Hi, I'm Laura Wilson, and I'm currently in my final year
of studying a Master's of Teaching at UWA.
I've been involved in the WACUTS internship program
at Harvey Primary School, which is about an hour and a half out of Perth
in the South West region.
Good morning, Jacinta.
-GIRL: Mrs Wilson. -Yeah?
GIRL: I heard thunder and I was hugging the chair.
You were hugging the chair. Were you a little bit scared?
Oh, goodness.
We establish routines at the very beginning of the year.
Since the beginning of the year, the students have been expected
that when they come to school at 8:30,
they take a book from the bookshelf,
or finish some work on their desk that's left out by the teacher.
And at 8:40, when the work siren goes,
they're to pack up, pack away whatever they are doing.
Their parents are to leave the classroom,
and they come and sit on the mat ready to begin our literacy block.
And this is something that happens across the whole school.
Which picture are you going to choose?
(WORK SIREN BLARES)
Oh, dear. Pack it away.
Oh. Is that the first or the second siren?
OK, pack away your things and come and sit on the mat with me.
Who's sitting beautifully that can tell me what song
we might like to sing this morning?
Amy, what song would you like to sing?
AMY: 'Humpty Dumpty'.
'Humpty Dumpty'. And what nursery rhyme will we do in the middle?
-GIRL: 'Humpty Dumpty'. -BOY: 'ABC'.
'ABC'.
I guess I try to be as low key as possible.
I use lots of positive praise.
Trying to make it not so obvious to the students that we're doing it.
Doing the songs.
And knowing, at the end of the song, that they're to sit up straight
and to listen to me, and look at me, and make eye contact.
We've done lots of things about how you can show
that you're being a good listener,
that you're ready to listen and ready to learn,
and that you're looking at the person in front of you.
And I guess that also is underpinned
by our whole school behaviour management strategies.
We use the Virtues program, so a lot of that language,
and a lot of that being respectful and good listeners
is based around the language that's to do with that.
Now, I've been doing it a little bit differently with my kindies.
I've been crossing over like this.
Do you think you can have a practice of doing that?
GIRL: It's easy.
(ALL SING) # Humpty Dumpty Dee-dee-dee Dumpty
# Humpty Dumpty Go, yeah!
# Humpty Dumpty Dee-dee-dee Dumpty
# Humpty Dumpty Go, yeah! #
ALL: A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P.
Q, R, S, T, U, V.
W, X, Y and Z.
We try to break it up
into smaller learning kind of sessions for the students.
It means that they're not on the mat
for a long period of time, and getting bored.
And you're not getting that same kind of behaviour or misbehaviour
that could occur if you're making them sit there
for a long period of time.
So we get them on the mat, we do some very explicit teaching
of something to do with our learning experiences.
It's generally to do
with what the lower ability group is covering that lesson
to set them up for the most success.
What does a question mark tell us?
Chantay, I love how you've got your hand up.
Blake?
BLAKE: A question that you ask someone.
GIRL: Miss Wilson, when you said...
The one where you said the word
in the start is like you were asking a question.
It is. So these are all ways that we can start our questions, aren't they?
There's lots of different questions that we can ask.
And we need lots of different words to help us ask them.
OK, who would like to choose what animal Blake might be?
Aaron. I love how you've been sitting beautifully.
AARON: A tiger.
OK, I'm just going to... Everyone's looking at me.
I love how Shannon's looking at me.
I love how Aaron's looking at me.
I love how Logan is looking at me.
OK, now make sure you have your listening ears on.
If you are listening, put your hands on your head.
I can see Aaron's listening.
If you are listening, put your hands on your shoulder.
If you are listening, cross your hands over.
If you're listening, put your hands in your lap.
Well done, Year 1's.