The discipline of history requires students to have a comprehensive knowledge of literacy in order to understand the elements of texts, how and why they were created, and how to construct arguments in an academically correct format. There are two key literacy skills that students need master in order to be successful in a history discipline class: the ability to analyse and evaluate sources and the ability to correctly structure academic arguments. While these understandings are ultimately skill based learning, I believe that students firstly require direct instruction and scaffolding to be able to navigate through academically appropriate concepts and ways of working. Throughout the unit plan, there is allocated lesson time for clear and direct literacy instruction, with the inclusion of guided activities and practice. The unit plan was created for Year 10 History students studying World War II. It is important, that students at this stage of their education understand how to implement the literacy skills of the discipline so that their choice of whether or not to continue their education in the field of history is an informed one. Throughout the unit, the literacy learning that is used to aid students in developing well rounded literacies in a history discourse includes: analysing and evaluating sources as an extension from the students knowledge of the aspects that make up all texts according to the four resources model; an understanding and development of the skill of
The underling concern that emerges is how to deal with the public’s insatiable hunger for the past alongside the growing disconnection from the academic teachings of history, particularly in the fostering of students historical consciousness in an era of bombardment of knowledge from the public domain. With this scenario to bare educators of history face the challenge of teaching students a historical format, respecting the doctrines of historical inquiry as well as presenting it in a more consumable and significant manner. Ultimately, educators become the bridge to facilitate a dialogue between the ever increasing popular history which their students are exposed to alongside the value of historical literacy, taking into account the pitfalls that can exist on both paths of historical understanding, whilst emphasising the relevance a combined approach offers in classrooms. In essence, the lines that separate both camps are more blurred and intertwined than one is led to believe, thus educators must judge a course that encompasses the unavoidable popular history in order to project compelling as well contestable histories.
It is important to remember to children do not stop learning history when they finish their time at primary school. Maintained secondary schools follow the NC which maintains that all children will continue to learn history by means of the KS3 History Programmes of Study (2013). Therefore it is important to prepare children for more challenging and precise history learning. New topics shall be introduced so it is important children have the skills to ‘identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends’ (p.72). It is, furthermore, defined that pupils will ‘pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves’ (p.72). This indicates towards children becoming independent critical thinkers, a valuable quality to have in adult
I believe that literacy is one of the most important of the seven capabilities. Every single person in the entire world uses literacy every single day, you could say it is more of a way of life than a capability. In today’s day and age, most things have become digitalized, and children are becoming more confident in their writing abilities as well as their communication skills – online. Literacy takes reading, writing, and communication skills, and jumbles those all up together, giving people who extend their literacy capability the option to apply more techniques, and interactions onto these skills. In the words of 3plearning, “The changes that the English language has undergone over the course of history is staggering. The past decade alone
Purpose – how will this experience meet the needs and interests of the children? How will this experience contribute to the child(ren)’ emerging literacy skills
Josh is able to communicate his ideas and experiences from literacy in his writing independently. He is able to sound out some high frequency words and spell them correctly in his writing. His next step is to add details to his illustrations to help represent his ideas. Josh is able to set and work towards learning goals, this is evident in his reading and writing. He takes feedback in a positive way and uses it to improve his writing. Josh is encouraged to only use capital letters when required and lower case letters in inside his sentences. He would benefit from practicing his lower case letters and looking at his nameplate as a visual reminder. Josh has strong comprehension skills and is encouraged to continue to add expression
Method/ Strategies: While reading Eyeball Alphabet Book with the client, the clinician will point out and emphasize certain vocabulary words. The clinician can also start a small conversation with the client about each vocabulary word and pair it with pictures in the book.
Literacy lessons need to be a balance combination of reading, discussing and writing activities. Teachers must create opportunities where the students take the role of the educator and educate not only themselves but also their peers. To make sure all students receive the level of attention each one of them need, small group activities must also be conducted with specific group or individual instructions. The small group will allow teachers to assess the need of each students with their strength, weaknesses and most importantly the tools that they need to achieve.
Readings and websites, set in this subject, have showed that I lack the basic knowledge of constructing literacy communication skills.
My learning so far for this unit has been very informative, interesting and most of all useful for my everyday work. The focus during week one was on language and the importance of being literate. Language is more than communication and can be seen as cognitive, material or social. We use language to express our emotions, thoughts and to communicate with family and friends. During week two the topics explored context, shared meaning and interaction. There are four concepts that underpin approaches to literacy teaching and learning. These include that language is a socio-cultural practice; there are multiple ways of being literate; literacy involves more than the recognition of symbols and classroom literacies need to be learned in a meaningful
History allows students to develop skills such as; critically analyse and interpret sources, ask applicable questions, speak effectively, respect and explain their own views and develop and authenticate understandings.
“Literacy begins in thinking about stories” (Robert Fisher 2006) with reference to a specific children’s novel, discuss how you would develop lower ks2 higher order reading skills to enable them to improve their standard of reading
Issues in Facilitating Literacy Development introduced the reading specialist candidate to various Case Studies allowing the candidate to reflect and design a sequence of reading strategies to meet the specific needs of students. The reading candidate became familiar with the roles and responsibilities of the reading specialist by recognizing a literacy issue within the school, creating a survey for colleagues, and analyzing the data from the survey to provide teachers with meaningful professional development. The Case studies and Survey Design project prompted the reading candidate to learn and apply evidence-based research linked to reading strategies, techniques, observations, surveys, and reflections to improve literacy instruction for students and teachers.
Shanahan (2011) makes an excellent point that for each discipline there should be a different way of ensuring that learning is taking place. Not all disciplines are the same, so their approaches should be different as well. If students struggle with history they may also struggle with English if they are taught the same way. Learning goals and strategies vary by class and so should teaching method and delivery. The points in this article should be taken into consideration when teachers create lesson plans.
Thus, while I have generalised ideas about the topics, marked by “Little” (Appendix 1 Step 2), I lack distinct bodies of identifiable content knowledge that matter for teaching these topics. I would need to gain more comprehensible pedagogical content knowledge to satisfy historical reasoning, insight and understanding and to apply the historical skills that will inform practise. Therefore, I need to increase on historical content knowledge that will help me to be an effective preservice history teacher.
Literacy pedagogies have a developing and complex history in education, intertwined with social and cultural change and evolution. Each change has paved a new path for more significant approaches and strategies, which cater to diverse learners allowing them to create meaning and communicate more effectively. These literacy pedagogies brought out by the changes in education have both strengths and weaknesses. As such, educators need to explore and understand the four knowledge processes portrayed by Kalantzis, Cope, Chan and Dalley-Trim; didactic, authentic, functional, and critical literacy approach (2016), to be able to consider how they can influence teaching and learning so they are able to make informed decisions with regards to their students’ literacy learning. Teaching is becoming increasingly complex; this is particularly evident in the area of literacy. This paper will explore the four literacy pedagogies, their limitations and their strengths, and how they have impacted literacy learning within the Australian educational context.