Last week before the Christmas hols - but I've spent hours stressing over my one-hour lesson plan for Wednesday's Literacy lesson, and finding suitable resources on paper and online. I must have printed out several trees' worth of handouts. But I'll start at the begining.
Monday Surestart Literacy Class: Laura hadn't asked me to prepare anything in particular for this class - and she had said that some people would be sitting tests at college and there would have to be a fair amount of individual work. So I took part in the opening plenary sessions and then worked mainly one-to-one with Mark on an Entry Level activity while the others did their own L1 and L2 work. It became clear to me that Mark is not only dyslexic, but suffers from the same learning difficulty as my daughter - Auditory Processing Disorder. He can hear perfectly well enough to understand and reproduce spoken words, but when it comes to analysing sounds into letters, he can't differentiate between some vowels (eg a and e sounds) or discriminate combination consonants. So he might write "friends", for instance, as "fads" - because when he tries to write what he hears that's what it sounds like. My daughter does exactly the same, to the degree that her attempts to spell some words are so un-phonetic that they are impossible to even guess at. The other day she wrote "silver" as "seve" - neither I nor spellcheck got that one! In Mark's case the problem is exacerbated by his regional accent, so his attempts at writing phonetically are even more undermined. I'll be interested to see the results of his SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty) test - and if there's any useful way of dealing with this.
I also spent some time with other members of the class, managing to clarify some grammatical areas and progress with relationships. Most said they would do homework over the break - they are a committed group.
Tuesday Numeracy class: Jo was away at a hospital appointment, but the rest of the class was in festive mood. Yasmin and I assisted Laura with plenary, group and indiviaul work for the first half of the session. We used packs of cards to do some work on odd and even numbers. I did some one-to-one with Gail, a Level 1 student, and found she had difficulty handling a pack of cards and sorting them into two piles (odd and even); evidence of chaotic thinking was that she was pulling cards from the middle of the pack, not off the top, and creating a third and unnecessary pile of "spares". Laura was interested by this observation - this is where my self help/psychology background comes into play.
When we moved up to the computer room after the break, Laura did an off-the-cuff plenary session, just using the whiteboard, on the theme of Christmas. It was inspired - engaging, simple, fun but including in the theme all the areas the class had been working on this term: weighing and measuring, decimals, number bonds, fractions, shape (menu-planning, cooking, buying, wrapping and and posting presents)... For half an hour the class were wrapt and having fun whilst a the same time recalling information, making connections and reinforcing the practical and relevant use of numeracy in real life. It will take me a long time to be able to pull off something as effective as that.
After that they paired up on PCs and played a competitive number bond ghost game, which kept everyone occupied and learning before breaking up for the festive season.
Yasmin has been offered a full-time but short-term job as a Learning Assistant at the college, and has a couple of other interviews lined up. Laura hopes she will continue to volunteer with this class as long as possible. These mixed ability classes in both Literacy and Numeracy, with students needing high levels of one-to-one support, are extremely hard to manage alone.
Wednesday Literacy class: Laura and I had reworked my initial lesson plan into something simpler and more manageable; I felt happy with the resources I'd brought along and had designed a brief Powerpoint to incorporate (simplified) Learning Objectives and some key points about Conjunctions and Commas (the lesson subject).
As everyone came in - about two minutes after Laura and I had got into the classroom - I became aware that my conscious incompetence was proving a huge barrier to my normally high ability to multi-task! I found it hard to greet people and continue writing the letter grid (my icebreaker/recap activity) on the whiteboard, so Laura ended up doing the greeting while I wrote. Having got them started on the activity, I logged into the PC and put up my PowerPoint, then rushed back to the whiteboard to take their feedback input about words containing the the requisite letter combinations. It went fine, but I probably let it run a little too long - perhaps because I found myself totally floundering on the transition from that activity to the next subject. Luckily Laura smoothed the moment, but it quite threw me.
I did then manage to lead the class through the recap on Conjunctions and differentiated worksheets; then segued into a plenary on Commas and individual worksheets on that. Sue, the learner with mobility problems and dyslexia, claimed she had never before heard of a comma and didn't know what I was talking about (Laura says she likes to be obstructive at times, but to use her basic queries to revisit info for the whole class). I felt she might have been thrown by the fact that it was me teaching rather than Laura, and responded positively to her. By the end of the class we had progressed quite well.
In the end, the two hour class turned into a jointly run session by me and Laura, rather than mine for the first hour and hers for the second. By the end, I was more confident, had done some effective one-to-one, as well as plenary, explanations with a number of the students and seen some lightbulb moments. But I still felt very inadequate as a teacher.
