Evaluation of my inquiry for 2019

The focus on my inquiry this year was to improve the reading comprehension of my students and also encourage my target group and class to enjoy reading for enjoyment.

My inquiry question was Will daily deep diving into quality, ‘multimodal’ texts, accompanied by ’rich’ text conversations in which all participate, and with deliberate attention to words that co-occur to carry meaning, improve students’ reading comprehension and encourage their love of reading?'

Changes I made to my practice were:

• specific focus on reading materials which challenged the students in comprehension
• changed the format of reading lessons where I put a lot of focus on discussing and unpacking reading materials
• the use of wait time is essential 
• focus on unpacking vocabulary and strategies to use when coming across unknown vocabulary (root words, reading around the text...)
• empowering the students to be confident in leading reading discussions with each other
• gathering student voice 

Group results

Final reflection 

The students made progress but no accelerated progress. There are several factors which hindered the progress of the students. Their progress with their reading ages is measurable and shown in the table above. Their engagement in reading and building a passion to be readers were measured by observations and student voice Student voice T4. 

Moving forward

Four of the students in this inquiry group will be in my class next year. I need to reconsider my focus group and make a judgement about which students will be in my focus group for 2020. I have also decided next year, I will focus on the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy more by incorporating more create work from the students. 

Burst and bubbles speech

Kia ora and talofa. My name is Amy Tofa and I am the Year 7&8 teacher at Glenbrae School. Being a bookworm myself, I have in my career encouraged my students to read and enjoy reading. Therefore, when I was given the role of CoL within school, I had already decided my inquiry would be around achievement challenge 3. 

My inquiry question is, Will daily deep diving into quality, ‘multimodal’ texts, accompanied by ’rich’ text conversations in which all participate, and with deliberate attention to words that co-occur to carry meaning, improve students’ reading comprehension and encourage their love of reading?

Throughout this year, my class and I have been on a journey of exploring texts, deep diving (really unpacking texts), having discussions about reading materials where we share our pearls of wisdom with each other and growing together in learning and as individuals. During our reading sessions we have focussed a lot on vocabulary and strategies we can use to try and understand the meaning of words we are not familiar with. 

The format of our reading sessions were tweaked throughout the year. From having three rotating reading groups around the teacher to empowering students to lead their discussions about reading materials after scaffolding from the teacher. I often reflected on the lifting of the reading achievement for all students with a particular focus on boys part of the achievement challenge because the girls were often dominating the discussions.

However through my google form surveys I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the boys response about their attitudes to reading discussions changing because they enjoyed listening and sharing their ideas. 

This of course is also a result of building a classroom culture of inclusiveness and respect for all and in Jannie’s words “Everyone has something to share. We are all part of this vessel”.

My inquiry in action:

• The use of Multimodal texts
• Current events discussions every morning on a daily basis. A great way to start the day and it has encouraged the students to learn more about what is happening around New Zealand and the world. At present we are currently discussing climate change and pollution on our planet earth. An issue my students are very concerned about.
• Novel reading - every day after lunch. 
• Guided reading - which is a sacred time for us because we really enjoy having rich discussions and exploring texts as a group and at times as a class. Focusing on chain linking ideas in discussions. This was Jannie introduced in our class at the beginning of this year. We built on chain linking our ideas in discussions throughout the year and have witnessed how valuable it is. 
• Rich discussions about vocabulary. Exploring how words carry meaning for different purposes and building our vocabulary bank. 
• Blogging our learning and sharing our create work with the world.
• Sharing reading materials with whanau
• More awareness of authors - students are more confident in discussing who their favourite authors and books they have read by different authors.

Moving forward

Continue with what I have started this year. I would like to put more effort into reading with whanau and also more focus on our blogging and commenting. 

I would also like to put a lot of focus on the create part of the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy of Manaiakalani. After much reflection I feel this is the area I am steering my inquiry towards for 2020. 

Challenges/learning surprises 

Student voice in giving direction about what they wanted to read.  “Miss we have been reading so much non fiction can we read some fiction now?”

Ongoing challenge of engaging whanau with the tamariki’s learning

Tweaking my practice

The achievement challenge I have focussed on this year is to Lift the achievement in reading for all students, with a focus on boys and Maori students of both genders.

Throughout the year I have struggled with engaging certain boys in my inquiry group because of other factors in their lives affecting their learning. I quickly identified the boys were able to read but comprehending texts was a challenge for them. There is always the challenge of their attitude towards reading and learning.

