Nicole Thoonen

Student number: s3162704

TCHE 2434
Planning for Literacy Development
Assessment Task 2: Learning Plan
Introduction
In this assignment, I will develop a learning plan for a grade 5 student, which will address
key learning needs from a reading assessment previously conducted. Firstly, I will provide
background information on the student and highlight their strengths and learning needs in
reading using from assessment strategies from Winch and Holliday's (2014) Literacy:
Reading, writing and childrens literature. The analysis looked at their ability to engage with
a text using Luke and Freebodys Four Resource Model (Ludwig, 2003). Secondly, I will
discuss the relationship writing has with reading and how I can develop the learners reading
comprehension skills through writing based activities. Thirdly, I will outline the teaching
pedagogy chosen to progress the learner. Finally, I will outline a learning plan that includes
teaching strategies and tasks for the student to complete that will progress their reading
through the use of reading and writing activities.
Background
Penguin:
The pseudonym chosen for the ten-year-old grade 5 student is Penguin as this is her favourite
animal. Penguin enjoys reading. However, she does not sit down often to read for leisure. My
time with Penguin revealed that she tends to see reading as a chore and only reads when she
can count the minutes for homework set reading. The books she choices for her reading are
fictional comedic short stories such as The 52-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and she is
currently reading Mr Stink by David Walliams. Penguin is exposed to a range of multi-modal
texts from watching television with her family, reading game instructions on her iPad or
looking up song lyrics so she can sing along to her favourite song and art which is displayed
throughout her home and her bedroom (Macintyre and Semple, 2016).
Strengths:
The reading assessment tools used from Winch and Holliday (2014) illustrated that Penguin
is a capable and confident reader. While Penguin was reading aloud, she read with
enthusiasm and fluency. She used inflexions, voices and pauses which illustrated her a level
of comprehension while reading (Macintyre and Semple, 2016). Penguin was able to identify

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
a range of different strategies she uses when reading such has sounding out the word,
guessing and then re-reading to see if the word made sense or reading on to see if she could
gain meaning (Macintyre and Semple, 2016). She also relied on the three cue system of
semantic, syntactic and graphophonic knowledge to her decipher words depending on the text
she was reading (Department of Education W.A., 2013). While reading the short story
Tickled Onions by Andy Griffiths, Penguin was able to engage with the text as a code breaker
using the three cue system (Ludwig, 2003). She was able to use the text-participant role by
making meaning of the text through her prior knowledge and experiences and finally she was
able to use the text-user role by understanding the purpose of the text (Ludwig, 2003). She
was able to comprehend the text on a literal level and to some degree on an inferential level
(Morris and Stewart-Dore, 1984). Using The Reading Map of Development (DEWA, 2013) I
have placed Penguin is the transitional phase and she is working her way towards the
Proficient phase.

Learning Needs:
The reading assessment highlighted that Penguin has difficulty engaging with text in a text-analyst role
(Ludwig, 2003). This role requires the reader to understand different aspects of the text, such as how the writer
is trying to influence peoples ideas, recognise any biases the writer may have, etcetera. (Ludwig, 2003).
Penguin was unable to identify how the writer was using the text to illustrate a particular point about
relationships and society. While Penguin could answer some inferential questions such as Why do you think
Clyde stands up for Hamish? she was unable to give detail to support her answers (Morris and Stewart-Dore,
1984). Other inferential questions such as How does everyone benefit from Clyde and Hamish being friends?
she was unable to answer without prompting. When it came to evaluative questions, which is information that
the reader comes to on their own such as What does the author want us to think about friendship? she was
unable to do so (Morris and Stewart-Dore, 1984).

Connection between Reading and Writing:

