Jill+Dande+4

Well I hope you are impressed. I have now added myself to this page. Thank you for today, although I do find after lunch hard. Food seems to lessen my thinking ability. Actually, I was thinking on the way home about what we spoke about today - re difficulty in making connections with others with only four sessions and sessions so far apart. Maybe making the workshops as a full day introduction and then a couple of half days to follow each term, with the afternoons free to continue making connections with the group or to go off and continue personal or group investigations.

Hi Jill - thanks for all your contributions today. I agree we need to try and get contact days closer - I think it would get the momentum happening earlier. Maureen

Well I know I had good intentions of being on this site but as I said I am not good at using various places. So I have been busy documenting my work in journal form on my laptop. However, today I am sharing. Feedback welcome.

Application has been accepted. Excellent. This will be great.
 * __Jill's TPL Journal__**

I have really not thought much about TPL until now. I have been waiting for this to get myself started. I really have been caught up in my daily teaching duties and my roles within the school and not had much time for anything else. Sounds like the life of most teachers.
 * __TPL Induction day – April 13th__**

I enjoyed thinking about possibilities and exploring the ‘Evidence Inquiry Cycle’. I have put down ideas on the cycle that cover all areas of my proposal and looking at it is daunting. I have certainly chosen a wide area. Perhaps my focus needs to be refined. But I have begun thinking about places I want to visit and people who I would like to contact to delve into their brains. The trialling will come later.
 * //Question of the day//** – Where are my students in their development?

This was based on my original intention of working with both PSD students and EAL students. However, as can be seen this changed as I further refined my research focus. Still I think the ideas as shown by the students provide a thought-provoking insight into their thoughts on education and what they saw as ‘best practice’.
 * __Evidence Group Conversation Debrief__**

Interestingly each child brought up similar ideas. They choose students who were engaged in their learning, either individually or in groups. Groups appear to be the preferred method as the children see the value of being able to ‘bounce’ ideas off each other. They liked being able to discuss ideas and activities that they perceived as fun. This meant that the teacher “showed them easier ways’ to do their work or by providing them with a ‘trick’ to understand how to do the work. They liked to make connections with their teachers and to feel like they are working alongside them, rather than being lectured to for the whole day.

So…what are the needs of my students and how will I assess their needs. **(Dimension 1)**

Through my work with the various groups in the school I can see the spread of student achievement reflects what I have seen in numerous schools over my many years of teaching. There are those who are doing extremely well and those who cope adequately with the curriculum and only require a little assistance at some times in their learning to grasp the concept/s being taught. There are those who sit just below par and require regular intervention to assist them with their learning and finally there are those who belong to the struggling group who seem to continually fall behind the rest of the class. Many of these struggling students are assessed and some become eligible for funding under the PSD program. I also am aware that our EAL students often have difficulty in their work due to their lack of understanding of academic language and their ability to write use correct grammar.

To back-up my premise I sort feedback from the year 5 and 6 teachers on the students who were in my EAL classes. The grade six teachers agreed. They had found that the students were lacking in vocabulary and word understanding which was reflected in their work and in their ability to work independently. I had observed this as well when working with the grade 6 EAL students on their Gold Rush assignments during the first term. I would take them out during their EAL time and we would focus on a small part of the assignment and together research the information on the Internet. We would then discuss the information, explaining unfamiliar wards and role playing aspects (eg panning for gold) to further assist the students understanding. This culminated in the students being able to present their work to their peers with greater understanding demonstrated through their ability to explain their work.

//Teacher feedback – the EAL students this year showed greater confidence and completed the Gold Rush assignment with much better understanding than the students have in the previous years. The work presented was not just cut and pasted out of websites.// To further my investigation into their understanding and use of vocabulary, I borrowed a PAT maths test from the grade six teachers. This test had been completed by the students earlier in the year and they believed they thoroughly understood all the English used. This attitude was quickly dispelled when I began pulling out key mathematical terms from the first few questions. I found the students did not understand them and had great difficulty in explaining what they were being asked to do.

The grade five teachers concurred and explained that while the students were enthusiastic and endeavoured to do the work, they frequently needed assistance with understanding and their writing lacked any but the basic use of vocabulary, which was not always used accurately. They also confused tense and incorrectly used verbs.

//Grade five teacher – the greatest thing I find my EAL students struggle with is the appropriate tense when writing and not being able to change their language from how it should be written correctly. Another thing I have found is they struggle to correctly use the verbs is and are. They have a solid understanding of words they are familiar with but no understanding and confusion as to how they should sound out unfamiliar words.// I than went and obtained copies of the grade 5 work books and looking through could see this. I photocopied pages so that I could do a basic comparison later and also so that the students could compare their work samples.

I had already begun to focus more on the EAL students as I worked with them weekly, than the PSD students who I would have to try and fit into my already crowded program.

During this workshop, I felt as though I was out of my depth. All the things that I had planned and included in my original application seemed no longer to fit with the way the discussion was going. My initial thought was to focus on PSD students and perhaps the English as a Second Language / Dialect students and to complete the writing of Non-negotiable documents showing the schools approach the teaching of these students. However, it soon became clear that trying to cover off on both groups would be far too broad and therefore unsuitable for the purpose of my enquiry in improving student learning. But the need for greater awareness and spread of the PSD program and its processes was a glaring need and this could be achieved utilising only a small part of my TPL time.
 * __TPL Workshop 1 – May 9th__**

After a long discussion with one of the facilitators, I fine-tuned my ideas by deliberating over my role and what I believed I could possibly do that would make a difference to not only the students that I was working with today, but those who I might work with in the future and those who were in the classrooms with whom I did not work, and my research focus would be my English as a Second Language / Dialect students. The numbers of who are steadily increasing in the school.

The crux of my investigations would be to focus more on engaging the EALs in my classroom while focussing on developing their vocabulary. Why? These students often struggle as while they have command of ‘playground’ language and mix readily in the classes, often lack understanding of academic language required to successfully work in the classroom and complete assessments. They also do not have an expansive command of the more interesting words of the English language. They also frequently do not bother to find out what unfamiliar words they hear or read in books mean. Their main strategy when confronted with these words is either to ask someone to help them pronounce it or just read over the word.

This idea was beginning to make connections with the reading I had been doing and the webinar I had recently viewed. If the students were doing this in primary school and not seeking help or not knowing how to find help by themselves, what would happen when they got into the secondary school system? I knew these students were keen to learn and enjoyed coming to work with me during their EAL sessions, as they understood that I was there to help them and work to improve their understanding of language. However, I felt I was lacking direction as to where to take them and how to prepare them for their future learning. I had always been passionate about literacy so our lessons were always literacy based but really from general ideas given by the teachers and from my own knowledge of the students which I had developed over time.

