Task 3: Literacy Strategies

Objective: To observe literacy strategies in action over 4 weeks. {how the teacher teaching reading and
writing / the genres in writing and the reading types in reading }

Procedure
 This task is intended to be implemented over the four weeks.
 For this task student should:
 record examples of practices and/or strategies that they observe- e.g phonics, guided reading,
Sustained Silent Reading, graded readers, literate-rich, print-rich environment,
 take photos and/or video recordings (if the school and the MST give permission)
 ask questions about and reflect on best practice observed

Before the Observation

Pre TP classes

 Discuss/review any relevant content from Learning to Read and Write, Section 2 “Readers & Writers
in the Making” pp27-99
 Neuman, S., Copple, C. and Bredcamp, S. (2000). Learning to Read and Write. Washington:
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
 (Neuman, Copple & Bredcamp, 2000, 56)

In the school

 Explain the task to your MST so she can try to highlight and include some of the strategies/aspects
you may need to consider
 Decide what time(s) each day you will conduct this observation.
 See if you can find out what the teacher plans to do each day by studying his/her plans, and/or talking with
them.

After the Observation - Reflection

Observe your MST’s classroom and general practices you see around the school. Discuss the
areas below in context of what you observe in school and support with a photo and a
reference to reading when possible.

Describe the classroom environment.

Students had variety of materials such as sensors, pencils, stickers, and student’s work. Also,
there is a Cabot that have student’s books and files. Moreover, there is a (u) table that helps
the teacher to have guided reading. Finally, the carpet that student sit to listen to the
teacher.

Consider how the class is a print rich environment. What print can you see around the
room? (labels, captions, flashcards, headings, rules, instructions, timetable, flash cards, etc)
For each one you mention insert pictures and state the purpose of each one.

I had a rich printed classroom. The teacher had many things on the walls such as instruction,
recount words that students need in their writing, and high frequency words on the students
table. the instructions are in the special places for example next to the door they had
instructions of how to make a line and under the board they had instruction of how to set on
the carpet.
Is there a variety of books and genres in the class? Mention some. How are they displayed?

There are variety of book with different genres that encourage the student to read. Such as
the very hungry caterpillar, and Sam’s little tidy. They displayed in a small capot in the
reading corner.

Describe the reading area in your classroom.

The reading area include small carpet and capot with many books. Student can sit and read
silently, or they can have guided reading with the teacher on the (u) table.

Does the teacher read to the children? How often? How does she motivate them to read?

No, the teacher doesn’t read to the children however he student should read independently
even in guided reading so they teacher is aiming to improve their reading skills. Moreover,
the teacher motivates the student to read by having extra time after the activity for reading
and they can share what did they learned from the story. Also, they have to take a book to
the home and read and summarize so they will get a reward on Thursday at the assembly.
Describe the reading approaches have you observed? Where do the children sit? How does
the teacher encourage participation?

Read aloud Shared reading Guided reading Independent reading

There was no Student should go to Student had guided Student can read
read aloud for the library once a reading every day. They independently when
grade two. week to have a shared were sitting on (u) table, they are done of the
reading class. The so the teacher can focus activity the student
students were sitting on each student. can sit on the
on the floor and the Students were reading area and
library teacher read a encouraged to read a read independently.
big book and she was story and share with
encourage their classmates.
participation by le
then predict the next
step.
Consider how the teacher reminds children of any concepts of print when reading? (left-to-
right, top to bottom, punctuation, author, illustrator, etc)

The teacher always was reminding the student to use punctuation specially in recount
writing.

How does the teacher teach phonics and word attack skills to children? Describe a phonics
lesson you observed and mention how the children are scaffolded to recognise the word
and get the meaning.

I didn’t observe any phonic lesson. However, I taught the student a phonic lesson using
shared reading and online game to focus on the sound.

What comprehension strategies are the children learning/using?

Activating and Using Background Knowledge and Predicting because the teacher always asks
the student to predict and link between what they know and the new knowledge.

Ask your teacher about special reading events carried out in the school - e.g ‘Book
Character Day’, DEAR Time, Book Fairs, ‘Extreme Reading’ competitions etc.

There were no special reading events this semester, but I hope if there were a book fair that
student can buy some books from it. However, they had a big library, so they can barrow
books. Also, they had a role play that’s about a ginger bread man story.

Describe some types of writing activities or the method the teacher uses for writing – e.g
emergent writing, copy writing, dictations, etc

The teacher was always asking the student to copy from the board specially the new lesson
because she thing that they ned to practice over and over to get the concept and write
independently.
REFLECTION

Choose 3 best practices you observed during your time in school. Reflect on
these and consider why you could implement these in a UAE primary
classroom in the future. Explain how these practices will affect student
learning and reading levels in a primary class.

I observed phonic lesson with grade five. It was amazing, they reviewed about
phonics then the teacher chooses one phonic then the student should write as
many words as the can in pairs then they should create story using this word.
The second was guided reading because student were enjoying and learning in
the same time. Finally, learning throw play. One of the teacher was believing
that student can learn better throw play, so he was taking students to the
playground and teach them math. It’s a nice idea to connect between learning
and playing. Also, students will learn and enjoy in the same time so t’s
important to implement it in UAE primary classroom.