# data[].attributes.body
The artefact I have chosen to write about is the shared writing scheme. This scheme was used frequently throughout the Reception and Key Stage One setting. This was used during Literacy lessons as it proved to be very effective. The teacher would model an example sentence/paragraph/introduction to a piece of writing on the whiteboard with the suggestions and ideas given by the children. Whilst the teacher is modelling, the thought processes would be said out loud so that the children understand the types of things they need to be thinking about when they begin their own piece of writing. As a result, the class would have produced a small piece of work using a mix of their ideas and suggestions.

This scheme proved to be very effective as it gave children the confidence to say their ideas, listen to others, have a physical visual of what they need to produce independently as well as allowing the children the opportunity to process their thoughts before writing them up.

Although shared writing can become repetitive, I believe it is an important scheme to use within schools as it is what sparks the imagination and starts the writing process for children. I think this scheme is most useful within reception and key stage one as they often need more support and guidance whereas key stage two children are encouraged to be more independent.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact was a small dragon inside a broken egg shell. The purpose of this artefact is for the children to take it home with them and recorded what they do with the dragon. It was created to encourage speaking and listening and also provide the parents with an opportunity to engage with their child's learning.They would then fill out the dragon diary and share what they had done with the children the following morning.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact I have chosen to write about is an activity that took place in 1A called write dance. The children were in small groups and were read a story about a beach. The story had a matching soundtrack that the children had to do specific movements to that would help their fine motor skills. The movements were demonstrated and the children then had to copy them, this was repeated about 3 times. This part of the activity was very engaging and the majority of the children joined in, however the only problem was that because the activity was in a group the individual needs of children could not be seen.

The next part of the activity was on the interactive white board. The movements the children did were then copied on the board using a pen, demonstrating how children could do it on a piece of paper using pencils, crayons and paints. The children were then asked to sit at a table and repeat the movements on a piece of paper given to them and this lasted for about 10 minutes. Having the children sat on a table meant that it was easier to observe them and see which children were struggling so they could get extra help. Children who were not as confident at writing on paper could do the movements using their bodies instead for practise, the children felt more comfortable with this activity and giving the children the option encouraged them all to join in. It also links to teacher standard 5 which states that you need to adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to review from placement 1A was the interactive literacy area I developed for Nursery and was proven to be very popular with the children. John Dewey's theory: children learn best by doing was taken into account when developing this area. It contained a phase 2 phonics sound mat, along with different writing materials such as crayons, whiteboard and pens, chalk, pencil crayons, mark-making materials and booklets and pads. It also contained magnetic letters and boards. Mark making is often said that children are just 'scribbling' but this is a first step to a child becoming a creative writer. The mark making challenge (literacy challenge) I created for the children (which can be seen in the photo) was that they had to roll the dice which contained different patterns on each side and which ever pattern they landed on, they had to draw as best as they could. The children saw this as a game which encouraged them to participate more. This area also developed the children's physical skills, encouraging hand movements and pencil grips. It also developed their imagination and creativity skills which enables and encourages the children to write and draw. On the side of this area, because the children were working on phonics phase 1 (sounds in the children's environment) , I developed a display which showed everyday sounds that children encounter, such as: farm animals and insects, ambulances and police cars and noises at the park. I involved a animated photo, for example, of a bee and the sound to match this: zzzzzzz. The children were seen to use this display, spotting the picture used and making the sounds also, and it soon became their own interactive display or working wall.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I have chosen to talk about is a letters and sounds activity, flower pots. The children had flower pots in the middle of the carpet with different letters on, usually representing their names or familiar letters with the corresponding letters on little circle pieces of wood in either capital letters or lower case letters. The children would then have to pick a letter and see if they are able to match them, and put the letter into the correct pot and every time they chose a letter, they were made to sound out the sound it made.

The good points about this activity are that the children are able to see the difference between capital letters and lower case letters. It also allowed them to hear what sound the letters make as it was a group activity, they were able to help one another to sound put difficult letters. The children really enjoyed participating in this activity as they got to choose letters that matched their name which they were very good at recognising the letters for their name.  This activity use natural resources which promotes love of learning and the outdoors.

Although some of the children did struggle with recognising the more difficult letters,  it is preparing them for when they see different words, they will be able to recognise some of the letters from taking part in this activity, which in future will help them to sound out words they come across when the develop and move up to reception and onwards.

