Figure 1. This is an image of the students' work example from the unit of inquiry, Who LIves In your House?. Children were able to share their homes with the class and information about themselves, their families, pets, and the different rooms. (standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2,3.3, 4.1)
CONTEXT
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To create meaningful relationships with the students, begins by understanding who the children are. For a reception class, this is their first year of school and therefore was even more critical to build genuine relationships with the children where they feel confident to learn and grow. I acknowledge the importance of treating all students as individuals and ensure they are valued and catered for all their needs and differences.
ACTION
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Beginning school and learning in a new environment can be daunting for young children. To help the children settle into their new environment I taught a unit that focused on the students wellbeing. I designed an art Unit Of Inquiry on, “Who Lives in Your House?”, with the aim for children to connect to their personal identity and help understand the differences between themselves and their peers. Children were able to engage in this lesson by following step by step folding instruction, adding personal features to their houses with pencil and then decorating with water colour paint for further self expression. Once the houses were finished the children sat in a circle and were excited to share their house and explain why it was important to them and information about their family, pets and home.
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Building on the house activity I designed another lesson about a class family. This was achieved by reading the story, “Class Family ''. The children then worked in collaboration to make a class list together of what a class family looks like. Pre-existing issues within the classroom about friendships and respect were discussed and students were able to show accountability for the class family rules throughout the term. Both inquiry tasks allowed children to make connections to their own personal identity as well as their identity within the classroom. I believed this was an important lesson for me to teach, to have a better understanding of the students as well as working on behavioural issues.
Incorporating technology supported engagement and diverse learning approaches. Ipads were an engaging tool for the children that they were used in literacy and maths lessons. Through the app education.com I was able to track the children's progress and determine the areas that needed focusing on. I was also able to experiment using Ipads in an art lesson allowing the children to create digital art collages as a new way of learning through art.
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RESULTS
Building strong relationships led to active participation in the classroom. Working on wellbeing with students early allowed me to get to know my students and for them to feel comfortable sharing facts about themselves. I was successful in building genuine connections and gaining the respect from the students. Children felt a sense of belonging when making their own homes. Through observation I was also able to determine the different teaching styles that worked best for each student by knowing their interests, learning needs and motivations.
Setting early expectations of what a class family looks like allowed children to have clear classroom expectations and particularly how to treat others. The children's behaviour improved vastly over the weeks. My mentor has highlighted this with her feedback,”You have done so well working on your behaviour management and the children are responding well to instruction. Well done!”
EVALUATION
My journey as an educator is in the early stages. I am constantly developing my skills and pedagogy. When reflecting on my evidence for set 1, the activities designed implemented the effort I put into getting to know the children in an expressive way. Through my qualification in a bachelor of art and education I used these skills when designing the lesson allowing for self expression and creativity within the children. When I displayed these in the classroom children were excited to share their homes with friends and family that entered the classroom.
I received feedback from my mentor, “You are creating engaging lessons and the children are enjoying the activities they are participating in. You are moving around the classroom beautifully and working with various students throughout your lessons which is excellent.” (Mentor Teacher). I will continue to build on making positive relationships with the children as well as families, colleagues and the broader community. I have goals to develop broader styles of teaching especially for children with additional needs
STANDARDS
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1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students - By actively sourcing information by observation and professional conversations with my mentor teacher I have the knowledge of all the students and their individual needs
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1.2 Understand how students learn. Understanding that all students learn differently and applying a variety of teaching strategies and differentiation so all students have the opportunity to participate.
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1.3 Students with diverse, linguistic, cultural, religious and socio- economic background Children were able to express their backgrounds and differences in discussion when designing their own homes.
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1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the range of abilities. -Understand the needs of all children and adapt lessons to support children's learning needs.
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2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies ICT - resources where utilised with maths and literacy applications on IPads.
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3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs - The house inquiry and class family lessons were structured to share a connection about the children's personal identity in and out of the classroom in different ways.
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3.4 Select and use resources I was able to demonstrate knowledge using ICT resources and also experimented with different art resources with the children such as watercolour.
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4.1 Support student participation - Creating an activity that was about them made children excited to share their houses that they made with the class