Laura's constructive and extremely generous feedback was:
Positives: Authoritative manner, good subject knowledge, strong eye contact and positive relationships with individuals. The class accepts me (she says), and respects me. I give clear explanations and write clearly for the whiteboard and smartboard.
Points for development: Get into the classroom earlier and set up whiteboard task, Powerpoint etc. Don't rely on small writing lesson plan for a lesson guide. Write a big and perhaps coloured progression to leave on the front desk to avoid floudering on transitions. Greet everyone individually. Give more directed, individual praise for responses early on. Maintain pace - don't stick too long on an activity, make sure everyone is engaged and notice when they're not - especially those at the top and bottom of the ability spectrum. Use every opportunity to include related learning (eg homophones in the initial word-making activities).
Thank goodness it's over - and there's a break before next term.
Showing posts with label commas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commas. Show all posts
16 December 2009
9 December 2009
Teaching Placement Week Two
Although I wrote this title last week, I'm actually into week three of teaching. Life - particularly in DTLLSworld, but also real life, has been so hectic that I haven't had much time to reflect.
So - last week:
Monday Surestart class: Laura had been held up so I opened the class with a letter chain exercise (How many words can you come up with containing the letters "str"?), which went down fine and took us through the ten minutes before Laura arrived. The Learning Room there does suffer from not having a whiteboard, let alone a smartboard or PCs - and even the flipchart paper has been well-used. I had also sourced some handouts and quizzes on Prepositions, which were used and went down quite well, later in the session
Shelley, the student who Laura had helped out last week, returned and thanked Laura for saving her. Her attendance had previously been so poor she was about to be written off, but Laura's intervention had the effect of renewing her interest and perhaps showing her that real support for her can be found here.
A very successful activity, which was highly inclusive of different levels of ability and allowed peer support and scaffolding, was a simple Murder Mystery game. Laura handed out a b&w picture of a "murder scene" in a cafe (including footprints, handprints, abandoned cups of tea, cigarettes smoking in ashtrays and the bills of the four last customers) and let the two groups work out from the clues what had happened and who had done what to whom. Inferring information from text and other sources is a major part of the Literacy Curriculum, so it worked well in that way, was highly engaging, provoked discussion and humour and brought the group together.
I did some one-to-one work with Mark - who is clearly dyslexic and having a SPLD assessment soon - and felt I was on the way to making relationships with most of the others.
Tuesday Numeracy: my contribution to this week's lesson was to produce some worksheets on Healthy Eating - for estimating, comparing and adding prices of the five-a-day fruit and veg we had worked with last week. I had made some colourful and clear handouts which did the job. I also did one-to-one work with Jo, the student in a wheelchair who usually looks disengaged and doesn't answer questions. As I worked with him, though, I realised he's not at all well and probably in pain. He has physical difficulty writing and clearly appreciated being helped. Interalia he asked me if I believed in reincarnation and spirits, and left a Christmas card for me with Laura.
The class moves to a computer room after the midway break, where Laura had found some excellent interactive games which they worked on in pairs.
Wednesday Literacy: I printed out a mountain of worksheets and activities on commas, compound words, compound sentences and conjunctions, most of which we didn't get round to using. But it was a very good and well-rounded session - as I've written up as part of an assignment ("Professional Discussion" as opposed to essay) on Communication and Supporting Students:
"In a literacy lesson that we jointly planned, my mentor and I were teaching Compound Words. She had explained the learners’ initial and diagnostic assessments to me, and also their individually negotiated learning targets – all of which are SMART (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). These had been carried out by using Literacy and Numeracy entry level online tests, paper-based and/or online diagnostic tests, one-to-one tutorial sessions and observations.
"Based on these, we used the whiteboard, plenary discussion, then working in pairs and individually on handouts. After this all the students, in pairs, played two online games (sourced by me) which had varying levels of difficulty, promoting learning on the subject. This meant every student was able to take part in each activity, despite their different strengths, weaknesses and learning levels.
"The final part of the lesson introduced them to the concept of evaluation. In a plenary session they listed the positives and negatives of all the teaching methods we had used and rated how much they had learned from each. This inclusive approach had the benefits of valuing each student’s contribution and differing opinions; and demonstrating to us as teachers the immensely varied ways in which they all learned best (and worst). Scoring the resources added an element of numeracy and the online games increased their ICT skills.
"This approach to equality and inclusivity also ticked all aspects of Keller’s ARCS model: the students’ attention was held throughout; the content and resources were relevant to their lives and needs; and their confidence and satisfaction increased as they became more adept in using the different media to increase their literacy skills."