# data[].attributes.body
The Artefact I chose to present was a lesson starter that involved using the five ‘W’ words to encourage critical thinking and deeper levels of questioning. The children were presented with a picture of a building on fire and were asked to work in pairs to come up with questions using the five ‘W’ words, who, what, where, why and when. The children had to take into account everything they could see, for instance the fire truck on the road, the people watching the scene and the building that was actually on fire. They were also encouraged to think about the things they couldn’t actually see, for instance ‘what were the people smelling?’, ‘How did the fire start?’, ‘Will the people be saved in time?’. This gave way to deeper discussion as they were questioned why they thought of these questions and what do they think the answers to these questions would be.

The children were sat in mixed ability groups to encourage cooperative learning as the children encouraged their peers to participate in the discussion and bring forward their own ideas.

This activity followed into the main lesson which involved Talk for Writing. The topic for the lesson was writing a non-chronological text, and the use of the ‘W’ words was encouraged as the children thought about what sort of information needed to be present in their piece of writing. Within their boxing up grids, there were questions to help encourage articulation of new ideas so that they could jot them down and include them in their final ‘wow’ write.

In retrospect, the use of the starter was very effective and complemented the main lesson well, laying a good foundation of understanding of how to use the ‘W’ words before giving them their main task. The use of Talk for Writing is also an effective way to help children remember texts and their features, and is interactive and engaging for most of the class. It is important to note though that Talk for Writing is used in three week rotations, and though it can be a great method of teaching, continuous use of it can lead to it developing a tedious and repetitive nature that blocks room for individuality in planning lessons. When used effectively however, it can be a great resource and its use should be encouraged.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose from placement 1A was an artefact I made myself. I had to teach a Year 5 class about how to use hyphens correctly within their writing. To prompt children in the lesson I made 'hyphen helpers' that had examples of how to use hyphens correctly in sentences or words themselves. As there were 30 children in the class of mixed ability, I created a series of sheets that the children could pick from depending on how much help they thought they needed (TS2e). For instance, for the children who require more support than others they had sentence starters, hyphenated words and a template. On the other hand, for children who are more independent in their writing, only hyphenated sentences/ words were put on the prompt sheet - allowing them to be set in the right direction but still having the freedom to be creative. This links to teacher standard 5a whereas a teacher I need know when and how to differentiate a lesson/ an activity appropriately, using approaches that ensure children are being taught effectively. It was clear the children enjoyed the prompt sheets as they were interactive and got them to not only think of their own but to have an effect on how they use a hyphen correctly. Overall, the lesson was a success as the children produced work with hyphens used correctly and met their Learning Objective which was to understand how hyphens can be used correctly and avoid ambiguity - most importantly they produced work they were proud of (TS4b).

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to present was a Talk 4 Writing grid that was used within placement. The children had pictures to help them remember conjunctions, they also had the word written down to help them with their writing. The grid was used to help the children during the starter, and to help children with their ideas. Whilst teaching, the children would come up with their own ideas on the floor, discussing with their partners to help them. These ideas were then written down on the grid to help children with their independent writing. I felt this was a good idea and it helped the children learn their conjunctions by using the pictures. This was also cross curricular with what the children were learning in Science, as they were writing about their science experiments. Not only did the children have pictures, and the words to help them, they also made up actions for the conjunctions to help them remember. I felt this was a good idea as it helped the children learn in a more fun and practical way. I also felt that while on the floor for the starter, it was good for the children to discuss their ideas for the grid so that they were working with different ability children.
Although the Talk 4 Writing was repetitive, I felt the grid helped the children to structure their writing properly and it also helped the children prepare for their ‘wow write’ on the Friday as this was piece of worked that had to be carried out independently. Therefore having these grids to help them during the week, helped with their structure, and sentence formation.