So, based on the needs of my students, what do I **need to learn and do differently** in my teaching practice **to improve the learning outcomes for my students**? **(Dimension 2)**

I had undertaken a school based professional development series on teaching EAL students many years ago and much of my present practice was based on that. I had spoken with the area EAL advisor when I first commenced teaching the EAL students at my school the year before and while she had provided me with a great deal of information, I was quite overwhelmed by it and had only looked through parts as I required. I had looked to the resources in the school and had used some of these but others were suitable for teaching students with little or no English. When planning, I had made use of the resources on the Internet and aligned my work with what was happening in the classrooms.

However, I knew I needed to investigate the EAL program in greater depth, including the EAL continuum, to see how I could make it work better for my EAL students and to assist and further familiarise the teaching staff with this. I also wanted to investigate a way of teaching vocabulary to the students which would engage them and include working on their writing as well. I also needed to undertake further training on the PSD program to increase my knowledge of the application process and the requirements involved in successfully completing these, and to become trained in the ENQ meeting process, so that I could be undertake this role in my own school and as a DEECD representative in other schools.

During this session, I began to formulate my plan:
 * To improve my personal knowledge of the EAL curriculum and continuum
 * To visit the English Language School and compare their processes of identifying where students are to our present methods
 * To develop ‘I Can…’ statements which could be utilised by the teachers and later, the students, for assessing their progress
 * To identify expertise in the teaching of EAL students and to arrange visits to discuss their programs and processes
 * Investigate methods of teaching which will focus on improving the students vocabulary and writing
 * Shadow the Assistant Principal who presently undertakes the whole PSD application process, including ENQ meetings, Parent Support Group meetings and the writing and submitting of the applications.
 * Investigate PSD network

I decided the EAL students and their learning would be the major focus of my research and the furthering of my knowledge and expertise in the PSD process secondary. I believe the development of the ‘I Can…’ statement would assist the teachers in providing better feedback and more focused learning for the EAL students in their classrooms. I saw the development of peer and student self-evaluation important and knew it was seen to have a higher impact on student learning according to many researchers, including John Hattie. In his book ‘Visible Learning’ it rates high as one of the major factors in improving student learning. Of course it is only one aspect but I needed to commence somewhere. During this session, I decided I needed to visit teachers with greater expertise than myself and decided to commence with the English Language School either in Noble Park or Hampton Park and then to contact with Heather Sherwell, who had been the consultant for the EAL section of Southern Region for a number of years. Her had developed her expertise while teaching at the Narre Warren P – 12 school and now Doveton P – 8, as well as other postings with EAL students in various settings including the Regional office and had a wealth of knowledge to share.

Through ASCD I found webinar presented by American educator, Jane Pollock on ‘Minding the Achievement Gap One Classroom at a Time’. This was an explanation of her book of the same title, which claimed to show how small, specific adjustments to planning, teaching and assessment practices could support more effective learning in every student, every day and how it could help to engage academically ‘at-risk’ students and EAL students. This looked and sounded promising. The theory underpinning it and the process it followed reflected the e5 model and sound educative practice.

The webinar focussed on the following:
 * ensuring classroom **teaching is explicit** by making certain students know the **//learning focus//**
 * **//defining the expected outcomes//** before the commencing work **//to set the tone//** of the classroom
 * utilising the **‘talk/share/record’ cycle** during the class
 * **//using student self- assessment//** of their work and knowledge gained through-out the teaching session
 * allowing for **//student questioning and explicit feedback//** given
 * **//valuing ‘learning’ conversations//** with students
 * using information to investigate – **//what do they want to achieve?//**
 * encouraging teacher/student relationships which **//enhance student learning//**

By using this process as set out, will it change perceptions by the end of the year? Have I really chosen the correct group of students to question? I am not sure. Are my ideas too broad? Will I be able to complete this and develop anything worthwhile? How will it all unfold?
 * My Feelings –**

But before I could put my fledgling ideas into action, my principal asked me to accompany her to the VPA State Forum. She said I might find some of it interesting. One of the presentations during this forum was given by the Principal and some staff from Courtenay Gardens Primary School in Cranbourne North. They spoke of how they were implementing a school wide ‘vocabulary’ program. This was to complement their writing program that they had developed and been refining for many years. They were already well known for this program; however, it was their approach to vocabulary through-out the school and one of the methods they were using that intrigued me. Below should be a copy of their basic proforma for exploring vocabulary; however, it did not copy over. I will have to endeavoured to draw it using an inserted table. However this does not save as I have made it.
 * __VPA State Forum May 24th__**
 * Meaning -

Focus || Illustration -

Word ||  
 * Synonym –

Antonyms –   || Word Family - || However, Courtenay Gardens Primary School has their own interpretation of this. This simple graphic fired my imagination as I could see it being used in many ways and see the possibility of changing the headings within each of the quadrants, or in fact introducing more sections. When I returned to school I trialled this graphic with my EAL students with some random words and the results were outstanding. The students enjoyed the process and I found they had a greater understanding of the word being explored. But how would this look as a part of a program to really enhance their vocabulary? I therefore decided to find out more by contacting Courtenay Gardens.
 * Sentence - ||

I took this idea enthusiastically back to my school, instantly seeing possibilities and ways I could use it with all my students. I decided to try it out with my 4 & 5 EAL group. We chose a word from their reading which they were unfamiliar with. Using the graphic above and as a group, we investigated the given word. While only spending the single session on it, I could see how it could impact on their learning and their vocabulary development. I decided I needed to explore this further by visiting Courtenay Gardens Primary School and speaking with Emma Parnell who is also involved in TPL this year and investigating how to further their, the school’s use of the Vocabulary Journal.

