are reporting back to fellow teachers in a planning meeting or a staff meeting. This may be a video or audio record, handwritten notes, formal notes, a mind-map or a similar cognitive organiser - be creative and we will be looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

good luck

The ECL310 team

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From searching the hashtag #picturebooks I have stumbled across what looks like a truly amazing picture book series! The amazingly illustrated ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ series celebrates women all over the world throughout history, with the message that all of these inspiring people were once little people with big dreams. The series captures women such as Anne Frank, Jane Austen, Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst and so many more! i think the amazing aspect of this series of picture books is that all of the women are well known for such incredibly vast reasons; from art to science, to fashion and activism. This variation appeals to the diversity of interests in this world, and provides a means for young children to be able to connect or be inspired by (at least) one story!

Prompt 8 2018

ECL310 Prompt 8 2018

Research a #hashtag Your task for this prompt is to do a search, on TUMBLR, of #picturebooks. Type in #picturebooks to the search panel, and browse the numerous TUMBLR posts that are shown. We want you to find something and share!. You may find the details of a new picture book being released, you may find a discussion or information regarding an obscure, or famous picture book. If you see an interesting hashtag in one of the posts you may like to follow that. We ask you to reflect and report back on what you have found interesting when you have research #picturebooks. You may choose to follow some TUMBLR sites and recommend these to others. Remember to hashtag #ecl310deakin and #picturebooks

Good luck!

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Prompt 6 - Phonics debate

PROMPT 6 2018

THE PHONICS DEBATE

The link above contains a video recording of a phonics debate provided here through the Australian College of Educators.

Your task is to watch and listen to some of this recorded debate.

You begin by forwarding the video to the 20-minute mark. Beginning around the twenty-minute mark you will see one speaker for the teaching of phonics, followed by a speaker who questions the positioning of phonics in the teaching of reading. The two speakers run from the twenty-minute mark until the 37 and a half minute mark.

Watch both speakers and take notes. After watching from the 20.00 to the 37.30 minutes mark, and having taken your notes, we ask you to complete a RAN chart to help organize your thinking. It is probably easier of you make your own RAN chart.

You may well be asked about Phonics at a job interview so it is worth starting to know more about this topic, now!

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https://padlet.com/cassiecartwright/dust_ecl310deakin Activities ‘before reading’ are an effective way to get children motivated and engaged in a text before even reading it. It’s also a great opportunity to promote students’ creativity, and have them thinking critically about the issues the book surrounds. Linked is my ‘Padlet’, a multimodal platform for students’ to begin exploring the front cover, which they can answer on the site if they wish. The five questions asked are: 1. What do you notice about the colours that are used to create this front cover? What might they symbolise? 2. Why do you think this cover says ‘Save the Children’? What might children need saving from? Brainstorm a list.

3. Does this front cover tell us anything about the setting? How can you tell?

4. Create a ‘think, feel, wonder’ Y-Chart about the front cover. What does this make you think, feel and wonder?

5. What do you think the title implies? What do you think of when you read the word ‘dust’?

PROMPT 5 ECL310 2018

I hope that you have enjoyed placement and are back on board ready to work through until the end of the trimester.

In seminars this week we have looked at Before Reading, Frontloading, and Predicting. In the week 6 seminar Powerpoint, there are excellent activities based around Way Home by Libby Hathorn. I would encourage you to read the prediction and questioning strategies demonstrated in those slides, to help you to come up with 5 questions that you would ask grade 6 children, directly addressing the front cover of DUST. You can use ideas that were explored in the week 6 seminar.

Your challenge is to present these five questions in a multi-modal format, we encourage you to be creative here, how can you ask these questions in an engaging manner?

Good Luck

#inference

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I took this photo in my placement school’s library. It was very clear to me that my school, teachers and students included, love literacy and reading. The students were just commencing ‘book club’, where they choose their own books, formed groups  and designated an amount of pages they’d like to read each week. Then, every Thursday they would allocate roles (visualiser, summariser, questioner, etc) to discuss their book in depth. They took to this with great enthusiasm, and looked after their books with such care! I think giving students’ the opportunity to choose quality books really makes a difference to their learning. Popular books included; The Hunger Games, Wonder, The Dork Diaries, and The City of Ember. Curriculum planning for writing is something my placement school is currently completely changing, trying to figure out what ‘best practice’ looks like. They’re currently modelling certain writing types, however giving children complete free choice on what they write about and what writing type they use themselves. I like this because most students’ appear more engaged, however I believe it can allows some students to fall through the cracks.

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This is a simple version of the kind of poster I would use in my own classroom as an aid for students to look up at for inspiration when trying to make their own writing more interesting, particularly in the middle years. I think this is a particularly important literacy skill to have all throughout life and would be terrific to get a grasp of as early as possible to create writing pieces that are a pleasure to read! :)

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