# data[].attributes.body
My artefact is the use of Talk4Writing. This was linked in with the children's learning in science. The class worked together to create actions for what they did for their science experiment and with support from visual aids, they were able to remember the text. The children were supported to change words of the text to make it suitable for a different experiment that they had done in science as well as making the sentence better by adding in adjectives. The children then decided on their own new sentence and wrote it into their books. After this, the use of a boxing up grid was introduced which meant the children were to create a new science experiment method where they would complete new sentence ideas in preparation to write it in their wow books the following week.
Although Talk4Writing can be repetitive, it allowed both the more able and less able children to create a well presented paragraph about their science work. It gave the more able children the ability to be expressive with their writing with many striving to constantly improve their writing, whilst supporting the less able children by providing the structure that they need to be able to write a piece of work confidently. Most of the children where able to create a strong piece of writing that may not have been achieved without the support with the structure of their text. However, Talk4Writing is very structured and does not allow much space for differentiation between the abilities of the children.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact I chose to share was a tricky word wall. This wall was displayed next to the interactive whiteboard in the classroom. When children ( Year 1 ) would start to read a new phonics book (RWI) tricky words, normally red words, would be displayed on this wall. This was helpful as when children were reading the book they were able to go and look at the word which was there to enable them to physically sound it out.
This word wall was also helpful as children could then include that tricky word into their own writing. The wall being present meant children were able to go directly to it and pick out the word taking it back to their table. Allowing them to spell the word correctly themselves. This was helpful as the tricky words were normally words which did not follow any specific spelling which children had previously learnt.

The word wall was situated at the correct height for the children, meaning they could easily access the words, the text was also pretty large. Meaning not all children even needed to move from their seat in order to use the word, lowering the disruption of all the children in the class getting out of their chairs to get a word.

I will definitely have one of these word walls in my class as it allows children to extend their vocabulary and increases their confidence when using tricky words. The word wall means eventually after a period of time, they will be able to spell the words themselves easily without worrying.

# data[].attributes.headline
Grace's Artefact: The artefact that I chose to present was an initial sounds jigsaw used in Placement 1A. This consisted of each letter of the alphabet and then simple pictures of items which began which each letter. It was used in both adult-led and child-initiated activities which demonstrates it was able to support the children’s learning and understanding in more than just one way. For instance, during the adult-led activity, the jigsaw was used to visually show the children the letter to which then then heard the correct pronunciation of the letter and then also had the opportunity to say it for themselves. This allowed them to have a sensorial experience during the activity which, given the children were of nursery age, greatly benefited them. The jigsaw being a resource in which the children could access throughout the day during their free flow play also allowed them the opportunities to problem solve when physically matching the pieces together. This too was important for their learning of initial sounds since children tend to learn deeply when they are physically able to engage in something of their own choice in which they can work at at their own level and pace, something which too could be done with this artefact in the children’s free play. Due to this, I believe this artefact was highly beneficial to the children’s learning of initial sounds and therefore early reading. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Grace's Artefact: The artefact that I chose to present was an initial sounds jigsaw used in Placement 1A. This consisted of each letter of the alphabet and then simple pictures of items which began which each letter. It was used in both adult-led and child-initiated activities which demonstrates it was able to support the children’s learning and understanding in more than just one way. For instance, during the adult-led activity, the jigsaw was used to visually show the children the letter to which then then heard the correct pronunciation of the letter and then also had the opportunity to say it for themselves. This allowed them to have a sensorial experience during the activity which, given the children were of nursery age, greatly benefited them. The jigsaw being a resource in which the children could access throughout the day during their free flow play also allowed them the opportunities to problem solve when physically matching the pieces together. This too was important for their learning of initial sounds since children tend to learn deeply when they are physically able to engage in something of their own choice in which they can work at at their own level and pace, something which too could be done with this artefact in the children’s free play. Due to this, I believe this artefact was highly beneficial to the children’s learning of initial sounds and therefore early reading. 

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to discuss was Phonics Flashcards. The Phonics Flashcards are used by EYFS, as well as KS1. I have witnesses this flashcards being used in both Year 2 and Reception which has enabled myself to have an opinion on them. I see these flashcards as being bland and boring for the children, but this is due to the way they are used. These flashcards are used in order for the children to learn/practise their phonemes. However, the teaching style in which they are used does not allow the children to learn. There is nothing fun or exciting within the children's phonics sessions, and the repetition of teaching method means that the children are disengaged. The school follows the 'Read Write Inc' scheme which states that the flashcards etc allow phones lessons to involve drama and role play. But instead, there are used in a way which keeps the children sat in their seats for 30 minutes.
The children who took part in the phonics session every day did not show any progression throughout the duration of placement 1A. If the session became more engaging and fun, I feel like the children would show progression a lot more, enabling them to move onto the next scheme of work (SPaG).

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact in which I chose from my time on placement 1b was a book called ‘The Tear Thief,’ used as a cross-curricular resource throughout many subjects, in aid of World Book Day. Within English, the book was read in parts via the class teacher but also using the CD disk at the back of the book, where the author read aloud her own story engaging the children and linking to the teaching standard 4b, promoting a love of learning. The use of the concrete object, allowed the children to have a hands-on experience, exploring and engaging with the book whilst it was being read to them from the audio CD.

