The evidence for focus area 3.2 is a unit plan about procedural writing. The images show what the lesson involved and what tasks were given to the students. The unit was designed in a sequence of lessons and that all tied together in the end to help students learn about procedures. The first lesson was about verbs in procedures, followed by nouns, then adjectives, adverbs, then following a procedure to make fairy bread and finished with writing a procedure on how to brush your teeth. Planning the structure of the unit was done in collaboration with my supervising teacher, who gave me a background of what students already know, what are their different individual contexts that could affect learning and their previous experiences/learnings related to this topic. Knowing the background of my students allowed me to set the right challenges and plan appropriately, which aligns with Vygotsky’s theory of learning. Vygotsky’s theory emphasises the importance of beginning planning for learning by considering the child and his past & current contexts and knowledge, the social contexts in class and the opportunities that could be afforded by the teacher and the classroom (Winsler 2003, p. 253). My role as the teacher was to carefully, thoughtfully and systematically select learning content (Katz & Chard cited in Vartuli & Rohs 2007, p. 394), and to scaffold students’ learning with a balance between a ‘child-centred’ approach and ‘teacher-directed’ approach (Winsler 2003, p. 253). At the beginning of the placement it was difficult not to always give students explicit direct instructions, as it was easier to just tell them answers. However, throughout this unit I learnt that utilising strategies such as questioning, referring to hand-outs and previous knowledge allowed students to think deeper for themselves which helped them realise the answers to their questions.

References:

Vartuli, S & Rohs, J 2007, ‘Selecting curriculum content that stimulates thought’, Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 393-396.

Winsler, A 2003, ‘INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE: Vygotskian Perspectives in Early Childhood Education: Translating Ideas into Classroom Practice’, Early Education and Development, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 253-270.