INDIVIDUAL STUDENT OBSERVATION

Preservice teacher: Student first name, year level, context:

Lauren Brine Shiraz, Reception, Australian and Afghanistan background, only
father speaks English at home

1.1: Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic
Graduate level: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and backgrounds Graduate level: Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are
intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic,
learning cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
4.1 Support student participation 5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning
Graduate level: Identify strategies to support inclusive student participation and Graduate level: Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely
engagement in classroom activities. and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Beginning placement observation:
Shiraz has high EAL/D needs with his literacy and language levels being equivalent to a Kindergarten level.
This delay in his literacy capabilities could be due to a number factors including, not being exposed to
standardised Kindergarten English and spending most of his time with his mother who speaks no English. In
lessons Shiraz relies on the cues of the children around him to understand instructions, the learning advisor
having to guide him to activities. In social situations Shiraz remains close to a Year 1 boy who is a family
friend, following his example in the school yard. In regard to Numeracy learning strengths and needs, Shiraz
struggles with written and verbal assessments where he needs to explain his work. In his pattern work I
observed that Shiraz struggled in developing his own simple repeating pattern, opting to include all the
colours available on the table.

Interpretation of observation (student needs):

In reflection of the above observation I believe that Shiraz needs more structured visual cues to support
him in decoding the learning advisor’s instructions, without solely relying on his fellow classmates.
Furthermore, I have found that introducing a procedural ‘now and then’ poster with him has positively
impacted a higher level of engagement in both literacy and numeracy activities.

Pre-service teacher action:

In my numeracy lessons I have utilised the instructional poster ‘now and then’ that gives Shiraz a clear
visual checkpoint for the expectations of the activities. In specific regard to his literacy capabilities I have
printed off some labels for different items in the classroom that correspond with the visual instruction
poster ‘now and then’.
In reflection of Shiraz’s multi-coloured pattern I will in future restrict the amount of colours available to
support Shiraz to create specific pattern rules (i.e. ABABAB or ABCABC).

Mid-placement observation/ Interpretation of observation (student needs):

With the introduction of the labels and visual ‘now and then’ poster I have observed an increase in Shiraz’s
active engagement within both numeracy and literacy activities. When going through the instructions of my
activities I have utilised visual PowerPoint slides and the ‘now and then’ poster with the large group to
support Shiraz in following the instructions with his classmates. I would then give the ‘now and then’ poster
to Shiraz to take to his table as he completes the activity. In the implementation of this strategy I have
observed that Shiraz has been ticking off each step that he has completed, showing his Year 1 friend each
time.
In literacy, however, I have observed that where Shiraz’s verbal language has improved as he uses the
visual label cues, he still struggles with written English often just repeatedly writing his name on
worksheets.

Pre-service teacher action:

I have been working closely with Shiraz to ensure that he understands the task before beginning to the
completion of the task. In future activities I will focus on adding verbal language to the visual cues that I
have created to support his developing language.
End placement observation/Interpretation of observation (student needs):

When implementing my pattern assessment I provided a supported level of differentiation to provide Shiraz
with the necessary visual cues that he needs. This was done by printing off some different patterns on some
cue cards and having Shiraz identify all the colours in the repeating linear pattern. To scaffold him in his
individual repeating pattern I prepared some coloured counters for him to place into a simple ABABAB
pattern. I observed that this particular differentiation strategy worked well with Shiraz as he was able to
create two different ABAB and AABAAB with the counters.

Pre-service teacher action:

During my one-on-one sessions with him during mathematics I have observed an increase in his confidence
and engagement in the activities. The utilisation of the ‘now and then’ and visual cues has shown to support
Shiraz in his verbal language and patterning understandings.

Student outcomes:
As a result of my support Shiraz has made progress in his verbal English language and knowledge of
instructions within the classroom. Shiraz has been able to follow more instructions in activities, developing
his recognition of key procedures within the classroom. With some more structured support Shiraz enjoyed
the patterning activities and his work showed an observable improvement from the initial diagnostic
assessment to the last summative assessment.

Lauren B
Supervising Teacher sign/date Pre-service teacher sign/date
Get a pencil Sit at a desk