T Shaped Literacy Unit 1 - Great Beginnings...

This T shaped literacy unit focused on the the beginning of a text. Dianne and I decided that we would split our class into two groups. We kept these groups separate so that both of us had the opportunity to teach these lessons in the way we wanted to without having to run an idea past each other before implementing it. This meant we were able to be creative and strengthen our own teaching styles. I lead the introduction with the whole class so that we were all starting from the same point. The lesson I followed is on slides 16 -21 on the presentation below and was the same lesson we were taken through by Aaron and Selena. What was hugely beneficial for me was that Dianne observed me doing this and gave me some great feedback and feed forward. It also showed us clearly which areas we needed to reinforce in the following lesson. 

We began by introducing the idea that a narrative text is broken into three parts, Act 1 (the beginning), Act 2 (the middle) and Act 3 (the end), so that everyone understood what is was that we would be focusing on. As our focus was the beginning or Act 1 we unpacked the type of information we would find in this section of the text. This is what we used to help our learners visualise the learning and make their own connections. I think this was the most used slide in the DLO as both myself and my group referred to it often and reminded me of the power of having a rewindable resource. This is on slide 11 of the presentation below.

I chose to collate all my lessons in one DLO so that everything was easy to find and easy to access for both myself and my learners. The presentation below has the links to all teaching points, texts used, follow up tasks and student responses.

I began by splitting my group into two teams. No particular reason for the grouping as my idea was that each time we worked together different people would take on a different role in the group. This worked brilliantly as I began each reading lesson by asking who the leader was. What I loved seeing was how the rest of group supported each other and respected the roles they were undertaking for the day. 

After our introductory lesson which had no links to our actual topic I began with a couple of front loading lesson (slide 22 -26) to introduce my learners to our topic of 'Refugees" and help them build their own connections. I chose this topic because I am very aware of the need for all my learners to see themselves in the texts we unpack. This topic can be a sensitive issue but I talked to my students who identify as refugees about what the texts were and what the follow up work would look like. They were all excited to share the stories many of their families have been through and added valuable contributions to our learning that we never have got from just reading a text. 

With our first text I asked both groups to use the same Google doc to record their thinking in the comments tool. Response challenges on the shared doc were identified through the use of a different coloured font, meaning we learnt with and from each other. The most valuable learning I carried over from 2022 was to include a 'Questions we have' slide and a 'Vocabulary we don’t understand' slide. Discussing the content of these slides at the start of each lesson meant that we learnt with and from each other the whole way through. The slides on the DLO shared are not filled in as often the questions and vocabulary the groups identified as needing further discussion were recorded on paper. 

After the first text, we decided that each group would have their own Google doc to record their responses on. Follow up responses for each text were the same which helped to reinforce the purpose behind the learning. As I mentioned earlier slide 11 was referred back to each lesson as it enabled my learners to use the content specific language I was looking for when formulating and sharing their responses. 

My biggest takeaway going forward however from this unit is to continue to include the synthesis responses in each individual text response. This allowed for ideas to be quickly transferred to our framework and enabled my learners to discuss and synthesise the information effectively.

The image above shows how I included this in the reading response tasks.

This image is the framework that we use to help us synthesise ideas across the texts. After comparing and contrasting the information from the three texts we used, Team 2 responded to the challenge of writing an argument convincing other students why one of the story beginnings is better than the other(s) with this response:

Our group has made a definite choice that Abbas’ Story, ‘From Afghanistan to Aotearoa’ had a preferable exposition as they used short and meaningful quotes such as. Imagine having to make an impossible choice and face misery after misery or start a new life.’ They also used the techniques called ‘rhetorical questions’ to make the readers think about the questions. Another technique is using dramatic and effective words to build the tension. In the story in the last few parts of act 1, the question in the first line has been answered when they had a catastrophic conundrum between staying in their motherland and being miserable or risking their lives to escape their misery and hope of a new era. Would you risk everything  for freedom?

I really enjoyed teaching this unit and am looking forward to seeing if the deeper understanding my learners have for narrative beginnings transfers to our upcoming written challenges.