Upon reflection, I started to have one to one conversations with the boys to reflect on how they found the reading lessons and materials. One of the responses I received was an eye opener when one of the boys told me "Miss I am getting bored with reading non fiction. Can we read some fiction?". I realised with our Genomics course and our camp pre work and post work, a lot of what we have been reading have been non fiction texts. Our class novel was a fiction text but I feel he wanted to read some non fiction as a group and discuss the materials in depth. The student's response was powerful. 

In the holidays I looked up some materials which can be used in class which links to our topic of Genomics. I found the TKI Literacy online site to be very helpful. They provide materials in digital form and also teacher support materials. 

Term 4 is always a very busy term with assessments and end of year activities for the school especially in a Year 7&8 class. However, I am determined to finish my this year off with a last great push with my COL inquiry. 

Rich discussions

Rich discussions have been an integral focus of my inquiry. At the beginning of the year Jannie worked with my class in making connections and building on in conversation about texts and social conversations. 

Recently I took a stocktake of a discussion my target group had about their current novel study. The whole group are currently reading Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Throughout the discussion, I had to note down how many times individuals shared their ideas and also what the ideas were. 

I noticed the students were inferring more from the text. Their confidence to locate information to support their ideas have definitely improved. Throughout the discussion, the students were able to build on their ideas collaboratively to unpack and deep dive into what they have read in the novel. 

Private Peaceful is a novel which my target group are enjoying. It is a hard read for some of the students but during the discussions I have observed these students who are struggling with reading the novel are listening intently to the ideas being shared and also sharing what they understand from the novel. 

Using multimodal materials

My class and I are currently preparing for our school camp. We are travelling to the Bay of Islands to learn about the history of New Zealand and the Treaty of Waitangi. We will also learn a lot about early settlers who travelled in the seas to settle in Aotearoa and how the Maori lived before and after settlers arrived.

Through our learning we have used a lot of multimodal resources. We have integrated our inquiry learning with literacy which has been effective in gathering information and for the students to understand more about the history of New Zealand.

In Writing group discussions today, I realised the students now have a lot of understanding about the Treaty of Waitangi. They are able to express their personal views about the reading materials they have been reading.

In our novel reading we have been reading a book called A New Song in the Land by Fleur Beale which the students have followed with great interest.

We have watched videos reenacting what happened before and after the treaty was signed.

We have also been reading materials on different sites as well as reading books about the Treaty of Waitangi.

The use of multimodal learning materials stimulated interest and created different learning opportunities for the students.

Manaiakalani 2019 Hui

I attended my first Manaiakalani Hui this year. It was a very exciting and educational opportunity for me.

With every presenter, they brought to the discussion their part of being the collaborators in the education of our tamariki. It really brought the big picture into perspective for me. So many involved with Manaiakalani from the Ministry of Education, edcuators, health boards, businesses, researchers and more.

I could not help but think how very fortunate we are to be part of Manaiakalani with so much support and work being done to help the learners of not only the Tamaki area but the outreach schools.

Post hui, I have shared the slides from the hui with my colleagues at Glenbrae school along with the notes I took from the hui. I also sent an invitation to approach me for a professional discussion about what I gathered.

Collecting achievement and reflecting on progress

Using google forms for quizzes is enabling me to take a snapshot of the whole class with their progress with not only Reading but also in Maths.

The students are driven to do better than their last test and they are also working hard during the week to learn and question if they do not understand. The instant marking of the google form enables them to see how they did in the test.

It is also teaching my students about taking tests and the absolute focus and perseverance needed when trying to complete a test.

I am limiting our testing to one test in different curriculum areas a week because I do not want to be focussing on just taking tests.

Here is the second maths test I created for our fractions unit.

Collecting evidence of student progress

From our last PLG, Aaron discussed the importance of gathering evidence for the progress of students. I created this reading test for my students. The text is from our class novel. All students in the class participated in the test. The results show the progress of a lot of students in understanding and responding to texts. However, there are also some students who omitted a lot questions in the test. These teacher designed tests will be ongoing in my practice. It is a good measuring point for my reflections regarding my inquiry. 

25 July PLG learnings

Today we had another rich PLG with our COL peers, Manaiakalani leaders and the Woolf Fisher researchers. Below are some of the ideas I collected during the presentations. It was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with other COL leaders and discuss their inquiries as well as sharing my inquiry with them.

From the convenor, we look at data collated over the years and celebrated the success our students are making compared to other clusters. Russell has also given us some home learning for the next PLG to share one key practice which has an effect on reading for our year level. This really falls into my area of focus because my inquiry is in accelerating the progress of students in reading.

