Reading

Story
Spelling Words
Rotations

Teaching strategies and processes used by

Prerequisite knowledge and skills required for
Assessment opportunities within the activity
teacher
student engagement
Modelling what good readers do thinking Expectation of what listening to reading entails Informal diagnostic:
sitting on floor, hands to self, respectful body
Teacher can gauge students prior
aloud, reading aloud, punctuation, tone
language
knowledge about refugees. Can give
Modelling voice aspect of 6+1
further explanations where necessary
Higher-order questioning, such as why did
Formative:
I change the tone of my voice as the story
Providing verbal feedback to students
continued?, How does this story make
ideas, questions
you feel?
Summative:
High student engagement as students
Students know how to clap syllables of
At the end of the week, students may have
choose their own spelling words
words and record syllables in words using
breaks
|

a test on spelling words (did not confirm
Asked students to extend vocabulary.
with teacher)
Teacher used terms such as graphemes,
When student suggested sad, teacher
asked student for a more descriptive,
using specific metalanguage and allowing
specific word. Student came up with
students to use these terms as well
tragic and horrifying
1. Comprehension
Knew expectations of rotations staying in Comprehension task allowed informal
2. Spelling
one spot, working the whole time, quiet,
formative assessment to take place.
3. Handwriting
on task
Teacher gave verbal and written feedback
4. Blogging
and set goals with each student
All tasks allowed students to work at their
5. Readers Theatre
individual capability and level. Tasks were
Blogging activity allowed teacher to

differentiated allowing for greater
monitor students progress. Teacher able
Teacher spent most of her time
engagement.
to write comments on students blog posts.
conferencing with the comprehension
Teacher able to use information in posts to
Students were particularly engaged
group who were working on writing diary
generate foci for future lessons
through Blogging. Students required to
entries about their experience as refugees.
post one blog a week, and to comment on
Readers Theatre allowed immediate
Teacher monitored other groups, though
others posts. Resulted in great discussions
verbal feedback. Teacher gave a lot of
majority of students were on task whole
and higher-order questioning
praise, with few but concise points of
lesson
constructive feedback for students to
improve

Describe how this learning focus/activity enhances knowledges and skills:

Through the use of the mentor text, students were exposed to the experiences of refugees. Students were able to comprehend that as Australian citizens,
they are very fortunate compared to a lot of others in the world. This mentor text helps develop students social and emotional capabilities, as well as a
sense of empathy (Australian Curriculum General Capabilities). Many of the activities were student-centred, and student-led. In particular, the spelling
words being chose by students increased their engagement and language specific to refugee experiences. Similarly, the comprehension activity of writing
refugee diary entries allowed students to apply their new knowledge to pre-existing knowledge, and to think creatively and write with emotion. The
blogging rotation allowed students to self-reflect, and peer-assess. Through composing book reviews, students are encouraged to consider their texts at a
greater level. Students were able to read comments their peers had written and to justify and provide further reasoning. As students will spend 45 minutes
in each activity throughout the week, they are given the opportunity to fully engage in their task and produce quality work (rather than spend 10 minutes
and be interrupted as they have to rotate). These rotations also develop stamina as students are expected to be engaged in their learning for the whole
lesson.