Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies
Site: Learning Environment Online Printed by: Zi Liang Lim
Unit: EDSI699 SCIENCE CPA 2 2023 Semester 2 Date: Thursday, 3 August 2023, 10:09 AM
Book: Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Spelling Strategies
3. Marzano’s 6 step approach to teaching vocab
4. PEEL / TEEL paragraph writing
5. Three level guides
6. Examples of numeracy within a Senior Science context.
7. An Effective teaching strategy for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
1. Introduction
Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies
It is a common misconception that literacy and numeracy are the responsibility of English and Maths teachers respectively. That is not true. Not only is
it part of the 7-10 curriculum, if students cannot access your subject area, they are unlikely to do well. Specific strategies are required in order to teach
them to access your materials. Exposing them to scientific text and key words is not enough. That certainly is not a criticism of your efforts, it is the
unfortunate reality: we must all take responsibility for literacy and numeracy.
What are we doing this week?
Currently in Australian schools, data is driving improvement agendas (National School Improvement Tool accessed
from https://www.acer.edu.au/files/NSIT.pdf). Specifically, literacy and numeracy data is an area of focus. The reason these two areas are important is
that all of the indicators (i.e. wealth, income, health, life satisfaction, employment, etc.) suggest the more literate and numerate a person is the better
quality of life they will have (OECD Better Life Index, accessed from http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/australia/). This very succinctly sums
up why the Government is investing billions on improving these indicators. It also explains why teachers need to have strategies they can practically
employ within classrooms that are effective and efficient.
Teaching and Engaging ATSI students is also one of the priorities found in the AITSL standards. Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 of the Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers identify what teachers need to know and be able to do in order to teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and to
teach all students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, history and culture.
The requirements are:
Focus Area 1.4: Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students
Focus Area 2.4: Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians
Each state government education department will have its own policies on supporting ATSI students as well. For example QLD's policy can be found
via the link here.
With this in mind, module 8 covers the following:
Spelling strategies
Marzano’s 6 step approach to teaching vocab
PEEL / TEEL paragraph writing
3 level guides
Examples of numeracy within a Senior Science context.
Strategy for teaching and engaging ATSI Students
Why are we doing this?
Unit Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, you will have worked towards achieving the following unit learning outcomes, graduate attributes (GAs) and Australian
Professional Standards for Teachers (APST):
LO2 Analyse the relationships between curriculum design, task design and student expertise so as to support student learning and the evaluation
of teaching and curriculum design (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9; APST 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 4.2, 4.5, 5.1)
LO3 Apply and evaluate the use of linguistic resources utilised to provide directions, demonstration, presentations and support of student
learning (GA4, GA5, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.3, 3.5, 4.1, 4.2)
LO4 Critically analyse, develop and implement a knowledge of the variety of pedagogical strategies in senior secondary science which allow the
specific learning strengths and needs of students to be met (GA4, GA5, GA7, GA8, GA9; APST 1.3, 1.5, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 4.3)
Lecture content and Activities
Lecture for this module found below.
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
The subsections of this book have activities and/or tasks to be completed. These will help you become more familiar with
teaching Senior Science.
Timings
This content spans week 8 of the unit.
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
2. Spelling Strategies
It always amazes me how reliant we are on technology. I think this is no more applicable then when we talk spelling and the 'good old' spell checker!
Even senior students need to practice this art.
With that in mind, it is important for us as teachers to have some strategies that we can utilise with our students to assist them. Attached is a short
PowerPoint presentation that details the strategies we use with our junior and senior students at Redcliffe SHS. A Head of Department, Ms Alexis
McNeil, developed this PowerPoint and has given me permission to share it here. These strategies are embedded within our school and are used
school wide. You might like to use aspects of it in your future teaching.
Alexis' PowerPoint
School etymology list
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
3. Marzano’s 6 step approach to teaching vocab
Source: Marzano and Pickering http://slideplayer.com/slide/3387175/
Dr Marzano's 6 step approach to teaching vocabulary is a strategy that I use almost daily in the classroom. It involves the following steps:
Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
Ask students to construct a picture, pictograph, or symbolic representation of the term.
Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks.
Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
Involve students periodically in games that enable them to play with terms.
Teachers use the first three steps when introducing a term to students. A few days later, the teacher reviews the new term using Steps 4, 5, and 6,
which needn't be executed in sequence.
Source: Dr Marzano http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/Six-Steps-to-Better-Vocabulary-Instruction.aspx
Please take a moment to read through this .pdf that explains this strategy in more detail.
There is a template for a PowerPoint you can use in the classroom, along with a sheet for students to use as you go through. Note the PowerPoint has
a timer on it (double enter when full screen)
Activity: Select some key words from the Senior Science syllabus of your choice and start preparing now!
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
4. PEEL / TEEL paragraph writing
PEEL / TEEL paragraph writing
How many of us have wished that our students clearly justified a response, or picked out the correct information? Again, we have to assist them by
training them to write in this way. They need our help to develop these skills - we cannot expect them 'just to know.'
Source: Virtual Library http://www.virtuallibrary.info/peel-paragraph-writing.html
The PEEL paragraph writing approach is a proven way to help students’ writing process by providing a structure for their writing.
Point
Your first sentence must state your point. It introduces the topic you’re about to discuss and tells the reader what the paragraph is going to be about.
This is sometimes called a topic sentence.
Evidence
Support your point with evidence and examples. In the next one or two sentences, give evidence to expand upon and support the point you made.
Evidence can include facts, statistics, research findings, quotes from a credible authority or a primary text.
Explanation
This is where you show your understanding by explaining in more detail how and why your evidence supports your point. Your explanation should
interpret the evidence for the reader.
Link
The last sentence should reinforce your original point or link your writing to the next paragraph. The link sentence can provide a transition to the next
topic or paragraph.
Source: Virtual Library http://www.virtuallibrary.info/peel-paragraph-writing.html
Check this page out for more information on this literacy strategy.
Activity: consider using this regularly when you ask for written responses. Start making notes in your lesson plans to remind you.
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
5. Three level guides
Source: Australian Curriculum http://e4ac.edu.au/units/year-7s/pop-s4-02.html
A three level guide is a powerful reading comprehension strategy that gets students to read a piece of text with purpose. The reason they are called
three level guides is because they contain three different types of questions:
Level 1 - literal comprehension / locate, recall, connect / on the lines questions
Level 2 - inferential comprehension / infer, interpret / between the lines questions
Level 3 - application of ideas / use, generalise, hypothesise / beyond the lines questions.
This article gives a neat overview of what a three level guide is, why they are important, things for teachers to consider and the steps in a three level
guide sequence. While it focuses on using true / false questions, I prefer to write multiple choice questions as it is these types of questions that can be
found on NAPLAN and other external tests i.e. QCS.
Whenever I get students to use a three level guide in class I always get them to use a THIEVES strategy to engage with the text. THIEVES stands for:
Title
Headings
Introduction
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
Every first sentence
Visuals and vocabulary
End of text questions
Summarise
These steps help the students to read the text with purpose and 'frontload' their minds which in turn will (hopefully) allow them to engage with the
three level guide questions in a more meaningful and successful manner.
Here are a couple of example three level guides for you to look at:
Example 1
Example 2
TASK: Write a three level guide for any topic in Senior Science and post the guide and associated questions to the Three Level
Guide Discussion Forum
Forum.. Make no mistake, these are tricky to write. Please complete and share this task, if for no other reason than to help you
collect a group of them for future use! Here is a template you can use.
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
6. Examples of numeracy within a Senior Science context.
The NSW Department of Education and Communities describes numeracy as:
being 'at-ease' with all those aspects of mathematics that enable a person to cope with the practical demands of everyday life
the ability to understand information presented in mathematical terms.
Source: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/literacy-and-numeracy ;
Being numerate is crucial to success in Senior Science. This PowerPoint shows snapshots taken from the new Queensland Senior Syllabus.
