Observation of Associate Teacher’s lesson [1b]

5 September 2022 Phonetical and Grapheme awareness

This observation will assist you to identify the elements of an effective learning environment.

Links to prior learning / knowledge: How did the teacher make connections with children’s prior knowledge and understanding and how did the teacher support learners to make connections between their own and each others’.  

Since practicum 1a the whole school is moving to a more structured literacy approach with phonological knowledge building through the “Sound Foundations for Literacy” system. However, this lesson builds on previous language awareness development through the “Jolly Phonetics” system, with more explicit teaching. Using recognition of grapheme and phonemes (and using this language), ākonga are asked to contribute words that include the target sound of the lesson.    

Motivational Strategies: How did the teacher engage learners and encourage participation and engagement for diverse learners? What did you notice about the ākonga levels of engagement and participation as a result of these approaches?  

Verbal acknowledgement is a key motivational strategy for engagement in this lesson. Praise is used to encourage, “not quite” and “almost” are used to redirect. Having a response written up on the modelling sheet elicits an obvious sense of pride from ākonga, who sit up straighter and seem more likely to respond with more attempts to answer.

Teaching Strategies: What pedagogical approaches were used? Give detail about how these were implemented. What teaching strategies were used? For example: demonstration, questioning, role play, problem solving, drilling, co-construction, scaffolding, transmission, small group work, independent study, problem solving/inquiry.      

Ākonga sit on the mat and are reminded that they need to raise their hands to respond when they forget and call out. Teacher modelling and demonstration is used to show ākonga lip, teeth and tongue positioning to form the correct sound. Using posters that show correct mouth positioning for each phoneme, as well as spelling patterns, once the lesson is complete these go on the wall for future reference – and during writing lessons ākonga do go up to the wall to confirm the letter formation for the sound they want to spell. This lesson builds on previous lessons and provides a scaffolding to build future lessons.  

Reflection:How did the teacher assess learning and evaluate the teaching?

During the lesson the teacher gently corrected misunderstandings, and during other aspects of classroom life would refer to the word wall to actively encourage ākonga to take responsibility for their own learning.