The scary bit is that Laura wants me to take the first hour of next week's lesson on my own, which means a full lesson plan, resources, back up etc... My first proper solo flight, as it were.
So - last week:
Monday Surestart class: Laura had been held up so I opened the class with a letter chain exercise (How many words can you come up with containing the letters "str"?), which went down fine and took us through the ten minutes before Laura arrived. The Learning Room there does suffer from not having a whiteboard, let alone a smartboard or PCs - and even the flipchart paper has been well-used. I had also sourced some handouts and quizzes on Prepositions, which were used and went down quite well, later in the session
Shelley, the student who Laura had helped out last week, returned and thanked Laura for saving her. Her attendance had previously been so poor she was about to be written off, but Laura's intervention had the effect of renewing her interest and perhaps showing her that real support for her can be found here.
A very successful activity, which was highly inclusive of different levels of ability and allowed peer support and scaffolding, was a simple Murder Mystery game. Laura handed out a b&w picture of a "murder scene" in a cafe (including footprints, handprints, abandoned cups of tea, cigarettes smoking in ashtrays and the bills of the four last customers) and let the two groups work out from the clues what had happened and who had done what to whom. Inferring information from text and other sources is a major part of the Literacy Curriculum, so it worked well in that way, was highly engaging, provoked discussion and humour and brought the group together.
I did some one-to-one work with Mark - who is clearly dyslexic and having a SPLD assessment soon - and felt I was on the way to making relationships with most of the others.
Tuesday Numeracy: my contribution to this week's lesson was to produce some worksheets on Healthy Eating - for estimating, comparing and adding prices of the five-a-day fruit and veg we had worked with last week. I had made some colourful and clear handouts which did the job. I also did one-to-one work with Jo, the student in a wheelchair who usually looks disengaged and doesn't answer questions. As I worked with him, though, I realised he's not at all well and probably in pain. He has physical difficulty writing and clearly appreciated being helped. Interalia he asked me if I believed in reincarnation and spirits, and left a Christmas card for me with Laura.
The class moves to a computer room after the midway break, where Laura had found some excellent interactive games which they worked on in pairs.
Wednesday Literacy: I printed out a mountain of worksheets and activities on commas, compound words, compound sentences and conjunctions, most of which we didn't get round to using. But it was a very good and well-rounded session - as I've written up as part of an assignment ("Professional Discussion" as opposed to essay) on Communication and Supporting Students:
"In a literacy lesson that we jointly planned, my mentor and I were teaching Compound Words. She had explained the learners’ initial and diagnostic assessments to me, and also their individually negotiated learning targets – all of which are SMART (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). These had been carried out by using Literacy and Numeracy entry level online tests, paper-based and/or online diagnostic tests, one-to-one tutorial sessions and observations.
"Based on these, we used the whiteboard, plenary discussion, then working in pairs and individually on handouts. After this all the students, in pairs, played two online games (sourced by me) which had varying levels of difficulty, promoting learning on the subject. This meant every student was able to take part in each activity, despite their different strengths, weaknesses and learning levels.
"The final part of the lesson introduced them to the concept of evaluation. In a plenary session they listed the positives and negatives of all the teaching methods we had used and rated how much they had learned from each. This inclusive approach had the benefits of valuing each student’s contribution and differing opinions; and demonstrating to us as teachers the immensely varied ways in which they all learned best (and worst). Scoring the resources added an element of numeracy and the online games increased their ICT skills.
"This approach to equality and inclusivity also ticked all aspects of Keller’s ARCS model: the students’ attention was held throughout; the content and resources were relevant to their lives and needs; and their confidence and satisfaction increased as they became more adept in using the different media to increase their literacy skills."
The scary bit is that Laura wants me to take the first hour of next week's lesson on my own, which means a full lesson plan, resources, back up etc... My first proper solo flight, as it were.
28 November 2009
Teaching Placement - Week One
Monday, 9.30am was the first day and class of my teaching practice. An adult literacy class offsite at a local Surestart centre. I arrived before Laura and was let into the "learning room" - a basic room with tables and chairs, a sofa one end and a flipchart. Nothing to assist with the ICT functional skills or emerging technology we're supposed to pack into every session to hit all the criteria of a top teacher.
Laura arrived after a couple of the students;we pulled the tables into a central block and six students settled themselves around it. The five women and one man were all thirties and upwards, a couple of women working towards Level 2, the man just Level 1 and the rest in between. A nice and hard-working group, who Laura had just got started on a recap/warm-up about prepositions when a seventh class member turned up. This woman had a poor attendance rate - in fact should have received a letter telling her she was no longer on the course, but Laura welcomed her and included her in the work.
