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

Rewindable learning. Using digital technologies to teach writing.

Using a class site with Google slides where the students can visit the teaching point from home. This is absolutely valuable in the learning and teaching of writing. The slides are accessible at any time and this teaches the students while the teacher is not present for example from home.

Five principles in dialogic teaching

• Collective: Teachers and children address learning tasks together, either as a group or as a class. 
• Reciprocal: Teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas, and consider alternative viewpoints. 
• Supportive: Children articulate their ideas freely without fear of embarrassment over ‘wrong’ answers; children help each other reach common understandings. 
• Cumulative: Teachers and children build on their own and each other’s knowledge and experiences. 
• Purposeful: Teachers plan and facilitate dialogic teaching with particular educational goals.

Although the five principles were later reduced to three - collectivity, supportivity, and purposefulness, I am trialling the five in my classroom to encourage dialogical discussions.  

Reference: Alexander, R. (2006). Towards dialogic teaching (3rd ed.).

Research reading on dialogic discussions.

In my practice I have been working on encouraging the use of dialogic discussions in the classroom. In our classroom discussions there are always some students who are reluctant to question/challenge/ask or explore the thinking of others. 

Therefore I have decided I need to do more research into this notion of dialogic discussion. The more I am equipped with knowledge about dialogic discussions, the more I will be able to scaffold its use in my classroom. 

Here are some readings I have collected about the use of dialogic discussions. 

Bakker, Smit & Wegerif

• The term ‘‘dialogic teaching’’ is particularly associated with Alexander’s (2008) focus on talk between teachers and students in the classroom.
• Alexander grounds his approach to dialogue in Bakhtin often quoting the line ‘‘if an answer does not give rise to a new question from itself, it falls out of the dialogue’’ (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 168).
• Understanding of dialogue as a form of open ended shared inquiry.
• The aim of education is not only that the students will learn something that the teacher already knows but also that the students will learn how to ask open ques- tions and how to learn new things for themselves through engaging in dialogic inquiry.

LEHESVUORI, HÄHKIÖNIEMI, JOKIRANTA, NIEMINEN, HILTUNEN, VIIRI

• Dialogic argumentation requires that all participants have the opportunity to question, evaluate, and challenge ideas (Berland & McNeill, 2010, p. 781). This means that there should be space, both temporal and dialogical, in classroom discussions for students to bring forward their thoughts, ideas, and prior knowledge (Michaels, O’Connor, & Resnick, 2008). 
• In addition, the classroom’s dialogical culture should allow students to make mistakes without fear of being ridiculed or disregarded. 
• Fundamentally, dialogicity enables different and even diverging ideas to be welcomed into classroom discussions (Bakhtin, 1986).

The readings have provided me with the passion to pursue the research conducted into the use of dialogic discussions in the classroom. I will also use these readings to inform and strengthen my teaching practice and the use of dialogic discussions in Room 7.