Standard 4.1 | Aitsl Portfolio

4.1 Support student participation

AITSL Standard 4.1 Example 1

I establish and implement inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities. 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 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 4.1 Example 2

I establish and implement inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities. Below, see Figure 5, is an example of a Cracking the Code lesson plan in which the learning objective was to detect rhyming words. The students played the game Save the Bug! in which they had to listen to three words and decide which two rhyme, they could then save a bug from the spider's web.

Below is an example of how I differentiated to include all learners and support student participation.

Low Ability Students:

repeat the words, emphasising the rime
segment the words into onset and rime E.g. c-at, m-at and d-og
model the correct answer, E.g. cat and hat both have ‘at’ at the end so they do rhyme.

EAL/D Students:

use low ability strategies listed above
let the other students go first so that they can learn from their peers
allow for extra think time
allow for extra work time.

High Ability Students:

ask the student to generate a rhyming word for one of the pictures.

Figure 5 - Cracking the Code lesson plan

EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

NQS Quality Area: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Emotional, Cognitive & Physical

AITSL Standard 4.1 Example 3

I establish and implement inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities. On Wednesday 18th August a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Global Developmental Delay (GDD) and behaviour problems, Student A, had a wonderful day, he was engaged in learning, participated in learning centres for long periods of time, participated in mat sessions and was more vocal. Below is a reflection on the days activities, changes for the following week on my Daily Work Pad (DWP), see Figure 6, then a second reflection, Week 6, followed by steps moving forward to engage Student A in learning and implement inclusive and positive interactions.

Reflection of Activities for Student A:

Magic Table:

very excited and involved in the magic table
excited about dressing up and wore his cape outside for Fundamental Movement Skills
enjoyed smelling the different materials for mixing
vocal during this activity (which is unusual), saying if he liked the smell or not. For smells he liked he said, 'Mmmmm, nice' and for smells he didn't he said 'Yuck', and screwed up his nose.
enjoyed mixing the materials and seeing them change and said, 'Oh my God', which is what he usually says if he is impressed or amazed by something

Creating Me (the students looked in the mirror and created themselves using a range of materials):

engaged and creative in this area
enjoyed looking in the mirror and making different faces at himself. He put some 'hair' (brown fluffy wool) on his head, looked in the mirror and laughed at himself
made creations on the table with the materials

Play dough (decorating cupcakes and added candles and decorations):

involved in this activity

Mask Making using colourful materials with different textures

involved in this activity

The Sign in Table was at the Jelly Bean table today, it is usually on the first table as the students enter so that they can sign in before they explore. Instead the Magic Table was in place of the Sign in table, which was fun and inviting.

Outside Activities Used by Student A:

Obstacle course:

Obstacle course with rope, cones, seesaw and trampoline with the large padded mat to jump onto
Student A's favourite activity was the trampoline with the large padded mat to jump onto. He played on it while the students were completing the obstacle course, then joined in with the Scarecrows game in which he wanted to be the 'tagger'

Large Connect Four:

enjoyed playing with this with the TA

Dolls House

This activity was Student A's favourite activity during the first few weeks of school at Caralee and he enjoyed playing with it outside

Figure 6 - Changes for the following week on my DWP

Reflection on Week 6

Student A:

became involved in the Magic Table when he entered the room. He enjoyed the chemical reaction of the bicarb soda mixing with the lemon juice and fizzing up. He was verbal during this activity, saying things like, 'look' and 'Oh my God'. Student A played and mixed, and was absorbed in this activity for an extended period of time. He kept going back to the activity throughout the day.
pinched lentils, seeds and potpourri and added it to his play dough
explored the other activities
read a spider book quietly to himself
shared and initiated reading books with Student B
approached Student B at the blocks to play with him
participated on the mat
enjoyed jumping on the trampoline then onto the mat. He participated in the obstacle course then kept going back to the trampoline while waiting for the other students. EA used the trampoline as a counting activity during the morning session, which Student A enjoyed and participated in
wrote his name with EA using 'Now and Then'
played Scarecrows and was verbal when caught shouting, 'Help! Help me!' at the other students
participated in dance video
was more verbal throughout the day and his speech was clearer
painted a 'person' as part of Father's Day activity

Plan forward to engage Student A in learning:

Magic Table

- colour mixing using ice cube trays and primary colours

- oil and water in plastic cups using pipettes to add oil. Students watch oil stay separate from water on surface and

mix colours

ice play - freeze animals in ice, students use small wooden hammers to break animals free from ice and use pipettes with coloured water to melt ice
water play on veranda with different sized containers, scoops and pipettes
creating pictures using pipettes to draw up coloured water and place onto paper towels
lentils, seeds and potpourri with different sized containers for filling, poring and mixing
Australian animal puppets with wooden tree cookies and gum leaves and add mirrors. This was one of Student A's favourite activities last term which he engaged in for a long period and kept coming back to throughout the day
dolls house - either inside or outside for play, this is another one of Student A's favourite activities

EYLF Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

NQS Quality Area: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Domains: Language, Personal, Social, Emotional, Creative, Cognitive, Physical & Spiritual