Scaffolding Literacy Package for Teachers - Coursework Example

Running Head: Scaffolding Literacy Package for Teachers Scaffolding Literacy Package for Teachers Name Course Lecturer Date Theoretical overview of the Scaffolding Literacy methodology According to Cowey (2005, p.3), the term scaffolding was first invented in 1976 by Bruner, Wood and Ross. It was used to describe the back up that individuals require when acquiring new skills. Generally, the term denotes the support that is placed around a structure until it is able to stand on its own. In the teaching field, scaffolding defines the support a student receives from a teacher until the time they can start learning independently. It is mainly founded on the cognitive development and learning theories of Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist. Axford, Harders, & Wise (2009, p.7) maintain that, a teacher uses scaffolding to assist students expand their abilities and knowledge. This is done in two levels namely micro level and macro level. The micro level encompasses the direct task being done as well as the interaction between the teacher and the student. The macro level deals with the relationship between the task and the course objectives. Drawing from Apel, Masterson, & Hart (2004, p.312), in scaffolding, the idea of contingency refers to a teacher’s awareness of the current level of their students’ understanding. Students have different understanding capacities and thus teachers should have different ideas for different understanding levels. The absence of such ideas may result into a case where some students find certain tasks either very easy or very difficult. Students who find tasks highly challenging and gets little support from teachers are likely to get perturbed and end up failing. On the other hand, very easy tasks lead to boredom and lack of interest among students. This argument relates to Vygotsky’s concept of proximal development zone. Overview of the lessons in the sequence Lesson sequencing involves organizing a number of lesson plans which will be taught in a row. The lesson sequencing will aim at creating a smooth transition amid lessons so as to achieve the objectives of unit plans and also to attain best learning outcomes (Rose, 2011, p.86). The first plan will be on text selection whereby the teacher will select the book to be studied. Under this plan, significant teaching outcomes that are expected from narration will be listed. The teacher will also indicate the outcomes that are to be taught in subsequent lessons. The second plan will be on contextual understanding and the teacher will identify broad situational and cultural contexts in the text which may pose difficulties to the learners and also propose ways of introducing the contexts to the students in order to prepare them for other lessons which will be taught later on. The third lesson plan will be on text orientation and the teacher will narrate the story of the fluffy gosling. He will highlight phrases as well as words which will be put on the forefront in getting set for future lessons. In the fourth lesson, the teacher will concentrate on the elaboration of meanings including language work which will need further consolidation and exploration for the learners. The next lesson will involve the breaking up of few sentences and framing them into questions to test understanding of the learners. Lastly, words will be chosen from the transformed sentences and the teacher will show different ways of studying them. Text selection The book to be studied is known as Lucy Goosey that was written by Margaret Wild and Ann James. The book narrates the story of a gosling who did not want to fly with other geese when a time came for them to migrate to a different country. After observing the vast sky, the gosling decided to run away in to the bush to avoid flying with the rest. She returns back to the pond and no one is there. She starts calling out her mother. At long last, the gosling manages to find her mother and later the two fly together. Teaching outcomes By the time the learners finish reading the book, they should be in a position to; read different books on their own identify difficult words in a script and find out their meanings figure out different applications of several words Interpret different contexts in a book to give deeper meanings. change various sentences into questions without changing the original meaning of the sentences analyze a picture and identify the mood that is expressed in the picture represent written information through drawing listen carefully to evaluate and interpret sum up the plot of a text make deductions from the book The subsequent lessons will talk about the outcomes concerning reading books, identifying difficult words, different applications of numerous words, transformation of sentences into questions and interpretation of different contexts.  Contextual understanding There are certain contexts in the book which the learners may found difficult to understand during the reading. An example of a cultural context is where the gosling, Lucy Goosey is nearing full growth. She has developed proper feathers and has also learned how to fluff her wings as she jumps from a tree into a pond. Lucy’s mother is so impressed by the good fluffing of her daughter and tells her that, the fluffing will be very helpful during their long flight (Wild & James, 2010, p.3). In this context, the mother tries to imply that, the fluffing helps in strengthening the wings of the gosling and thus the gosling will be able to fly for long distances without getting tired. In preparing the students for upcoming lessons, the students will be taught on some of the adaptations of human beings and how those adaptations are useful in their lives (Adoniou & Macken-Horarik, 2007, p.7). A situational context is seen where the gosling runs and hides in the bush so as not to fly with the rest of the geese. She wakes up when it is already dark and returns to the pond to see if the other geese had flown and finds no one. She then decides to swim around the pond in lonely small circles (Wild & James, 2010, p.15). At this moment, the gosling is feeling lonely and helpless. This will be introduced to learners by asking them how they normally feel and what they do when they find themselves stranded and helpless (Avecedo & Rose, 2006, p.41). Text orientation Discuss the traits of the characters presented in the text Deduce different meanings of certain phrases in the story Discuss how the author has used images and words to develop characters Outcomes: To interpret different contexts in the story to give both literal and deeper meanings and to highlight the language works used in the story. The learners should be aware of what the narrative talks about, who are involved in it and where it took place. The teacher will have told the students how Lucy Goosey relates with other characters that are presented in the story. Strategies: The teacher will narrate the story as the students listen keenly. He will use images in the book to back up particular contexts in the narration. Script: I will tell you a story about Lucy Goosey using my own words. Lucy Goosey lived in a pond since she was a gosling. There was a tree near the pond from whose branches she would dive into the pond. She used to play hide and seek in a nearby bush. Lucy grew up and knew how to fluff her wings when diving into the pond. One day, her mother told Lucy that, the fluffing would help her during long flights. When time came for Lucy, her mother and other relatives to move to another country, she refused to