Student voice about their progress.

It is very important to collect the reflections of students in the process. The task was simply titled 'Me as a writer'. All but one student in the group was present for this activity. Reading through their response, I was filled with a lovely sense of pride for my group. They have all grown and progressed in so many ways. This growth was evident to me but I wondered if they too were aware of their growth.

Student 1	Being in the Ihimaera group I started to write more and being in that group has helped me make sense in my writing also in my confident by letting people read my writing. When people comment on my writing, it motivates me to write more.
Student 2	When I first moved to Ihimaera I was so happy to be in the group because I was with Mrs Tofa and I got more support from her. I learnt how to write more better than last year and how to use more vocabulary, similes and personification. I enjoy being in the group because it helps me work better and focus properly. Also being in the Ihimaera writing group it helped me build my confidence in writing and what I can do to make my writing more interesting for my audiences.
Student 3	When I was moved to Ihimaera I did more writing work and trying to achieve my goals. I have learnt heaps of things from my group. I learnt the words that I couldn’t say or understand. I learnt hard words and how to make it to have sense. I have learnt a lot from my group. Being in Ihimaera has helped me a lot by concentrating on work.
Student 4	I was put into Ihimaera I like doing my work. I've learnt more words from my group. Words I couldn't understand before. I get help from Mrs Tofa to teach me to be a confident writer.
Student 5	I perceive myself as a very confident writer. I believe that when I was put into Ihimaera writing group my achievement has moved up. Ihimaera is a strong group that gather heaps of learning. It seems like my audience are understanding the writing that I’m creating. I want my audience advice or feedback for my writing so I know what to do next time.
Student 6	I have gotten better in my writing since I was in IHIMAERA. I have improved in writing and getting more better at writing to an audience. I am getting good at writing more paragraphs.
Student 7	As a student  in the Ihimaera group I’ve learned so much about writing arguments, information reports and many more. I’m also getting better at trying to understand the meaning of the words. I am also good at writing more paragraphs including my sentences.  To me I sometimes enjoy writing on my own time and sometimes at school. What I want my audience to know is as soon as I share my work with them I want them to tell me what I’ve improved in my writing and what I did wrong.  I’m really proud of myself for trying hard in writing.

E Asttle assessment analysis

Data collection is vital as it is a measure of the progress of students. Our school conducts E Asttle writing assessments three times a year. The assessment helps with our teacher judgements as to where the students are with their writing levels. Other information we use for our teacher judgements are the writing work the students do in class as well as their understanding from group discussions. 

I have collected the assessment data from the Term 1 and Term 2 E Asttle assessments. I will analyse this information to plan for future teaching. I will look at the scores and identify if they have increased or decreased and reflect on why. The vital part of assessments is the teacher's use of the information. 

June student survey

The second survey shows a shift in student understanding about their audience and the the purpose of their writing. Through group discussions we have discussed the genre and the purpose of each genre. We have also discussed who our target audience is for every genre and they write.

It is pleasing to see a shift in their thinking. I feel there is still a long way to go in understanding the purpose of each genre and who their audiences are. There is also the issue of getting responses from their target audiences.

Moving forward:

• More discussions on the purpose of writing genre
• Identifying target audience
• Receiving feedback from audience

The three points above were gathered from my analysis of the second survey.

Poetry in motion

We have been writing poems and it has been a lot of excitement and frustrations for some of our writers. It is wonderful to hear the students in my target group questioning each other about the use of figurative devices in poetry such as similes, metaphors, personification and so forth. Words which they did not know much about before the start of this poetry unit. 

In trying to identify which language devices they are using in their poetry writing, we have started to use colour coding. It is a great way to annotate their poems and also challenge their thinking and re-crafting in writing. 

Below is a poem written by Student 3 which he has not completed yet but is looking very promising. His poem is about Planet Earth. 

Checkpoint. Taking a step back and thinking about where I am heading with my inquiry.

Reflect and ponder drawing