EDLA309: Literacy Education 2. This assignment required planning two sessions to develop reading comprehension for Year 4 students. It needed to include both a fiction and non-fiction text, as well as one multi-modal text. I was then required to write a rationale for the lesson plans. Excerpts from Lesson Plans: Learning Intention: By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to demonstrate comprehension of the text by drawing conclusions and inferences from the visual, audio, gestural and spatial cues, by providing possible linguistic cues. Australian Curriculum: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013).
Partly Cloudy video:
Excerpts from Rationale: To develop comprehension in primary aged students, teachers need to employ a range of instructional approaches to effectively teach a variety of comprehension strategies. The instructional approaches used above include modelling, reciprocal teaching, read to and think pair share. Reciprocal teaching is an appropriate strategy to teach reading comprehension because it allows students to be taught four explicit strategies (Ministry of Education, 2013, pg. 101; Comment [N1]: Here, the learning intention is directly related to the Australian curriculum standards for grade four, which shows that I can competently use curriculum to design learning sequences and lesson plans (focus area 2.3). Comment [N2]: Using a video expanded learning opportunities for students, as it catered for students who were not strong readers and showed me that they can still comprehend texts (focus area 2.6).
Comment [N3]: This shows that I know and understand literacy teaching strategies and how to apply them in literacy lessons Standard 2; Evidence #1
Fellowes & Oakley, 2010, pg. 279). These strategies include formulating questions, clarifying ideas, predicting what might follow and summarising information (Ministry of Education, 2013, pg. 101; Fellowes & Oakley, 2010, pg. 279). During the process, teachers need to use materials or texts that are in the students zone of proximal development (Fellowes & Oakley, 2010, pg. 280). Reciprocal teaching allows students to become independent in comprehending texts (Fellowes & Oakley, 2010, pg. 280), a quality that is important to develop in grade four students. Reading aloud to students should be a daily activity in the classroom (Ministry of Education, 2003, pg. 91), as it develops skills in listening comprehension and critical thinking (Ministry of Education, 2003, pg. 92). The benefits of reading aloud include providing a good model (Ministry of Education, 2003, pg. 92) and demonstrating good reading behaviours and a positive attitude towards reading (Annandale, 3004, pg. 11). Reading aloud to children daily is an effective way to demonstrate how competent readers use various strategies to help them engage with and comprehend a text (Menner, 2007, pg. 35). The most influential and one of the most used strategy when teaching reading is modelling (Ministry of Education, 2003; Annandale, 2004). Menner (2007) suggests that demonstrating modelling daily is needed to ensure optimal comprehension. Furthermore, students who struggle with reading can benefit from seeing modelling and another instructional strategy simultaneously (Ministry of Education, 2003, pg. 80). Other ways to make modelling most effective include combining it with directing or explaining (Ministry of Education, 2003, pg. 80) and thinking aloud throughout the process (Fellowes & Oakley, 2010).
Comment [N4]: This shows that I have knowledge of how to apply the strategy of reciprocal teaching in the classroom (focus area 2.5). Comment [N5]: This paragraph emphasises the importance of reading aloud, which is a key teaching strategy in literacy (focus area 2.5). Comment [N6]: This paragraph emphasises the importance of modelling, which is a key teaching strategy in literacy (focus area 2.5).