By the end of the week, the children had developed skills to write a diary entry based on the book where they would describe what they could see out of their bedroom window. The children were encouraged to refer to the book with what they had read as well as ensuring that they drew upon their senses as well as including emotive language. The children were actively engaged in their learning throughout the entire week as each lesson was based around the book, creating a positive and exciting learning environment for the children, something they were not normally used to. By doing this the children were motivated, more than usual, and produced excellent diary entries, using a large array of English terminology. I believe that by doing this more often and using a creative approach, the children would be much more engaged and motivated within the subject responding positively to the lesson planned.

# data[].attributes.body
My chosen artefact was to actively use different forms of visual stimulation in order to increase engagement and enthusiasm whilst pupils developed their creative story writing.

The inclusion of short video clips, which related to specific learning focuses, were included within lessons. For example, in order for pupils to develop creative descriptions for the ‘beast’ within their stories, I showed a 2 minute clip from Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (specifically the ‘Kill the Beast’ scene). Significantly, the clip highlighted a great range of descriptive language, including adjectives, similes and metaphors – all of which were writing techniques required within that specific lesson’s learning objective.  Such clips were chosen very specifically in order to relate directly to support learning outcomes. Whilst the clip was played, pupils made notes on either their ‘ideas page’ (within their writing books) or whiteboards were used in order to record ideas. The inclusion of such clips within lessons generated great excitement amongst pupils. Additionally, this led to increased paired discussion and greater verbal participation during whole class feedback; further ideas were generated due to engagement within subsequent speaking and listening opportunities. As a result, both the quantity and quality of work produced within story writing showed great developments; pupils’ confidence to write creatively showed great improvements. Furthermore, Teachers’ Standard 4b was reinforced by the incorporation of this specific teaching strategy; I believe this to be of fundamental significance in order to boost attainment amongst pupils.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose from placement 1B was implemented at the beginning of a reading lesson, the children were provided with a task sheet which contained an extract from their current reading book and three questions. This approach is called ‘R.I.C.’ which is an abbreviation of retrieval, interpretation and commenting on the creator’s choice, and there is a question based on each. This activity allows appropriate differentiation, using approaches which enable pupils to be taught efficiently (TS5A). The segmentation of each stage allowed the children to take control of their own learning and decide which ability question they felt able to complete, reflect on their progress and their emerging needs (TS2C). Differentiation of the questions allowed the higher ability and gifted and talented children to be challenged to explore the realms of the text and the authors reason for their choices but also enabled basic retrieval of information for the lower ability children (TS5D). This approach to teaching literacy was useful in encouraging the children to challenge themselves and think about the text rather than just reciting the words from the book, providing the children with a meaning behind reading. I also found that once the children had engaged in this starter activity they were motivated towards the remainder of the literacy lesson and that it excelled their reading.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact I chose from placement is a prompt sheet for writing a diary based on the events of the Great Fire of London in the style of Samuel Pepys. The artefact was used in a history lesson with cross-curricular literacy being brought in. First, the format for a diary entry was modelled in the form of a shared write. The children also had access to a timeline of events defining the events that took place on four separate days. Children then chose one of these days to base their account on. They were encouraged to draw upon their senses and the use of emotive language. The higher-need groups were given a ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ style sheet in order to prompt them, although I attempted to leave a lot of the gaps open enough to give them creative freedom. These same children were supported by a TA. The children with fewer needs made a word bank on a whiteboard focused around the senses and were then given a sheet with a lot more freedom and no real prompts.  Some of this work had clearly been given the child’s maximum effort and these pieces were then assessed against the literacy criteria for year 2.
The lesson worked well overall and a high level of work was received from all of the children. The only problem I encountered was that the TA decided to turn the lesson into a shared write for her group and therefore I received very similar work from the higher need group. I don’t believe this was necessary as I had already identified this group’s needs and changed the format of the work to differentiate. For the most part however, the degree of freedom the children were allowed created varied and original writing.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to discuss was a worksheet. I gave out this resource to Year 3 children to plan for their Big Write. This was used as a planning tool to, guide and help children plan for a newspaper article. The subheadings and key questions on the worksheet were very useful as it gave children a structure, which they can work from and broke down each section so, children were aware of what information should be included. In addition to that, at the back of the worksheet there was a glossary consisting of all the features of a newspaper article. This was effective because it helped children recall all the features of a newspaper article and gave a brief explanation of them. Children were able to take this plan with them to their Big Write and used it as a checklist to ensure that all the features of a newspaper article were included in their writing.

