Deep learning conversations about planning for purposeful learning drawing on the Reading Planning Fala

Vocabulary

Through the learn activities, there is a focus on vocabulary in the texts. There is a shift in the student discussions where students are often questioning the meaning of words they come across in their texts. The students are also experimenting with using these words in their everyday conversations. Some of the activities around vocabulary are identifying how the words are used in the text. What about the text type, sentence, paragraph helps us predict what the word means? The students are now consciously using these strategies to predict the meaning of words they do not understand. 

Text selection

In a meeting with my sample group of teachers, we discussed the topic of text selection for learning. In the Reading Planning FALA, it states to have a specific text selection for a rich set of texts. We unpacked what this might look like as we select texts for our planning.

• Multimodal - comics/graphic novels, picture books, newspapers, brochures, print advertisements, posters, storyboards, digital slide presentations
• Caters for the learning intention - does the text support the lessons purpose for students to achieve the Learning Intention of the unit?
• Texts which are challenging and fosters perseverance of reading - are the texts challenging for the students? Do they enable the students to struggle with the text and seek clarification through rich discussions?
• Information/topic specific - do the texts relate to the topic of study? Enables wide and narrow reading for information? 
• Main, supporting, challenge text - Will two texts support each other and the challenge text encouraging the students to compare and contrast information from the texts and making their own conclusions?
• Student choice in text selection - Will the students have opportunities to seek more texts of their own choice which links to the unit of study?
• Vocabulary - texts introduces students to new vocabulary

There are so many aspects to think about with text selection but when teachers are purposeful in their text selection, the learning will be more purposeful, challenging and enjoyable for the students. 

Extended discussions 

For years, our school have focussed on having rich discussions during learning. In Maths with the use of TALK MOVES to facilitate discussions. In reading, a focus on having dialogic discussions. Yet, I still feel and observe that our students are reliant on us as teachers to lead discussions and prompt them. I have seen and experienced some excellent discussions where the students have been so involved in their discussions that it almost sounded like a heated debate about the topic. I did reflect after those lessons if it was the topic the students were passionate about or the texts or set up of the lesson. I believe purposeful discussions have to be planned for and that comes from the teacher knowing the focus of the unit of learning, the lesson and understanding the texts and where to focus the discussion for extended discussions. 

Reflection

It is great to be engaged in these learning conversations with my colleagues because it not only highlights what we need to work on but also empowers each of us to change our mindset and try new ideas in our planning and teaching. I feel we have definitely shifted in our understanding of how to plan and teach reading and it is still a work in progress but the shift in understanding is definitely evident from our professional discussions. 

AKo, Hanga, Tohatoha

Learn, Create, Share
Ako, Hanga, Tohatoha

My class shared projects they have been working on for the last two weeks. The unit was for four weeks where the first two weeks the students were learning using learning materials created by me. The last two weeks, the students inquired into ares of our topic they were interested in. The unit was on what New Zealand produces for the world and ourselves. 

Having shorter inquiry units linked with literacy has been so successful in my class. Where before, we would drag a unit for a whole term, now we have a long term inquiry topic but choose different lines (aspects) of inquiry to focus on for 4-5 weeks. I found the students enjoyed the shorter and focussed progress of learning. I also feel the two weeks of front loading and exploring the topic using the materials I prepared led the way for the students to choose their own inquiry topics. 

With the individual student inquiries, some scaffolding was needed to brainstorm and select topics and main questions for the student inquiries. After the main inquiry question was chosen I then conferenced with the students about the supplementary questions they could ask to help them answer their main question. 

The searching for information was a learning process the students are confident in. Support is still needed for some students to identify what relevant sources of information are and to translate information they read into their own understanding. This is an ongoing need as students are using digital sources of information for their learning. Thus highlighting the importance of being cybersmart. 

The Create part of the student projects was interesting to observe and monitor. Where some students were happy and excited to plan their create activity and how they would present their work, some needed a lot of motivational talks, prompting and observing. 

At the end of the inquiry cycle, it was great to see the students presenting the information they researched and also their create tasks. We had hand made fashion items, fashion walks, farms, stages, arenas, aeroplanes and many more creative ideas hand made by the students. Our showcase was a celebration of the end of this inquiry cycle but more importantly, a celebration of my students' success in their learning. Where success looks different for every child, every success was acknowledged and celebrated. 

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. 

