Teaching the teacher—a story of teaching and learning for all
This story is about a beginning teacher in an isolated community who was willing to be guided by and to learn from her students. It is also a story about communicating because the teacher helped one of her students begin to discover his ‘voice’.
Understands some of the ways that communication works and how non-verbal, spoken, written and visual forms carry messages (Communicating—Being literate Standard 1)
The particular student, Brendon, has severe cerebral palsy and suffers from epileptic seizures. You can learn more about his needs from the support and accommodations section of his Individual Education Planning (IEP) [Word 60KB].
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When you talk to Jenny-Anne, the first thing she tells you about Brendon is not about his needs but about his sociability, his sense of humour and his desire to be involved in the learning of his classmates.
Jenny-Anne’s strong belief that Brendon is part of the class and can participate as a class member shines through her conversations and translates into her classroom practice.
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During Term 1, Jenny-Anne worked hard to create a united and inclusive Prep. classroom, demonstrating skill in getting to know her students and making careful observations about their learning. This is certainly evident in Jenny-Anne’s recorded reflections about her year with Brendon – Teaching the teacher.
Assessing for learning
What is striking is the way she carefully observed her student, constantly trying to assess what he might be thinking and feeling and how she could use that to progress his learning.
For example:
- When Brendon needed extra time for physiotherapy to help loosen his muscles to allow for better movement, Jenny Anne arranged for some of the physio to be done in the classroom, often using equipment already in the room, so that Brendon would not spend more time away from his class.
- When he became interested in his peers and began to show preferences, she included him more thoroughly in co-operative learning especially using those peers.
- When he began vocalising, she made sure he had his turn at sharing news.
Developing a learning sequence
During Term 2, Jenny-Anne designed a learning sequence that was aimed at helping all her students learn more about the different ways we communicate. She made it inclusive by embedding some of Brendon’s IEP goals [Word 66KB], which focused on his developing understandings about himself and about communication. The inclusivity was also fostered by her use of fairy tales as the medium to support the learners in developing their understandings about communication.
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The learning sequence also provided opportunity for Jenny-Anne and her students to revisit some of their earlier work on different text types, and strategies like brainstorming, whole class discussion and co-operative learning. It also provided Brendon with an opportunity to work towards his personal goals in a way that truly included him in the class group. For example, Jenny-Anne had become aware of the sort of behaviours that Brendon demonstrated when he appeared to be indicating a preference. The learning sequence enabled him to practice his choice-making and preferences within the same learning context as his peers.
Jenny-Anne spent considerable time thinking about the type of supports and accommodations that would facilitate Brendon’s participation. She recorded the following:
Supports and accommodations
It should be noted that the student in question has severe cerebral palsy and suffers from epileptic seizures. As a consequence, the student spends at least 1 – 1 ½ hours outside of the classroom in order to attend to:
- massage
- eating
- intensive muscular massage
- toileting.
The student is extremely active during the morning —up until around lunch time—and for this reason usually takes at least a ten minute to half hour cat nap in the classroom.
Through experience I have observed that it is necessary to plan for the student’s full involvement from the times between 9:15-10:30 am. Between these times the student is most alert and will willingly co-operate.
As the student’s hearing and touch are heightened, many of the resources connected to the learning sequence are appealing in this way. In order to encourage tracking objects, things other than reading texts must be integrated into the learning sequence as it is also unsure just how much the student can visually see. It is also important to encompass oral communication and acknowledge the importance of identifying the strategies he uses to communicate to others and how he chooses to share his news. The student should be provided with as many opportunities as possible to share his understandings and to acknowledge how important it is to give him many opportunities to practice these skills.
Materials needed / suggested:
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As further learning support, Jenny-Anne chose fairy tales for which she could procure print and DVD versions and finger puppets. These meant that the stories could be presented in multiple modes to cater for both visual and aural learners. As there was some uncertainty about the quality of Brendon’s eyesight, Jenny–Anne also experimented with presenting the DVD versions of the tale on a TV sized screen and on a large screen with an overhead projector to assess which he found more engaging.
View the learning sequence ‘How do we communicate?’ [Word 12.4MB] and the photostory [MOV 919KB] about Brendon engaging in finger painting whilst a favourite fairy story is being read to him. Notice, particularly, how much more relaxed his fingers become during this experience.
By the end of their year together, as Jenny-Anne herself explains, she and Brendon had learned much from each other. She had learnt much about how to facilitate the learning of all her students and Brendon had learnt that he could communicate his feelings and preferences to others. Indeed, he was vocalising so much that his family complained about his disturbing them with his ‘chatter’ in the middle of the night!
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References
Als, R. (1984) The Three Billy Goats Gruff. J.M Dent & Sons Ltd, Melbourne.
Bishop, G. (1989) The Three Little Pigs. Scholastic Inc, New York.
Blythe, T and Associates. (1998). The Teaching For Understanding Guide. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Chapman, J. (1997) The Three Little Pigs and Other Nursery Tales. Walker Books, Sydney.
Croaker, G. (1995) Folktales: Jack and the Beanstalk. Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd, Australia.
Department of Education. (2004) Essential Connections: A Guide To Young Children’s Learning. Department of Education, Tasmania.
Department of Education. (2005) Indicators of Development From Birth to Four Years. Department of Education, Tasmania.
Department of Education. (2005) Essential Learnings Assessing Guide. Department of Education, Tasmania.
Earl, L.M. (2003) Assessment As Learning: Using Classroom Assessment To Maximize Student Learning. Corwin Press Inc, California.
Erickson, H.L. (2002) Concept-Based Curriculum And Instruction: Teaching Beyond The Facts. Corwin Press Inc, California.
Langleys, J. (1992) The Three Bears And Goldilocks. Harper Collins Publishers, Great Britain.
Murdock, K. (2003) Classroom Connections: Strategies For Integrated Learning. Eleanor Curtain, Melbourne.
Price, S. (1992) Jack and the Beanstalk & Other Stories. King Fish Books, Australia.
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Inclusive education
Getting Started: A guide for teachers of students with disabilities in regular schools 
Anna's story
Collage of students