This is a great artefact and the only criticism I have is that it should be a little more colourful and have pictures on it so children are more engaged.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose from placement one was the use of talk for writing within English. This was the only method of English teaching that I had witnessed. This supports all kind of learning styles (kinaesthetic, visual and auditory) through the imitation, innovation and independent application. The imitation stage involves the creation of a story map along with doing actions to the text being learnt. This was effective as it was both engaging ans entertaining for the children to participate in. Story maps along with those action shows allowed children to recall the story/ text being learnt whilst learning about the features of the text. Overall, this method proved to be effective as it helped children learn about different text types and features within them, along with giving them the skills to write. However, some may suggest that the time spent on talk for writing could be too long as it may get repetitive after a while.

# data[].attributes.body
English is good

# data[].attributes.headline
Kelly Chilton.                                             The artefact I chose to present was the use of drama during literacy. The whole topic was based around the book ‘the Ice palace’. The main objective of the lesson was to write a diary entry. Due to the fact many children do not understand empathy of others, only of themselves. After an initial discussion of how we thought each character would be feeling, a mind map of feelings was created.  This was left on display to support the children through the activity.Each table was given a different character, based on their needs. On their table was a large A3 sheet of paper for the children to work together as a group and write ideas on how they felt their character would be feeling. The children then saw the character as ‘real’. They also wrote questions to ask the other characters. The children then took part in a hot seating activity. This was their chance to act out the character, but also the other children got to interview them. At first I modelled the hot seat with a very confident child, I then asked for volunteers which I was surprised everyone wanted to take part. This boosted their confidence especially the children who worried about written work.  This activity then led to the children being able to write up a diary entry as their character. On reflection, I feel the activity went extremely well. The only thing I would change is that I would support them more when deciding which questions to ask the other characters. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Kelly Chilton.                                             The artefact I chose to present was the use of drama during literacy. The whole topic was based around the book ‘the Ice palace’. The main objective of the lesson was to write a diary entry. Due to the fact many children do not understand empathy of others, only of themselves. After an initial discussion of how we thought each character would be feeling, a mind map of feelings was created.  This was left on display to support the children through the activity.Each table was given a different character, based on their needs. On their table was a large A3 sheet of paper for the children to work together as a group and write ideas on how they felt their character would be feeling. The children then saw the character as ‘real’. They also wrote questions to ask the other characters. The children then took part in a hot seating activity. This was their chance to act out the character, but also the other children got to interview them. At first I modelled the hot seat with a very confident child, I then asked for volunteers which I was surprised everyone wanted to take part. This boosted their confidence especially the children who worried about written work.  This activity then led to the children being able to write up a diary entry as their character. On reflection, I feel the activity went extremely well. The only thing I would change is that I would support them more when deciding which questions to ask the other characters. 

# data[].attributes.body
My artefact is the use of the 'Conscious Alley' activity. This was linked to the book that the children were focusing on at the time, Me and You. The activity was that there would be an alley of the children, half one side and half the other, opposite one another. One child would be the Baby Bear, who then had to walk down the alley while the other children will provide a good adjective used to describe the Bear's feeling in certain scenarios (i.e. when his porridge bowl was empty). This provided some good responses, including words such as curious and furious which for a year 1 class was quite an achievement. For each scenario, the class teacher wrote down words the cropped up multiple times, or words that were outstanding on ready made sheets, which were then hung up on the learning wall. This activity was not only good for moral, getting out of the classroom into a different environment and the children didn't have to write anything, however still learnt. The only thing that I could say that may be improved is the fact that there were words that were repeated multiple times. This could be solved by adding a stipulation on the activity to think of a new word, may be encourage the use of a thesaurus? Other than that, it was a good lesson to use, especially in a block of lessons where writing is used a lot almost as a break.

As a progression, may be the use of different characters for the alley could be used. Also, the work produced from the Conscious Alley could be used for reference in other lessons, encouraging the importance of that lesson.

# data[].attributes.body
My artefact is talk4writing (T4W). The first week the pupils learnt the structure and criteria of the text using words, pictures and actions. The class create actions to go with the pictures and learnt the four different paragraphs fluently. There is a shared-write in the second week. The structure stays the same but the subject and parts of the text are changed. Pupils plan their new paragraphs in the third week and have lots of visual experiences to help their creativeness. The pupils would then write it in their WOW book for the fourth week.