From Aaron and Hana of the Woolf Fisher research team we looked at monitoring and identifying changes in practice. This is an aspect of my inquiry I have been constantly reflecting on. What changes have I done to my teaching practice? What is working and what is not?

Aaron also emphasised the importance of monitoring our practice and progress throughout the year and not waiting until end of year assessment to assess if our inquiries have shifted progress or not.

Difference between inquiry and reflection
Inquiry - evidence based
Reflection - based on feelings

Back to the importance of monitoring. How do we monitor student progress?
Formal checkpoints - deliberately plan mini assessments of the students
Teacher design tests
Checkpoints

We must think about the micro shifts we expect of our learners.

The value of student voice in our practice. Through reflection and listening to student voice, we can really make changes and modifications to our practice.

Those are only some of the ideas I collected today. There is always a wealth of knowledge at our PLG and I am privileged to be part of this wonderful journey of learning with my colleagues.

Exposure to different texts at different times

On constant reflection of my intervention I have observed changes in the quality of discussion from my students. In group discussions the students are taking more leadership and ownership of their discussions. There is also the encouragement and positive praise for the effort of other group members.

We  have been doing stock takes of our learning and have identified the shift in the texts we read and when we are exposed to reading texts. Today we as a class reflected on our journey in reading so far. We reflected on the daily opportunities for us to read during:

• Current events reading
• Novel reading
• SSR 
• Guided reading
• Inquiry learning 
• Reading at home

With the variety of opportunities the students have to read, it is building on their confidence in reading and also showing in their responses to texts and discussions. 

Reaching out to whanau

The change of attitude to reading for most of my students is evident. Not only my focus group but also within the whole class. I am now starting to reach out to whanau to support parents and caregivers on how they can encourage my students to be readers at home. 

With the netbooks going home, the students are able to continue their learning by using the class site and also access information for research using the internet. There are always opportunities to read and learn using the netbooks. I am also encouraging the students to ensure they have a novel they are reading consistently. This is working for most of the students. 

Through conversations with one parent, she expressed her child is not engaged in reading at home. She would often fall asleep when asked to read. We brainstormed some ways to encourage her child t read at home.

- go to the local library

- borrow books which are of interest to the child 

- ask the child to share if the book is exciting or boring and why

- be consistent with encouraging the child to read

- for a parent be a reader too, model to your child

The parent left the conversation feeling determined to help her child foster a love of reading and also herself as a parent. 

My inquiry is not just to shift achievement but to shift the mindset of reluctant readers and all students to enjoy reading. 

PLG reflection

Reading through the PLG slides from the 30th of May, I have reflected on the convernor's korero and inserted a slide from his slides.

Reflection on core teaching practices when reading to learn. 
In my reading programmes the reading materials are integrated with the topic of study for the term. At Glenbrae School we have a theme for the year and through this theme we identify topics for the students to learn during the year. This year our theme is Resilience. The reading materials are always linked to the topic of study.

It is important to integrate learning materials so students are able to make connections between their reading and learning in different subject areas. Purpose for reading is very important and is always discussed and emphasised in our reading discussions.

Acquisition of language which is number eight in the convenor's core teaching practices has also been a focus of mine and has been discussed in my previous blog posts. This year, I have been focussing a lot on the acquisition of vocabulary through the guidance of Jannie van Hees. Students have been making a lot of progress in their acquisition and understanding of vocabulary. This is evident through our discussions, their response activities as well as their writing.

The eight core practices listed in the inserted slide are all very important aspects of teaching. I will also be using this slide to collaborate reading teaching practices with my colleagues.

Toolkits - Making a magazine cover using google draw.

I had a great time today in Lenva's toolkit. Today Lenva showed us how to use a google drawing to make a magazine cover. The google drawing part I was confident with but today I was introduced to Pixlr. In 30 minutes I created this cover using photos from my class of 2018. Of course if I had more time I could have made more adjustments but for now this is a great start. I can not wait to show my create work to my students and have them make their own magazine covers. Thank you very much Lenva for the inspiration.

Designing and implementing my intervention was a major focus in Term 1. This drawing illustrates what I have implemented in my teaching practice/reading programme so far. I have been reflecting on the improvements I can make and I have identified a need to look into my Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. We are fortunate in Manaiakalani as our students are equipped with tools which they can use to accelerate and access learning resources and materials which other students can not with the use of a device. Our students also have many opportunities to create work which they can use to teach others in the world about their learning.

This term, I will start accessing help from my colleagues not only within school but across the Manaiakalani cluster. In my team, I will start observing the teaching of reading and have professional discussions with my team about how we can improve the Learn, Create, Share kaupapa of Manaiakalani within our practice.

