The evidence for focus 3.1 is a section of an English lesson plan that shows the prior knowledge/background of students, the learning goals and the success criteria for the lesson. These were developed from the achievement standards and content descriptors as prescribed in the Australian Curriculum English learning area. The learning intentions and success criteria I specified for this lesson were also based on students’ prior experiences and knowledge of writing their own persuasive texts, as I noticed and observed that they needed to keep developing their new and emerging skills in persuasive writing.

At the beginning of this lesson, the learning goals were shared with the students to give them an idea of where their learning will be headed. Some students responded with ‘not again!’, while others showed excitement in writing another persuasive text. I think it is important to share the success criteria with students as it allows them to become aware and reflect on their own learning - because they can assess whether they are achieving the criteria or not.

As an educator, it is very important to believe that all students can reach the success criteria, for students will strive harder and also believe in themselves (Hattie 2012, p. 26). Apart from establishing challenging learning goals for students, I as an educator should support and challenge my students to achieve high standards (Department of Education and Children’s Services 2010, p. 41). I can do this by establishing challenging learning goals that motivate and drive students, encourage resilience in using their skills and knowledge to learn, monitor classroom procedures to maximise students’ learning time and scaffold each students’ progress with guidance, modelling, demonstrations and targeted feedback (Department of Education and Children’s Services 2010, p. 41). The structure of the lesson connected their prior knowledge, followed by modelling and demonstrating how to write persuasive texts to the group. Lastly, the lesson provided a gradual release of responsibility in their learning as they went on to work individually on their own persuasive pieces afterwards.

References:

Department of Education and Children’s Services 2010, SA TfEL: South Australian Teaching for Effective Learning Framework guide, Government of South Australia, Department of Education and Children’s Services, South Australia.

Hattie, J 2012, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, Routledge Publishing, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon.