**Final thoughts for 2023...

Goals/Targets

• I aspire to use the opportunity of gaining AS CoL to mentor the teaching and learning of teachers and students in our cluster - with a specific focus on Culturally Responsive Pedagogies and the transition of Year 8 students into High School.

How can I measure that?

• Considerable experience working with GTS colleagues and Y7&8 students - also have worked with colleagues from a couple schools in our cluster (GI, Glen Brae & Ruapotaka School), to assist students’ transfer from primary to secondary learning by boosting their readiness, engagement, agency and confidence.

• My experience has helped me understand that most of the content as well as the methods of our formal education systems continue to be based on western rather than indigenous methodologies. This is what drives me to believe that teachers of Pasifika learners should continue to implement the Culturally Responsive Competencies into their practice, if they - and their students - are to succeed.

So what? 

• I believe I have the experience and the ideas for making a success of this role in 2024. It will allow me to contribute and innovate in a way that could be a game changer in our cluster and ultimately contribute to helping bridge the gap between Primary (Year 8) and High School (Year 9 and 10) learning for Manaiakalani learners.

Blog post #15 - Monitoring - Checkpoint #2

We've entered the term of Assessments.

Right now, is where I share some Quantitative Data on shifts that were made in my team of students and teachers.

Before sharing the data, I just want to highlight the shifts/changes in practice we've made so far this year. 

1. Reading Programme - Collaborative Approach in teaching and grouping of learners.
2. Implementation of RPI resources/Ideas
3. Taskboards instead of Tumbles
4. Mahi Tracker - for students to link their work
5. Teacher Workbook - includes assessment data for students throughout the year, teacher reflections & observations from lessons

Everything listed above played a part in the intervention this year. What I am looking for now are shifts from BOY data and EOY (in all areas)

Reading Comprehension & Vocabulary:

Writing:

Maths:

Bursts & Bubbles 2023

My Inquiry focus for 2023 is: 

WOULD A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING AND LEARNING INCREASE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND READING DATA?

What was happening for my learners?

• My learners were both teachers and students. Our current reading programme at the time was ok but we needed a change.

What evidence do I have to support this?

• In Term 1, my team and I worked in our school hall due to class renovations. Obviously, this meant my teacher practice had to change. MLE wasn’t new to us, we’d heard about it and we’d visited some MLE schools, but to teach in an MLE environment, that was new to us. We were in one big space with 75 kids and 3 teaching.

• We thought we could continue with the usual timetabling schedule we had in our single cell classes…one week later? It flopped…groups were too big, kids weren’t engaged, teachers were exhausted.

What changes did I make?

• We sat and re-grouped our students - where we teach students from all 3 classes.

• Our students are learning through a collaborative approach.

• We included RPI resources into our Reading programme 

•  Our Teacher Practice was constantly evaluated, driven by this new approach to learning.

• We referred to the pillars of practice document guidance of our reading programme, we created interactive taskboards, a digital teacher work-book, a tracking sheet for students to link their work into etc

• We sat termly e-asttle tests to monitor and track learning progress with the RPI intervention.

Some literature that helped me along the way were:. 

• Literature I used can be found on my blog.

The hardest things for me to change was:

• My practice…Being part of the RPI programme, you are constantly reflecting on a daily to ensure that you’re applying what you’ve learnt the Reading Practice Intensive in the classroom.

• Ensuring the students a reading for enjoyment, that they’re aware of the ground rules for talk, that my teams groupings are flexible, that we read like writers and write like readers and we provide our students with effective feedback and feed forward and we provide opportunities for Higher order thinking learning.

My wonderings?

• Much of what drives me as an Educational leader is a commitment to the well-being of students and positively engaging with them in a culturally responsive way.  Students value those who 'hear them out' and make an effort to understand them. Could this relational pedagogy help when they transition from Y8 to Highschool?

• How can I ensure that the knowledge and understanding my Y8 learners leave GTS with, is maintained and cared for in Y9?

• Why is there a drop-off in Y9?

• Could a collaborative approach to teaching and learning be effective in Y9?

For my EOY results - check out my blog :)

Blogpost #14 Monitoring - Checkpoint #1 - Shifts in my practice.

 So far, so good.

With the implementation of RPI resources into our reading programme this year, we've noticed a shift in engagement and excitement from our students. 

We have continued with the collaboration approach to learning that began in Term 1 when my team were teaching in an MLE environment. I think the change was needed. I went from being very anxious and nervous about it, to receiving positive feedback from colleagues and management. Upon returning to the classroom, my team and I decided to continue with it. Why put an end to something that we know is working?

