1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
1.2 Understand how students learn
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
On a three-week preservice teacher placement at a low socioeconomic primary school during term three, I was with a year two class of 20 students. The class consisted of a diverse range of students including students diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, and ODD, a student with a part-time attendance plan, and students with significant behaviour issues and trauma backgrounds. As part of my assignment for university, I was required to select a learning area and gather data to make evidence-informed instructional decisions for the planning of three lessons.
I chose to teach multiplication; recognise and represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups, and arrays (ACARA, n.d., ACMNA031). As my lessons were scheduled to be taught in the second week of my placement, the first week was dedicated to getting to know my students and familiarise myself with factors that would influence my teaching methods for a diverse range of learners (1.1). During the first days of my placement, I took notes from observations and conversations that I had with the teacher and the students (Artefact 1). Informal conversations with students helped me to develop a trusting relationship with students which according to Hattie (2008) is likely to have a positive impact on student learning. Using activities and diagnostic questioning, I gathered data to gauge the level of student understanding which varied as some students had come from a composite class the previous year and were already exposed to the concept. Some students lacked numeracy confidence and still required visuals, counters, fingers, or number lines to complete basic number facts. For this reason, I used the gradual release of responsibility (GRR) (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) to explicitly explain multiplication vocabulary using a PowerPoint with visuals (Artefact 2). Once all students were confident with the terminology, I modelled the concept of multiplication as repeated addition of equal groups with concrete objects and writing the number sentence on the IWB (Artefact 3). This concept of concrete materials linking with symbols connects with Piaget’s cognitive characters of students in the concrete-operational stage as they explore numeracy representations in multiple ways through concrete objects and logic (Reys, 2021) (1.2 and 1.5). I modelled the process several times before completing questions as a class and having students complete the process. When students were successfully completing questions together, they were given questions to complete in pairs using manipulatives. All students used concrete materials so that no one felt embarrassed needing support, and this also allowed me to check that students understood the concept behind multiplication (1.5).
As a result of knowing their abilities, I was able to differentiate the learning for all students to gain a strong understanding of multiplication over three carefully scaffolded lessons that gave students different strategies to solve questions independently.
References:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (n.d.). The Australian Curriculum – Mathematics – Year 2. Retrieved December 29, 2023, from http://bit.ly/48qKy6U.
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.
Pearson, P., & Gallagher, M. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology.
Reys, R. (2021). Helping children learn mathematics (4th ed.). Wiley.
