Where it all begins

As I have always been interested in teaching intermediate school students, I have not had much experience teaching younger children. My lowest practicum placement was a year two class, however the learners worked at a year three and four level. I know it is really important for me to develop an understanding of the junior school and my learners experiences when they first came to the classroom. I also need to develop an understanding of how educators support students as they begin to learn to read, write and count, as I will teach students who need this support at my level.

I have decided to spend some more time with my buddy class (year 1) who are achieving at a range of levels. I will be taking my class to participate in buddy reading/writing with these learners every couple of weeks and I will spend some of my release time working with these learners.

This morning I observed our reading recovery teacher, Mrs Kelly teach a writing lesson to teach the learners about penguins. After reading a shared book about penguins and having a discussion about them, she co-constructed an acrostic poem with the class. I chose to work with a student who was learning how to form their letters and I found it incredibly interesting to see how much challenge she faced just by copying the words on the board! She found it hard to form the letters and there were some letters that she needed help to identify and sound out. It was really helpful to watch the teacher interact with her to see some of the strategies that she had used.

I will continue to work with these learners and to spend time with the junior school teachers, so that I develop my ability to cater to the needs of all of my students.