Laura used the flipchart and handouts, directed questioning and discussion to good effect - in fact in the literacy classes I've observed so far, the more basic teaching aids seem more appropriate than using hi tec ICT - although in college they all work on individual PCs for a large proportion of the class. At Surestart, the same work is simply done on paper.
At break time Laura took the latecomer aside and chatted to her on the sofa. After the break was over, she left me in charge of the rest of the group and took the woman out, returning alone after 10 minutes. It transpired later that Laura had noticed the student had refused a cup of tea (which costs 20p) and putting this together with various other signs, realised something was wrong. This woman is a mother of two small children and had £10 to last her for the rest of the week and no credit on her phone, so Laura had given her some advice about accessing emergency funds and taken her to the main Surestart office to make some phone calls. It was difficult call, she said, but with small children involved and me there to cover briefly, it seemed the best option in an emergency situation.
When Laura returned she set the other women individual tasks, set up tests for a couple of them to do at college next week and I worked with Mark, the student who had joined most recently. It was an enjoyable lesson with an interesting anc committed group and I look forward to working with them further.
I went over to the college after this to meet Jay. As the two DTLLS class reps, we went up to the departmental office to see if we could talk to Anna - Mike's line manager and the FT DTLLS manager, to see if she would talk to us about the situation with him. As it turned out she was off sick, probably for the whole week, and though she looked distinctly uncomfortable, Pearl couldn't suggest any other course of action than seeing her when she returned. Not satisfactory.
Tuesday was Numeracy - 9am to 12pm onsite at college. Yasmin, who did the FT DTLLS course with a Literacy placement last year, is helping Laura with this class as a voluntary teaching assistant to help her get paid work. There are six students, one of whom is deaf and has a signer, one has brittle bone disease and is in a wheelchair, and another speaks unclearly and has learning difficuties. Laura did a recap exercise on the whiteboard on number bonds, which raised a number of other issues. The class collectively has poor memory for concepts.
Yasmin had prepared a section on Healthy Eating, involving weighing and estimating the weight of portions of five-a-day fruit and vegetables. Although she got an aspect of fractions wrong which Laura had to correct, the class loved the Noughts and Crosses team game around which she framed some intital questions about weight values, and enjoyed weighing the portions of real fruit and veg she had brought with her. I worked with a pair of students during this exercise, which I was happy with.
After the break the whole class moved rooms to a computer lab where they all did individual tests and online work sheets. I worked with one student on a test, which went well enough. Then while they were working alone, Laura, Yasmin and I discussed next week's class and activities. I volunteered to create some worksheets around estimating prices, actual prices and adding more of the five-a-day portions. It was agreed that I'd need to include pictures to help the wheelchair student who has poor literacy skills.
In the break, Yasmin told me that last year's FT DTLLS course had been run by four tutors for two classes, but they had many problems, especially around mentors and placements - which have certainly not been solved this year. It seems that all four tutors took voluntary severance after being off long-term sick (stress) at various points during year. Mike was dismissed but appealed and was reinstated - to end up running the full time course more or less single-handed. I went up to the departmental office after class and had the conversation with Scott, as reported below.
Wednesday 12 - 3pm: the Literacy class I've observed a couple of times already. The normal room was having the ITC equipment upgraded so we all, me pushing the wheelchair student, decamped to a less than pleasant classroom in another block without the suite of PCs these students are used to. After a group ice-breaker/recap, Laura set the class differentiated tasks on handouts; I worked with the more advanced group on Active and Passive voices, rewriting sentences from one to the other. I enjoyed working with them, though even amongst three there was a mix of abilities and I wasn't sure I kept the least able learner focused and completely understanding the concept. When I checked his learning with directed questions, though, he seemed to have taken the concept on board.
Normally the second half of the class would have been individual working at PCs, but as this was not possible, Laura asked the class to visit the Information Store (library) and borrow a book or DVD to bring and talk about in class next week. She asked me to find some handouts for next week on commas and clauses, simple and complex sentences.
During this first week of teaching practice, although I didn't take any class on my own for any time, I was reassured that I would in time, with Laura's support, be able to do so, starting with small time periods and working upwards. I felt I related well to the students I did work with, and started to get a feel for their learning styles and abilities.
My biggest area for development remains directed questioning, and asking questions that properly check learning and promote attention and confidence. I also don't think I would have had the experience to note the signs and deal with the problems of the learner in the Monday Surestart class.
Laura arrived after a couple of the students;we pulled the tables into a central block and six students settled themselves around it. The five women and one man were all thirties and upwards, a couple of women working towards Level 2, the man just Level 1 and the rest in between. A nice and hard-working group, who Laura had just got started on a recap/warm-up about prepositions when a seventh class member turned up. This woman had a poor attendance rate - in fact should have received a letter telling her she was no longer on the course, but Laura welcomed her and included her in the work.