Being innovative in my practice

During one of my observations I realised I really wanted to work with my groups who were text sharing but I was with another group deep diving into another text. I shared this with Jannie who suggested I have one week helping my reading groups share their texts. Therefore I restructured my reading rotations for this week. I am still finding that the deep diving is not 100% yet. It is a work in progress. I do not know the time frame when it will be a 100%. With each day we try and make progress towards our goals. Here is a set up of our deep diving group sharing this week.

We have a four day literacy cycle due to technology on Friday mornings. On Monday (Day 1) I spent time with each group unpacking their chosen text. The students had autonomy to choose which text they will share with the other groups. From day 2, one group was split into two and shared their text with the other groups.

From the discussions, I asked the groups to share their reflections of the sharing sessions with me. From the reflections shared with me and my observations during the discussions, I have been able to identify the the need for explicit teaching of how to share reading texts and deep diving within my reading groups.

Reflecting and making changes to my practice

Through my discussions with Jannie, I shared my frustration of rushing through groups because I wanted to see more than one group per day. As a result, the reading discussions would be rushed and I often felt the group discussions lacked depth and meaning due to time constraints. Jannie suggested seeing one group per day and two other groups can start the session by sharing their text with the other. 

I have three reading groups. In a lesson I would work with one group deep diving into reading material while the other two groups would start the first rotation in a student lead discussion about group reading materials. 

I have been observing the confidence of my students growing through these student lead discussions. There are obvious leaders who are starting to take over the discussions and encouraging others to share. I am now reflecting on how to give leadership to other students other than the leaders.

Reflecting on my observations during our group lessons

Working together is the key. My students and I have been focussing a lot on the quality of our discussions about reading texts. We have had some 'wow moments'. We have identified when we share our ideas without listening to the input of ours its almost like entering a dead end street. There is no progression in the discussions. 

The tragic event in Christchurch has been an area of constant discussion and reading for our class. We have read a lot of current events in the past two weeks about Christchurch and reflected on the effects the actions of one person on the victims and also New Zealand. 

I have also identified I need to structure SSR to enable the students to use this time for good quality self directed reading. For most of the class, SSR is a time when enjoy reading their chosen books from the school library or the class library. The newest edition of Toitoi is becoming very popular too. However, there is a small group of students who have challenges in managing themselves during SSR. I have started calling some of my reluctant learners to read one to one with me during SSR. They choose their own text and we read this together and then discuss. I am not sure if this will have an effect on the students' enjoyment of reading at this stage. 

Gathering student voice

Gathering student voice

As well as collecting assessment data it is also important to know our learners. In every inquiry I have done, I always collect student voice at the beginning of the inquiry. With this inquiry I sent a google form to my target group to collect information about their experiences, preferences and views about reading. It was quite informative when I reviewed the responses from the group.

I was very happy to see they all like reading as a subject. It was also interesting to find out a few of the students do not read at home. This is one of the factors I would like to change in my inquiry. For my students to have a love of reading and to read not only at school but also at home. Their interests in reading topics vary which is fantastic because it brings variety and exposure to different topics.

Here are the responses from the google form.

Student voice Term 1

My target group/sample for my inquiry

My target group consists of 10 students who are mostly of NZ Maori descent. There are other students who are of Pasifika descent. After all the assessments for the beginning of 2019, these are the levels the students are starting the year with. When reflecting upon these levels I have more determination to change these achievement levels. They are a happy group of students and it is very obvious for some of them, reading is not an area of learning they enjoy. I hope my inquiry will change this perception.

PD with Jannie Van Hees

Through my discussions with Jannie, she has supported me in structuring how I will start this inquiry into accelerating the reading comprehension and encouraging a love of reading with my students. In the slides above are the notes from our discussions which are the foundation of my inquiry.

I know as I continue to teach and learn from my students, I will be modifying and changing my practice throughout the year. There are many aspects to this inquiry which I am excited and eager to them all at the same time. However, I am focussing solely on getting this inquiry started within the classroom then building on by networking with my colleagues and other Manaiakalani schools as time progresses.

Reflecting on my inquiry so far

The above quote summarises what I have been thinking for the past two weeks. Sometimes I feel as if I have a  lot of time. The mind says 'you have all year to do this inquiry' then the logical part of the brain come in with 'act now, think, plan and act'.

My inquiry has taken off. The target group or sample has been selected. As mentioned in previous posts, I am focussing on achievement challenge 3. My sample group predominantly consists of Maori students with a few other students of Pasifika descent.

I have a strong hunch this inquiry will work but I also know the reality of how much work is needed and time I need to put into this inquiry.

