Elluminate and Angel Together – Creating the Ideal Learning Environment NECC July 1, 2008 10am.
The Ideal Learning Environment · EDFD133 – Understanding Learning Assignment 2 – Concept Map...
Transcript of The Ideal Learning Environment · EDFD133 – Understanding Learning Assignment 2 – Concept Map...
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 1
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
The Ideal Learning Environment
Rationale
The ideal learning environment should be a place where students feel comfortable to express
their ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings. Students will be most successful in an
environment of mutual respect where teachers are aware that each student has different
physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs. Teachers need to be aware of students’
learning preferences, set goals to scaffold learning, be a key part in motivating students, and
be aware of social cognition and attribution theory. Whilst I was on prac I used many
different observation techniques: anecdotal comments, anecdotal records for activity centres,
cooperative group learning checklists, cooperative group skills rating scale, drawing skills
and handwriting checklists, student-teacher interaction schedule, gross motor skills
checklists, TOAD observation schedule and emerging literacy checklists. These observation
techniques allowed me to gauge students’ learning preferences, their cognitive and physical
abilities and also how well they worked cooperatively. I used the anecdotal record for
activity centres for N as he is deaf and finds it easier to accomplish tasks when the work is
visual; this observation technique also allowed me to gauge his literacy level. I used a
drawing and handwriting checklist for one female student as she sometimes still struggles to
write her name; this checklist allowed me to see if this was due to lack of comprehension or
lack of writing skills. Please refer to Appendices for all observations.
The physical environment was quite small architecturally and the desks were arranged for
group work. Students did not have a set desk with their belongings but rather worked on
worksheets, using shared materials with some teacher instruction before completing the set
tasks. Cognitively the students varied; the teacher was aware of this and made sure students
who needed extra guidance had ready access to her or one of the teacher aides.
Learning Preferences
Teachers who work at developing varied combinations of instructional modes for individual
students and recognise that each student has different learning preferences are the most
effective (Marsh, 2008). Gardner (McInerney & McInerney, 2006) proposed a theory of
multiple intelligences and stated that each form of intelligence is characterised by core
components. The nine forms of intelligence are: existentialist, interpersonal, intrapersonal,
bodily kinaesthetic, musical/rhythmic, verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, naturalist and
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 2
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
visual/spatial. As a teacher it is essential to be aware of each individual student’s learning
style and design a variety of tasks that incorporate each form of intelligence. Identifying a
student’s learning style can be difficult, but there are three factors that should be considered.
These are student’s domains of knowledge, values embedded in culture and whether the
educational system instructs and nurtures the various competencies of individual students
(McInerney & McInerney, 2006). “People are different, and it is good practice to recognise
and accommodate individual differences. It is also good practice to present information in a
variety of ways through more than one modality” (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2010, p. 148).
Teachers need to recognise and accommodate individual learning preferences and design a
variety of tasks that allow each student to reach their fullest potential. This is evident in
Appendix 2 - Activity centre observation 1.
Goal Setting
“A goal is something an individual is working to accomplish. Setting effective goals can
make the difference between a student who succeeds and one who falls short” (Sternberg &
Williams, 2002, p. 361). According to Woolfolk & Margetts (2010) there are four different
types of goals that teachers can set for students: learning goals/task involved, performance
goals, work-avoidance goals and social goals. In order for goals to be effective they need to
be specific, challenging, attainable, focused on the task, supported by social relationships,
reinforced with feedback and accepted by the student. Each student will be at a different
cognitive level and setting achievable and individualised goals is vital in relation to self-
esteem, self-efficacy and self-motivation. There are two types of goals that learners associate
with tasks to be performed – mastery goals and performance goals. Mastery goals are a
personal objective to achieve or master a task or skill and are closely related to intrinsic
motivation and performance goals are a personal objective to perform well in a specific area
of achievement (Krause, Bochner, Duchesne & McMaugh, 2010).
According to Locke and Latham (Sternberg & Williams, 2002) there are four main reasons
why goals are such effective motivators: they help focus attention, help mobilise resources
and effort and they also facilitate persistence and accomplishment. The creation and
implementation of goals should be a collaborative effort between teacher and students
because when students are a part of this process they are more like ly to take ownership of
goals (Krause, et al., 2010). This can be seen in Appendix 1 – Anecdotal Comment 2. The
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 3
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Task Authority Recognition Grouping Evaluation and Timing (TARGET) framework
developed by Ames and Epstein (Koskey, Karabenick, Woolley, Bonney & Dever, 2010) has
been useful as a set of prescribed practices to be used in classrooms; it aims to establish
mastery goal focused classrooms and puts the onus of reporting on the student rather than the
teacher.