Casual chain for my Teaching as Inquiry

Link to google drawing

This is the casual chain for my inquiry this year. It is the first year my target group is a group of teachers. I am hoping this year's inquiry will create a planning model for our team to use which takes in all we are wanting to achieve with our teaching of reading. 

• Engaging learners 
• Encouraging a love of reading
• Using digital tools for literacy - multimodal texts
• Incorporating effective reading instruction
• Accelerating student progress in reading 
• Building confidence in teachers to plan an effective reading programme 

This week we are co-constructing our own planning model from our discussions and reflections from the Reading Planning Fala Model. I feel it is important to unpack the Fala model together, then put our ideas into a model/template which we can all use for our own planning. I am looking forward to the rich discussions which we will have as a team when we unpack the Fala model. From my last post, I shared the variety of experiences and expertise our teachers have in teaching reading. I also shared the challenges which were highlighted from the survey. In our discussions we will unpack these and plan ahead for how we can address these challenges.

Interpreting my data collection

Question 1: What professional development you have completed that covered reading instruction/practices?

Sheena Cameron X2

Literacy workshop with Erina Law

Yolanda Soryl

Mary Wooton professional development

Ready to read programme

Question 2: If you completed PLD, was it useful in your teaching?

Yes X 3

No

Question 3:Describe the key components of effective reading instruction in your classroom:

Unpack vocabulary-meaning of new words

Check in with comprehension

Focus on a WALT for 2 weeks (e.g, We are learning to visualise what we read)

Using guided reading time to hone in on reading skills/strategies, and provide follow up activities to check understanding

Rotations X2

phonemic awareness - words are made up of separate units of sound

phonics - how words are created

fluency - the ability to recognise words in a text rapidly and with accuracy

vocabulary - the words we need to communicate

comprehension - making meaning of what we read by making connection with the text and our prior knowledge.

Question 4: What approaches do you use to accelerate reading achievement progress?

Read aloud

Round Robin

Sending reading materials home

Testing

Mixed ability grouping

Multimodal texts

Guided reading

Reciprocal reading

Question 5:What challenges do you have in planning your reading programme?

Text selection X3 - finding texts to cater for student levels which relates to the Inquiry topic

Aligning texts for reading with writing genre

Planning 

Creating effective follow up tasks

Question 6: How many times a week do you teach reading in your class? Reading Rotation...

Three times a week X 2

Four times a week X4

Question 7:How do you plan the WALTs for your reading programme?

Literacy Language Progressions X3

Kids speak colour wheel

Question 8:What is a successful reading lesson for you?

When students are meeting the learning outcome

Students are able to explain what they have learnt

Students are able to go away with the learning skills they have learnt

Students are able to unpack the WALT and success criteria X2

Students are able to complete the CREATE activities 

Question 9:Do you involve whanau in your reading programme? How?

Sending journals home soon

Not getting whanau involved at the moment

Sending reading app for whanau to use with students

Whanau is involved to some extent (did not mention how)

Question 9: Who have you seen or believe has an effective reading programme that you would like to take ideas from?

Colleagues X2

Sharp Reading programme seen at another school

CoL teacher

The responses from the teacher group have highlighted some really important aspects of where support is needed for our team. 

Text selection stood significantly. Teachers feel that there is a challenge in finding texts which relate to the inquiry topics and also relate to the genres being taught for writing. (We are working on integrating Reading and Writing where the genre for reading materials is also the genre of focus for writing). 

It is very obvious that all teachers have had different types of professional development in reading. Also very common that they all feel, they are needing more support in how to plan and teach reading. I think it is very important to have on going discussions with our teacher group and planning together so we are all on the same understanding and working on the same planning format. One of my next steps (URGENTLY) is to sit down with the teacher group to go over the survey summary and look at our where now steps. I have sent an email to the teacher group with the summary of the survey along with the FALA planning model so they can familiarise themselves with the FALA planning model before we meet. I know it is very important to gain the voice of all the teachers about using the FALA model and using the FALA model to suit our needs and how we plan as a team. Therefore, I do not intend on prescribing the Fala model but rather using the FALA model as a guide to plan from. We already do some of the aspects of the FALA model we need to integrate what we are all doing in a way where it is practical for our team.

This week for our staff meeting we are looking at the Glenbrae Student profile. I think it is also important for our teacher group to complete a Reader's Profile. 