Laura used the flipchart and handouts, directed questioning and discussion to good effect - in fact in the literacy classes I've observed so far, the more basic teaching aids seem more appropriate than using hi tec ICT - although in college they all work on individual PCs for a large proportion of the class. At Surestart, the same work is simply done on paper.
At break time Laura took the latecomer aside and chatted to her on the sofa. After the break was over, she left me in charge of the rest of the group and took the woman out, returning alone after 10 minutes. It transpired later that Laura had noticed the student had refused a cup of tea (which costs 20p) and putting this together with various other signs, realised something was wrong. This woman is a mother of two small children and had £10 to last her for the rest of the week and no credit on her phone, so Laura had given her some advice about accessing emergency funds and taken her to the main Surestart office to make some phone calls. It was difficult call, she said, but with small children involved and me there to cover briefly, it seemed the best option in an emergency situation.
When Laura returned she set the other women individual tasks, set up tests for a couple of them to do at college next week and I worked with Mark, the student who had joined most recently. It was an enjoyable lesson with an interesting anc committed group and I look forward to working with them further.
I went over to the college after this to meet Jay. As the two DTLLS class reps, we went up to the departmental office to see if we could talk to Anna - Mike's line manager and the FT DTLLS manager, to see if she would talk to us about the situation with him. As it turned out she was off sick, probably for the whole week, and though she looked distinctly uncomfortable, Pearl couldn't suggest any other course of action than seeing her when she returned. Not satisfactory.
Tuesday was Numeracy - 9am to 12pm onsite at college. Yasmin, who did the FT DTLLS course with a Literacy placement last year, is helping Laura with this class as a voluntary teaching assistant to help her get paid work. There are six students, one of whom is deaf and has a signer, one has brittle bone disease and is in a wheelchair, and another speaks unclearly and has learning difficuties. Laura did a recap exercise on the whiteboard on number bonds, which raised a number of other issues. The class collectively has poor memory for concepts.
Yasmin had prepared a section on Healthy Eating, involving weighing and estimating the weight of portions of five-a-day fruit and vegetables. Although she got an aspect of fractions wrong which Laura had to correct, the class loved the Noughts and Crosses team game around which she framed some intital questions about weight values, and enjoyed weighing the portions of real fruit and veg she had brought with her. I worked with a pair of students during this exercise, which I was happy with.
After the break the whole class moved rooms to a computer lab where they all did individual tests and online work sheets. I worked with one student on a test, which went well enough. Then while they were working alone, Laura, Yasmin and I discussed next week's class and activities. I volunteered to create some worksheets around estimating prices, actual prices and adding more of the five-a-day portions. It was agreed that I'd need to include pictures to help the wheelchair student who has poor literacy skills.
In the break, Yasmin told me that last year's FT DTLLS course had been run by four tutors for two classes, but they had many problems, especially around mentors and placements - which have certainly not been solved this year. It seems that all four tutors took voluntary severance after being off long-term sick (stress) at various points during year. Mike was dismissed but appealed and was reinstated - to end up running the full time course more or less single-handed. I went up to the departmental office after class and had the conversation with Scott, as reported below.
Wednesday 12 - 3pm: the Literacy class I've observed a couple of times already. The normal room was having the ITC equipment upgraded so we all, me pushing the wheelchair student, decamped to a less than pleasant classroom in another block without the suite of PCs these students are used to. After a group ice-breaker/recap, Laura set the class differentiated tasks on handouts; I worked with the more advanced group on Active and Passive voices, rewriting sentences from one to the other. I enjoyed working with them, though even amongst three there was a mix of abilities and I wasn't sure I kept the least able learner focused and completely understanding the concept. When I checked his learning with directed questions, though, he seemed to have taken the concept on board.
Normally the second half of the class would have been individual working at PCs, but as this was not possible, Laura asked the class to visit the Information Store (library) and borrow a book or DVD to bring and talk about in class next week. She asked me to find some handouts for next week on commas and clauses, simple and complex sentences.
During this first week of teaching practice, although I didn't take any class on my own for any time, I was reassured that I would in time, with Laura's support, be able to do so, starting with small time periods and working upwards. I felt I related well to the students I did work with, and started to get a feel for their learning styles and abilities.
My biggest area for development remains directed questioning, and asking questions that properly check learning and promote attention and confidence. I also don't think I would have had the experience to note the signs and deal with the problems of the learner in the Monday Surestart class.
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