T4W is very structured and it is understandable why teachers and pupils become less engaged in the lesson.  However, it gives teachers an opportunity to become more creative with the: content, resources and planning. It allows pupils to develop writing skills and creativeness in their own stride without differentiation. For example, providing a pupil includes the requirements, they do not need to follow the structure. The structure only guides less confident writers to allow them to focus on creative writing. Most pupils in our class wrote their own text successfully.

To encourage engagement, I played various inventing clips throughout the weeks; I played, “How things are made” clips during their fruit and milk time, and questioned the functions and materials of the inventions. An improvement for T4W would be to plan more practical lessons to encourage creativity and give real life experiences, building an invention out of various materials for example.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to present was a prefix and root word sorting activity. Learning objectives for this lesson were, understand the function of root words and prefixes, create new words by adding prefixes to root words and increase vocabulary understanding by applying prefix knowledge. There are different prefixes on the walls around the classroom. Children are given cards with different root words on. The children’s task is to stick the root word to the wall with the matching prefix. This activity supports the National Curriculum in year 3 as it states, ‘formation of nouns using a range of prefixes [for example super–, anti–, auto–]’ as well as ‘apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology), both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words they meet’ and ‘use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them’. By the end of this lesson children were able to understand what is meant by the term prefix, furthermore children were able to give examples of prefixes within particular words. Children were able to identify a range of other prefixes within words that had not been discussed within the lesson, the creative approach adopted within this lesson had a positive impact on children’s learning. Moreover, from the delivery of this lesson allowed children to expand their vocabulary and learn new words.

# data[].attributes.body
The Artefact that i chose was called a challenge card and was used in many areas in English in my school. So, Challenge cards are used to help the children further their knowledge on the task that they are doing in the English lesson for example Guided reading and comprehension, phonics and grammar and big pieces of descriptive writing. I found that Challenge cards were very useful in allowing the children to develop their understanding, further their knowledge (this links to Teaching Standard 1b.) and helps them remember what was to be done and used in the English lesson they are a visual resource which allows them to have it physically in front of them. The challenge cards link to the WALTS because they help explain the WALT and how it is used in the work. This artefact helped engage the children because it allowed them to go back and see what they had done already in their work for example Using conjunctions in a big write or comprehension or making a nonsense word in phonics, the children were then able to highlight the bullet point that they had done showing that they had finished it. It also helped with setting next steps because they could be used as part of the next step if they had not completed it.

The criticism I have is that they used colors to differentiate which was a good way but it allowed the children to work out what groups they were in. But it was good because it helped with differentiating the work between the groups which was helpful for the teacher.

I will use challenge cards in future placements and teaching because they worked well for the pupils and allowed them to see their progress and look back and add things into their work if they had forgot something to do.

# data[].attributes.body
The use of concrete objects, not only promoted a love of learning with enthusiastic teaching but allowed children to have first hand experiences; to explore whilst learning. Children were able to relate to these resources used and reflect on the experiences using them in cross-curricular activities.
This linked to a thematic approach which gave a purpose for learning and had a creative and natural flow to the aspects of the lessons taught.
Although these resources were used for younger children, I feel that using experiential resources or real life scenarios stems an interest, therefore allowing children to use imagination skills and build on their academic learning.
What would a classroom be like if we all just sat around a table looking at a worksheet?
It is important for pupils to have a conscientious attitude to their own learning, so giving children these opportunities to develop their own ideas enhances their progress and enjoying learning.
Regardless of age I believe pupils need to be actively engaged in their learning, with an element of fun and the WOW factor to have a purpose for learning.
Children responded positively to the use of the exciting resources used to support the curriculum therefore making progress.

