Meaningful Education Practices - Essay Example

Introduction As I observed reading teachers in the primary school, I d that they applied a range of models and teaching strategies to assist children in learning. Some of the methods they used included: · Explicit teaching of literacy · Use of meta-language which enables pupils and teacher to talk about literacy (e.g. clause, connective, comma) · Interactive approaches · Explanation · High-order questioning All of these methods seemed to add to the experience for each child and help them to express their learning in a way that was meaningful to them. Discussion The three pieces of reading, academic reading, shared reading and guided reading, are critically evaluated with regards to the ‘complex network of interaction and intertextuality’ (Meek, 1995). There are three core teaching objectives that teachers are expected to deliver in the teaching of reading, these include ‘teaching text, sentence level and word type’. In the academic reading of ‘Extending interactions with non-fiction texts’, I found that The Exit Model was frequently used because this model accommodates effectively for both the teacher and pupil. The model serves as a ‘process of learning through and with the text’, as the teacher applies ten mental activities. Since I found The Exit Model to be the most interesting, I will outline what I observed about it and the ten stages that it includes. My primary observations show how the model served as a guide for the learners critical and creative thinking and how well these stages functioned throughout the teaching of reading. Day 1- The Literacy Hour began with a copy of a non-fiction text ’Little Red Riding Hood’, by Charles Perrault. A copy of this book was placed on each table and children were expected to independently read the story within 10 minutes. Afterwards the class shared what they read and evaluated the story together as a group. This story provided the children with insight and it acted as a model to facilitate thinking and motivate children to ‘WALT: Write in the genre of a Fairytale’. The story also incorporated word and sentence level work through spelling, vocabulary and grammar (written and spoken). Once this was done, it was followed up with brain-storming of ideas about the key features of a fairytale. Field Notebook ‘Primary Observation’- Appendix (1) One of the most popular forms of the ten stages utilized as a process of learning in the Literacy Hour was the ‘activation of previous knowledge’. I felt this was a crucial and popular stage to implement at the beginning of a lesson, as learners were encouraged to engage in an open discussion. Because they could speak openly to each other, the learners were able to draw upon their own knowledge of the subject matter and bring it into the discussion. The practical teaching methods which were deployed were brainstorming and mind-mapping. These methods were offered as a guide to facilitate the children’s thinking about ‘what they already knew about the text’. During the lesson the format of deploying reading skills was developed and children were motivated into ‘adopting an appropriate strategy’. This activity took place as an independent and shared reading task because the teacher and pupil read the text ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, out loud and with expression. This style of close reading allowed the teacher to ‘describe the careful and sustain interpretation of a brief passage of text ’. The teacher implemented this literacy strategy by closely examining the ’word level work’ and ‘sentence level’. The visual source is arranged in a ‘VPOC’ pyramid format (vocabulary, punctuation, openers and connectives). At this point the teachers are strengthening the literacy reading aspect, and their ‘productive use of available time and opportunity to see and hear text simultaneously’. Teachers were incorporating interactive methods to teach learners explicitly and systematically. Reflecting to appendix (1) children are given shared reading time and it is explicitly being invited and encouraged to discuss and participate on the subject matter; this automatically leads to an interactive discussion. This type of reading places a great emphasis on a particular reading over general reading, and makes children pay close attention to individual words, syntax, important key words, and the order in which sentences and ideas begin to unravel as they read. PROBING PREDICTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES/HIGH ORDER QUESTIONING As I watched this approach I felt that it could have been extended. As I began to observe how children were beginning to ‘interact with the text’, watched active readers began to combine cognitive skills, with their knowledge of their own attitudes and values with the information in the text provided. For example the short story ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, fits into the fairytale fictional genre. However, children were reflecting on their knowledge of the traditional fairy-tale opening (Once upon a time…’, ‘A long time ago…), characters (differentiate between Good versus Bad) and plot outlines (introduction, build-up, conflict, resolution and ending). Children were able to use other strategies such as text marking (underlining, highlighting key words and phrases) in this review of the text also, which suggest that these strategies are very useful in helping children focus on the sections of texts most relevant to their reading purposes (Neate, 1992). Children developed the skill of highlighting key words in ‘The Tripod’, as learners were expected to ‘scan’ for scientific vocabulary, technical terms, literacy devices- personification and simile associated with the science fiction genre. They also were asked to talk about characters (aliens), plot, and setting. This mental activity provided pupils a chance to reacquaint themselves with the process of scanning a piece of text quickly, as well as making a note of key words which would help them develop in their guided writing, as they were expected to ‘Write in the genre of science fiction’. In the process of guided writing, teachers explore how meaning is created e.g. in a science fiction text and how this might be recreated. As an example, by using the highlighted words children were encouraged to use these scientific words and vocabulary to recreate their very own science fiction story by expanding short key words to longer descriptive sentences. They were also encouraged to use personification and similes to work with the sentence level they understood in their guided writing and reading. After this, I shall be looking at how guided reading teachers are able to monitor small groups, which I found an effective model for listening and assessing a childs reading ability. This observation also includes ‘debugging skills’ which is a process where skilled readers proceed until a ‘triggered event’ tells them to examine more closely a certain area of reading in order to help them understand it better. They are taught in this process to slow down and devote extra time and effort in mental processing to the specific area that is causing the problem they are attempting to understand. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read More