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Teaching and Learning

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​​​​​​​Curriculum overviews

The KSS Curriculum Maps summarise the key concepts taught and assessed for our students as they progress through the years of schooling. The overviews set the consistent high standards for what our students will learn and what our teachers will teach.

The following links display the curriculum overviews for each year level from Prep to Year 6:

Prep Curric​u​lum ​Map​​​​

Year 1 Curriculum M​ap

Year 2 Curriculum Map

Year 3 Curricu​​lum Map

Year 4 Curriculum M​ap​​​​

Year 5 Curriculum Map

Year 6 Cu​​​​​​rriculum Map​

Explicit instruction

Teaching and learning at Kenmore State School is developed around the Explicit Instruction model. Archer and Hughes (2011) describe Explicit Instruction as ‘a structured, systematic, and effective methodology for teaching academic skills. It is called explicit because it is an unambiguous and direct approach to teaching that includes both instructional design and delivery procedures.’

Explicit Instruction at Kenmore consists of 5 key components: Warm Up, I Do, We Do, You Do, Plough Back.

(Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes. Copyright 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.)

Warm up

A warm up is a teacher directed activity which essentially ‘warms up’ a student’s brain and prepares them for the lesson. These activities are designed to be fast paced responses to review and revise previously taught content whilst moving this knowledge from a student’s short term to long term memory. Teachers at Kenmore State School are consistently monitoring student participation and engagement, whilst keeping students accountable for their learning.

I do

Teachers are explicitly teaching a new skill or concept. They begin by explaining the intent of the lesson and why the concept is being taught. Students are expected to be 100% focused on the teacher.

We do

We do is a highly collaborative part of the lesson where the teacher supports students with guided practice of the new concept or skill.  The teacher is constantly giving feedback, checking for understanding and clarifying any misconceptions the students have. They gradually withdraw their support as they move students towards independent practice and mastery of the concept.  At this stage, students are actively participating, asking and answering questions, peer modelling and self-monitoring to demonstrate their understanding. 

You do

Students have the opportunity to practice the new skill or concept. The teacher sets focused, independent work and gives students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learnt in I Do and practiced in We Do. Students monitor their own understanding and the teacher is actively monitoring student progress, differentiating tasks when needed, enforcing expectations and giving individual/group/whole class feedback.

Plough back

At the end of the lesson, the teacher may provide time to review the key skill of the lesson, reflect on lesson intent and celebrate successes.  Students are encouraged to review and reflect on what they’ve learnt, whilst being accountable for their learning.

Reading to Learn

Accelerating literacy learning and closing the achievement gap

Reading to Learn is one component of the Kenmore State School Explicit Teaching Program. Our school is a regional training hub for the Reading to Learn program. Reading to Learn is a literacy strategy that enables all learners to read and write successfully across the curriculum, at levels appropriate to their age, year level.

The strategies apply cutting edge research in classroom learning, and language across the curriculum, in a form that is accessible, practical and meets the needs of teachers and students.

When using the Reading to Learn methodology, students are explicitly taught how texts are structured and how language works across a range of texts. They systematically deconstruct small passages of text to study writing techniques of successful authors and use those techniques in their own writing.

Independent evaluations of Reading to Learn have shown that it can accelerate the learning of students across all schools and year groups and among students from all backgrounds and literacy skill levels.

Many of our teachers have undergone extensive training in Reading to Learn with Dr David Rose (Director of Reading to Learn, University of Sydney) and are now implementing the strategy.  For more information please visit Reading to Learn. 

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Last reviewed 08 February 2024
Last updated 08 February 2024