Spoke with Emma Parnell, Grade 2 Teacher and coordinator of Vocabulary Investigation within the school.
 * __Visit to Courtenay Gardens PS__**
 * Purpose:** to investigate and discuss the introduction of their approach to the teaching of vocabulary
 * Began investigation of new methods of teaching vocabulary as a result of the teachers realizing that the students used simple language. Also teachers found they were assuming the understanding of many commonly used words.
 * Initially the whole school participated in academic reading on the subject of vocabulary. They read a lot of the work by Robert Marzanno. This provided them with the background by which to underpin their new pedagogical approach.
 * They purchased “Building Academic Vocabulary” by Marzanno and using this as a base began to build a list of academic words for English and Mathematics, throughout the school.
 * The list was commenced in Prep and then passed up to grade 1, 2, etc
 * This resulted in a list of 30 English and 30 Mathematical words to be studied throughout the year.
 * The specialists came up with their own list of 30 words for each year level as well.
 * These words are then matched to the topic or skill area being taught eg adjectives during descriptive writing, y axis during the investigation of graphs, antonyms during English classes. Basically they investigate 1 or 2 words a week in the classroom and the same with specialists.
 * These words are set for 2 years, following which they are reviewed to ensure they are still an accurate reflection of the academic words being used.
 * They use a variety of activities to investigate the words – the initial one shown at the VPA conference and the ‘Think Board” activity like I did. Also they do a similar thing using “Behind the Door” which is a lift the flap activity, an investigation using a pyramid triangle and one using a donut type circle.
 * School-wide weekly words are discussed on their daily broadcast – TV, I believe
 * They are just beginning to assess the success of the program.
 * Presently they use Marzanno’s 3 levels of knowledge which is based on student self-assessment or teacher observation or knowledge, as follows:
 * 1) I have no idea of the meaning of the word
 * 2) I know what it means but I do not think I can teach this to another student
 * 3) I know what it means and could teach it to another student


 * Presently they are trialling testing of vocab through the use of a cloze activity. This is set out in the book “Bring Words TO Life – Robust Vocabulary Instruction” by Isabel l. Beck, Margaret G. McKown and Linda Kucan. In this book, students’ knowledge and understanding of the word is tested by them having to complete a cloze exercise using the words supplied. This cloze activity is in the form of a letter. It did not seem to be in any other form.
 * The final book shared was “Word Nerds – Teaching all Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary” by Brenda J Overturf, Leslie Montgomery and Margot Holmes Smith.
 * I think all these books are available from ASCD of which I am a member and I will check it out.

After this visit, I wanted to experiment more with the ‘Word Nerd’ Vocabulary Journal and on returning to school, commandeered a Year 6 PAT maths test booklet. My reasoning was that this was a test which was assessing the students’ mathematical knowledge but much of the document was presented using mathematical terms or academic words. If the students, EAL or any student had not grasped the meaning of the word during a maths lesson then they had little hope to understand and answer questions pertaining to that concept. It was amazing, I trialled only one word from the test and explored it along the lines set out in ‘Word Nerds’ and found I was correct. The students did not understand the word and what it required them to do in the question. Therefore their mathematical ability was being impacted upon by the lack of understanding of purely academically based words. This would probably carry through to words we use and expect them to understand when engaged in discussion in English. After several attempts, I managed to organise and interview with Merrilyn the grade 3 / 4 teacher at the English Language School at Hampton Park Secondary College. She explained that the students went through intense immersion in English and as each child came in, he or she was assessed using either Stage A or Stage B of the EAL continuum. They also were assessed using similar assessments to the students within a ‘normal’ state school. This backed up my school’s present policy when students with English as a Second Language enrolled. This usually occurred at the commencement of the year, but occasionally once the year had commenced. The classroom teacher uses the same assessments of the EAL students as others. Our school then recommends the student (if eligible) attend the English Language School if required. Merrilyn showed me the different assessments that the students undertook and while discussing these, mentioned that they were designed by Heather Sherwell who worked at the Doveton P – 8 College and if I would like copies of thisngs they use, I would have to see her. I was disappointed that they were not willing to share but took it in my stride. I was interested to hear that she too found the development of vocabulary past the basic was an area of need with her students.
 * __Visit to Hampton Park English Language School__**

In preparation for Workshop 2 and for teaching my grade 4, 5, and 6 EAL/D students I prepared a unit of work designed to incorporate my research into vocabulary in the reading of ‘Word Nerds’ and the work by Jane Pollock et el in ‘Closing the Achievement Gap’. When I implemented this unit, I found the grade 6 students did not understand the meaning of the words antonym and synonym. The unit for them then changed to focus on exploring what these 2 words meant and then finding many examples of antonyms and synonyms. We found sites to the web that allowed us to look up antonyms and synonyms of words and others that allowed us to play games to put into practise what we had learnt. The students concluded the work by using posters to make an iMovie trailer about antonyms and synonyms. The students in the grades 4 and 5 worked together and they followed the basic outline of the planned unit, which culminated in them making an iMovie showing how the vocabulary journal worked and what each section meant. The feedback from both groups of students was very positive. In the feedback they gave to me at the end of the unit, the majority said the work had assisted them in their regular classroom work, with the best comment being: “The other day our teacher asked who knew what a synonym was and me, Naz, Zahra and Chama were the only ones who put our hands up to answer.” The other feedback I found valuable was that these students found learning in the smaller group setting and working using the GANAG set up enabled them to learn more through constant reflection and clarity of purpose.
 * __Unit of Work__**

The following is a brief overview of **GANAG**, from ‘//Minding the Achievement Gape One Classroom at a Time//’ Jane Pollock et al, 2012


 * G – GOAL**/standard or objective stage


 * Set objectives
 * Provide feedback
 * Recognise effort
 * Provide recognition


 * A – ACCESS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE** stage


 * Identify similarities and differences
 * Use non-linguistic representations
 * Use co-operative learning
 * Use questions, cues and advance organisers


 * N – NEW INFORMATION** stage


 * Summarise
 * Take notes
 * Provide practise
 * Use co-operative learning
 * Use questions, cues and advance organisers


 * A – APPLY** stage


 * Identify similarities and differences
 * Provide practise
 * Generate and test hypotheses
 * Use questions, cues and advance organisers


 * G – GOAL REVIEW** or summarising stage


 * Set objectives
 * Provide feedback
 * Recognise effort
 * Provide recognition


 * Interactive Notebook**


 * **L.H.S. of Book**

Information may be in words, notes or pictographs Any worksheets are glued or stapled to this page || **R.H.S. of Book**
 * Reorganise material after the fact
 * Reflect on new information
 * Summarise it
 * Complete work on it

Students record information provided by the teacher, from a reading or other sources

While students work on the page the teacher: Waits for students to engage with content ||
 * Models
 * Pauses
 * Questions

Additionally, the students felt the work we did was fun and easier as we did it as a whole and really explored the concepts before they were asked to do the work individually. They felt more confident in talking and asking questions in the smaller group situation and exhibiting their knowledge by making iMovies engaged their interest. Finally, and I think the most important piece of feedback I was given by all the students was the increased enthusiasm in coming to my weekly classes and the disappointment expressed if for some reason the class was cancelled.

