Teacher+Interview

Many of the recommendations presented on this website are already being used in classrooms across the world and the success of these can be observed. I was lucky enough to observe one such classroom and conducted an interview with the teacher in relation to the strategies she implements in her literacy teaching to maximise engagement. The grade one classroom consists of 19 students, two of whom have Autism and one with a severe disability. There is also one aid permanently in the classroom. The teacher strongly believes that engagement is critical when planning and teaching for all subjects but the interview and observations were in relation to literacy, “having a student engaged in an activity works ten times better than using rewards”

Parents are encouraged and utilised by the teacher significantly in the classroom. Every morning during literacy rotations parents were present. Students were in reading groups (not grouped by ability) and each took turns to read their take home reader they had taken home the day before. As most of the students had read the book the night before they were more confident in reading and often knew the storyline which helped to prompt them with words. This meant a more positive experience of reading with their peers and parent helper, “the students love to share their story with their friends, especially when they can comment that the next page is funny or point out things they noticed the night before to the other students. They feel like experts for those few moments.” By having the parent helpers present for literacy rotations the teacher was able to talk to the parents and develop a relationship with them, as well as gain an insight into the students’ life and what knowledge they may bring with them, “it’s incredible how much you can learn about a student in those few minutes of chatting to the parents while they are there in the classroom.”

After reading their books the students are given 5 minutes to swap over their books. They are able to choose any book from their level box and these books are changed over every two weeks to ensure that there are always new books for them to choose from. The teacher makes an effort to observe which books the students choose and which ones they seem to enjoy. She commented that this proved to be very useful when working out how to engage a student in her class. “He often made a big scene of reading his book when it was his turn but one day he asked to read his first. He had found an information report style book on fish in one of the harder reader boxes and although many of the words were very difficult he persevered...He loved telling the other students what he knew about the different species of fish.” From this the teacher helped the student to find books in the library that he might be interested in and also found some books an appropriate level for him.

After swapping books the students are then break into groups and complete the activities they are assigned. What is important about the activities is that students have input into what their group does. At the end of each week the student are told what concept they are working on and their group vote on two activities they would like to do, eg interactive whiteboard game, crossword, word find, memory game, whiteboard writing, bingo, computers etc. Part of the process of groups making their decisions was to take one suggestion from each student, take a vote, and then explain to the whole class and the teacher why they chose that activity, “By asking the students to explain their choices I am able to make a judgement on which activities the students really enjoy and why. From this I can make decisions about the literacy lessons I plan.” “Often I will comment to the students that because they often choose to do such-and-such an activity they will enjoy this activity because it uses similar skills. Students often feel more confident going into a new activity because I am able to tell them that they already have the skills for it.”

Technology is a central component of the classroom, with the interactive whiteboard being used not just by the teacher but the students as well. The teacher uses an integrated approach with technology and students are confident on programs such as Powerpoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Movie Maker and are now beginning work on creating a class Wiki! The teacher has found a balance between writing on the computer and on paper and often students need to complete a written draft before putting their information onto the computers, “By getting the students to write and correct their work on paper first, students aren’t relying on spell check to correct their spelling and grammar...It also means that all nineteen students aren’t trying to use the few computers we have all at the same time...Students are encouraged to draw the pictures they wish to put with their text if there isn’t a spare computer and then they can scan in the picture later on....Often I will ask a student to type their text using the interactive whiteboard and I can then use to model examples to other students.” Students are also encouraged to use the internet to answer questions they may have about a topic being covered in the classroom. For example, when learning about space in the classroom a student wanted to know what colour a supernova was so the teacher asked the student to use the internet on the smart board to find out. The student was able to find a picture and then displayed it for the rest of the class to see, “she was very proud of her discovery and was able to explain to the students that she discovered that it could be many different colours and that it depended on the type of star that was exploding.”

These are only a selection of the many strategies the teacher uses in the planning and implementation of her literacy teaching. It is easy to see when observing her classes that the students are engaged and motivated in her classes, even those who aren’t confident readers or writers. The teacher has a respect for her students and actively involves them in their learning and strives to learn as much about the students as she can, “You need to have an understanding of what makes the students tick to be able to teach them effectively.”