Motivation
Motivation is an internal process that arouses, directs and maintains behaviour over time
(Krause, et al., 2010). No motivational strategy will succeed until four basic conditions are
met: the learning environment must be relatively organised and free of constant disruptions
and interruptions, the teacher needs to be patient and supportive and never embarrass students
for their mistakes, the work must be challenging but reasonable and lastly, learning tasks and
experiences need to be authentic (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2010). Meeting these four basic
conditions means that students are given the prime opportunity to succeed in a learning
environment where they are valued and respected. Skinner (Krause, et al., 2010) believed that
there was a direct relationship between behaviour and its consequences. Students in a
classroom may be motivated to behave in a certain ways by observing the world around them.
For example, by observing the misbehaviour and subsequent consequences of a peer, this
may be motivation for the other students in an environment to behave in an appropriate rather
than inappropriate manner. This can be seen in Appendix 2 – Student Teacher Interaction
Observation 1. Teachers can implement many motivational strategies to encourage learning.
For example, fulfilling basic requirements through an organised environment; being
supportive; building student confidence and positive expectations by having clear learning
goals; stressing self-comparison not competition, showing the value to learning with
meaningful connection of learning tasks; tying learning experiences to students interests;
helping students stay focused and on task by modelling motivation to learn; and teaching
learning tactics (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2010).
Social Cognition
Social cognition is the view that learning is changes in the mental processes of students
creating a capacity to demonstrate different behaviours through the observation of the
behaviours of others around them including teachers, peers and parents (Eggen & Kauchak,
2007). Bandura (Krause, et al., 2010) developed the social cognitive theory which identified
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 4
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
three key aspects that contribute to interactive processes in relation to human behaviour and
cognitive functions: observation or vicarious learning, language or symbolic processes and
self-talk or self-regulation. As a teacher it is important to understand that whilst academic
learning is important students also learn a great deal from the social environment of the
classroom. Teachers can arrange the physical environment to provide and encourage students
to interact and discuss their feelings, thoughts and ideas with each other hence facilitating the
development of social cognition, for example arranging the desks in the class in small groups
rather than in rows (Henson & Eller, 1999). Positive social experiences also help students to
develop high self-concept and self esteem and academic achievement and self-concept are
closely interrelated. According to Henson & Eller (1999) the use of role playing, identifying
and explaining desired behaviours, and encouraging students to discuss their peer interactions
with teachers helps students learn to exhibit appropriate social behaviours. This is evident in
Appendix 3 – Cooperative Group Learning Checklist 2.
Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is a cognitive theory of motivation that attempts to systematically describe
learners’ explanations for their successes and failures and how these influence motivation and
behaviour. This theory was developed by Weiner and he postulated four causes that are
perceived as most responsible for success and failure in students in relation to achievement:
ability, effort, task difficultly and luck (McInerney & McInerney, 2006). This theory states
that unsuccessful students will attribute success to luck and easy tasks and failure to lack of
ability as opposed to successful students who will attribute success to effort and ability and
failure to lack of effort (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett & Bieher, 2009). This
can be seen in Appendix 1 – Anecdotal Comment 1. There are three relevant elements in
attribution theory that relate to the way in which students interpret the causes of behavioural
outcomes. These are:
locus of control – which can be internal or external,
causes for success or failure – which can be stable or unstable, and
controllability of the influence of the first two factors – which can be controllable or
uncontrollable, this can be seen in Figure 1 (Krause, et al., 2010).
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 5
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Figure 1
Attributions Locus (location of
cause)
Stability (of cause) Control (of learning
situation)
Ability Inside the learner Stable (cannot change) Learner out of control
Effort Inside the learner Unstable (can change) Learner in control
Luck Outside the learner Unstable (can change) Learner out of control
Task difficulty Outside the learner Stable (cannot change) Learner out of control
Conclusion
The ideal learning environment needs to be a place where children feel comfortable to
express their ideas, feelings and thoughts and also a place where they feel capable of success.
Effective teachers need to understand that every child learns differently and work at
developing a variety of instructional modes using different modalities. The theory of
multiple intelligences states that there are nine different intelligences and each learner will
feel more comfortable with material when it is presented in their preferred modality
(McInerney & McInerney, 2006). Setting realistic and achievable goals is vital in relation to
developing positive self-concept and self esteem. When setting group goals for students it is
important that it is a collaborative process as students are more likely to take ownership of
them. Locke and Latham (Sternberg & Williams, 2002) stated that goals are extremely
effective motivators because they help focus attention, mobilise resources and effort and also
facilitate persistence and accomplishment.
