Northern Adelaide Region Aboriginal Early Years Research Project 2011 Stephen Graham Closing the Gap for Aboriginal Students

The language of power is white Anglo-Saxon middle class English OR Standard Australian English (SAE) It’s not better, not right but it is what it is – the language of power!

Yes, there is a large group of people here! “Big mob of fellas ere” Contextual understanding is essential and needs to be explicitly taught. (We talk about home language and school language with our students)

“Phonological Awareness” “Concepts of Print” So where do we start with our Aboriginal students?

Most babies don’t walk before they crawl, most children don’t learn to read before they have an automatic understanding of the Concepts of Print. Concepts of Print (25 of them) It all begins here!

DirectionalityConcepts of Book Concepts of Text (word/letter) Mechanics Concepts of Print Do you know what they are?

Many students may come to school with these skills if they have a rich language environment at home or they have been immersed in a language based play program at preschool… You need to assess your students to ascertain what skills they have and where the gaps are, this can be done through Guided Reading sessions!

What is my learning intention for the kids who are drawing with chalk outside? What is my learning intention for the kids who are dressing up? What is my learning intention for the kids playing games on the computer? Play based programs must always have a learning intention… Do the children know what it is?

Teachers often move too quickly from aural work to phonics – representation of sound into symbol (writing). Order – syllables, rhyme, hearing beginning, final, then middle sounds, manipulation of sounds … Phonological Awareness The child’s ability to hear and manipulate sounds!

Phonological Awareness Continuum

Remember Aboriginal students have particular difficulty with soft sounds… t, d, f, s, b, h, p, k, g, th, sh The reason for this is related to the high incidence of a condition known as ‘conductive hearing loss.’ One in three Aboriginal students suffer from this condition. Phonological Awareness The child’s ability to hear and manipulate sounds!

Syllables Segmenting words into syllables (clapping, touching blocks, taking steps) Determining the number of syllables Blending syllables to form words - Use pictures as cues - Words only Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Rhyme Recognition – does ‘hat’ rhyme with ‘mat?’ Matching (3 pictures/words, find the 2 that rhyme) Oddity (3 pictures/words, find the 2 that don’t rhyme) Production/generation (Tell me the words that rhyme with pot – nonsense or real) Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Analysis (phoneme isolation within words) Beginning – alliteration, detection/recognition, matching, oddity, production/generation; Final – detection/recognition, matching, oddity, production/generation; Middle – detection/recognition, matching, oddity, production/generation; Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Analysis (phoneme segmentation of words) Recognition of phonemes in a word (e.g. clapping phonemes) Determining the number of phonemes in a word Introduction of consonant blends Listen to phonemes and blend to create words Say phonemes and blend to create words Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness Phoneme – smallest unit of sound.

Manipulation (assumes competence in analysis & blending of sounds) Sound deletion – say ‘sunshine’ without the shine Initial position sound Final position sound Within an initial consonant blend First sound & then second sound (e.g. say ‘clap’ without the /c/ sound. Say ‘clap’ without the /l/ sound Within the final consonant blend (e.g. say ‘bend’ without the /d/ sound. Say ‘bend’ without the /n/ sound Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Manipulation Sound addition – say ‘sun’ and add ‘shine’ - sunshine Initial position sound – art, say ‘art’ and add a /p/ at the beginning Final position sound – far, say ‘far’ with a /m/ at the end Within an initial consonant blend – lap, say ‘lap’ with a /c/ at the beginning Within the final consonant blend – car, say ‘car’ with a /t/ sound at the end. Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Manipulation Tracking sound changes– grapheme representation Identification of changes at the initial, final and medial position Production of changes at the initial, final and medial position Generate new words increasing in number of phonemes Hierarchy of Phonological Awareness

Which text type do I start with? “Descriptive” Description has a role in each text type so students must have this skill first. 9 Major Types of Texts

Description! Recount! Exposition!Narrative! Discussion! Procedure! Explanation! Information Report! Response! Use the Selection Pane, the select items that are hidden behind other items. Find the Selection Pane under the Home tab, under Select.

Explicit Teaching in Description From Concrete to Abstract

Description - begin with familiar contexts

Level 1 & 2 books Description

Why do I need to provide visual cues? Aboriginal students respond well to visual cues…they help with setting the scene, building the field, contextual understanding. Scaffold work with Visual Cues

For Example: Unit of work on Fairy Tales

Research shows that phonological awareness is the greatest indicator of success in reading and writing. Success Indicator

To be a balanced reader students need to be able to: Decode Read with Fluency & Phrasing and Comprehend a wide range of texts. Balanced Reader

Balanced Reader at Every Level of Reading 93% of work in secondary schools is based on factual texts.

Use a picture book of interest to the child. The text must contain at least 4 events. Teacher reads the text continually from beginning to end whilst the child looks at the book and listens Comprehension (Oral Retell)

“Now I want you to tell me what happened in the story.” If necessary, say: “Can you tell me more?” OR “Can you tell me more about that?” (child does not have access to text during retell) Comprehension (Oral Retell)

Scored Retell 1.Child establishes the context of the narrative (where the story took place). 2.Child identifies the complication of the narrative. 3.Child identifies the major characters in the narrative by their correct names. If the child makes no attempt, make a note and do not continue. 4.Child gives only one event. 5.Child identifies 2-4 of the events in a logical consequence. 6.Child identifies 4 or more of the events in a logical consequence. 7.Child gives a variety of conjunctions or time connectives to place the events in order. 8.Child kept consistent tense throughout the retell. (either present or past is acceptable but must be consistent)

Scored Retell Teacher selects a page from the text and shows it to the child. The page should have clear illustrations of one of the character. Ask the child to describe the character. 1.Child cannot describe the character and may just offer its name (e.g. the big bad wolf) 2.Child offers a limited description of the character. 3.Child describes the character fully. Select a page from the text where the illustration clearly shows a major event in the narrative. Ask the child to tell you what is happening here. 1.Child offers no response. 2.Child offers a limited explanation with no linking to previous or following events. 3.Child gives a clear explanation linking the event to what came before and what happened next.

Have fun discussing the powerpoint with fellow early childhood educators… Concepts of Print Explicit Teaching Phonological Awareness Concepts of Print Comprehension