Evaluating data for inquiries

Today's PLG for our CoL teachers focussed on how we analyse data. There were definitely a lot of great learning which I took away from the PLG. 

I have always thought about collecting data as qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative giving more statistical information with numerical values and qualitative where the information is more categorial. Today Naomi Rosedale did share that there are ways to analyse qualitative data to give more numerical information. I am booking a time to meet with her so she can give me more support in doing this. 

Data is really important in our teaching as inquiry. Whenever I analyse students data, there are always so many questions and wondering which come to mind when looking at data especially over a number of years. I always say that data tell a story about what is happening for our students and also our teaching as teachers. 

This year, because my sample group are our teachers, I have collected my profiling data using surveys and also quantitative data from the assessments of the target students in each teachers' group. As we are heading towards end of year assessments, I am very keen to see what the summative data will show in the students' assessments and also the end of year qualitative data from my sample group of teachers. 

"Just saying they have made progress because they have a higher test score or jumped xxx levels is not enough.

Need to compare to something more than just pre and post test data.

Are the learners in your target group making progress in comparison to... Norm, Data from last year, other comparative learners in school/cluster?" (PLG slide 63)

The information above from our PLG slides highlights the importance of comparing the achievement of our students to the norm, past data and also learners in other schools and clusters. I think this is important because if we just compare our students by themselves, then we will not know how they are achieving compared to other learners in the cluster or NZ. 

The template above from our PLG slides is one way we can compare our student data with the norm and a comparison group. 

PLG reflection

Yesterday at our CoL PLG, I was in a small group discussion where I shared where I am so far with my inquiry. 

The focus of my inquiry this year is to work with a team of teachers in my school to plan a reading programme which aligns with the Manaiakalani Reading Plan FALA. 

As a team, the teachers in my inquiry group and I have been constantly discussing what and how we will change our reading practice to cater for not only our inquiry groups but all our students. I think it is very important to highlight that, if we intend to make a change in the way students learn, then we as teachers have to make the change first. 

From my teaching as inquiry this year, these are the changes we have made so far:

• At our team meetings we have a time set aside to share our planning for our literacy programmes and our inquiry programme as they are integrated
• We have time set aside in our team meetings to reflect and share what we are doing for our own teaching as inquiry
• We are working on using the same planning templates for our reading programmes
• We are consistently sharing resources which we can use in our classes

TWEAKING!!!!

Fortnightly planning exemplar

Fortnightly reading planning

I made the above templates to be used for our short term planning. These templates are to be used with the incorporation the T Shaped literacy in having a main text, support text and a challenge text. HOWEVER!!!!!! We have found that although the reading planning is very detailed, it is not very practical for a teacher to be spending so much time on doing the planning using this template for three reading groups per fortnight. We are now on a quest to simplify, modify or re-create a template for our short term planning for reading. A planning template that still encompasses what we want to have in our reading programme but is not too time consuming. That meeting will happen next Monday in our team meeting. 

Another way I am monitoring my teaching as inquiry, is by looking at the class sites of our teaching team. By looking at what is on the site, I am able to make a link between what we are implementing from my teaching as inquiry and how this is translated to the learning of the students. I also make copies of the slides used for student work, make a copy then add comments and feedback. Some of the feedback I have given is around texts being used for students learning being at the right level of challenge for them. I have observed that when texts are too complicated for the students, the learning conversation is predominantly controlled by the teacher. We have also discussed as a team the idea of giving the students the texts at the end of the week so they are able to read at home during the weekend and have some exposure to the text by the time they start the next week.

As well as formal meetings, we also have informal conversations about what we are doing in our reading programmes. We often discuss what we observe in our students' learning and what we find works and what doesn't. It is good that we are consistently sharing our pedagogical journey with each other. 

I will be collecting my next set of data from my inquiry group in the next week. Although I feel like we have not done enough to show any major changes in student learning, it is till good to gain an idea of where the teachers are currently at with their practice and reflections. 

Thursday Zoom CoL PLG

Today we had our PLG via Zoom as we are still on lockdown under Alert Level 3. 

We were reminded today about the importance of profiling our students by finding out:

• gaps in achievement from time to time
• student voice
• whanau voice
• interventions put in my previous teachers
• student work from previous years (blogs, drives)

Aaron reminded us that profiling is formative and enables us to see areas which we can build on. We were also reminded that the information we collect can be quantitative - narrative approach. From today's meeting, I have added more detail to what I am doing in profiling students. 

Russell Burt challenged us to think about how the lockdown has impacted the way we think about our roles as educators. I responded in our small groups discussions that teaching from home has given me the opportunity to build on my relationship with my students in a more meaningful way. For example at school, there are so many complexities which requires my attention. Teaching from home, I can focus on a student who seeks my help and nothing else can interrupt the time I spend teaching this student. I have also reflected that teaching from home has given our whanau community more insight into the learning and teaching which happens in the classroom. Through the hangouts, the whanau of our students are able to listen in and participate more in their learning activities.