As a teacher it is important to understand that for motivational strategies to be effective the
learning environment needs to be organised, free of constant d isruptions and interruptions,
the teacher is supportive and never embarrasses students for their mistakes and work needs to
be challenging but reasonable and also authentic. Teachers need to recognise that children
learn a great deal from their social environment and the behaviour of the people around them.
Bandura’s social cognitive theory states that there are three aspects contribute to social
learning (Krause, et., al, 2010). These three aspects are the observation of people around
them, the language or symbolic processes of others and self regulation through the
observation of others. Weiner developed attribution theory and he stated that there are four
cases for which students attribute success or failure – ability, effort, task difficulty and luck.
As a teacher it is vital that students believe that they can be successful in all tasks and
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 6
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
understand that success is related to ability and effort and although all children will not have
a natural ability in every subject area they all have the ability but may need to apply more
effort to be successful.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 7
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
References
Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2007). Educational psychology windows on classrooms (7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Henson, K. T., & Eller, B. F. (1999). Educational psychology for effective teaching. Belmont:
Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Koskey, K., Karabenick, S., Woolley, M., Bonney, C., & Dever, B. (2010). Cognitive validity
of students’ self-reports of classroom mastery goal structure: What students are thinking and why it matters. Contemporary Education Psychology, 34 (4) 254-263. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.05.004
Krause, K., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). Education psychology for
learning & teaching (3rd ed.) South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.
Marsh, C. (2008). Becoming a teacher knowledge, skills and issues (4th ed.) Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
McInerney, D. M., & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology constructing learning
(4th ed.) Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
Snowman, J., Dobozy, E., Scevak, J., Bryer, F., Bartlett, B., & Biehler, R. (2009). Psychology
applied to teaching (1st ed.). Milton: John Willey & Sons Australia. Sternberg, R. J., & Williams, W. M. (2002). Educational psychology. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.
Woolfolk, A. & Margetts, K. (2010). Educational psychology (2nd ed.) New South Wales: Pearson Australia.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 8
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 1 – Anecdotal Comments Observations
Anecdotal Comment 1
Date: 1.9.2010
Time: 1.30pm (lunch break) Children: C (8.4), E (8.5) & B (8.7)
Setting: In the underground play area
Background Information: The girls had
just finished their lunch and were using individual skipping ropes.
C, E & B were skipping in the underground play area when I walked up and asked if I could sit down and talk to them whilst I was eating my lunch
They all smiled and said that it was okay
They were all using individual skipping ropes and I asked them if they had
ever used a really long skipping rope where two people hold the ends and one person skips in the middle
They said that they had never seen that and asked me if I would show them
how to do it
I agreed and one of the girls went and got a long skipping rope
I explained that two people had to hold the ends and they had to be in sync with each other when it came to twirling the rope
C and E decided that they would hold the ends and that B could have first turn at skipping
It took them a couple of goes to master it but by the end of the break they had it
Comments
These girls showed great social skills, worked cooperatively and were quite happy to take turns with whoever was skipping in the middle
They also learned a new skill, by watching me do it first and listening carefully to my instructions
The next break they also went on to teach other students what they had learnt.
Anecdotal Comment 2
Date: 6.10.2010 Time: 12.30pm (middle session)
Children: A (8.7 years), A (8.4 years), J (9.5 years), C (8.5 years) & M (8.5 years) Setting: In the year 3 classroom
Background Information: The children where completing a worksheet on India
and were given the information and asked to answer some questions. Whilst the group were sitting on the floor before
commencing the activity the teacher reminded them of their cooperative group
work goals and the children volunteered answers in the form of the goals that they had set together at the beginning of the
year in relation to group work.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 9
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Some of the year 3 boys were sitting at a table completing a worksheet on India. One of the questions on the sheet asked them about special places in
India.
On the worksheet there was information about the Taj Mahal.
The children were writing the Taj Mahal as a special place to visit in India but failing to capitalise the Taj Mahal.
The noise level in the room started to rise and the teacher said out loud that she hoped everyone remembered the goals that they had set together in relation to group work; one girl put her hand up and said that the class was making too
much noise. The teacher responded by saying yes and it is very hard to get our work done when there is that much noise in the classroom.