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
To improve Penguins critical literacy skills, we need to look at more than just reading.
Reading is linked with the other literacy strands writing and oral language. For this lesson
plan, I have chosen to focus on the connection that reading has with writing. When we are
reading, we think about the writer and the techniques they have decided to use engage,
challenge and connect with us. We read like writers (Booth Olsen, 2012). When we write, we
also think about how the reader will respond and use our writing (Macintyre and Semple,
2016). With this in mind, to improve Penguins inferential and evaluative skills and her textanalyses role, I will engage her in a writing task that will build these areas in reading and
literacy overall (Morris and Stewart-Dore, 1984; Ludwig, 2003).
Pedagogy:
The aspects of Penguins literacy development I will explore in this learning plan are taking
on the role of text-analyst when engaging with different texts (Ludwig, 2003), the different
aspects a range of texts types have and the inferential and evaluative comprehension of text
through writing (Morris and Stewart, 1984). To do this, I will provide Penguin and her
classmates the opportunity to write with authentic purpose, with each step working towards
the students producing a piece of writing that is meaningful to them and also promotes their
reading skills. Using the Curriculum Cycle (Macintyre and Semple, 2016), and a multigenre
approach students will be explicitly taught the genre of persuasive writing and letter writing
(Wing Jan, 2015). To do this, I will create a series of mini-lessons that will all work towards
the students final product. During the mini-lessons, I will also use a Reciprocal Teaching
approach (Meyer, 2010) which emphasises collaborative student learner through reading
discussions.
The Curriculum:
The lesson plan will address a range of content descriptors from the Victorian Curriculum,
however for this report it will explicitly address the following for reading:

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704

VCAA 2015
For writing:

VCAA 2015
The achievement standard Penguin would reach in reading and Writing after the learning plan
is:

VCAA, 2015
Teaching and Learning Practices:
1. The Purpose:
Dix and Amoore (2010), highlight how when students are given the task of creating texts that
they are enthusiastic and motivated to write, their writing will reflect this and therefore be of
a higher standard. For this task students will be asked to use their Writers Notebook where
they have noted down ideas and and topics that interest them for future writing purposes

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
(Fountas and Pinnell, 2001). The task is for students to write a persuasive letter. Students will
be encouraged to select their topic for research to prompt meaningful writing (Fountas and
Pinnell, 2001). Penguin shows a keen interest in aerobics and competes in the schools
aerobics team. For the purpose of this report I will create the hypothetical situation where the
Principal is looking at cutting the aerobics and other extra curricula sporting programs due to
staffing constraints and complaints from parents about students hurting themselves. This will
now create an authentic purpose for her writing and the students in her class who wish to
pursue this topic for their persuasive writing.
2. Building the field
In this phase of the Curriculum Cycle (Macintyre and Semple, 2016), students will be
exposed to a range of quality texts that model persuasive writing and the specific types of
language (Dix and Amoore, 2010; Unsworth, 2001). During this part of the cycle, students
existing knowledge of persuasive text will be built upon further (Macintyre and Semple,
2016). Depending on the multi-genre approach students wish to take with their persuasive
text, other text types would be covered would be introduced (Wing Jan, 2015). (See Appendix
1)
Every aspect of writing this text will be heavily scaffold with topics for other lessons
centralising around writing this piece. For example, spelling and grammar will be focused
upon words and phrases or text-type language that they will need to either research their
persuasive writing task or will use for it. Connecting it with their assessment topic ensures a
meaningful experience during these lessons (Wing Jan, 2015). Genre specific aspects will
also be focused on during this phase. Using a reciprocal teaching approach (Meyer, 2010),
students will discuss in groups different persuasive texts, focusing on the structure, tone, the
stance the author has taken and the evidence they use to support their argument. Meyer
(2010) highlights how student-led collaborative discussions produce higher level thinking
than if the discussion was teacher-led. For an example of types of activities and questioning
see Appendix 2. For a list of example persuasive texts, please see Appendix 3.
3. Modeling
During this stage in the Curriculum Cycle (Macintyre and Semple, 2016), the teacher would
model to the students how to write a persuasive text. For this task, I would write a persuasive
letter to the editor about a recent topic they I am interested in. During this stage the teacher

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
would would explicitly state their authorial choices in regards to structure, tone, arguments
and evidence (Macintyre and Semple, 2016). The teacher would also discuss how they want
the reader to feel and think when reading the text and the choices they have made to achieve
that. See Appendix 4 for further details. As it is a letter, I will also highlight how my writing
illustrates that text type.
4. Joint Construction
During this stage of the Curriculum Cycle (Macintyre and Semple, 2016), the teacher and the
students will construct a text together. Together they will discuss a topic and a purpose for
their writing to illustrate writing for an authentic purpose (Wing Jan, 2015). They will also
decide on the intended audience as this will determine what language will be used and what
should be included (Wing, 2015). Throughout this co-construction of the text, students will
contribute their ideas with the teacher guiding them. Every step of writing will be highlighted
again to ensure students understand the choice in structure, tone, argument, evidence, choice
of wording. The class will discuss what they want the reader to feel and think about the topic
taking on the text analyst role (Ludwig, 2003).
5. Independent writing
In the final stage of the Curriculum Cycle (Macintyre and Semple, 2016), students will write
their persuasive letters independently. For Penguin, she would write a persuasive letter to the
Principal trying to convince him not to cancel aerobics. Although this stage is called
independent, one-on-one or small-group conferences would be conducted with students to
ensure they do not become stuck with their writing, or venture too far off track. This is the
stage in which students will bring together all the learning they accomplished in the previous
sessions and begin to produce their text.
The Authentic Task:
Before completing their writing piece, students would be given a rubric to ensure that they
reach all requirements of the task. Students would then complete their final writing piece.
This writing piece would help to demonstrate that the students have met the content
descriptors outlined by the Victorian Curriculum (VCAA, 2015). For a sample rubric, see
Appendix 5.
Conclusion

