Standard 2.5 - Literacy and numeracy strategies
Evidence - Work samples from mathematics and literacy lessons
Demonstrating focus area 2.5.1 - Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas.
Reflection
These work samples reflect my application of literacy and numeracy strategies. The first image shows some picture graphs that 6E students created in groups, after analysing data showing the career statistics of NRL players competing in that week’s draw. This topic was chosen, as the boys in 6E are extremely interested in the NRL. The second image is a work sample, which shows an explanation written by a student, which explains the life cycle of a mushroom. This topic related to the unit of work, microorganisms, that 6E are currently working on.
These work samples reflect my strategy of teaching for meaning in literacy and numeracy. Knowing about the interests of students in 6E and of their learning across KLA’s, I was able to teach new concepts through familiar themes.
I used a constructivist approach to plan these lessons, aiming for learning for understanding. The maths lesson used raw data and primary resources, which provided information about the NRL players who would be performing that weekend. The students worked in groups to analyse data and create picture graphs representing the number of points scored by the top 6 players in each team. I brought up the draw for that weekend’s games on the IWB and the groups playing in each round got up, presented their graphs and the rest of the class voted on who they thought would win the match. The next week, we reflected on this by seeing how many of our predictions were correct.
The English lesson was planned to introduce a new text type, explanation writing, to students through an integration approach. Students wrote about the Life Cycle of Mushrooms, a topic that they are learning about in the microorganisms unit of work in science. They used ICT to navigate a science website and practiced sourcing relevant information as they took notes on the life cycle of a mushroom video clip. Class discussion was both teacher directed and student centred, as I informed students of the structure of writing an explanation and encouraged student inquiry.
The strategies for teaching were constructivist in their approach. My teaching included asking open ended questions, using group investigation and creation in maths, using ICT and integrating science topics with English writing.
These lessons both had the opportunity for assessment of understanding in literacy and numeracy. On assessment of these work samples, and the presentations of the graphs, I learnt that students are more likely to produce a high standard of work, remain focused throughout a lesson and work cooperatively with their peers if they are interested in the content. When we looked at who won the games that weekend, I learnt that students had retained the information that they had learnt and it had meant something to them when the team they predicted to win, did win.
In the future, I would aim to integrate KLA’s, plan lessons with meaningful content and allow student responses to drive lessons.
These work samples reflect my strategy of teaching for meaning in literacy and numeracy. Knowing about the interests of students in 6E and of their learning across KLA’s, I was able to teach new concepts through familiar themes.
I used a constructivist approach to plan these lessons, aiming for learning for understanding. The maths lesson used raw data and primary resources, which provided information about the NRL players who would be performing that weekend. The students worked in groups to analyse data and create picture graphs representing the number of points scored by the top 6 players in each team. I brought up the draw for that weekend’s games on the IWB and the groups playing in each round got up, presented their graphs and the rest of the class voted on who they thought would win the match. The next week, we reflected on this by seeing how many of our predictions were correct.
The English lesson was planned to introduce a new text type, explanation writing, to students through an integration approach. Students wrote about the Life Cycle of Mushrooms, a topic that they are learning about in the microorganisms unit of work in science. They used ICT to navigate a science website and practiced sourcing relevant information as they took notes on the life cycle of a mushroom video clip. Class discussion was both teacher directed and student centred, as I informed students of the structure of writing an explanation and encouraged student inquiry.
The strategies for teaching were constructivist in their approach. My teaching included asking open ended questions, using group investigation and creation in maths, using ICT and integrating science topics with English writing.
These lessons both had the opportunity for assessment of understanding in literacy and numeracy. On assessment of these work samples, and the presentations of the graphs, I learnt that students are more likely to produce a high standard of work, remain focused throughout a lesson and work cooperatively with their peers if they are interested in the content. When we looked at who won the games that weekend, I learnt that students had retained the information that they had learnt and it had meant something to them when the team they predicted to win, did win.
In the future, I would aim to integrate KLA’s, plan lessons with meaningful content and allow student responses to drive lessons.