3.5 Use effective classroom communication
AITSL Standard 3.5 Example 1
Below is an example of how I use effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support students understanding, participation, engagement and achievement. The students task was to draw a grandfather clock using simple instructions. First I showed the students a Power Point with a variety of grandfather clocks, see Figure 1, in which the last slide was a hand drawn photo of a grandfather clock, see Figure 2. I left this image on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) as a visual prompt for the students. Working with one student at a time, I then gave the students a number of simple step by step instructions to create a grandfather clock, see Forward Planning Document in Figure 3. I used 2D shapes, E.g. rectangles and circles and the Peggy Lego drawing instructions, see Figure 4, to assist students with creating different shapes and lines. Figure 5 are examples of the final product.
Figure 1 - Slide from Power Point
Figure 2 - Last slide from Power Point, a hand drawn picture of a grandfather clock
Figure 3 - Lesson plan for creating a grandfather clock using step by step instructions
Figure 4 - Peggy Lego writing cues
Figure 5 - Examples of students final product
EYLF Outcomes: 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 3 & 5
Domains: Language, Cognitive & Physical
AITSL Standard 3.5 Example 2
Below is an example of how I use effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support students understanding, participation, engagement and achievement. The students participated in a protective behaviours lesson, see lesson plan in Figure 6. The learning objectives were to identify basic emotions and understand that we all have the right to feel safe. I showed the students a Power Point of children showing the emotions of happy, excited, shy, surprised, angry, sad, scared and tired, see Power Point example in Figure 7, and we discussed the vocabulary for each emotion. We then played a game in which the students drew different emotions, which were put into a box, each student had a turn of pulling a picture out and answering the questions: Have you ever felt that emotion? When? Why? For EAL/D students I gave them the choice of choosing an emotions card, see Figure 8 and supported them with choices for When? and Why? As a class we watched a video on emotions and feeling safe, click Figure 9 to see video: Australia's Biggest Child Safety Lesson - Safety School.
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Figure 6 - Lesson plan for protective behaviours lesson
Figure 7 - Slide from emotions Power Point
Figure 8 - Emotions cards for EAL/D students
Figure 9 - Video on Emotions: Australia's Biggest Child Safety Lesson - Safety School
EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 1, 2, 3 & 5
Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Emotional & Cognitive
AITSL Standard 3.5 Example 3
Below is an example of how I use effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support students understanding, participation, engagement and achievement in a phonics lesson, this was particularly useful for my English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students. I used verbal and non-verbal communication to teach my students about the letter of the day. Below are photos from the letter h lessons. I provided the students with a variety of objects beginning with the letter 'h' with photos and words for each object. As each student came to my table I told them we were learning about the letter 'h', I held the 'h' letter card in one hand, then used the Jolly Phonics hand gesture of holding the other hand up to my mouth and panting as if out of breath and said "h, h, h". I provided the students with the experience of tasting honey and asked the student if they would like to try some honey. I did this by saying: "Would you like to try some h, h, honey?" As I said "h, h, honey" I used the Jolly Phonics hand gesture of holding my hand up to my mouth and panting as if out of breath, I also held the 'h' card out with my other hand as I asked the question. I invited the student to join in, asking them: "Can you say h, h, honey?", again using the Jolly Phonics hand gesture and the student copied using the Jolly Phonics hand gesture. I then invited the student to squeeze the honey on a slice of buttered bread. After they had eaten asked the students to label the objects on the table., see Figure 10. I held the 'h' card in one hand and used the Jolly Phonics hand gesture and pointed to an object on the table. I looked the student in the eye and waited for them to tell me the name of the object. If they didn't respond I repeated myself, pointed to the object and smiled at the student and said "h, h," looked at the object then back at the student, most students understood what I wanted them to do but for one student I had to pick the object up and point to it. As the student said the word I gave them a thumbs up and a smile to indicate they were right. I repeated this with other objects, then asked them if they could think of any other 'h' words. I invited them to explore the table, play with the objects and draw the 'h' words or write some down, see example of student's work in Figure 11.
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Figure 10 - Objects beginning with the sound 'h', honey tasting and writing materials
Figure 11 - Example of student's writing sample
EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 4 & 5
NQS Quality Area: 1, 3, 4 & 5
Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Emotional, Creative, Cognitive, Physical & Spiritual
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