LO 3.3

Learning Outcome: 3.3
Demonstrate an understanding of the educator's role in observing & planning for young children's literacy & numeracy learning & development, through mention of the strengths & 
possible limits of my own ability to observe & offer literacy & numeracy experiences with children less than 4 years of age

Prior to beginning my education studies at Flinders University two years ago, I will be honest; I was completely oblivious to the depth and importance of the educator's role in observing and planning for young children's literacy & numeracy learning and development. I thought that most activities and tasks were just thought of on the spot, not thoroughly planned and though out to meet the needs and abilities of all children. One of my first lesson plans I ever created to be implemented at my placement, was around the book The Wonky Donkey. It is a great interactive book with many rhyming words, and a funny storyline. I wanted to read the story to the children and follow it by having the children act out each part of the story themselves. I did not plan this out very well tho, I did not even have a goal in mind for the children; my plan consisted simply of a few instructions around reading the story and then allowing the children to act out the part they wanted to. So, I went into class the next day ready with my ‘lesson plan’, and reading the book went really well, but I soon came to realise I was very unprepared for the next part of the lesson. I had not thought of any adaptations or considerations which may need to be taken into account for children with additional needs (child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or children above or below the targeted year level. Well, as the disaster became quite out of control, I decided to stop the lesson and suggested the children move onto the next task of the day. I felt fairly embarrassed, but it was a huge learning curve for me!  I picked myself up and brushed myself off, and was determined to try again. Below is my second attempt at creating a lesson plan for The Wonky Donkey, including my clear goal for the task of developing the children’s effective and appropriate oral language; which was used in association to the ACARA document learning outcomes for the particular year levels. This plan is very thorough, and although I do not feel the need to write down on paper so much detail for all of my lesson plans (only what is necessary), this definitely helped me to consider every aspect of the lesson in depth, ensuring all children’s needs were met and the lesson had more chance of being successful.

Lesson Plan

Year level: 1

Worded picture book: Smith, C., & Cowley, K. (2009). The wonky donkey. Auckland, NZ: Scholastic New Zealand Limited.

Teaching considerations for specific disability:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: According to (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Barkley, 2003), children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) display difficulties with attention and/or impulse control relative to their typical same age and sex peers. By the time they begin school most children with ADHD have become recognisably deviant from typical peers in their poor sustained attention, impulsivity, and restlessness, and difficulties with aggression, defiance, or oppositional behaviour may have emerged. It is important for educators to be aware of situations which may provoke or increase problematic behaviour from children with ADHD. According to Einarsdottir, (2008) the performance from children with ADHD has been found to decline under situations when: it is later in the day; tasks are more complex; self-control is demanded; there are low levels of stimulation; consequences and reinforcement are not immediate; persistence is required for a long periods of time; and adults are not present for supervision. Barkley (2003) and Reeves (1990) also suggest that restrictive environments can be challenging for these children, whereas free-play situations are often more positive and beneficial. Therefore, classroom approaches that can be useful for educators to use with children with ADHD-associated behaviour include: changes in the environment; fewer distractions; more structure; individualised attention and teaching; multiple modes of instruction; more movement; less sitting at desks for long periods of time; regular feedback and praise; and direct teaching of social skills.

Lesson focus: The use of appropriate and effective oral language through role-play.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the lesson Year level: F Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and eye contact (ACELY1784) Students will understand the meaning of listening and showing interest to others when communicating in social situations. Year level: 1 Use interaction skills including turn-taking, recognising the contributions of others, speaking clearly and using appropriate volume and pace (ACELY1788) Students will understand the process of turn-taking and effective collaboration with others. Year level: 2 Use interaction skills including initiating topics, making positive statements and voicing disagreement in an appropriate manner, speaking clearly and varying tone, volume and pace appropriately (ACELY1789) Students will understand the benefits of collaborating with others, through shared initiative and individual responsibilities.

By the end of the lesson Year level: F Students will know how to listen and show interest in others with both appropriate body and verbal language. Year level: 1 Students will know how to empathise, take turns and involve all participants using effective communication skills. Year level: 2 Students will know how to work together using a respectful tone, taking into consideration and respecting the ideas and opinions of others. By the end of the lesson Year level: F Students will be able to recognise and show interest in their role in social situations. Year level: 1 Students will be able to interpret and construct meaning within social situations. Year level: 2 Students will be able to express themselves, make requests and participate in discussion in social situation.

