NATIONAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT NATIONAL ORIENTATION WORKSHOP

NATIONAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT NATIONAL ORIENTATION WORKSHOP FOR LANGUAGES Subject Information Classroom management & Planning GRADES 4 – 6 2012

NATIONAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT I’m not good at future planning, I don’t plan at all. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow. I don’t have a day planner and I don’t have a diary. I completely live in the now, not in the past, not in the future- Heath Ledger Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now – Alan Lakein Those who plan do better than those who do not plan even though they rarely stick to their plan - Winston Churchill

What is classroom management -What do we mean by classroom management? Who is responsible for classroom management? Who should take the lead? -Our aim is to create a classroom that is characterised by a sustained, successful, and purposeful collaborative learning environment. The question is what are the factors that make the classroom conducive for learning and teaching? 3

The teacher & classroom management - Classroom management is closely linked to the roles of the teacher. - One of the most important tasks of the teacher is to manage learning in the classroom and to make appropriate managerial decisions in the classroom. - Planning is a prerequisite for successful and effective classroom management; management that will make optimal learning possible. 4

Activity -Planning enables the teacher to avoid inappropriate learner behaviour by organising the classroom and materials so that the physical environment is conducive to learning. -Activity: Discuss the text on page 104/5 -State what you think about the texts. 5

From Lesson plan to classroom management -Even if the lesson plan is of good quality, it will not help much if it is not well-executed in the classroom - we shall have a look at issues that impact on successful implementation of a lesson plan in class. - This will include managing and using learning space, managing and using resources and managing people at classroom level. 6

From Lesson plan to classroom management -This will include : • managing and using learning space, • managing and using resources and • managing people at classroom level. 7

Learning space 8

Activity 1 Having looked at the picture: • How would you describe this teaching and learning space? • Is it conducive to teaching and learning? • Does it suit your subject? • How could one bring about improvement? 9

Managing and using learning space Grouping by ability: Learners of similar ability may be put into one group. Grouping for mixed ability: avoids the problems of labelling and underperformance. Grouping when the need arises: a number of learners have the same problem Grouping according to friendship: allow the learners to choose their own groups 10

Activity Look at the following lessons and decide what type of grouping you would use in each lesson: Indicate the grouping strategy to use in each lesson ability, mixed ability, need or friendship. • Learning new spelling words • Doing word problems in maths • Painting a group picture • Reading aloud • Studying a locust • Follow up spelling lesson when you want to go over some special spelling problems 11

Managing and using resources 12

managing people at classroom level Discipline. Learning? 13

Misbehaving learners: why? • The child wants to be accepted by peers. • Possibly the child is too young and does not know any better. • Is the child frustrated or bored? • Learners may be cheating to avoid being punished or because they do not like to make mistakes. • There may be problems at home which means the child does not concentrate at school. • If there is poor discipline at home, the learners may treat the teacher with the same lack of respect as his parents. • The child may be having to do piece work after school if his/her family has money problems and this would mean he/she cannot do homework and could be very tired at school. 14

Activity 1: Planning Instructions: • Duration: 60 minutes • Participants study the Gr. 4 -6 annual teaching plan in the CAPS : o What levels of planning are necessary from here? o How does the content help in designing an annual teaching plan? o How does the content progress from Grade 4 to Grade 5 o How does the 36 week planning assist in teaching, learning and assessment in the classroom?

Activity 1: Planning (continued) o Is content presented in the correct order? o Are the listed LTSM/resources relevant? o What are the requirements for the Teacher File? o Report Back and Discussion Resources: CAPS

SUMMARY OF PLANNING • Planning is important and necessary. • It should be done for accountability to parents, officials and other stakeholders. • A proper annual teaching plan gives teachers a plan in terms of content, resources, assessment and completion time. • Proper classroom management is necessary in order to achieve better performance.

SUMMARY OF PLANNING • The suggested teaching plans are based on two-week integrated cycles with approximately 9 (HL & FAL) & 8 (SAL) teacher-contact hours per cycle. • When designing an integrated two-week cycle, the teacher may cluster activities around a topic / theme (e. g. Working World) (see suggested themes in SAL), an issue (e. g. climate change), a setwork, a skill from the curriculum (e. g. debate, argumentative writing, argument structures), or a text. • The sequence of lessons in a two-week cycle can follow any order (e. g. a cycle might start with reading and progress to discussion (speaking), which is followed by writing). Either the setwork text (where appropriate) or another text can be used for the activities. • Sample teaching plans are packaged so that every two weeks learners o participate in a listening and speaking exercise; o read a comprehension passage and answer questions or develop a summary; o read literature; o write an essay and/or a transactional piece; and o develop and practise knowledge of language structures and conventions for communicative purposes (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). • Teachers should design their teaching plans / work schedules (or use/adapt the one from their textbooks) to teach the content per term using any appropriate sequence and pace. 18

Teacher File • What is the importance of a teacher file? Each teacher must keep a single file for planning and moderation purposes. • What are the essential requirements of a teacher file? The file must consist of: • Annual teaching plan / work schedule • Assessment Plan • Formal Assessment Tasks and memoranda / rubrics

Teacher File (continue) • Indication of Textbook(s) and any other resources to be used • Record sheets containing learners’ marks for each formal assessment task • Any intervention that is planned by the teacher to assist learners especially those who are experiencing barriers to learning.

Thank you! 21