Students have developed their English skills and have a good grasp of the basics of English which they utilise in Reading, writing and during Speaking and Listening activities. However, they continue to be hampered through a lack of understanding of words and words usage beyond a simplistic or schoolyard level. || Stage B3 – Speaking and Listening ** At Stage B3 **, students generally respond to and use the structures and features of English appropriately in an increasing variety of familiar formal and informal contexts. They demonstrate awareness of the register requirements of spoken English necessary for a variety of purposes. They understand the essential meaning of unfamiliar topics expressed in familiar spoken English, and extract specific information. They use appropriate sequence markers and consistently use most common, irregular past tenses. They provide greater detail through the use of longer noun groups and adverbial phrases. They use comprehensible pronunciation, stress and intonation. **They access English from a range of oral and written sources, and extend their oral skills by incorporating this into their own repertoire.** They are able to self-correct some errors, reformulate language to convey meaning more clearly, and add essential details. Indicators of progress ** While indicators of progress in the Speaking and Listening dimension are organised into four aspects, the focus of this unit is: ** Stage B3: Maintaining and negotiating communication **At the end of Stage B3, students may use the following strategies to maintain and negotiate spoken communication:** **Receptive** Stage B3 – Reading ** At Stage B3 **, students read for a range of purposes and identify main ideas and specific information in classroom texts. They demonstrate understanding of the main storyline and most key information when retelling, paraphrasing and answering questions, and they compare some details in texts. They demonstrate some awareness of how information is organised in English texts. They recognise the cohesive devices connecting ideas and the organisation of information in a text, and use appropriate metalanguage to talk about the structure and features of a text. They recognise how relationships are signalled by an increasing range of conjunctions. They integrate a number of strategies to help them read new texts. **They use accessible English dictionaries to check the meanings of new words and use contents pages, indexes, glossaries and headings to find information.** Indicators of progress ** While indicators of progress in the Reading dimension are organised into four aspects, the focus of this unit is: ** Stage B3: Maintaining and negotiating communication **At the end of Stage B3, students may use the following strategies to assist them to read and comprehend texts:** Stage B3 – Writing ** At Stage B3 **, students communicate for a range of purposes on a variety of familiar topics, using a basic repertoire of text types. They write sequenced and ordered factual texts, and narrative texts that maintain a cohesive storyline and characterisation. They demonstrate an awareness of how effective writing is tailored to purpose, the requirements of the topic and the needs of the reader. They gather and present information appropriately in texts. They write texts that demonstrate some overall cohesion and coherence. They combine and sequence simple sentences and paragraphs using common conjunctions and pronouns. They generally maintain appropriate tense throughout their texts. **They discuss and reflect on their own writing, incorporating feedback when planning, reviewing or presenting their texts.** They revise texts during writing and proofread after a first draft has been written, improving spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. ||
 * **Grades :** Grades 4, 5 & 6 |||| **Start :** Term 3 ||
 * **AusVELS domain :** English as an Additional Language/Dialect |||| **Focus :** Vocabulary Development ||
 * **Background :**
 * **Aim :**
 * to expand the student’s knowledge of both figurative and academic language ||
 * **Curriculum Standards :** **ESL Stage B**
 * ** Maintaining and negotiating communication ** focuses on the strategies students at this stage typically use to speak in and learn English.
 * use visual cues to make meaning of spoken text, e.g. pay attention to diagrams or graphs during a discussion
 * understand more complex spoken language, e.g. text without illustration, conversation and text accompanying visual medium (films, etc)
 * acquire new English from sources other than the classroom, e.g. media, friends, family
 * ** Maintaining and negotiating communication ** focuses on the strategies employed to read and respond to written English.
 * use knowledge of sentence structure and content to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words
 * read on when encountering unfamiliar words
 * use an accessible English dictionary to check the meaning of new words
 * use contents page, index, glossary, and headings to find information
 * **By the end of the lessons, the students will be able to :**
 * recognise, understand and use a greater variety of words in their reading, writing, speaking and listening
 * have a greater range of strategies to understand and extend their vocabulary
 * will understand words – antonym, synonym and idioms ||
 * **Vocabulary :**
 * GANAG
 * Antonyms
 * Synonyms
 * Idioms
 * Contents page
 * Index
 * Glossary
 * Headings |||| **Resources :**
 * ‘Minding the Achievement Gap – One Classroom at a Time’ / Jane E Pollock, Sharon M Ford, Margaret M Black, ASCD, 2012
 * ‘Word Nerds – Teaching All Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary” / Brenda J Overturf, Leslie H Montgomery, Margot Holmes Smith, Stenhouse Publishers, 2013
 * Dictionary of Idioms’ / Marvin Terban, Scholastic, 1996
 * Dictionaries and thesauruses
 * [|www.antonyms.com] || **Differentiation :**
 * Students will be participating at own level and assessed according to the work completed in their workbook, teacher observations and anecdotes and student self-reflection ||

