Language and literacy in Early childhood education
ASSESMENT 2 PART 1 (1200 words) Purpose • Discuss the role of the early childhood teacher with regards to children’s language learning, emergent-literacy learning, multiliteracies learning and the construction of the environment through a social and play-based approach. The unit learning outcome(s) assessed is/are: LO1: Analyse how language and literacy operate as complex and contextual social acts that create and sustain power relations. LO2: Articulate ways multi-literacies are generated by capable young children and how they contribute to how young children engage with literacy and language. LO4: Demonstrate an understanding of supporting children's language and literacy learning in rich environments, including children with English as an additional language. Assessment Structure: Imagine you are working at a kindergarten as an Early Childhood Teacher. Drawing on the learning from the first 5 sessions, create a newsletter for parents at your Early Childhood Service which discusses the role of the early childhood teacher in children’s language, emergent-literacy and multiliteracies learning, as well as the construction of a multiliteracy-rich environment through a play-based approach. This newsletter must be supported by academic references and include content covered in the unit so far. STRUCTURE: Follow the steps below: 1. 1. You have been asked to create a newsletter for families explaining how Early Childhood Teachers support language and multiliteracy learning in ECE 2. Start with a brief introduction, explain your understanding of language learning, emergent literacy learning and multiliteracy learning in ECE to your families (perhaps provide some definitions) 3. Make a list of the main ideas you would like to discuss in the newsletter (think about what we have covered in the unit so far with regards to children’s language and multiliteracies learning). Important components to include: 1. The strategies that ECT would use to support language & emergent literacy & multiliteracy learning and development (eg: how would ECTs use play-based approach to support this learning?) 2. The strategies that ECT would use to support children and families with English as an additional language to enrich language & emergent literacy & multiliteracy learning. 3. The importance of ECT’s role in constructing a multiliteracy-rich environment (eg: how would this promote communication, social interactions, language, multiliteracy learning…?) 4. How children’s language and multiliteracy skills are influenced by their environment, significant others, societal influences? Revise your essay and ask a peer or colleague to review your writing. This is an important step in the process to ensure your writing is at a tertiary level. Make sure you have referred back to the assessment rubric and included all elements required. 4. Write a paragraph on each idea, explain and justify your ideas with support from literature (minimum 4 references are required). 5. End with a conclusion with your final thoughts on the role of the teacher in supporting the above ideas. 6. Consult the rubric before submitting your newsletter to the Dropbox with a reference list. Referencing is Harvard style. The following levels of criteria will be used to grade this assessment task: • Criterion 1: Student demonstrates deep understanding of play-based pedagogy and explains how language, emergent literacy and multiliteracy can be supported through play including appropriate strategies. • Criterion 2: Student has demonstrated their understanding of language as a complex and contextual social act, through acknowledging the role of significant others, the child’s immediate environment and greater political and social influences. • Criterion 3: The way in which the student would construct a multiliteracy-rich environment has been clearly communicated. • Criterion 4: Student has demonstrated understanding of how children generate and use language and multiliteracies in early childhood • Criterion 5: Student has effectively and appropriately made connections with literature and/or theoretical viewpoints to support their discussion. • Criterion 6 and 7: Writing is accurate and clear regarding structure, expression, grammar, spelling and presentation in the style of an essay. Word count is correct. Referencing is accurate and consistent with the Harvard style. PART 2 (1300 words ) Develop a sequence of teaching ideas to support language learning in an early childhood setting PURPOSE: The purpose of this assessment task is to: • Demonstrate your understanding of how to effectively and knowledgably support children’s learning and development through creating language and multiliteracy-rich learning environments. • Plan play-based and age-appropriate experiences which reflect how children make meaning through communication practices and how they engage in multiliteracies, including children with English as an additional language. The learning outcomes of this assessment are: LO2: Articulate ways multi-literacies are generated by capable young children and how they contribute to how young children engage with language. LO3: Devise a range of curriculum that supports complex meaning making in language in diverse early childhood contexts. LO4: Demonstrate an understanding of supporting children's language learning in rich environments, including children with English as an additional language. STRUCTURE Imagine that you are working at an Early Childhood Service as a kindergarten teacher. You have been asked to plan 4 connected learning experiences that support both children’s language AND multiliteracy learning & development. Note: You may notice that Assessment 3 Template is similar to the Documentation of Planning Cycle you have used for placement. This is correct! We want you to use your observations (part 1 of Documentation of Planning Cycle) from placement as prompts to plan 4 connected learning experiences for this assessment task. You can then use these 4 planned learning experiences in your placement next week! INSTRUCTIONS 1. Use the template provided (here - ASSESSMENT 3 TEMPLATE opens in new window) to plan 4 connected learning experiences that support both children’s language and multiliteracy learning. 2. Introduction: Start with a brief (approx. 350 words) introduction demonstrating your understanding of language and multiliteracy learning in Early Childhood; as well as the importance of the role of the teacher (refer to your assessment 2). State what age group you are planning for (choose either toddlers 2-3 y/o or preschool 3-5 y/o). 3. Learning experiences: Think about some learning experiences you would plan for the children. Important things to include for EACH learning experience: 1. Title of the learning experience 2. Learning Intentions – what are the teaching intentions? What would the children learn from this experience? (remember this is related to language and multiliteracy learning) 3. Strategies/Session Notes – detailed description of how you will carry out this experience. What teaching strategies would you use? How would you achieve the Key Objectives? What resources will you use? How would the environment be set up? What is the teacher’s role in this before/during/after the experiences (eg: what intentional teaching is happening? What interaction is happening?) 4. Justifications – this section is on the right-hand column of your template. This is where you include particular references, links to literature and VEYLDF Outcome 5. You will need to explain and justify the connections of each learning experience to your chosen references and VEYLDF Outcome 5 (eg: how does this experience link to a particular descriptor in Outcome 5?) 4. All 4 learning experiences need to be play-based. At least 1 of the above learning experiences will have to be independent play (ie. The teacher is not directly involved). This is a good opportunity for you to think about and explain the role of the teacher – draw on the ideas from PART1 . 5. There is no minimum referencing requirement, use as many resources as you like. However ALL resources will need to be properly referenced. (Eg: If you have listed a book that you would like to read with children, you need to include this book in your resources and reference list) 6. Consult the rubric before submitting your Learning Experiences to the Dropbox. Referencing is Harvard style. The following levels of criteria will be used to grade this assessment task: • Criterion 1: The planned experiences show deep understanding of the development of language & multiliteracies in the chosen age group through a play-based manner, including for children with English as an additional language. • Criterion 2: The teacher’s role in the experiences is clearly explained • Criterion 3: The importance of the environment is considered and it has been carefully planned for • Criterion 4: The planned experiences show understanding of the concept of multiliteracies and of language and how children use these to communicate • Criterion 5: The planned experiences position the child as capable and competent when engaging in complex meaning making • Criterion 6: Writing is accurate and clear regarding structure, expression, grammar, spelling and presentation in the style of an essay. Referencing is accurate and consistent with the Harvard style.