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
In conclusion, this learning plan offers an authentic way for Penguin to develop her skills as a
reader through writing. During the lessons which focused on producing the final product of
a persuasive letter, Penguin will be able to demonstrate how a writer uses particular text
features in their writing for a specific purpose on a topic that she has chosen herself. She will
be able to use the text-analyse role to write a persuasive letter that evokes particular feelings
and thoughts in the reader (Ludwig, 2003). Through writing, Penguin will also be able to see
how writers evoke readers to think beyond the text in inferential and evaluative ways (Morris
and Stewart-Dore, 1984). The Learning Plan also cover Curriculum Strands to ensure that
Penguin is on her way to the Grade 5 Achievement Standard (VCAA, 2015).
Words: 2,015

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
References:
Department of Education W.A. (2013). About reading. In First steps: Reading map of
development: Addressing current literacy challenges. (pp.1-10). Perth: Department of
Education, Western Australia.
Dix, S., & Amoore, L. (2010). Becoming curious about cats: A collaborative writing project.
Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33 (2) 134-150.
Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2001). Exploring the writers terrain: Writer talks, writers
notebooks and investigations. In Guiding readers and writers: Teaching comprehension,
genre and content literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Ludwig, C. (2003). Making sense of literacy. Newsletter of the Australian Literacy
Educators Association. February.
Macintyre, P & Semple, C (2016). Genre, Text Types and Grammar. Personal Collection of P.
Macintyre & C. Semple. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Victoria.
Macintyre, P & Semple, C (2016). Teaching Comprehension 3-6. Personal Collection of P.
Macintyre & C. Semple. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Victoria.
Meyer, K. (2010). Diving into reading: Revisiting reciprocal teaching in the middle years.
Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 18(1) 41-53.
Morris, A. & Stewart-Dore, N. (1984) Learning to learn from text. Effective reading in the
content areas. North Ryde, Australia: Addison-Wesley.
Unsworth, L. (2001). Subject-specific literacies in school learning. In Teaching
multiliteracies across the curriculum: Changing context of text and image in classroom
practice (pp.122-129). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2015). Victorian Curriculum Foundation
10. Retrieved 20 May 2016, from
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/foundation10/f10index.aspx
Winch, G. & Holliday. M. (2014). Assessment in reading. In G. Winch, R. Ross Johnston, P.
March, L. Ljungdahl, & M. Holliday. Literacy: Reading, writing and childrens literature
(pp.130-148). South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Wing Jan, L. (2015). Texts. In Write ways. (4th ed., pp.23-57). South Melbourne, Australia:
Oxford University Press.

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
Appendix 1

Wing Jan, L. (2015). Texts. In Write ways. (4th ed., pp.23-57). South Melbourne, Australia:
Oxford University Press. p24

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
Appendix 2:

Meyer, K. (2010). Diving into reading: Revisiting reciprocal teaching in the middle years.
Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 18(1) p46

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
Appendix 3

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704

Queensland Studies Authority. (2016). Sample Texts for NAPLAN Literacy. Retrieved 20 May
2016, from https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/naplan_persuasive_sample.pdf

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
Appendix 4

Read Write Think, (2016). Persuading the Principal: Writing Persuasive Letters About
School Issues. Retrieved 20 May 2016, from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lesson-plans/persuading-principal-writing-persuasive-1137.html?tab=4#tabs

Nicole Thoonen
Student number: s3162704
Appendix 5

Read Write Think, (2016). Persuading the Principal: Writing Persuasive Letters About
School Issues. Retrieved 20 May 2016, from
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1137/rubric.pdf