Anyhow, so far we have successfully continued to include a few of the RPI resources into our reading programme. We have also successfully created x2 e-asTTle reading tests, as a check-in to how it's going so far. We sat one in Term 1 and our most recent one was at the end of Term 3.

Something I'd like to share is the shift in our task boards. In Terms 2 & 3, our reading task boards looked different - each group had a slide that had must-do activities, a create activity and independent work. It was great to start with but after a term of using it, we found it quite time consuming working on it and had better plans for Term 4's task board.

Our task board for Term 4, is much more manageable. The guided reading sessions/texts are still differentiated but we felt one board was enough for all 3 levels. We still had our Money must-do's, we had our independent activities and we also linked in our guided reading session texts. Students can view the texts before the lesson but as for the teacher notes, we kept that locked. We also included a new tool called 'Mahi Tracker" where students would link their completed work into so we could check it at the end of the day.

***Observation - Sandhya from GI Primary

 Today I was fortunate enough to pop into GI Primary and observe Sandhya teach Reciprocal Reading. She heard through the grapevine (colleague Vila) that apparently I teach a good RR lesson :) 

Anyhow, I walked into the classroom feeling quite honoured that she thought I was good enough to observe her. For me, I took it as an opportunity of learning because teachers implement things differently in the class. I really enjoyed how Sandhya executed it in her class. Yes, it can be quite difficult when one has a huge range of learning needs in the classroom but she managed this quite well.

My takeaway was definitely the 'Extended Discussion' part. Sandhya has a really big Level 3 group that consists of about 2/3 of the class. She seats them in groups of 5 (15 learners), they read the text together and after each page, they discuss in their groups what the page was about. Then, summariser from each group will share back their discussion.

Post discussion, Sandhya shares a template with each learner, this doc also works as a graphic organiser. There's a box for each RR role, questioner can write in their questions, clarifier can write in their list of words from the text (that may have needed clarifying), Predictor writes in their predictions etc.

It was a first time for me to see it taught this way. As mentioned before, teachers learn about the programme but we take it and implement it in a way that best fits our learners.

Blogpost #13: Intervention Tools - RPI Resources and Ideas

 

A huge drive in our Reading Programme this year has been the implementation of RPI resources and Ideas into our teaching and learning. Being the mentor teacher for our 2 teachers in the RPI programme has helped with the consistency of running it.

Here are some snapshots of some of the RPI learning by the mentee teachers and we have implemented in our teaching for the term. These were also some of the favourites for our students:

 

- Vocabulary activities to help with decoding words

- Word Consciousness activities

- One Shot Film - a unique way of promoting the book you are reading.

- Figurative Language in our Writing to make our writing more effective and appealing to the readers. To also help with painting a visual image in the readers minds.

Upon discussion with my team, we have decided to dedicate at least a week each next term to what has been covered in RPI. Some of those ideas are: 

• Great Beginnings Writing
• Figurative Language 
• One Shot Film
• Creating visual representation of the book we read
• Levels of Thinking - Literal, Interpretive & Evaluative
• Word Associations

Blogpost #12: Intervention Tools - changes implemented in teacher practice...(Teacher Workbook)

 Thanks to the RPI intervention, we gained a thorough and more in-depth understanding of what a Teacher workbook should consist. We were given an example of a Teacher workbook, teacher modelling book etc. 

As a team, we agreed that it was too much to have different documents. As a teacher, we like to work 'smarter, not harder', so we decided to combine the 2 and title it TEACHER WORKBOOK. In this google spreadsheet, we also have an achievement data tab that includes learners achievement data for reading, from all their assessments between the beginning of year and end of year. This helps us teachers track and monitor the learner and the progress they make throughout the year.

For every couple of weeks, we have a tab that has the learning intentions, deliberate acts of teaching and a column that allows us to reflect on how the lesson went and what we have observed during our guided reading sessions.

These changes have really helped me and my teacher practice around reading. I feel more efficient and I have evidence of the teaching/learning that takes place when I see the students. I also have a 'one stop shop' where I can easily access data for learners and teacher observation anecdotal notes. This will also help me with report writing. Even if parents request to an appointment to check in on their child's learning, the teacher workbook is sufficient enough.

