Reflective Journal 1

Seminar 1 - Plots 

Subject Knowledge

It is widely accepted that teaching through literature has many benefits, however Gamble (2019) argues that all texts, even for short units of work, should be carefully considered to ensure that our teaching is rewarding and effective. Firstly, a vast subject knowledge of children's literature, including plays, picture books and cultural texts is important; Bearne and Reedy (2017) identify this as 'Textual Subject Knowledge' in their Aspects of Subject Knowledge model. To ensure that this knowledge is being effectively used, Gamble (2017) suggests assessing a text's potential using the 'Mapping Text Potential' proposed by Tennant et al. (2016). This allows the teacher to plan the possible directions they may take with the text and decide appropriate learning outcomes. 

I think that this practice will be helpful when lesson planning, ensuring that high quality books are selected with a clear purpose. Although this model as not used by my teacher during my SBT, it was clear that books had been carefully chosen to meet specific learning outcomes - for example 'I Want My Hat Back' was used over a sequence of lessons, highlighting the use of questions, speech and visual features. 

I will endeavour to use this plan, or something similar, when evaluating the use of children's literature in the future. However, for this plan to really be effective, I will need to improve my subject knowledge of narrative features, coherence and grammar so that I can identify these features in potential texts. 

Subject Leadership Skills  

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