Programming and planning using the SACSA Companion Documents

1. Programming and planningusing the SACSA Companion Documents Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

2. This program is planned for Early Years Standard 1 English Planning can be done using the Key Ideas, Outcomes and descriptors in the Companion Documents. This program on morning talks is based around the speaking and listening mode and also addresses the Essential Learning, Communication. Speaking and listening Use all three strands when planning Strategies There are many ways to plan programs—this is one example. Begin by finding the Key Ideas, Outcomes and descriptors relevant to your task. Language Texts and contexts Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

3. This teacher is planning a program for morning talks. She has begun by looking at a descriptor from texts and contexts to see what implications it might have for her programming. Texts and contexts • Thoughts: • What does this mean for us? • Do we need to reassess morning talks? • Is 'Good morning, boys and girls' still appropriate? Uses a variety of greetings Uses a variety of greetings Action: Discussion and brainstorming with kids around greetings. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

4. Still looking at texts and contexts, she looks back at the Key Idea. Texts and contexts • Thoughts: • Ideas and feelings—must therefore be about things that kids can understand • Familiar audience— that’s OK… that’s our class Key Idea: With an awareness of purpose, they produce a range of spoken texts in order to communicate their ideas and feelings to a familiar audience. ID T C KC2 …communicate their ideas and feelings to a familiar audience. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

5. She now looks at the language strand. Here she is looking first at the Key Idea. Language Thoughts: Every now and then we need to have someone else listening Key Idea: Children listen to and interact with familiar audiences for different contexts, and learn about some aspects of spoken language. They produce spoken texts, experimenting with language to communicate with a range of audiences in the home, school and community. T C KC2 Action: Get parents, principal, student teacher to come and watch. Also use a video camera. … to communicate with a range of audiences in the home, school and community. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

6. She looks at the Key Idea again. Thoughts: We need a range of topics…and it can’t just be what they did at the weekend because they won’t experiment with language—it will just be the same thing. Language Key Idea: Children listen to and interact with familiar audiences for different contexts, and learn about some aspects of spoken language. They produce spoken texts, experimenting with language to communicate with a range of audiences in the home, school and community. T C KC2 • Action: • Brainstorm a list of things with which children are familiar…allow them some choice, eg my favourite toy. • Get them to think of other things they wouldn’t usually have spoken about at morning talks. They produce spoken texts, experimenting with language to communicate… Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

7. She now starts to formulate a plan. Emerging plan: Work with children on morning talks, leading to a performance in week 10, which is videoed and to which parents are invited to come and watch. • Preparation: • Prepare children to • give a performance • in front of a video • with parents invited to watch. • Talk about what makes a good speaker • Timetabling—start working towards week 10 and discuss time management Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

8. She returns to the language strand, this time looking more closely at descriptors. Language Thoughts: With assistance—so there definitely needs to be some help from me here. Plans and delivers, with assistance, oral presentations to a small range of audiences. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

9. She looks at a further descriptor in the language strand. Language Thoughts: The children are going to need to learn this skill. Action: Explicit teaching of concept webs and tying this into different areas. NB The class later utilised this skill further in writing. Maintains a topic while elaborating a central idea Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

10. She finds another descriptor in the language strand relevant to morning talks. Language Thoughts: The children are going to need to learn this skill. Action: Explicit teaching of concepts of when, who, where and what. Includes when, who, where and what in oral recounts Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

11. She pauses to reflect on this exercise of program planning. Thoughts It occurred to me that I had never really planned oral language before! You tend to think ‘Oh, we do lots of talking! We do lots of this sort of stuff!’ This exercise caused me to be very self-reflective. I wondered whether at the end of the year it was still only my good speakers who remained good speakers. Generally that is the case—the good speakers get better, and those who don’t want to speak stay about the same. I also recognised that, in the past, I had always made morning talks an option—this time it was non-negotiable. But I provided lots of scaffolding for the reluctant speakers and sat out front with them when it was their turn. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

12. Having now gained an idea of the type of ‘texts’ children should be constructing and the type of language they should be using, it was time to look at strategies. Thoughts: If kids need to learn how to plan, they need time to do that planning. Strategies Plans spoken presentations (eg describing who, what, where, when, why, how, feelings). Action: • Explicit teaching on developing a plan • Timetable every Monday to be a planning day when I model. For example, for a talk on ‘my family’, I will model a talk on my own family and demonstrate strategies, like bringing in photos. • I will model structures and write headings on the board. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

13. She consulted another relevant descriptor in the strategies strand. Thoughts: This will need explicit teaching and will require some time. Strategies Action: I will explicitly teach and we will discuss: • Good audiences look like… • Good speakers look like… (eg, eye contact, speaking up, cues, practising, how to show something) Uses conventions for speaking and listening. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

14. The strategies strand contained more descriptors relevant to morning talks. Thoughts: This was so different! I hadn’t in the past considered rehearsal time and had only ever said ‘Who wants to talk this morning?’ Strategies Rehearses spoken presentations which include the appropriate use of a prop. Action: Kids will make plans and take them home on Monday nights to practise. If there is any spare time on Mondays after they have completed their plan, they can rehearse with a partner Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

15. There was one more descriptor within the strategies strand relevant to morning talks. Thoughts: How will the kids understand this? This needs modelling. Strategies Adjusts speaking to match different situations and audiences (eg adjusting volume, expression, intonation, pace.) Action: I will do lots of modelling by speaking in funny voices! Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

16. Presentation day On the day in week 10, the kids gave a variety of presentations including: • demonstrations of science experiments • joke telling, with audience participation • magic tricks, where they called for volunteers from the audience • music and dance performances. All presentations had to include an oral component, including a greeting, an explanation of what they were presenting and a concluding statement. For students who had been stuck for an idea for a presentation, we had found resources in the library on topics they were interested in, such as science experiments and magic tricks. We had scorers in the audience, although we didn’t do anything with the scores, but it simulated a purpose. We looked at the things that were important, which we had talked about during the last few weeks: • Were they confident? • Did they speak clearly? • Did they need to look at their words? Programming is really quite easy if you look for the key words and tease them out. Although I spend a long time planning, I don’t always write a programming rubric as formally as the one for this learning activity. Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to move to the next slide.

17. Programming rubric Use your mouse, or the Enter or arrow keys, to end this presentation. J Baillie – Paringa Park PS, 2003 Based on SACSA Teacher Resources Draft Document, English, Early Years