**Lesson 1** **Lesson 2** **Lesson 3** **Lesson 4** Students collect signs and items they need for their iMovie **Lesson 4a** **Lesson 5** Grade 6 students to explore the word – Paste into interactive notebooks. **Lesson 6** **Lesson 7** **Lesson 8** **Lesson 9** **Lesson 10** **Lesson 11** **Formative :** **Summative :**
 * **Outline of lessons:**
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Using my Interactive notebook’
 * Identify lesson aim – to reflect on their present approach to learning and their knowledge and approach to vocabulary and to introduce GANAG process
 * Students turn over 3 pages and on proforma 1(see below for proforma), write in lesson aim and complete ‘Before-Class Understanding’ section. Paste into book.
 * Introduce the ‘interactive notebook’
 * Prepare contents page - rule up and explain use and add first lesson to contents page
 * Discuss with the students what vocabulary is and then their approach to reading new words, using new words within their writing, understanding new words
 * Introduce the acronym – GANANG and explain lesson format we will follow and how the interactive book fits into each lesson and how it will be used
 * Return to Self-assessment section of lesson page and have students decide how well they achieved the lesson’s goal
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Assessment 1 – academic words’
 * Identify lesson aim – pre-assessment of academic language that will be used over the unit
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide students with the list of academic words that are going to be used during this unit and ask them to write or explain the meaning of each word – just antonyms and synonyms
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Review of academic words’
 * Identify lesson aim – to match academic language to meaning
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Revise meaning of antonyms and synonyms
 * Play ‘Word Toss’ on [|www.abcya.com/synonyms_antonyms.htm]
 * Make signs and design plan for own or group iMovie
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Antonyms and Synonyms – an iMovie’
 * Identify lesson aim – To explain what an antonym and synonym is using an iMovie
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Students practise then film their iMovie
 * Students watch their completed efforts and use a critical eye to determine whether others would understand what they were trying to explain
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Self & Peer Evaluation of iMovie’
 * Identify lesson aim – Did I clearly explain what an antonym and synonym is? Can others understand my explanations? What might I need to do to improve on my work?
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Students review their iMovie
 * Students listen to the feedback provided by each other and make notes on the LH side of their book
 * Students reflect on their iMovie and write their own self-evaluation, using the following guide questions:
 * 1) Did my movie clearly explain what an antonym was?
 * 2) Did my movie clearly explain what a synonym was?
 * 3) What did I think I did well in the movie?
 * 4) If I made it again, how could I improve my movie?
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Vocabulary Journal - Introduction’
 * Identify lesson aim – What is a vocabulary journal?
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Introduce the blank proforma and review each area. Focus on antonyms and synonyms. Grade 4 & 5 students to explore the word – city (related to City Camp)
 * Explain that only 2 antonyms and 2 synonyms are required
 * Students brainstorm list of relevant words for their topic. Provide the grade 4 & 5 with the prepared city list which they can choose to use, add to or take off words (See Appendix 1). They are to decide on the most important. Add these words to their interactive notebooks.
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Using Vocabulary Journal – Lesson 1’
 * Identify lesson aim – to become more proficient in using vocabulary journal and completing each section
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide the blank proforma and discuss each area. Continue the focus on antonyms and synonyms. Students to select word for all to investigate. This will be done both on their proforma and on an enlarged class copy. Paste into interactive notebooks.
 * Students share the work they have completed with the whole group
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Using Vocabulary Journal – Lesson 2’
 * Identify lesson aim – to be able to explain what an antonym or synonym is to a partner
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide the blank proforma and review each area. Continue the focus on antonyms and synonyms. Students to select word for investigation. This can be completed either individually or with a partner. Paste completed proforma into interactive notebooks.
 * Students discuss the meaning of antonyms and synonyms and then working independently, write what they believe these words mean
 * Share definitions
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Idioms’
 * Identify lesson aim – to understand the word ‘idiom’
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide the blank proforma and review each area. Commence the focus on idioms. Students place the idiom in the centre of their vocabulary journal using proforma 3. Review and explain the revised boxes to be filled in. Together explore the word and fill in each area. Paste completed proforma into interactive notebooks.
 * Explain you are going to read a selection of idioms from the ‘Dictionary of Idioms’ – ask students to retell one each and write these up. Draw an exact picture of the idiom and then discuss its actual meaning in figurative language
 * Students choose one to put into their interactive notebook and illustrate and then use in a sentence as a part of figurative speech
 * Share
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Idioms – Lesson 1’
 * Identify lesson aim – to understand the word ‘idiom’
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide the proformas with a variety of idioms already entered and review the meaning of idiom. Together explore the word and fill in each area. Students complete their own copy as they whole group proforma is completed. Paste completed proforma into interactive notebooks.
 * Explain you are going to read a selection of idioms from the ‘Dictionary of Idioms’ – ask students to retell one each and write these up. Draw an exact picture of the idiom and then discuss its actual meaning in figurative language
 * Students choose one to put into their interactive notebook and illustrate and then use in a sentence as a part of figurative speech
 * Share
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘personal Writing’
 * Identify lesson aim – to use antonyms, synonyms and idioms in a piece of narrative writing
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Revise the meanings of these words and discuss how they may be used in a short piece of narrative writing. Together compose a short piece of writing including antonyms, synonyms and idioms. Then ask the students to attempt their own piece of writing.
 * Share
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned
 * Enter lesson name on contents page ‘Assessment 2 – academic words’
 * Identify lesson aim – pre-assessment of academic language that will be used over the unit
 * Students identify their ‘Before-Class Understanding’
 * Provide students with the list of academic words that are going to be used during this unit and ask them to write or explain the meaning of each word
 * Return to Self-assessment and students complete ‘After-Class Understanding’ and note what they have learned ||
 * **Assessment :**
 * Pre-assessment of academic words
 * Review of student self-assessment weekly
 * Review of work completed weekly
 * Teacher anecdotal notes
 * Summation of knowledge of antonyms and synonyms following lesson 6 and comparing it to their original definition
 * Summation of their definition of idioms
 * Analysis of their use of antonyms, synonyms and idioms in their writing ||


 * **Teacher Reflection** ||
 * What went well? ||
 * What needs improvement? ||
 * New Ideas, resources to add? ||

During this workshop we spoke on using the Wikispace and how this could expand our network and allow us to make contact with ‘like’ researchers. We did quite a lot on networking with our fellow TPL researchers. We then spent the remainder of the time of the morning working our way through the resource booklet, which enabled us to further clarify our work and source for validating our work. It provided time for us to reflect on our journey thus far and introduced new piece of research that we may not have seen previously. Our attention was drawn back to the e5 model when we identified the areas within this model that our work covered. It also provided time for us to share our teaching units and to reflect and discussed them with the research based criteria given. Finally, we reflected on ourselves as learners and considered how this had changed over the course of our journey. The day concluded with the group putting up ideas as to how our final presentation would be conducted and an acknowledgement that this day was just the closure of the group meetings; however, the work we had begun and the connections we had made would continue on into the future.
 * __TPL Workshop 2 –__**

I had known Heather for many years and although we had not seen each other of recent years, this visit provided us with the chance to catch up. It also meant that we were comfortable with each other and Heather was very generous with the information she provided and the knowledge she shared. Heather had compiled a mass of knowledge and resources from her years of teaching EAL students and was wonderful to listen to. She openly discussed how the students were assessed and how they implemented their EAL program. The school has a high EAL intake and the range of abilities with these students is wide. Her program involves immersing her students in the English language and ensuring they grasped the basic mechanics of English punctuation and grammar. Heather explained that she teaches her classes with a mix of oral language activities and lots of games. She demonstrated a game called ‘Naughts and Crosses’ which can be used at any level, for any class and with any students. I have already trialled this game with my classes, literacy support as well as my EAL classes and they all find it engaging. Heather, like me, believes that children learn best by doing. This idea was also endorsed by my students in their initial interviews. Again, Heather saw the EAL students were hampered by a lack of understanding of a broad vocabulary. Heather also provided me with a plethora of resources – thanks to my trusty USB. This included EAL report comments aligned to the different levels within each stage, checklists, rubrics and various templates. These could also be of assistance to teachers who have EAL students in their classes. My thinking is that I would like to use some of these in the first term of each year to assess where my EALs are at and whether they have moved from the previous year and also to identify new areas of need for teaching focus, either as a group or individually. They will also be valuable for assessing new EAL students who come into our school.
 * __Visit to Heather Sherwell - Doveton P – 8 College__**

