Assignment 1 - A synthesis of key ideas and their application to professional practice

My classroom in context

Gibbons (2015) opens chapter five with a quote from Mary Schleppegrell’s (2004) The Language of

Schooling. The quote reads:

In the absence of an explicit focus on language, students from certain social class backgrounds

continue to be privileged and others to be disadvantaged.

The Cumberland Council Area:

• The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling [NATSEM] named the Guildford Area as one of the lowest socio-economic areas in Sydney with a poverty rate 20% higher than that of greater NSW (NATSEM, 2019). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) echoed this classifying the community as one of the most disadvantaged in Greater Sydney.

• The Cumberland Council Area is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse LGA’s in Australia, with 52.2% of residents born overseas from 150 countries.

• 66% of residents speak a language other than English. Our student population is a further densified reflection of the community, comprised of 91% speakers of English as an additional language or dialect.

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Census found that for 72.8 % of families living in the Cumberland Area both parents were born overseas and only 28.9% of families spoke English regularly in the home (ABS, 2022).

Teacher expectations, investigation of prior knowledge and scaffolding of explicit teaching, three core elements of the Teaching and Learning Cycle are essential practice in classroom as they afford opportunities for equity and excellence for all learners.

High expectations for learners

• The Teaching and Learning Cycle urges teachers to hold high expectations for their students (Derewianka & Jones, 2016).

• There is substantial research supporting the positive implications of teachers who view their students as capable learners and as a result instil positive mindset in their students so that they too view themselves as successful (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968., Rheinberg, 1983., Dweck, 2006).

• Gibbons (2015) further endorses the approach calling for educators to view EAL/D leaners as the people they may become rather than fixating on what they are lacking.

• The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2016) requires schools to strive for excellence and equity in the delivery of high quality curriculum across all learning areas.

• It is important to communicate expectations for learning with students at the beginning of each lesson so that they too understand the learning intentions. Sharing in goal setting and collaboratively identifying attainable success criteria helps students navigate through learning task.

Prior knowledge

• Through the Teaching and Learning Cycle, Derewianka (2016) recognise the importance of acknowledging children’s prior knowledge when beginning to build the field.

• It is about recognising what Thomson & Hall (2008) described as the ‘virtual backpack’. A collection of experience, knowledge, and interests that children have acquired thus far in their lives forming the bases of their understanding of the world. For some students, their backpack will overflow with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in a mainstream school environment. Other students, however, may not have been afforded the same opportunities and for this reason it is important as an educator not to assume what students may or may not know.

• The Anglocentric conventions of formal education in Australia pose several challenges for EAL/D students. In the context of mainstream schooling, not all skills and knowledge are viewed equally and those that come without the school readiness skills of early English literacy and numeracy begin schooling at a deficit.

Providing opportunities for students to engage in rich shared experience early in a unit of work not only enables students to learn alongside their peers but also ensures that they have the necessary knowledge and skills required for success in subsequent learning tasks.

A scaffolded approach to teaching English literacy

• The Teaching and Learning Cycle provides a scaffold for the development of carefully sequenced learning activities to promote conceptual development.

• The Teaching and Learning Cycle guides educators to consider how one activity builds into another and equips learners with necessary skills required for successful engagement with subsequent tasks. The progression through modelled, shared, guided and collaborative instruction ensures students are well versed in the demands of genre before moving to independently composing and crafting of texts.

• The sequence of teaching is developed to move through shared, modelled, guided, and collaborative instruction before leading students into independent tasks. However, as Derewianka (2016) points out the Teaching and Leaning Cycle, is not intended as a strict sequence and teachers should move between the stages of learning as determined by the needs of their students.

• Educators should constantly track students’ progress through each stage of the learning cycle and act responsively (Derewianka, 2016).

• The modelled, guided and collaborative phases of the Teaching and Learning Cycle offer the greatest opportunity for targeted differentiation and tiered intervention.

The Mode Continuum

• The mode continuum focuses on the development of oral language before moving to written form.

• Gibbons (2009) highlights the significance of the mode continuum for teacher planning and its use as a tool for assisting English language learners from linguistically diverse backgrounds to use spoken language based on appropriacy and effectiveness in given situations.

• The Mode Continuum finds its roots in the Vygotskian (1986) ideals that students benefit greatly from interaction with more experienced individuals through shared, often hands on activities that provide for high levels of oral communication (Martin 1999).

• Through quality interactions with proficient English Language users' students develop a deeper understanding of topic content.

• Derewianka (2012) acknowledges that such teaching takes time, but results in deeper more sustainable learning. Though Derewianka (2016) does suggest that initial lessons not be exclusively limited to the oral from and that students should begin crafting rough drafts as early they begin building the field.

The Mode Continuum

• Within my school context the highly scaffolded structure of the Teaching and Learning Cycle is applied as a whole school approach due to the evidence in its effectiveness to bridge the gap for EAL/D learners.

• The sequence of teaching is developed to move through shared, modelled, guided, and collaborative instruction before leading students into independent tasks.

• Derewianka (2016) points out the Teaching and Leaning Cycle, is not intended as a strict sequence and teachers should move between the stages of learning as determined by the needs of their students. As educators work in close proximity with learners during the initial modelled, guided and collaborative phases of instruction, teachers should know intimately students strengths and points of need. Derewianka (2016) notes that educators should constantly assess students’ progress through each stage of the learning cycle and act responsively.

• The close monitoring of student progress is essential in informing targeted differentiated instruction and tiered intervention. The modelled, guided and collaborative phases offers the greatest opportunity for targeted differentiation and provide opportunity to work with students in small groups. Opportunities for targeted differentiated instruction and tiered intervention within the teaching and learning cycle supports students to be successful regardless of their entry point across all areas all areas of the curriculum.

Disadvantages

• Data collection though a necessary component of pedagogy can be time consuming (Bailey, 2012).

• Personal reflection can lead to the uncomfortable practice of identifying our shortcomings and finding fault within our practice (Bailey, 2012).

Advantages

The advantages of reflective pedagogy far outweigh the disadvantages as it promotes professional growth, assists educators to evolve their attitudes and knowledge to meet the changing dynamics of the modern classroom and to hone their skills in delivering quality instruction. The collaborative approach of reflective pedagogy helps to build a teaching team that work in unison at a whole school level. The shaping of practice through shared knowledge and the transparency of open classrooms develops consistency within teaching teams and affords greater equity to all learners.