Year 1 - Term One
1.3 Design and implement teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.
2.5 Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
My first short-term contract in 2015 was for two and a half weeks in term one, with a Year 1 class. This was a very important role in my growth as a teacher as it was my first placement in lower primary, which as a male was somewhat daunting, and as it was to form the basis of other more significant lower primary experiences later on in the year.
This class was an ethnically diverse group of students, at a school that provided for a very multicultural catchment of families. The students were a lovely group of young people and it was a complete privilege to lead them for this time. In addition to their diverse backgrounds and some of the ESL challenges that implied, I also had care of a student with autism, and a pair of twins, one of which was significantly physically handicapped. Two students also presented with defiant behaviours, which I ended up managing well.
This diversity in my students required me to consider a large range of student ability in terms of literacy, and comprehension generally, and I adapted my programs to consider this need. Additionally, I needed to closely collaborate with surrounding class teachers and support staff, as due to this range in ability, we leveled students for literacy, numeracy and some other subjects. A few of our weaker students were withdrawn from class on occasion to attend specific focused programs with the schools ESL support team.
A medium that most students seemed to relate to was ICT, and due to this I utilised much ICT in delivering my material. Being a fairly affluent suburb, most students no doubt had been introduced to ICT material in their homes. Additionally for this younger group, computer based material held significant appeal, which added to engagement.
With many literacy lessons, I designed or shared scaffolded graphically organised material that would allow the students to engage with the current topic at their level. Responsive feedback was given to the students on their work during the lesson, and some students were asked to work together, either to support other students or to mutually collaborate.
With my maths lessons, I utilised much ICT to sequentially introduce concepts, and followed this with exercises that slowly consolidated on these ideas. While our range of ability had been amended through leveling, I did have some more capable pre-primary students join us, which introduced another dynamic to the class, and which I considered during planning.
2.5 Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
My first short-term contract in 2015 was for two and a half weeks in term one, with a Year 1 class. This was a very important role in my growth as a teacher as it was my first placement in lower primary, which as a male was somewhat daunting, and as it was to form the basis of other more significant lower primary experiences later on in the year.
This class was an ethnically diverse group of students, at a school that provided for a very multicultural catchment of families. The students were a lovely group of young people and it was a complete privilege to lead them for this time. In addition to their diverse backgrounds and some of the ESL challenges that implied, I also had care of a student with autism, and a pair of twins, one of which was significantly physically handicapped. Two students also presented with defiant behaviours, which I ended up managing well.
This diversity in my students required me to consider a large range of student ability in terms of literacy, and comprehension generally, and I adapted my programs to consider this need. Additionally, I needed to closely collaborate with surrounding class teachers and support staff, as due to this range in ability, we leveled students for literacy, numeracy and some other subjects. A few of our weaker students were withdrawn from class on occasion to attend specific focused programs with the schools ESL support team.
A medium that most students seemed to relate to was ICT, and due to this I utilised much ICT in delivering my material. Being a fairly affluent suburb, most students no doubt had been introduced to ICT material in their homes. Additionally for this younger group, computer based material held significant appeal, which added to engagement.
With many literacy lessons, I designed or shared scaffolded graphically organised material that would allow the students to engage with the current topic at their level. Responsive feedback was given to the students on their work during the lesson, and some students were asked to work together, either to support other students or to mutually collaborate.
With my maths lessons, I utilised much ICT to sequentially introduce concepts, and followed this with exercises that slowly consolidated on these ideas. While our range of ability had been amended through leveling, I did have some more capable pre-primary students join us, which introduced another dynamic to the class, and which I considered during planning.