1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
AITSL Standard 1.1 Example 1
I use differentiated teaching according to the intellectual development of my students to target the different areas of student learning requiring improvement. Below is an example of how I introduced the students to the letter of the day, the letter 'h'.
I first used the Jolly Phonics card with the song and actions, see Figure 1, then introduced CVC words beginning with 'h', with pictures of each of the words, see Figure 2.
Figure 1 - Jolly Phonics h sound song and actions
Figure 2 - CVC words
The students then made a circle on the carpet, I placed 2 hula hoops in the middle, one with the letter 'h', a thumbs up and a green tick and the other hula hoop with a thumbs down and a red cross. The students were given pictures, some beginning with the letter 'h' and others not. We went around the circle, each student said what their picture was and all of the students had to decide if the word began with the sound 'h' or not. The students put their thumbs up if they thought it did and their thumbs down if they thought it didn't. The student then placed their picture in the correct hula hoop, see Figure 3.
Figure 3 - Picture cards
We then looked at word level work. I gave each student word cards, some with ‘h’ words and some without. I placed a ‘h’, a thumbs up and a green tick in one column and a thumbs down and red cross in the other column. The students decided which column their word belonged in and placed their word in the correct section. As a class we went through each of the words, see Figure 4.
Figure 4 - Word based work
I then read the students a book on 'h' sounds. This lesson catered for all learning abilities. Students who could blend CVC words, student who could identify first sounds, and students were up to word based work. The lesson also catered for English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students by using visuals (picture cards and picture book), the thumbs up and down, green tick and red cross and the students using their thumbs up or down to identify 'h' words. This lesson ensured that learners at different starting points could receive the instruction they need to grow and succeed.
EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Cognitive & Physical
AITSL Standard 1.1 Example 2
I use teaching strategies based on knowledge of students' intellectual development and characteristics to improve learning. Outlined below are some of the ways I have accommodated for gifted and talented students in the classroom:
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used Exit Pass for phonic lessons in which the gifted and talented students knew the content of the lesson so were given work on CVC words
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researched using Google - gifted and talented students used the voice to text button on the iPad to ask questions into Google about our Inquiry-Based Learning on spiders. I read the information to the student and they came up with a sentence or two to answer their question. I scribed their response on a whiteborad and the student wrote it into our Floorbook.
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used words with pictures at the writing table based on gifted student's interest in dinosaurs, see Figure 5 and 6
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exposed gifted and talented students to more words and writing by setting up a shop in the home corner with real food containers. In a mat session I demonstrated how to write a list, I added lists with clipboards to the home corner and gifted and talented students and the other students wrote list, gathered food items and played 'shops', see Figure 7
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used the 'Write the Room' activity in which the students had to find items around the room which were labelled with a photo and word, see Figure 8, and copy the label onto the 'Write the Room' laminated activity sheet on a clipboard, see Figure 9. This resource was customised to the student's environment as the photos were of furniture, toys and objects around the classroom, see Figure 10 showing gifted and talented student's work
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introduced the Home reading program
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giving them the role of group leader for a science experiment in which the gifted and talented students recorded the group's results
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exposed students to critical and creative thinking activities, see Figure 11, in which students used loose PVC piping of different sizes and joiners of different angles, some with a screw cap to allow for 3 way exit points, see Figure 11. The students created different combinations and variations and tested them to see if 'Incy Wincy' (a plastic spider) could travel through the pipes. This was a hands on activity involving problem solving, critical thinking and creative thinking, please see a gifted student's creations in Figure 12.
Figure 5 - Dinosaur words with pictures for gifted student's interest in dinosaurs
Figure 6 - Example of gifted student's writing of dinosaur name
Figure 7 - Students exposed to new words and writing by using shopping lists while playing shop together
Figure 8 - Example of a chair in the room labelled with a photo and word for Write the Room activity
Figure 9 - Write the Room activity sheet
Figure 10 - Example of student copying and writing the words in the room
Figure 11 - Loose PVC piping of different sizes and joiners of different angles, some with a screw cap to allow for 3 way exit points
Figure 12 - Examples of a gifted student's creative thinking
EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7
Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Emotional, Creative, Cognitive, Physical & Spiritual
AITSL Standard 1.1 Example 3
I use teaching strategies based on knowledge of students intellectual development to improve student learning. Below is an example of how I use differentiated teaching according to the intellectual development of my students to target the different areas of student learning requiring improvement.
After an assessment on number recognition I grouped students according to their ability level, see Figure 13, and used this as a guide to differentiate lessons.
I demonstrated differentiated teaching when I planned the lesson plan below, see Figure 14, in which I made adjustments to the learning objectives and content learnt to ensure that learners at different starting points could receive the instruction they need to grow and succeed. Students who were focusing on recognising numbers 1-5 were given the learning cards 1-5, students who were focusing on recognising numbers 5-10 were given the learning cards 5-10, and students who were focusing on recognising numbers 10-15 were given the learning cards 10-15.
Figure 13 - Checklist showing number recognition ability level
Figure 14 - Lesson plan showing differentiation for students according to number recognition ability level
EYLF Outcomes: 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 1 & 5
Domains: Language, Physical & Cognitive