Emma paid a follow up visit to me at my school. During this time we discussed what we had been doing and what we had achieved. I shared what I had been doing with my classes and how I felt that they had responded to these lessons. I also spoke with Emma about my visit to Doveton College and explained the ‘Naughts and Crosses’ game to her. She immediately saw the different ways that she could utilise this within her vocabulary program as a means of students showing their knowledge of a word and its meaning. She, along with her school had been working on the introduction of words, using the process outlined in ‘Word Nerds’. However, the testing that was suggested was not particularly successful. So we also discussed the development of a way in which to test the students’ knowledge of academic words. She and I devised some ideas which Emma was keen to trial.
 * __Visit by Emma Parnell__**

While talking to Heather Sherwell, she mentioned that she and Anne Pereira, vice-principle of Dandenong Primary School had worked together to compile ‘I can’ statements that aligned with the EAL Stage A and Stage B continuum. However, as she did not have a copy on her, she directed me to Anne. I endeavoured to contact Anne by both phone (left messages) and emails (no reply), then finally made contact by phone. Anne was happy to share the statements so that I could use them as the basis of ones specific to our school she was unable to locate them on her computer. She promised to find a hard copy and send that over. As nothing had eventuated, I took the forward step and went to her school. Unfortunately she was absent but one of the school’s EAL teachers Mary Andara welcomed me into the school and her teaching area. While she did not have a cop of the papers, she said she would speak with Anne for me and send on if possible. Then again we spoke of how she assessed the students who came into the school. Mary and her team had students with little or no English, who were refugees through to those who were fluent in ‘playground’, speak but with whom she worked to extend their language capacity to include words necessary to assist them academically. Mary works in with the school’s teachers. They all send her a copy of their term planner and she designs the students’ program around this. For example, the grade 3 and 4s were working on narrative writing and she was specifically focussed on understanding and using conjunctions. Once again, vocabulary understanding appearing as the underlying link which needs to be forged to improve these students’ learning.
 * __Visit to Mary Andara – Dandenong Primary School__**

This PD session was over a whole day and run by Ralph Pirozzo I have seen Ralph present previously; however the focus of this day was to ensure inclusiveness of the EAL/D students as well as other disadvantaged students. Ralph focuses on engaging students in their learning and teaching through using engaging and challenging tasks, cooperative and hands-on activities, interesting, relevant and purposeful curriculum, quality learning, plenty of “Ahs”, work set just ahead of where the child is and is a deep, meaningful and varied. He achieves this by designing units of learning which integrate Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Multiple Intelligences. To Bloom’s Taxonomy he adds Pre-Knowing. The Pre-Knowing forms the centre of his Learning and Teaching Wheel. To this mix he adds the Engaging Wheel, from which students identify their preferred manner of learning. So the unit matrix enables teachers to provide for their students’ thinking skill and simultaneously for their preferred learning styles. The matrixes are designed with activities that form part of the core or explicit teaching and electives. The activities on the matrix make use of many and varied Thinking Tools which are designed to extend the thinking skills of the student. These Thinking Tools have been organised through a Scope and Sequence chart, allowing the students to build up their skills with maturity. The final activity of the day was to write or modify a unit of work based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Multiple Intelligences for use with the students with whom you work. While I commenced this unit, it is incomplete and has not yet been trialled with my EAL students. The following notes were taken on the day and add to the above overview. Teachers should be accessing //English as an Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource// – ACARA Believes in a 3 stage Model of Engaging Chn in Learning
 * __PD – Improve the Literacy & Numeracy Skills or EAL/D Students, Children with Learning Difficulties & Disadvantaged Learners!__**

Benjamin Bloom model p7 – designed in 1956 and then revised in 2004. The following present as Learning Difficulties in school students–
 * 1990** – research based on 220 teachers from kinder – 12 - found Bloom best for range of abilities and multiple intelligences best for learning styles
 * having a reading deficit of at least 2 years below chronological age
 * Ralph’s maths diagnostic – less than 23 out of 42
 * EAL/D
 * Disadvantaged learners
 * In 2004**
 * added the section Pre-Knowing to the Bloom’s Taxonomy to bring them to the knowing level
 * working at the concrete level

‘Priming the brain’ – philosophy p9. Verbs on the Teaching Wheel – do the students understand these? Request coloured copy of : - Ralph’s Bloom’s Taxonomy : Sample Questions & Learning Activities – 3 pages - ACARA poster overview The Learning and Teaching Wheel – how can we use it Builds depth and rigour academically || 1997 ||  || Multiple Intelligences (1983) Depth and rigour || Low ||
 * 1) 7 levels of thinking
 * 2) Engage in using 92 verbs
 * 3) 91 choices (Glaser)
 * 4) Planning units
 * 5) In delivery of curriculum
 * 6) Assessment – aligned with rubrics
 * Very High || Bloom’s (1956)
 * Low || Bloom’s engagement – particularly the boys || Engagement || Very High ||


 * Working with others - interpersonal ||


 * Hands on activities ||


 * || Reading ||
 * M I Testing**

Piece of paper (use p 15 or 16)

Overlap area is RAMP – area of Maximum Potential

The theory comes from Lev Vygotsky and the ZPD.

The planner utilises “backward mapping” (McTighe and Wiggins model) ACARA requests – - Content descriptors/learning outcomes - determine acceptable assessment tasks and assessment evidence (rubric) - planned learning experiences Thinking tools in Ralph’s notes
 * Why do we use different colours?**
 * Blue –** explicit teaching – pre-knowing, knowing, understanding, applying
 * Black & White –** choice (based on Glasser)- establish 6 different differentiated learning practices
 * Yellow –** rich learning activities – tests, exams, debates, stories, posters, etc
 * Theorists**
 * McTighe & Wiggins
 * Bruner – spiral curriculum, enquiry learner
 * Vygotsky
 * Bloom’s
 * MI
 * Glasser
 * Hyperlink your thinking tools **
 * Who does Ralph use? Says each teacher needs personal list of 25 thinking skills**
 * De Bono
 * Tony Ryan
 * Michael Pohl
 * David Langford
 * Barry Bennett
 * Art Costs
 * Donna Ogle – KWL
 * Frank Lyman – Think Pair Share
 * 1) PMI
 * 2) Thinking Clouds – Brainstorming – divergent p 66
 * 3) GLOW – concept maps – p 67
 * 4) LDC – p 68
 * 5) LITE – p 69 – structure for student feedback
 * 6) Narrative scaffold p 70
 * 7) Venn diagram p 71
 * 8) Y chart p 74
 * 9) X chart – great for deconstructing characters – p 75 (see p 100 in Thinking School book)
 * 10) W chart – good for food, cooking, tasting, etc – p 76
 * 11) The Rake – p 77
 * 12) The Brow – p 78
 * 13) T rec – p 79 – mathematics
 * 14) RedMast – p 80 – mathematics
 * 15) STIESA – p 81
 * 16) BAR
 * 17) Think Pair Share
 * 18) Inside/Outside
 * 19) Mind mapping
 * 20) Lotus
 * 21) IW5
 * 22) Flow charts
 * 23) Fish bones
 * 24) Timelines
 * 25) What if…
 * 26) Fishbowl

