ALL Observation - 23rd August 2018

Thursday 23rd August - I was observed by our ALL facilitator Mayleen. The purpose of this lesson was to illustrate the ALL strategy of GRR (Gradual Release of Responsibility).  It was based on mind-mapping and grouping of ideas, eventually developing into paragraphs for the students writing. I used a tool called 'Popplet' - to help my ALL boys with their planning but also help elaborate their ideas for their writing.

Popplet is a tool which allows users to visualise their thinking and ideas. Teachers and students can create graphic organizers, timelines and many other forms of visual organizations. A strength of this tool is the ability for students to collaborate but also present their ideas in a format that is easy to understand.

At the end of the lesson, I received some positive feedback from Mayleen. She identified that my lesson covered majority of the ALL strategies; front-loading, visual learning, gradual release of responsibility and double-dosing. I took this feedback very positively and I felt it was a 'shoot for the stars' moment. I noticed I was more critical about my lesson through our discussion. Identifying areas I thought I could better rather than celebrating the positives.

Cycle 2 - A.L.L Whanau Hui

This afternoon Poto, Mary, Natalia and myself (Cycle 2 teachers) hosted a Whanau Hui for the families of students selected to be part of ALL intervention - cycle 2.
The purpose of the Whanau Hui is to inform families of the intervention and explain to them why their child was selected.

I further explained the difference between ACCELERATION vs REMEDIATION.

During this hui, I was able to share some of the success stories from cycle 1. After explaining to the whanau the process of conducting a gap analysis and identifying the learning needs for the students, I provided them with examples of students' writing pre-intervention versus their writing post intervention.

Although we did not have ALL the families attend, we had a great turn out and it was great to see students, families and ALL teachers in one whare.

ALL Staff meeting @ GTS!

Today I ran a staff meeting about ALL (Accelerated Learning in Literacy).

The purpose of the staff meeting was to help teachers develop an understanding of the intervention and to share some of the successes I've had with my ALL group.

The discussion points I had planned were:

• The Purpose behind ALL/What is research saying?
• What is ALL?
• ALL Strategies
• How it relates to the NZC - Literacy Learning Progressions
• Brief sharing of successes in Room 11
• Reading activity for teachers 
• Kahoot Quiz about today's meeting

The feedback that I got from my colleagues and management after my meeting were very positive. The teachers had a better understanding of the ALL intervention programme. The teachers saw the connection between ALL and ALiM and were amazed at the successes made within the ALL group.

Here are the slides from my ALL staff meeting.