Once the noise level had gone down a little I asked the boys sitting at the table if they knew what a proper noun was and I got some blank looks. So instead I
asked if they knew what a noun was?
C said it was a doing word. I acknowledged that that was a good try but a
doing word was something else. A looked at me and said a verb is a doing word. I smiled and said it sure is, good work A.
I asked again what a noun was and C looked at me and said is it a naming
word? I looked at C and said it sure is, good work C. I then asked what an adjective was? And A looked at me and said is it a word that goes in front of a
noun? I said it sure was, it adds something else onto the noun to describe it, giving extra information. For example I pointed to a book on the table and said this is a book and book is the noun, but if I said this is an interesting book
then interesting is an adjective because it gives you extra information about the book.
I then asked again what a proper noun was? And M looked at me and said is it a name for something? Like a place? I looked at M and said it sure is and that’s
why it needs a capital letter. The same as your name needs a capital letter because it is the proper name of something.
Comments
The children were aware of all of the terms to describe nouns, verbs and
adjectives, they were just a little unsure of which definition went with which term.
But with a little prompting and encouragement they were quite confident.
After the children told me the correct definitions we repeated them together
and they understood why proper names needed a capital letter.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 10
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 2 – Anecdotal Record for Activity Centres
Anecdotal Record for Activity Centre 1 Activity Centre: Planning An Island Date: 2.9.2010
Name: N (9.3 years) Comments: The class were asked to plan an original island, they were given a worksheet which had different boxes on it (food, places, activities, weather and animals) and children were asked to fill in these categories as a planning stage because later that week they were going to build their islands and also design a brochure about their islands. I was walking around the class when N called me over. He had already finished most of his worksheet and had done it independently and just wanted me to check his spelling. He had spelled almost everything correctly and just needed some help spelling out some words that were a little more difficult. We sounded out the words together and he wrote down the correct spellings and then he coloured in his work sheet.
Anecdotal Record for Activity Centre 2
Activity Centre: Drawing the Taj Mahal Date: 7.10.2010 Name: H (8.3 years)
Comments: Going with the theme India the children were asked to draw the Taj Mahal. After seeing a big picture and talking about the different elements and some information about the Taj Mahal, the children were given pencils, paper and a smaller picture of the Taj Mahal. H started by drawing the base and then moved onto the turrets and then finally the middle. She looked at her picture and said I don’t know what the sides should look like. I asked her if she would like me to get a different picture so she could have a better look at the designs used on the sides of the buildings, she smiled and said yes please so I went and got her a picture. She looked at the picture for a while and then did some shading and different drawings and brought her picture to me. I looked at it and said this is really good H, she smiled and said thank you Miss S.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 11
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 3 – Cooperative Group Learning Checklists
Cooperative Group Learning Checklist 1
Names: E(8.5 years) – Female and C(8.4 years) -Female What did we do? Yes No
Did we stay in our places? X
Did we share our things? X Did we take turns? X
Did we use 30 cm voices X
What can we do better next time? - Be aware of volume and use our inside voices - We need to make better use of strategies to stay on task and get our work done. Both from
students and teacher
Cooperative Group Learning Checklist 2
Names: J(9.5 years) – Male and M(8.5 years) -Male What did we do? Yes No
Did we stay in our places? X
Did we share our things? X Did we take turns? X
Did we use 30 cm voices X
What can we do better next time? - Be aware of volume and use our inside voices - Teacher needs to spend more time emphasising how important it is to share materials and
reinforce the idea of mutual respect amongst students
Cooperative Group Learning Checklist 3
Names: H(8.8 years) – Female and N(8.4 years) -Male What did we do? Yes No
Did we stay in our places? X
Did we share our things? X
Did we take turns? X Did we use 30 cm voices X
What can we do better next time? - Be aware of volume and use our inside voices
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 12
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 4 – Cooperative Group Skills Rating Scales
Cooperative Group Skills Rating Scale 1
Scale: 1 = hardly ever 2 = some of the time 3 = most of the time
4 = all of the time
Date:7.10.2010 Names and
Ages
Encourages
Others
Listens
Attentively
Shares/Takes
Turns
Stays on Task Comments
M (8.5years) 3 2 4 2 M usually stays on task but sometimes has trouble listening to instructions.
B (8.4 years) 4 3 4 2 B finds it difficult to stay on task, but with some gentle reminders gets his work done.
H (8.8 years) 3 4 3 4 H is great at staying on task and is usually the first to finish tasks.
J (9.5 years) 4 3 3 2 J is very good at encouraging others but sometimes struggles to stay on task himself and sometimes needs to be reminded that his work is important also.