Whanau involvement in reading is not evident as indicated from the survey responses. Again, it is another conversation which needs to happen with a plan for action. How can we involve our whanau with the reading programmes we have in class? 

I always say data tells a story and this data is highlighting that the inquiry I have for this year in working with our teachers is much needed to bring collaboration and uniformity to our planning and teaching. The aim is to bring reading enjoyment to the reading of our akongā as well as accelerating their progress.

Good inquiry happens in teams

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari, he toa takitini

Success is not the work of one but, the work of many

I have been supporting my colleagues with their teaching as inquiry. I find a lot of value in the professional discussions we have when we are discussing how we can improve our practice to accelerate the progress of our students. 

Reflecting on our practice

A very important aspect of professional discussions about teaching as inquiry is around what is currently happening in the teacher's practice. Our practice determines how students learn. If we want our students to change their current achievement or accelerate then we have to reflect on what we need to change in our own practice. I understand there are times we feel we are doing well in our practice and that is great but if our achievement data is showing our students are not achieving where they should be for their year levels then something needs to change. 

The importance of data

I have this saying "data tells a story". When I analysed our school data last year, I was amazed the learning I gained from looking at the school wide data. The student achievement data do tell us a story about the learning of our students. It is very important for your TAI to gather the starting data for your sample group at the beginning of your inquiry. This will be your measuring point for the end of your inquiry.

Student voice

As the recipients of our practice, our students views and voice is vital to our teaching as inquiry. As well as having conversations, I like to collect student voice through google forms. It is good to give students time and space to think about their responses and that is why google forms are effective. Below are some student voice I collected last year for my TAI about self efficacy. I have always been surprised by what students share through their student voice and it often challenges my own beliefs about what I am doing in my teaching. 

Record your TAI journey

TAI is a learning journey for teachers. Reflections are very important because it enables us to analyse what is currently happening and our next steps. Whether you have a professional blog or not, it is important to document your teaching as inquiry. It is a learning journey which you can look back on.

He waka eke noa

Having professional discussions with your colleagues and professional leaders about your TAI will be a great resource for you. On going discussions are much more valuable than one off presentations at the end of TAI cycles. We need to be challenged and questioned about what we are currently doing. When we explain our rationale for what we are doing in our practice, we often explore aspects of our practice we did not think about before. 

My Teaching as Inquiry focus for 2022

As mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to focus on the HLP (High Leverage Practices) in mentoring my sample group for my TAI this year. However, I have been doing quite a bit of research and have decided that the Reading Planning Fala encompasses the HLPs as well as the digital affordances. Therefore, my hypothesise is:

Will working collaboratively with a group of teachers to plan a reading programme using the Reading Planning Fala, CHANGE the practice of these teachers and lead to acceleration in reading for their target students?

Manaiakalani Effective Reading Practices Survey (2022). Analysis of teacher responses by N. Rosedale (Literacy Facilitator) for the Reading Design Group.

"This model was developed this year bringing together elements of the Manaiakalani pedagogy, high leverage practises and digital affordances and has informed the observations, questionnaires and these recommendations" (Manaiakalani Wananga 2021).

This week, our staff are planning for learning for Term 3. It is a great time to kick start my TAI by looking at how we plan for our reading programme using the Reading Planning Fala. 

I have printed off copies of the fala for each group member to go over before we meet as a team. I believe the teachers in my sample group have not seen the Reading Planning fala before so a lot of talanoa will be done before we start to incorporate the fala in our planning.

In our team meetings, I have an allocated time to support our team with their TAI and also discuss what is happening with my own. I also do in class observations and in class support for teachers during their literacy programmes. There are many opportunities to give support but I know the planning aspect of the teaching must be done well and explicitly for the teaching to be effective. 

Therefore, my big focus for the rest of this term is to support my sample group with their planning using the Reading Planning Fala.

 I believe the key word is CHANGE. We hear time and time again that a TAI is where we look at changing an aspect of our teaching to see if it will accelerate the learning of our students. We can't expect change in the learning of our students unless we as teachers make a change. Often, we might be comfortable with what we are planning for learning for different reasons such as: we are used to this way of teaching, It has worked before, the resources are already in our drives so just re use...But the fact remains, reading is an area where our students are not accelerating. 

I am looking forward to this year's TAI. Term 3 will be the implementation term. I do hope by Term 4 we will see a shift in the reading data for the target students for my sample group of teachers.