go, afraid of the endless sky. She ran away as her mother begged her to come back and hid in a nearby bush. When it was dark, she went back to the pond but there was no one. She felt lonely and started calling out for her mother. The mother showed up, hugged her and asked why she was not willing to fly. Lucy said she was afraid of getting lost in the sky or falling down into the sea. Then the mother told her, if that was to happen she would search for her until she finds her. Lucy felt relieved and was ready to fly and thus she flew together with her mother. Assessment: The student will play the role of Lucy and her mother to show their listening and understanding capabilities. Language Orientation Gibbons (2003, p.253) asserts that language orientation should be mostly done in a single lesson in order to help students pay maximum attention for better understanding. Passage: Lucy Goosey was nearing full growth. She had developed appropriate feathers, and had learned to fluff her wings while diving into the pond water. Her mother was pleased with her fluffing (Wild & James, 2010, p.6-7). General Language focus: Writing sentences with correct grammar and tense Narrowed language focus: nouns, pronouns, tense Script: The teacher will make copies of the passage and give a copy to every student. He will then use a projector to display the passage on the board. Read through the passage monitoring tone variation and facial expressions. Preparation: The word ‘Lucy’ is important because it tells us about the key character in the story and thus we should underline it. Elaboration: The authors of the book, Margaret Wild and Ann James put the name of the main character at the beginning of the passage with a capital letter to show its importance and it is a noun. All nouns should start with capital letters. Preparation: the subsequent words talk about what is happening to Lucy. Identification: Lucy ‘was nearing full growth. She had developed appropriate feathers’. Underline the phrase in quotes. Elaboration: The word ‘developed’ tells us that, it is something that has happened. The ‘ed’ is added to words to indicate past tense, that is, something that has taken place some hours, a day, a month or some years ago. Moreover, the word ‘she’ is important because it is a pronoun and it refers to Lucy. Pronouns help avoid repetition in a sentence. Language Work that need further study and consolidation Students will need to learn more about tense. According to There are different tense ranging from present tense, past tense and past participle. Moreover, not all words use the ‘ed’ for their past tense and thus students should explore the forms that different words take in their past tense and past participle. Transformations- Lucy Goosey by Margaret Wild and Ann James Passage: She used to sit on a rock that was as huge as a cow. And she used to play in bushes that were dark as caves (Wild & James, 2010, p.4). Genera language focus: sentence construction Specific focus: enhanced sentence construction using descriptive Script: Teacher’s words Important units Can you identify the collection of words which give more description of where Lucy used to sit? This collection is very crucial because it gives us an opportunity to compare two things. If the phrase was to be removed from the sentence, it will not make sentence. Discuss the use of the simile ‘as’ from the selected phrase. On a rock that was as huge as a cow Can you spot two words that talks about where Lucy used to play? If we remove the words from the sentence it will read; And she used to play in bushes that were dark as caves. The sentence has no meaning without the words. Discuss the application of the preposition ‘in’ and other prepositions in a sentence. In bushes Word Study The words from the transformation sentence to be studied in different ways are; sit, rock, that and play. The word ‘sit’ can be used in two different ways. First, it can be used to mean taking a rest. It can also be used when a group of people assemble in a place. Rock can be used as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it refers to an aggregate of different minerals. As a verb, it means to stun somebody. ‘That’ can be used as an attribution verb to further describe an action. It can also be used as conjunction to connect tow parts of a sentence. A play denotes a presentation in theater and it can also be applied in a sentence as a verb to mean having fun. Patterned writing The writing plan to be used by students will contain the following steps; Devise an appropriate topic while writing an essay. A good topic should be more specific than too general. An example of a general topic is, ‘the impacts of smoking’ while a specific topic may take the form of, ‘the impacts of smoking on people’s health’. Put down the key points to be addressed in the writing. This will help avoid forgetting important points. Ensure that nouns denoting places or names of people are put in capital letters. Pronouns like she, he, her, him and it should be used to avoid repetition. Use uniform tense throughout your work in order for the writing to have a good flow. Proof read your work after writing to correct any grammatical errors. Critical reflection According to Macken-Horarik (2009, p.55), early childhood education is very important in a learner learning journey because it gives a learner a foundation for advanced educational transitions. EALD learners need a strong educational foundation for enhanced academic excellence throughout their education life and scaffolding literacy is one of the best ways of meeting the learning needs of EALD learners. Having a lesson sequence is one of way through which scaffolding literacy meets the needs of EALD learners. This is because; lesson sequencing enables a teacher to put the lessons to be taught during a given period of time like a term, semester or an academic year in such a way that, a previous lesson provided the background for the next lesson. Normally, EALD learners have low understanding capacities owing to their age as well as little knowledge of most things. Therefore, such a sequence gives them an opportunity to build up their knowledge in a systematic manner for enhanced understanding. Pendergast (2010, p.8) maintains that, text selection presents the teacher with a focus on which to base his or her teaching activities. Highlighting teaching outcomes and choosing those to be covered in subsequent lessons enables a teacher to maximize the time availed for teaching and thus learners are in a position to learn as much as possible during lesson which in turn helps develop their knowledge. Contextual understanding facilitates the preparation of EALD learners by the teacher being able to devise the best way of explaining certain situational and cultural contexts to the learners for better understanding. Makin, Jones-Diaz, & McLachlan (2006, p.23) further assert that, text orientation facilitates a broader understanding of contexts of EALD learners by being able to view the contexts both from a literal as well as a deeper perspective. This is important for EALD learners since they need to develop such an understanding for them to be able to figure out different situations that they encounter in their lives. EALD learners need to be guided on how to do things during learning sessions. Language orientation meet such need since the teacher is able to guide students through reading a passage and elaborating what different words and phrases mean. Furthermore, transformations build EALD learners’ knowledge by digging deeper into the field of grammar. References Read More