What I have been focussing on in my classroom practice in reading so far:

text selection

dialogic discussions

learn and create activities

building an inclusive culture in the classroom and groups

Where to from now?

So much more to do. I feel excited and anxious at the same time. Watch this space because this waka (inquiry) is now starting to sail.

Teaching as Inquiry focus 2019

I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Jannie van Hees not only with my class but also in professional discussions. During our learning conversations I shared my goals for my inquiry which focusses on:

- improving reading comprehension

- encouraging my students to enjoy reading

- my students gaining more understanding of the world around them through non fiction texts and current events

- my students being a ripple effect to encourage reading in their homes

Jannie also shared the value of students understanding vocabulary and in particular cluster of words in texts. I had never thought of this. Upon reflecting on what Jannie shared with me about vocabulary, I now understand the value of students having a good understanding of vocabulary and how they are presented in texts. 

Below is my inquiry focus for this year. There are so many aspects I want to cover this year with my inquiry. I am eager to see the effect this inquiry will have on my students. I also really hope it will accelerate the progress of my students in reading as well as ignite or strengthen their passion for reading.

Will daily deep diving into quality, ‘cutting edge’ texts, accompanied by ’rich’ text conversations in which all participate, and with deliberate attention to words that co-occur to carry meaning, improve students’ reading comprehension and encourage their love of reading.

Manaiakalani data presentation

Today all the Manaiakalani schools met in the Tamaki College hall to hear and learn about the achievement data collected by Woolf Fisher in 2018. It is always a great opportunity to gather as a cluster and to reinforce our kaupapa as Manaiakalani. 

Before attending this meeting, I had already identified reading as my inquiry focus for 2019. 

Achievement challenge 3 - Lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Māori students (both genders) years 1-13. 

As I teach year 7&8, I am really determined to accelerate the reading levels of my students as well as encourage a love of literature.

Listening to the presentation by the Woolf Fisher team, I learnt the gap for Reading is getting wider against the national norm. Aaron stated 'We really need to give Reading a nudge'. 

We were then asked to reflect on why there is an achievement challenge in Reading for Manaiakalani schools. Yanni van Hees expressed there is a huge vocabulary gap in our students compared to other students in the world. She emphasised the importance of students having knowledge and understanding of vocabulary through vocabulary activities, consistent reading of texts and identifying cluster of words as well as understanding root words. 

Aaron also emphasised the importance of having appropriate text selection by saying 'We can't teach reading if students are not struggling with the texts'.

Walking away from the meeting, I was more determined to carry out my inquiry. I have identified I need to spend more time with Jannie to seek her expertise for my inquiry. 

Teacher only day with Jannie van Hees.

It  has been a great day with Jannie van Hees learning about having conversations and chain linking ideas. I have always been a talker and love to have conversations. Over the years I have been able to work on my confidence and ability to have conversations with people of different ages and cultural backgrounds to myself. I have reflected on this ability and have put it to my love of learning about other people, cultures and the wide variety of readings I do.

Jannie's workshop has given me ideas on how to teach my class about having meaningful conversations. I am really excited to have her work with my students as this year I am inquiring into accelerating the reading of all students with a focus on Maori boys. I know Jannie's work will be so valuable to this inquiry.

It is great to be back to school and am really enthusiastic about this year. Bring it on!

My notes from today

To and fro talking - Chain linking what you say to each other

What is important about engaging in conversation?

Conversation in focus

To and fro (conversational talk) matters - Why?

Expresses what is being held in our minds.

Sharing of our opinions, emotions…

Oral language

            Thinking about meaning

            Concept knowledge   

            Vocabulary building

            Language structures - sentence structure & topic specific words

Reading - Writing

Learning language

We learn it by quantity and by quality

Other’s language available to me

Me trying out and using

Sources

Spoken/quantity/quality/variety of contexts

            Extended daily conversations

            Extended discussions

            Audio broadcasts      

            Audio + visual

Executive control - child being able to read and respond in social situations.

Rule - when the kids are chain talking. Do not ask questions.

What’s the point - HEATWAVE

Linking and chaining the conversation

Classroom culture - everyone has the opportunity to contribute

Semantic development in writing. Photo

Whats the challenge?

Yes no answers

Have scaffolders - other students

Not having the vocabulary to participate in the conversation

Set the culture in the classroom from day 1

We are going to be a talking class. How!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring taonga into the kete

Focus and notice - be fascinated and wonder why things are happening around them

Set the class culture of “together”. We learn by talking

Sitting in a boy/girl circle

Learner conditions must be well thought of to support the learners