Early+Years+Teaching+Practices

Early years teaching approaches are fundamentally developed around reading and writing teaching approaches. The framework for this teaching are categorized in sub headings of; whole group activities, part or small group activities or independent work activites. Concerning **whole group** activities, shared reading by the class or the teacher reading aloud to the class are evident. Whilst with writing, modelled or shared writing is taking place.
 * Early Years Teaching Approaches **

Modelled writing can be described as “the teacher writes on a whiteboard or showing how a writer uses words, sentences and text types to record ideas” (Hill 2006, p.99). The idea is to teach the student to develop ideas to write sentences in a way that best describes their opinions, ideas or even to develop an argument. Shared or interactive writing, or “a whole group activity where the teacher leads the class in exploring ways to write various text types, construct more complex sentences and check spelling and grammar” (Hill 2006, p.99).

Reading aloud involves the teacher reading a selected text to the class whereby, “the purpose is for children to engage with texts pitched at a more complex level than they can read” (Hill 2006, p.83). This opens the childs mind to more complex words, sentences and punctuation, and along with listening to the reader it is hoped they will make connections with what they are hearing and the words they are seeing, as in most cases they would not be able to read the text independently. Shared reading involves the teacher reading usually a large picture book and prompting the class to read along as they read. It is hoped the children, when having trouble with the reading, can figure out the sentences by looking at the pictures or clues in front of them.

As explained, part or small group activities take place in small groups of usually 4-6 children. This gives the teacher a chance to perhaps place children of similar academic abilities in to groups. Guided reading and writing are performed in these group activities. Guided reading involves the teacher having the children read an individual copy of the same text, the teacher prompts the children as they read, stopping and starting them as they make and then fix their errors. The texts “have some challenges, and the teacher prepares the children to use a range of problem solving strategies to read the text” (Hill 2006, p.95).
 * Part or small group activities **

Guided writing is also done in small groups. The students write from a different range of text types over time. “The teacher may provide mini lessons to demonstrate a particular aspect of text type, grammar, punctuation or spelling. Guided writing is linked to reading, and various text types are used as models” (Hill 2006, p 100) Independent reading and writing are where the child completes activities explained alone. In this case hopefully they have developed the knowledge and confidence to tackle it alone, and it is hoped they will “build fluency and motivation, and it is time to express ideas and experiment” (Hill 2006, p 100)

Whilst on my teaching rounds, I observed some of these teaching practices mentioned. I witnessed the teacher reading a large picture book to class, then after had the students read it together, prompting them to look at the pictures to assist them. This showed shared reading, the teacher reading aloud and guided reading. Students were also observed reading in small groups through guided reading, which I assisted in. Students were also asked to write persuasive paragraphs in preparation for the activity ‘Naplan’. The teachers wrote a topic on the board like “all animals should be kept in cages”; the children were then asked to write persuasive writing pieces with an introduction, middle or elaboration stage and a conclusion in response to the topic. This showed interactive and independent writing. It was good to see the students having to from their own opinions. Guided writing was also present as I helped in the process of them forming their sentences.

__**Group Comments**__

The school I was in was almost exactly as described above and most of the time this never changed. Smartboard, whiteboard, big books and modelling were used all the time. (Ethan Tartaglia)

During my placement and also assessing a literacy session for assessment 2 both programs divided children into academic levels in regards to their reading and writing abilities. I though this was great as the teacher was then able to offer them a task that is benefical to their needs, offers them a challenge, and discourage them by being compared to the rest of the class. (Libby Salter)

On most occasions the teaching approach used was a whole group approach consisting of modelled writing or reading followed by individual writing or reading. There were also 3 reading groups based on ability for part/small group activities that the children would rotate through but be modified for each level. (Mark Tapscott)

The school I was at had the value that children should learn through play. They stuck only very loosely to VELS, and were against traditional assessment. Every morning, to encourage learning through play and self motivated learning, the children would have "Learning Agreement". This was where the children would pick one of 10 activities, and complete it virtually without any teacher assistance. The more advanced students thrived on this, however most of the students I believe didn't gain a great deal from this lesson, considering how much time was devoted to it every single day. (Hayley Gleeson)