TASK: Using this PowerPoint or your own State Syllabus, design one or more activities to promote numeracy. Remember, like literacy, exposure to
numbers is not enough. They need to actively engage and interact with numeracy. Post your activity to the Numeracy Discussion Board and
comment/download others' activities.
An example of one strategy assisting students to manipulate three factor formulas can be found here: Formula Triangles and attached here are a few
examples from past students, you don't need to over think it just show strategies of how you will help students develop their numeracy skills (explicit
teaching is often the answer here as calculations are often process based)
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
7. An Effective teaching strategy for working with Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students
I'll start the ball rolling with a bit of my story:
ATSI perspectives has been something I have always struggled to embed in my units and lessons during my teaching career, I always felt it was a
token effort, stuck into a lot of the ACARA resources in junior years to tick a box and many of the senior syllabi didn't have much scope or time to fit it
in.
So every year on my "building capacity plan" (a teaching practice reflection document, based on a self audit of my proficiency on the Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards ) I would put that this was something I wanted to work on.
After about 5 years of this I finally had a PD opportunity at my school on the "8 ways of learning" pedagogy framework, this is so simple to do and
made me realise that I have been putting too much pressure and thought into it and that with small changes to my terminology and classroom
environment I can achieve all 8 ways of working and support the ATSI students in my classroom. The Non-ATSI students benefit from these ways of
working too.
In Science:
1. Non Verbal: Science is full of it Pracs/Simulations/Models/Demonstrations. You can also encourage non-verbal systems of feedback from students –
gestures, facial cues etc.
Traffic Lights or Hand Signals for where they are at with the learning goal:
Thumbs up/Green= I understand it, I'm ready for the test,
Thumb to the side/Amber= I get some aspects of it but am not confident yet,
Thumbs down/Red= I've got no idea
I find that the students are surprisingly accurate when they rate themselves this way, and are generally more confident to admit they are struggling
with the content when they don't have to verbalise that they are struggling.
2. Story Telling (Having a yarn)= I have always have done this, I will talk about my life, life experiences and general knowledge at any and every
opportunity.
3. Symbols and Images: Create visual texts as well as print texts (e.g. mind-maps, diagrams etc.)
4. Learning maps: Create a shared image (concrete or visualised) of the pathway the learning is taking. Use KWL charts to find out what
students k now, w ant to know and have l earnt to map their learning journey. Students have ownership of learning if they are involved in decision-
making.
5. Land Links: Whenever I am teaching a Biology unit, I always endeavour to include the local Indigenous name for any organisms we discuss. Locate
the knowledge – where it’s from. Connect to country, get outside the classroom when you can
6&7. Deconstruct/Reconstruct and Non Linear: Take a roundabout route to learning outcomes. Innovate, create, exchange, adapt, synthesise. This
forces you away from the chalk and talk trap that so many teachers fall into: Break the learning outcome down into small chunks, Use think pair shares,
debates, projects, group research and then get them to teach the class. An important part of this process is ‘watching and doing’—demonstrating to
students and allowing them to 'have a go'.
8. Community Links: Use guest speakers when possible, take field trips, Work with your ATSI teacher aide (if you have one in your school), volunteer
for cultural days/events held throughout the year. Get involved in NAIDOC celebrations each year, each year I volunteer to cook a huge bush tucker
BBQ (Emu and Roo sausages, Jonny cakes with native jams) for all the students in the school, the school invites an indigenous dance troop in to
perform (and I am usually roped into getting up and giving it a go, with my two left feet it doesn't work well but the young ATSI students and
community members trying to teach me, as well as, the crowd that gathers all have a great time laughing at me). Lead by example, Showing respect
for and the value of this beautiful culture, is all that is required here.
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Module 8- Literacy, Numeracy and ATSI Strategies 3/8/2023, 10:10 am
For information and resources check out their website: https://www.8ways.online/
This is just one way/strategy to work with your ATSI students, if you have any resources or ideas you come across in your reading or early teaching
career please share these insights and strategies on the discussion board here, the more strategies you have in your repertoire the better for the
students:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
For more information about working with ATSI Students you can work through this module from AITSL: Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation
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