Lesson Plan
Materials:      Book “The Wonky Donkey” by Craig Smith + CD      CD player      Props/equipment placed around the classroom (prior to lesson) to be used for each scenario in the story (enough to allow the children to explore, find and experiment with props themselves). Examples: - Fake leg/walking stick - Eye ball/eye patch - Country hat/clothing/props - Tall-slim mirror/tall shoes - Smelly/dirty looking top - Empty coffee cup/pajamas - Party tricks/mischief badge - Sunglasses/cap
Legend:     Below year level                   On year level/All                   Above year level
Time allocation	Lesson Sequence (Main headings of activities)	Detailed notes about content of activities List materials needed for lesson
3 minutes	Introduction	Class sit on the floor together (on their [named] designated seating marks on the floor) with ‘The Wonky Donkey’ book on display for all children to see. Introduce the story: “we are going to look at The Wonky Donkey again today. This time we are going to do some role-playing.” Ask the class “who here has done role-play before?” “Who can tell me what role-play is?” Role play is defined (Oxford University Press, 2013) as “the acting out or performance of a particular role, either consciously or unconsciously, in accordance with the perceived expectations of society as regards a person’s behaviour in a particular context.”
5 minutes	Read The Wonky Donkey to the class	Class remain seated on floor together Ask the class “who remembers what different situations happen in the story?” Teacher begins reading the story With each page, stop and discuss a little further each situation that occurs: for example, ask the class what each adjective describing the donkey means, what it might look like, or if they have heard of it before.
10 minutes	Creating the role-play	Explain to the class the interactive task for the less: “We will be doing a role-play of the situations which occur in the book. In partners, each will be given a situation from the story, which you will be required to act out. You can use any props or equipment you can find from around the classroom to act out your particular situation.” Describe and demonstrate effective listening skills; body language and verbal expression to their peers during the task. Discuss the importance of working together and taking turns, sharing ideas and listening to each other’s opinions, to ensuring the task is successful. Discharge children from the floor to explore the classroom, find props, and practice enacting their part of the story. Move around the classroom assisting the children with creating their acts. Make suggestions to the children to broaden their thinking and creativeness.  Encourage children to finalise their act and return to the floor bringing their props.
10 minutes	Role-playing	Class sitting on the floor (on their [named] designated seating marks on the floor), turn pages through The Wonky Donkey book, and as each situation appears instruct the children to come to the front of the class and form a line (from the first situation to the last- left to right). Allow the students to arrange the line and work together to ensure it is in the right order.  Once all the children have formed a line across the front of the class, reread the story and allow the children to role-play there situation as it is read. Once the whole story has been read, and all children have acted their part, play the CD which is ready to go in the CD player (otherwise kept in front of The Wonky Donkey book). As the CD plays, children act out their parts as they come up in the song, singing when it is not their turn. Encourage the children to not laugh at their peers when mistakes are made, but to, respect them through listening, input and working together to act out the whole story successfully. Give positive feedback to all the children on their efforts.
2 minutes	Conclusion	Instruct children to return the props and equipment to where they found them, then to return to the floor sitting on their designated seating marks. Allow the children to discuss the role-playing: whether they enjoyed it, what part they liked most, how they felt about cooperating and working together, etc. Introduce next lesson: “when we look at The Wonky Donkey book next time, we will be looking further into the letter-sounds in the words which we read in the story. Letter-sounds are the sounds represented by the letters of the alphabet (use examples, such as, ‘a’ sounds like... ‘ie’ sounds like... ‘qu’ sounds like). Until the next lesson, have a think about what letter-sounds may occur in the title of this book- The Wonky Donkey.”
Lesson Closure
Year level: F Through observing the children interacting with peers in formal and informal educational environments, asking open-ended questions, and the use of the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (Dickinson, McCabe & Sprague, 2003), the educator will be able to assess the students understanding around the meaning of listening and showing interest to others when communicating in social situations. Year level: 1 Through observing the children interacting with peers in formal and informal educational environments, engaging them in tasks/scenarios that require them to cooperate and alternate roles and responsibilities with others, and the use of the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (Dickinson, McCabe & Sprague, 2003), the educator will be able to assess the students understanding of the process involved in turn-taking and effective collaboration with others. Year level: 2 Through asking children a variety of questions during interaction with peers in formal and informal educational environments, engaging them in activities that require them to cooperate and take responsibility of their role, and the use of the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (Dickinson, McCabe & Sprague, 2003), the educator will be able to assess the students understanding of the benefits gained in collaborating with others, through shared initiative and individual responsibilities.

References:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Australia Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (n.d.). The Australian Curriculum. v 5.1. English Foundation to Year 10. Retrieved from http://www.australiacurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10

Barkley, R. A. (2003). Issues in the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children,

Brain & Development, 25, 77–83.

Dickinson, D., McCabe, A., & Sprague, K. (2003). Teacher rating of oral language and literacy (TROLL): Individualising early literacy instruction with standards-based rating tool. The Reading Teacher, 56(6), 554-564.

Einarsdottir, J. (2008). Teaching children with ADHD: Icelandic early childhood teachers’ perspectives. Early Child Development and Care, 178(4), 375-397.

Oxford University Press. (2013). Definition of role-play in English. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/role-playing

Reeve, R. E. (1990). ADHD: Facts and fallacies: An overview of current knowledge about ADHD and how to deal with it in the classroom, Intervention in School and Clinic, 26(2), 70–78.

Smith, C., & Cowley, K. (2009). The wonky donkey. Auckland, NZ: Scholastic New Zealand Limited.