Bloom’s 3. Rubrics 4. Skills, Activities, experimental, etc 5. Explicit Teaching (blue) / Choices (B & W) 6. 25 thinking tools – Hyperlinked – 7. 50 Cooperative Activities 8. Scope and Sequence 9. Resources 10. Align with ACARA ||
 * Start at rubric and work backwards ||
 * Pre -Knowing || Knowing || Uunderst.g || Applying || Analysing || Creating || Evaluating ||
 * 2. RAT

56 Grid Matrix - K – Animals by ….. From Jill Scott presentation at Dandenong Worker’s Club Gary Snow – Be Polite, Be Fair, Be Safe, Fariytales (Alice, Denise, Jane & June)
 * Unit Selection – 10 available **

September 10th – Ms Jenny MacKay Vice Principal I choose the school as I had heard that even though it had an extremely high EAL student population their NAPLAN results were consistently excellent. I also knew that they were an outreach program and so dealt with EAL who were new arrivals and had no English as well as students who had developed English skills. I was keen to see the difference between this school and the English Language School in Hampton Park. Jenny and I spent about 2 hours discussing the program that Dandenong North Primary School has in place for its students and touring the school to see it in action. I am extremely grateful to her for the time and the information she so readily shared with me. The school has worked on developing its present program over many years and has been able to fund it and staff it through the National Partnership program. It has a huge number of ES staff who work with teachers and classes through-out the school. The program as runs today basically began when the administration provided one of the learning areas within the school with $5000 to spend in any manner they wished. The only proviso was that it had to be proved or seen that the purchase made a difference to the learning of the students in that area. They employed an ES staff member to work with their students. This made a huge impact on the results they were achieving by allowing for smaller focus groups within that area.
 * __Visit to Dandenong North Primary School__**

The school focuses on developing the student’s English and Mathematical language skills and uses the ‘direct learning’ approach to teaching which was developed by Siegfried Engelmann and others. It is seen as being particularly effective in teaching basic and fundamental skills. However, the methods employed have been agreed upon by the teachers themselves. The method is skills oriented and emphasis the use of small group, face to face teaching by teachers and aides using carefully planned lessons in which the skills are broken down into small steps and carefully scaffolded to reach the unit aim. The teaching is explicit.

The components of the teaching model are as follows:
 * Providing clear goals and ensuring the students understand these
 * Presenting work or work requirements in a series of well organised and scaffolded lessons
 * Providing students with clear, concise explanations and illustrations related to the topic being studied
 * Frequently questioning the students to ascertain their understanding of the work being covered
 * Providing frequent opportunities for students to practice the skills being taught

This being so, Jenny said each class teacher ensures that the teaching focus is up or shared with the students before they commence their work and therefore the ultimate aim of the lesson is known. Feedback forms an important part of their work and is not just given as a tick or cross as this does not share any knowledge other than ‘you are right’ or ‘you are wrong’ with the child. Feedback is given either verbally or written and explains what was correct and what the student is required to do to further their learning. Each child is therefore working from a point of personal need.

This type of feedback is also reflected in the weekly school merit certificates. Students cannot achieve a certificate by just being ‘nice’ or ‘new to the school’. New students receive a ‘welcome’ certificate which is separate to the merit certificates and the merit certificates explicitly state the academic reason for the student receiving it.

The school also utilises James Nottingham’s ‘Learning Pit’ in which he believes puts the challenge back into learning as it requires students to think about every decision they make. The theory begins with an important concept and then challenges the students to think more deeply about this, in a purposeful, critical and creative manner. The third stage sees the students co-construct an understanding of the key concepts through dialogue and study and finally to reflect on anything they have learned through revisiting and reflecting on their learning journey. It is believed that these students achieve better results as they are better thinkers and by learning to cope with the difficulties encountered in the pit, build better self-esteem and a belief that they can overcome challenges. As stated, the school’s program relies heavily on the employment of a large number of ES staff to help facilitate the small, focused teaching groups. These groups are arranged according to students’ personal needs and focus on English and Mathematics. Often the class teacher has only a small group to work with in the classroom as the rest of the class attend focused lessons. The teachers plan are focused on student data and based on the skills the teacher sees the students as now requiring. They have worked on the schools’ ‘I Can…’ statements which are expanded to small steps required to attain the standard. This requires the teachers to know the steps before and the steps required after. In this way they have ensured that the learning planned incorporates the personal learning goals of the students.

The students in grades 5 and 6 set personal learning goals based on where they are placed on the learning continuum. The students all look at the results and achievements of the whole cohort. They have worked through this carefully and the students do not have any issues with sharing where they are at as it is just seen as their personal learning journey. This is not done any earlier as they do not feel the students are ready or mature enough to deal with this sharing of personal achievements.

As an outreach school they run a scaffolded EAL program. The students coming in with no English spend 12 months with the schools EAL teachers. They remain in this group until they have reached standard at A1 on the EAL continuum Stage A. They then are placed according to their needs and ability using the either Stage A or B of the EAL continuum. Students in the next EAL group receive 10 hours a week and the final withdrawal group receives 2 hours a week. The focus students for these groups come from students in grade 2 who they are trying to either get off the EAL continuum before grade 3 or to ensure they are ready to work on the Stage B level applicable. Also they focus on the grade 6 students who they work on preparing for their secondary education where they will not be so well supported. Then the remainder of the students come from grades 5, 4 and 3 and then grade 1. The program especially focuses on the language of mathematics and science as this enables the students to understand the question being asked and focus on the concept to be solved or displayed. The Prep students are not included as they believe that they are just as well working on the prep program which is specifically designed to promote their understanding and knowledge of English. The grade 6 students are involved in Science teleconferencing delivered by the science teacher of Lyndale Secondary College. This focuses on the teaching of science words and naming of science equipment that they will use in their secondary education. This has been seen as very successful with the teachers reporting that the students are far more independent and understand the names of the equipment, meaning they can more readily concentrate on the science task they have been given. They have found their results in NAPLAN with grade 5s are lower as the reading testing becomes more complex and increases in amount expected to be completed.

The students are selected in consultation with the class teacher and the class teacher may say that he/she does not believe the student needs the EAL intervention. However, if this occurs, the class teacher then has an undertaking to personally ensure that the student makes the 12 months advancement in their learning which is to be reflected on the continuum by the end of the year. Teachers can opt to put students back in. The EAL teachers are constantly assessing the students in line with the EAL continuum and know precisely where they sit and at least once a term, spend a week doing classroom observations of the students in their own classes to ascertain how they are coping with class work and if the teacher is accounting for them in their teaching and planning. Any student from the EAL program who does not make expected progress during the academic year is either listed for further assessment to investigate any other reasons for lack of progress or carefully monitored to ensure further assessments are not required.