A (8.4 years) 4 4 3 4 A is great at working independently but can also help and encourage others when needed. A is a fantastic listener.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 13
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 5 – Drawing and Handwriting Skills Checklists
Drawing and Handwriting Skills Checklist 1
Age of Child: 9.3 years Gender of Child: Male
Drawing Skills (check the classification that best describes the drawing of a cube) 1.________ Scribble
2.________ Single Unit 3.___X____ Differentiated Figure 4.________ Integrated Whole
Handwriting Skills (check all that apply):
1.___X____Name printed 2.________Name printed mostly in upper case letters 3.________Some letter reversals
4.________ Name written in cursive 5.___X____All letters formed correctly
6.________ Letters uneven size or height 7.________ Letters too thin or too round 8.________ Letters written too light or too heavy
9.___X____ Letters written shaky or broken – Just a little, not overly 10.__X____ Letters uniform in size
Drawing and Handwriting Skills Checklist 2
Age of Child: 8.6 Gender of Child: Female
Drawing Skills (check the classification that best describes the drawing of a cube) 1.________ Scribble
2.________ Single Unit 3.___X____ Differentiated Figure
4.________ Integrated Whole Handwriting Skills (check all that apply):
1.________ Name printed 2.___X____ Name printed mostly in upper case letters
3.___X____ Some letter reversals 4.________ Name written in cursive 5.________ All letters formed correctly
6.___X____ Letters uneven size or height 7.___X____ Letters too thin or too round
8.________ Letters written too light or too heavy 9.___X____ Letters written shaky or broken 10._______ Letters uniform in size
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 14
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Drawing and Handwriting Skills Checklist 3
Age of Child: 8.7 Gender of Child: Male
Drawing Skills (check the classification that best describes the drawing of a cube) 1.________ Scribble
2.________ Single Unit 3.________ Differentiated Figure
4.___X____ Integrated Whole Handwriting Skills (check all that apply):
1.____X___ Name printed 2.________ Name printed mostly in upper case letters
3.________ Some letter reversals 4.________ Name written in cursive 5.____X___ All letters formed correctly
6.________ Letters uneven size or height 7.________ Letters too thin or too round
8.________ Letters written too light or too heavy 9.________ Letters written shaky or broken 10.___X___ Letters uniform in size
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 15
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 6 – Student Teacher Interaction Observations
Student-Teacher Interaction 1
Target child: I (8.5 years) - Female Event #1
Setting: In the classroom and break time Date: 2.9.2010
Time: 1.00pm Initiator: Teacher___X____ Child__________
Bid: Touch___________ Name_____X_____ Talk___________ Position______________
Request__________ Demand___________Disrupt___________ Other____________ Brief Description: I asked if this child could please pick up their lunch box and put it away.
Response: Immediate_________ Delay____X_____ Time: 00:15 Ignore___________
Affect: Positive___________ Neutral____X____Negative___________
Brief Description: This child was reluctant at first but once I explained why it was important to not leave our belongings on the floor they accepted this and picked up their lunch box.
Event #2 Setting: In the playground
Date: 7.10.2010 Time: 1.45pm (afternoon outside play time)
Initiator: Teacher________ Child____X_____
Bid: Touch_____X_____ Name_____X_____ Talk___________Position______________ Request__________ Demand___________Disrupt___________ Other____________
Brief Description: Child asked if I had seen her hat
Response: Immediate____X____ Delay__________ Time: 00:00 Ignore___________
Affect: Positive______X____ Neutral_________Negative___________ Brief Description: We looked for her hat. I asked her when the last time she remembered
having it and she said that she had it at the last break. So I suggested that we look in the port racks and it was there.