Text selection The book to be studied is known as Lucy Goosey that was written by Margaret Wild and Ann James. The book narrates the story of a gosling who did not want to fly with other geese when a time came for them to migrate to a different country. After observing the vast sky, the gosling decided to run away in to the bush to avoid flying with the rest. She returns back to the pond and no one is there. She starts calling out her mother. At long last, the gosling manages to find her mother and later the two fly together.

Teaching outcomes By the time the learners finish reading the book, they should be in a position to; read different books on their own identify difficult words in a script and find out their meanings figure out different applications of several words Interpret different contexts in a book to give deeper meanings. change various sentences into questions without changing the original meaning of the sentences analyze a picture and identify the mood that is expressed in the picture represent written information through drawing listen carefully to evaluate and interpret sum up the plot of a text make deductions from the book The subsequent lessons will talk about the outcomes concerning reading books, identifying difficult words, different applications of numerous words, transformation of sentences into questions and interpretation of different contexts.

 Contextual understanding There are certain contexts in the book which the learners may found difficult to understand during the reading. An example of a cultural context is where the gosling, Lucy Goosey is nearing full growth. She has developed proper feathers and has also learned how to fluff her wings as she jumps from a tree into a pond. Lucy’s mother is so impressed by the good fluffing of her daughter and tells her that, the fluffing will be very helpful during their long flight (Wild & James, 2010, p.3). In this context, the mother tries to imply that, the fluffing helps in strengthening the wings of the gosling and thus the gosling will be able to fly for long distances without getting tired.

In preparing the students for upcoming lessons, the students will be taught on some of the adaptations of human beings and how those adaptations are useful in their lives (Adoniou & Macken-Horarik, 2007, p.7). A situational context is seen where the gosling runs and hides in the bush so as not to fly with the rest of the geese. She wakes up when it is already dark and returns to the pond to see if the other geese had flown and finds no one. She then decides to swim around the pond in lonely small circles (Wild & James, 2010, p.15). At this moment, the gosling is feeling lonely and helpless.

This will be introduced to learners by asking them how they normally feel and what they do when they find themselves stranded and helpless (Avecedo & Rose, 2006, p.41). Text orientation Discuss the traits of the characters presented in the text Deduce different meanings of certain phrases in the story Discuss how the author has used images and words to develop characters Outcomes: To interpret different contexts in the story to give both literal and deeper meanings and to highlight the language works used in the story.

The learners should be aware of what the narrative talks about, who are involved in it and where it took place. The teacher will have told the students how Lucy Goosey relates with other characters that are presented in the story. Strategies: The teacher will narrate the story as the students listen keenly. He will use images in the book to back up particular contexts in the narration. Script: I will tell you a story about Lucy Goosey using my own words. Lucy Goosey lived in a pond since she was a gosling.

There was a tree near the pond from whose branches she would dive into the pond. She used to play hide and seek in a nearby bush. Lucy grew up and knew how to fluff her wings when diving into the pond. One day, her mother told Lucy that, the fluffing would help her during long flights.

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