# data[].attributes.headline
Steve S-The useful tool that I chose and used to plan a whole series of lessons was 'Pinterest.' All resources for a topic on formal letter writing were found on this website. Lesson one began with a discovery session where they had a brief glimpse of a formal letter on the IWB. They then had to annotate a blank letter (found on 'Pinterest.') to show where the date and address go and to demonstrate they know how to open and close a letter. Lesson 2 was to examine what we mean by the word 'formal.' Word banks were found on 'Pinterest' which compared formal and informal language. Sentences with informal language were given to children and their job was to change them to more formal using the word bank as a guide. Lesson 3 was to draft a letter to 'Tim Peake.' To differentiate the lesson, one group received formal sentence starters which again, were found on 'Pinterest.' A letter template was found on the same website to help children in lesson 4 write their letter with a focus on presentation and handwriting. Extension activities were found on 'Pinterest' to do with adverbs. This was a thoroughly enjoyable activity involving drawing a batman figure above, behind and across from an object. This helped children write sentences using prepositions. Overall through placement 1 I found 'Pinterest' to be an incredibly valuable tool for resources and lesson ideas. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Steve S-The useful tool that I chose and used to plan a whole series of lessons was 'Pinterest.' All resources for a topic on formal letter writing were found on this website. Lesson one began with a discovery session where they had a brief glimpse of a formal letter on the IWB. They then had to annotate a blank letter (found on 'Pinterest.') to show where the date and address go and to demonstrate they know how to open and close a letter. Lesson 2 was to examine what we mean by the word 'formal.' Word banks were found on 'Pinterest' which compared formal and informal language. Sentences with informal language were given to children and their job was to change them to more formal using the word bank as a guide. Lesson 3 was to draft a letter to 'Tim Peake.' To differentiate the lesson, one group received formal sentence starters which again, were found on 'Pinterest.' A letter template was found on the same website to help children in lesson 4 write their letter with a focus on presentation and handwriting. Extension activities were found on 'Pinterest' to do with adverbs. This was a thoroughly enjoyable activity involving drawing a batman figure above, behind and across from an object. This helped children write sentences using prepositions. Overall through placement 1 I found 'Pinterest' to be an incredibly valuable tool for resources and lesson ideas. 

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose was a planning sheet for a character description. The resource had 3 different pictures of the character in the centre along with and a vocabulary box, containing nouns which could be used. The sheet was split into 5 sections, each with a different heading, these headings were: Appearance, Setting, Sounds, Behaviour and Feelings. Underneath these headings there would be a few questions that the pupils could answer. The pupils would then write notes in each section, including expanded noun phrases and similes, as this is what we had learned about earlier in the week. This links into Bruner's scaffolding theory. At the beginning of the planning I would go through and give examples to give the pupils a clearer understanding of the task. Halfway through the planning I stopped the pupils and asked them to give me some examples of what they had written, I then wrote these down on the board. This gives the pupils an opportunity to learn from each other. This also links to Bandura's theory of modelling.

# data[].attributes.body
My Artefact while on placement 1A is the use of phonic mats, these were used in lessons to co-ordinate with pupil's phonic knowledge and understanding. The phonic mats have mnemonic images which are then accompanied with the appropriate phonemes for each stage. The Mats were used as a visual aid to help spell words correctly and a tool for learning to provide pupils with a phonic awareness of spoken words which are made up of a range of phonemes to match with the letters to make the graphemes. It supports the development of skills such as spelling words with a visual stimulus and being able to blend phonemes together to sound out 'tricky words'. The phonic mats were situated on the tables within the lesson and this was organised by the phonic understanding of the pupils of which stage phonics mats would be placed where. The phonic mats links to Teacher standards 1b, 2d, 2e, 3a and 3d. The phonic mats were additionally used within cross curricular lessons as they can help with independent writing. Adaptations which could take place with the phonic mats is that they could be made more interactive such as on iPad's so the ratio of pupil to resource is lower. Finally I would make recommendations on extending the resource by making more than just a visual stimulus and try to include an auditory and kinaesthetic stimuli such as sounds including in the mats.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose was implemented in a RWI lesson. This useful tool links to teacher standard 4b- love of learning. 'Fred the Frog' was introduced into the lesson after the starter was completed. Fred would have the new phoneme in his mouth that the children would be learning today.  Once the new sound was introduced Fred would whisper to me which child was sitting up and ready to have a go at pronouncing the phoneme. Once a few children had a go at the activity, I opened it up to a class activity. This was done in a process of I say, you say. The new phonemes was then included in words, with it broken down and then blended for fluency.
This links to teacher standards 7B,3A and 2E.
If any of the pupils began to become off task or distracted, This artefact helped engage all children in the lesson as Fred would whisper in my ear that he was too shy to continue unless all children were sitting on their bottoms, facing the right way.
This key artefact extended the pupils learning and helped visual learners throughout each RWI lesson. This lesson was extended through the use of different resources that went alongside this to help children concentrate on the content involved. The magnet and the pointer of power also worked well to keep pupils on task.