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 16
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 7 – Gross Motor Skills Checklists
Gross Motor Skills Checklist 1
Age: 8.4 years Gender: Female Observe Not Observe Success Not Success
Locomotion Hop on one foot X X
Able to skip smoothly X X Walk/run smoothly X X
Manipulation Accurately throw large ball X X
Accurately throw small ball X X Catch ball X X
Accurately roll ball X X Accurately kick ball X X
Stability/Balance
Balance on one leg X X Walk on balance-type beam X X
Dodge ball without falling X X Carry w/out spilling/dropping X X
Body Awareness Avoid bumping other children X X
Avoid objects when moving in class X X Comfortable talking distance X X
Gross Motor Skills Checklist 2
Age: 8.5 years Gender: Male Observe Not Observe Success Not Success
Locomotion Hop on one foot X X
Able to skip smoothly X X
Walk/run smoothly X X Manipulation
Accurately throw large ball X X Accurately throw small ball X X
Catch ball X X Accurately roll ball X X
Accurately kick ball X X Stability/Balance
Balance on one leg X X Walk on balance-type beam X X
Dodge ball without falling X X Carry w/out spilling/dropping X X
Body Awareness Avoid bumping other children X X
Avoid objects when moving in class X X
Comfortable talking distance X X
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 17
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 8 – TOAD Observation Schedule
TOAD Observation Schedule 1
Date: 1.9.2010 Location: Inside the Year 3 classroom (Morning session) Child: A (8.7 years)
Teacher: Mrs Hawkins Activity: Group time
Observer: Joanna Start Time: 9.15am Finish Time: 9.25am
Interval: 60 seconds
Interval T O A D
1 X 2 X
3 4 X
5 X
6 7 X
8 X 9 X
10 X
TOTAL 3 2 1 2
AVERAGE 30% 20% 10% 20%
T – Talking Out of Turn O – Out of Seat A – Attention Problems
D - Disruption
TOAD Observation Schedule 2 Date: 7.10.2010
Location: In the year 3 classroom Child: E (8.5 years)
Teacher: Mrs Hawkins Activity: Handwriting activity Observer: Joanna
Start Time: 10.00am Finish Time: 10.10am
Interval: 60 seconds
Interval T O A D
1 X 2 X
3 4 X
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 18
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
5 6 X
7 8 X
9 X 10 X
TOTAL 2 2 1 2
AVERAGE 20% 20% 10% 20%
T – Talking Out of Turn
O – Out of Seat A – Attention Problems
D - Disruption
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 19
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Appendix 9 – Emerging Literacy Checklists
Emerging Literacy Checklist 1
Name: M (8.4 years) - Female Date: 7.10.2010 Yes No Comments
Interest in Print Is interested in books X Likes to read funny picture
books
Approximates reading behaviours X Most of the time uses pictures
Contributes to environmental print display X
Selects and examines printed materials independently
X
Enjoys being read to X Participates in shared reading activities X
Attempts to communicate in print X
Book Knowledge
Holds books right side up X Turns pages right to left X
Identifies where story begins, ends X Recognises terms:
- Title X - Author X
- Illustrator X Once explained the term illustrator she knew what it was
- Cover X
Examines and interprets illustrations X Retells shared stories X
Reading and Writing Strategies
Views self as reader X Attempts to read independently X
Expects the text to make sense Derives meaning and makes predictions about text by:
- Using picture clues X - Drawing on experience X
- Using story structure clues X - Taking risks as a reader X
Has a store of key or sight vocabulary X Can match some texts with oral language X
Can follow a line of print X Views self as writer X
Attempts to convey meaning using printed symbols
X
Independently initiates writing X
Takes risk in writing X - Creates symbols which represent letters X
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 20
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
- Creates groupings of letters to represent words and sentences
X
- Invents spellings X
Willingly shares or explains own writing to others
X
Follows directionality of print – left to right, top to bottom
X
Emerging Literacy Checklist 2
Name: B (9.5 years) - Male Date: 7.10.2010 Yes No Comments
Interest in Print Is interested in books X
Approximates reading behaviours X Contributes to environmental print display X
Selects and examines printed materials independently
X
Enjoys being read to X Rather read by himself
Participates in shared reading activities X Attempts to communicate in print X
Book Knowledge
Holds books right side up X Turns pages right to left X
Identifies where story begins, ends X Recognises terms:
- Title X - Author X
- Illustrator X - Cover X
Examines and interprets illustrations X
Retells shared stories X
Reading and Writing Strategies Views self as reader X
Attempts to read independently X Expects the text to make sense X
Derives meaning and makes predictions about text by:
X
- Using picture clues X
- Drawing on experience X - Using story structure clues X
- Taking risks as a reader X Has a store of key or sight vocabulary X
Can match some texts with oral language X Can follow a line of print X
Views self as writer X Attempts to convey meaning using printed symbols
X
Independently initiates writing X
Joanna Spelitis – S00099808 21
EDFD133 – Understanding Learning
Assignment 2 – Concept Map Report & Observations
Sue Mahoney
Takes risk in writing X - Creates symbols which represent letters X
- Creates groupings of letters to represent words and sentences
X
- Invents spellings X Only sometimes, relatively good speller
Willingly shares or explains own writing to others
X
Follows directionality of print – left to right, top to bottom
X