3.4 Select Appendix 2.

1 is a living things concept driven inquiry for my Foundation class in

and/or create 2020. The inquiry planner evidences how I used a wide range of resources to
ad use a range engage my Prep students in their learning. It can be seen throughout the
of resources, planner that I have created a lot of the resources myself, colleagues have
including ICT to created them and shared the resources or I have downloaded resources from
engage students teaching support websites. I have used a range of resources to engage my
in their learning students and support their learning; in phase one for example we documented
our first thinking in a worksheet I created, we painted our own pets in an art
experience, we went on an excursion to ‘Waterworks Reserve’, we had two
incursion visits from two local animal organisations and we watched live
streamed zoo enclosures on the interactive whiteboard. All these experiences
and the others documented in ‘Phase one’ supported my students to share
their prior knowledge and engage them or spark their interest with the living
things concept. I continued to provide a variety of learning experiences for the
students using a wide range of resources, including ICT, during phase two and
three of the concept driven inquiry cycle. I provided the wide range of
resources during the inquiry to engage students, allow them to acquire new
knowledge and document their learning. The impact on student learning was
their high engagement in the entire unit, which lasted for 9 weeks of term
three. The students were so engaged in and excited by our learning that they
were sharing it at home. One parent commented on a photo of her child
holding a baby chick on Seesaw “Now that was one thing he did tell us about!
Very exciting and he was able to share so many facts about chicks with us. He is
hoping they come back to visit!” By using a variety of resources to engage
students they also developed skills and knowledge throughout the unit,
meeting the intended learning outcomes. This was evidenced in one of our
assessments where students needed to detail three of a pet’s needs for a ‘who
am I?’ game. One student articulated that a pet fish would need a clean tank,
fresh water and food flakes to survive. Appendix 2.2 is a pre and post
assessment I did with the students which demonstrates the level of knowledge
and understanding acquired by using the variety of resources I selected. This
student is able to provide greater depth and detail in the post assessment. She
is even able to correct an initial misconception that cats need wool and
articulated that wool is not safe for cats in her second thinking. As a teacher
using a range of resources, including ICT, makes the learning more exciting and
exciting for myself and the students. I will continue to plan and use a variety of
resources to support student engagement, which then makes the behaviour
management easier if students are on task and engaged in their learning.
1.3 Design and Appendix 2.1 is a concept driven inquiry planner that demonstrates by abilities
implement to design and implement teaching strategies that are responsive to the
teaching learning needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and
strategies that socioeconomic backgrounds. During this ‘Living Things’ student inquiry my
are responsive Prep cohort of 2020 contained a variety of linguistic needs, I have three
to the learning students who engage with formal ‘Speech and Language’ programs in school,
needs strengths approximately 30% who are independent readers and writers and others who
and needs of are still developing their ability to recognise phonemes. To support this variety
students from of linguistic needs I ensured myself and a general teacher assistant were
diverse available to support during reading or writing activities, I extended those
linguistic, independent learners with deeper questioning and asking them to write in
cultural, more detail and I ensured I was following the recommendations from our
religious and school speech pathologist. The speech pathologist recommendations included
socioeconomic smaller and clear instructions, providing phoneme cards to support writing and
backgrounds. running our explicit phonological awareness session before starting the
learning block. If I did have students in my cohort with ‘English as an Additional
Language (EAL)’ needs I would provide reading and viewing materials in their
native language and I would support their instruction and understanding with
simple communication and clear steps. During my teaching of this unit I was
aware of the cultures within our community and that is why I chose to address
‘Living Things’ in a student driven way. Students were encouraged to share
their own stories, images of their own pets and document their individual
understandings. In respect of diverse cultures, I did address that different
families and places in the world have different pets, I explained that they may
not be animals we have in our country or we may not see them as pets. In
respect of all cultures we spoke about all animals kindly and respectfully. My
2020 cohort do not have identified religious backgrounds and religion is not a
component of our public school educational program. If I did have students
that had identified religions I would research and communicate with the
parents of the student/s with particular religious beliefs in terms of the
curriculum delivery and considerations that would need to take place when
discussing living things, animals and our environment. With my personal
understanding that different religions view death differently, I was prepared to
have a respectful discussion with the students about the passing of pets, but
this did not come up in our student directed inquiry. My 2020 Prep students do
come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and to be mindful of
student’s ability to have a pet I did ask each student 1:1 and privately whether
they did have a pet before this inquiry began. I did not want to put a student/s
in the position of not owning a pet and our inquiry being centred around our
personal experiences with our animals at home. In this particular case each
student did have one or more pets at home so we were able to continue the
inquiry as planned. If there were students or one student without a pet at
home I would have directed the inquiry differently and had it centred around
native animals instead of pets. Because I designed and implemented these
teaching strategies to be responsive to the linguistic, cultural, religious and
socioeconomic diversity within my classroom each student was respectfully
considered and able to fully engage in each experience. The students and
families felt included in the inquiry, evidenced when the majority (19/22) of
families sent in photos of their pets through Seesaw. As a teacher I will
continue to have these considerations for my families and students, to apply
teaching strategies that are responsive to the diverse linguistic, cultural,
religious and socioeconomic backgrounds in my classroom. Knowing my
students, understanding their lives, knowing their needs and strengths is the
basis for everything I plan and do. It is important to me, personally, to know my
students and to make them feel welcomed and thought of in the classroom.
Designing and implementing these responsive teaching strategies is something
that will continue to evolve as I progress through my career, as I continue to
learn and develop a deeper understanding of the diversity in my environment.