In future teachings I will include this artefact in an age appropriate class but would try to find away to benefit children who learn best in a kinestetic environment.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose to present was a phonics activity called 'contraction surgery'. This activity liked to the national curriculum  as it states 'pupils should be taught to; learn to spell  more words with contracted forms.' This consisted of the children having two printed words that can be contracted given to them, they then had to cut out the appropriate letter to remove from the words and re-join the two words together to form a contracted word. Does not = Doesn't. The words are joined with masking tape which holds the place of where the apostrophe would be. This was very interactive as the children were physically changing words and using their phonics knowledge to ensure that the contractions that they have made make sense and sound correct. The children then had to used their contracted words to correctly fill the gaps in given sentences such as 'Tom __________ go out to play because it was raining' before creating their own sentences using their contraction surgery words. This was used for the LA children of a year two class in the second of the contractions lessons and resulted in all LA children either achieving or exceeding their targets.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact that I chose was the working wall which was situated at the back of the classroom in Placement 1A. This was used to display work that the children had contributed. Each piece was completed by a different child to ensure that each child's work got an equal chance to be displayed. Furthermore, there were speech bubbles on the wall asking questions such as; why do we use colons? This would be connected to a colon on a piece of work. Also, there were whiteboards stuck on to the wall so that the children could answer the questions in the speech bubbles, this made the wall interactive. Sometimes, if the children were reading a book that contained a feature that we had been learning about, for example; we were learning about play scripts and a pupil was reading a play script during guided reading so we photocopied it and displayed it on the working wall, labelling the different features such as stage directions and emphasis. Moreover, displayed on the wall would be the targets for English for that term, this was to ensure that all of the children knew what was expected of them. There would also be a list of vocabulary displayed to help the children with spellings. The children sometimes got a say in how the wall was set out as this would benefit them when they look at it for help during lessons. Overall, I feel that the working wall was very effective.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post your reflection here and feel free to add comments which celebrate or question people's posts. Mike

# data[].attributes.subject
Post your reflection here and feel free to add comments which celebrate or question people's posts. Mike

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact I chose to discuss was a "home table". I was in reception and worked with the lower ability group in phonics. The children struggled to concentrate during the lesson and as phonics was newly introduced to them, so I found that the home table was a really good stimuli as it created a focus for the children. The home table was a table decorated in the phonics room, which the children could bring items in from home and use them in our lesson.

For example, one lesson I co-taught, was the sound "C". On the last day of the week before I planned to teach this lesson, I sent a letter home to the parents of the children in my phonics group, asking if they could send in an object the following week beginning with "C", and tell there child that they can bring it in and help their friends learn with it. This was very beneficial and had a positive effect on the children's learning as they were bringing home into school which calmed a lot of the children and helped them to focus. It also meant that the parents were involved in the children's learning and would hopefully work with their child on the new sound of the week. Whilst presenting their object from home, and children would take in turns to say what their object is and why they chose to bring it, and if not already answered, they were prompted to tell us what the initial sound they can hear in the name of the object, for example "C in c - a - r". By the end of my time at placement 1A, the children had developed their sound based knowledge and phonic skills as they were able to hear the initial sound in a word.

# data[].attributes.body
The artefact in which was successfully implemented at placement was the use of a 'tricky word wall'. This wall consisted of high frequency words the children are expected/ required to know by the end of reception, which the children must learn to recognise as the children cannot use their phonics to sound the words out. The children are actively encouraged to use the wall as and when they need it. The concept is that, when a child is struggling with the spelling of a 'tricky word', they approach the wall, select the word card they think is correct and use it with their writing. Not only does it enable children to develop their knowledge and understanding of writing and spelling but it also helps with developing the children's independence with their English skills instead of being reliant on a teacher.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Talk For Writing - literacy artefact presentation

# data[].attributes.body
The area of teaching I explored was the use of props to assist learning. I was based in a reception class in a class with a variety of different needs. Many of the children were working at 30-50 months according to Development Matters.
I introduced a prop to he children which was  a large egg to the children and used role play to spark imagination. As the children entered the classroom the egg was in the corner in a nest and sectioned off. as the children came in I encouraged them to use the magnifying glasses to look closely at the egg but not to get too close, or touch it as we didn't know where it had come from or what was inside. We then gathered on the carpet and explored the children's ideas about the egg. I found that the use of a prop helped the children as it was a visual aid and it also helped some of the children with sensory needs.
We used the prop throughout the week to help us with our mark making. We talked about how the egg looked visually and what could be inside. Activity sheets were made for the children to record their ideas.

If I could have done something differently I would have used the prop for a longer period of time as the children responded