They are now working to forge stronger partnerships with the community. They have started playgroups to help improve the language of future students before they enter school. They also now assist parents to enrol their children in to kindergarten. Previously they just sent them to see the local kindergartens, which was incorrect as they should have been going to the council to enrol. Also the parents found the enrolment process difficult due to lack of English or even own language literacy in their own language. This appears to have increased the number of students enrolling in kindergarten. The effect of these 2 actions is expected to be observable in approximately three years.


 * Reflection** – While the work they are doing with their students is excellent and achieving good results, it is dependent on large amounts of cash to fund it. Unfortunately this is not a possibility in our school. Also our clientele are different. Their students are all basically EAL and therefore the school has evolved around this and my school is predominantly from English speaking backgrounds and therefore our approaches are different. However, I can see ways in which we can tweek what we are doing which I am sure would benefit our students.
 * Do Prep EAL students require withdrawal
 * Should we focus on specific priority levels throughout the school
 * Should we increase face to face time – daily sessions or blocks on days
 * Work with staff to increase their knowledge of the EAL continuum – Stage A and B
 * Ensure staff use this as well when planning
 * Work on explicit skill teaching as identified either by classroom teachers or EAL teachers
 * Regular plot students on EAL continuum and share this knowledge

In preparation for the workshop at the commencement of term 3, I decided that I would pull together a unit that utilized what I had learned from reading both Jane Pollock’s book ‘Minding the Achievement Gap One Classroom at a Time’ and Brenda Overturf’s book ‘Word Nerds’. Naturally, I felt I had planned brilliantly and I utilised the EAL Continuum to assist with specific outcomes to be achieved. I ensured that my planner took in the needs of my students, provided for individual, partner and small group learning. This part was relatively easy as my group of 4/5 EALs consists of only 8 students and there are only 5 grade six EAL students. I decided to keep them as 2 separate groups even though my teaching focus for each was the same.
 * __EAL Class Work__**

As soon as I began the lessons, I realised that I had of course tried to short cut forward without sharing good background knowledge of what I was on about with the students. This required and has continued to require me to revamp the program as we move forward. The aims are still the same but I believe the manner in which we are approaching it is richer and will provide for better and more deeply embedded learning. The other impact on these lessons has been that I only see the students for a 45 min session once a week and this is impacted upon by incursions and school camps.

With these groups, I wanted to introduce the idea of explicitly stating the purpose of the lesson and having the students reflect on how they felt their knowledge was progressing. I began using a proforma directly adapted from Jane Pollock’s book (see below)

**Student Self-assessment and Reflection page – Proforma 1** opportunities to learn
 * **Date -** |||||| **Lesson** : ||
 * **Aim :** ||
 * **Before-Class Understanding** |||| 4. * Worked until completed
 * Pushed myself to continue
 * Viewed difficulties as

3. * Worked until completed
 * Pushed myself to continue

2. * Some effort, but stopped when it became difficult

1. * Very little effort || **After-Class Understanding** || 4. * Worked until completed opportunities to learn
 * Pushed myself to continue
 * Viewed difficulties as
 * **Got it and know how to**
 * use it in other ways**

3. * Worked until completed
 * Pushed myself to continue
 * Got it**

2. * Some effort, but stopped when it became difficult have some questions**
 * Some understanding; still

1. * Very little effort While this included everything I needed and wanted the students to focus on, I found it too time consuming to complete and to conduct the full lesson within the 40 minute time span that these lessons often were reduced to. This is because teachers often miss the time to send the students or just want them to finish something before they come, etc. Therefore we really simplified the process to the same as I would use for the younger students. When the group comes in, they write the lesson title into their book on the workpage they are up to and in the table of contents. Next we discuss how well they feel they understand the topic. Beneath the heading they write ‘pre’ and on a mouthless face, enter how well they believe they understand the topic, using a smile, a straight line or an up-side-down smile. We then proceed with the lesson which is broken into whole group discussion, including examples, partner discussion, games and individual writing down of their knowledge.
 * Still do not understand ||

The lesson ends with the students articulating what they have learned that they had not before. I must admit, this part of the lesson is the hardest to fit in as we often get carried away with what we are doing. However, I am going to continue to include it as often as I can.

Our initial focus was on Antonyms and Synonyms, which they would need explicit knowledge of before commencing the Vocabulary Journal as per the ‘Word Nerds’. Of course they all believed they knew about these 2 words until they had to work individually. Therefore the introduction and the exploration of the meanings of thee 2 words has now stretched out into 5 lessons. Of course, in a regular classroom, this could be done over a week by revisiting each day. However, I did not have this luxury. The students are now up to making an iMovie to explain their knowledge of these words to others. To make the iMovie, they have taken a series of photographs on the iPad and have then downloaded these into the iMovie proforma. This will hopefully be completed next week. However, the ability of the group to both individually and collectively articulate the meaning of these words which they have been confronted with probably every year since grade 2 has increased markedly.

__**Reflection **__ The work that I have done with the EAL/D students on vocabulary has been successful from the point of view that the students have shown far greater engagement in the classes and are more enthusiastic about being withdrawn from their class to work as an EAL/D group. The setting out of the books and the work presentation has been seen by the students as an improvement as they can easily go back and find information when they wish to recall facts. As the lessons incorporated a greater amount of ICT, the students loved it. However, to see improvement in their vocabulary is not really apparent in the short term. The work I have done is pure introductory and is now going to be implemented throughout the school in 2014. To do this, I will be undertaking a Literacy Coaching role throughout the school. I will be working with each class on a weekly basis with the aim being to introduce the school to the Vocabulary Journal and the activities associated with it to enhance the learning and further engage the students.


 * __Student Welfare and Programs for Students with Disabilities __**

During the TPL year I have participated in PSD information update sessions and ENQ training session. I am now able to sit as a government education representative on the ENQ interviews at other schools. I have also participated as an observer on these meetings at my school. In ENQ meetings the parents and PSD staff, work to rank how the student’s disability impacts on their learning. This forms part of the evidence that PSD co-ordinator puts into a covering letter when applying for funding for the student. I have worked closely with the PSD co-ordinator to write these letters which brings all the evidence for their funding application together. I have attended PSD Network meetings and professional development to enhance my skills in the area of Student Welfare.

My knowledge in this area has developed substantially, which is important for the future direction of the school and to ensure the knowledge required for this area is shared.