Blogpost #11: Intervention Tools - changes implemented in teacher practice... (Reading Taskboards)

One of the main changes we made to our Reading Programme in Team Tui, was the introduction of Taskboards. The benefits of taskboards include:

• Key Elements that support Reading as Core to Learning
• Instruction and learning is linked, clear and explicit learning intentions
• Guided Teacher time and independent time to grow good readers (e.g left to right Monday 'Must-Do's' includes a Reader Interest Survey and 'Activity for Choosing a Good Fit Book'; weekly choice board; and Guided Reading time with the teacher twice a week
• Learners are also developing their discussion skills about topics related to their reading (and for a cross-curriculum task linked to the reading of graphs in LCS/Inquiry).
• Teacher Notes also include achievement data for each student. This allows teachers to track the students progress throughout the year. It also has a tab that allows us to reflect on and also have a list of learning intentions we could pick from throughout the year.

Blogpost #10: Intervention Tools - changes implemented in teacher practice... (Team Tui Collaborative Learning Site)

Thanks to RPI - our team have had an exciting experience with Reading this year. This opportunity has enabled us to make some effective changes to our Reading Programme and has resulted in some great student output, better teacher practice and teacher/student engagement.

Some of the exciting changes we made along the way and through the course of this intervention was our decision to cross-teach our Senior students this year. Part of the reason for this, was because we started the year off sharing one learning space - Our School Hall, while our classes were being renovated. This prompted us to use an MLE approach of teaching, which we believe was really successfully. 

We moved back into our single cell classes for the beginning of Term 2, but we continued the MLE approach of team teaching and cross-grouping. This resulted in creating a learning site for the team as a whole, rather than individual classes.

Through this site, the kids can access learning resources from Term 1 till now. This encourages REWINDABLE learning and gives access for the learners to go back through what has been taught earlier in the year. If they feel the need to refresh on a math or reading strategy, or go through the structure of a particular writing genre, all can be accessed through the learning site.

Blogpost #9: CoL Teacher Inquiry: Causal Chain

Our task before the next CoL meeting was to create a causal chain to structure our thinking in regards to our intervention and to understand more deeply what we can do as a result in a shift of student achievement. Also, to share this causal chain on our blogs. Here is my causal chain that summarises my inquiry so far and begins to layout a plan for my intervention in Term 3.

I have zoomed in on this part of my causal chain as it highlights key aspects of my intervention and my plans for Term 3 onwards. Creating this causal chain gives allows me to monitor and track my inquiry. It also allows me to visualise where I want my students to be at the end of the year and what learning (student and teacher) will gain from this.

A key part of my inquiry is setting up a 'vocab wall' in class and to ensure my mentee teachers do the same. This was recommended through RPI. I also endeavour to plan opportunities for my learners to build their confidence in asking questions and seeking clarification of vocabulary meaning.  

Blogpost #8: Professional Reading

Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped you form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning.

#1: Reciprocal Reading Intervention

Hunch: If I encourage my students to do more active reading such as making predictions, asking questions and making connections then this will lead to improved comprehension.

Reciprocal Reading is one of the strategies I use in Guided Reading. Why? Because I like how the strategy allows the students to become teachers in their groups. I like how RR has roles that students can act upon, such as; big boss, clarifier, summariser, questioner and predictor. Students take turns leading a role throughout the course of a term. RR is also a good strategy if you're wanting to teach 'Extended Discussions'. The roles come with prompt cards that have sentence starters. They can use the sentence starters to prompt good quality discussions in the groups.

RR encourages students to think about what they are reading and their thought process. It allows students to collaborate with each other to gain a better understanding of the text. RR teaches students to be actively involved in monitoring their comprehension and to ask questions during reading.

#2: Extended Discussion

Hunch: If I provide opportunities for an extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation it will help my students gain more confidence and improve their thinking skills.

Providing students with opportunities to participate in effective discussions regarding the meaning or significance of a text is a way to improve reading comprehension. Effective discussions include constructing comprehension and investigating outcomes both through cognition, relating what one knows, and listening to what others have to say.

Using RR in my GR helps foster opportunities for extended discussions. Students who are often quiet and reserved in the lessons now have a role they're expected to facilitate in the group. I have never had to force a learner take up on a role or have I had a learner decline it. My learners enjoy the connection and conversations that take place when we have run with the RR strategy.

#3: Guided Reading

Hunch: If I discuss the vocabulary related to the text prior to my Guided reading session, then they will find it much easier to understand the text.

This reading talks about how Guided Reading is made up from 3 main parts:

1. Before Reading Discussion

2. Independent Reading

3. After Reading Discussion

Guided Reading is informed by Vygotsky's (1978) ZPD and Bruner's (1986) notion of scaffolding. The practice of GR is based on the belief that optimal learning for a reader occurs when they are assisted or guided to read and understand a text with limited guidance. GR allows students to practise and consolidate effective reading strategies. The teacher guides or scaffolds their students as they read, talk and think their way through a text.

Something new my team and I have introduced this year is 'Monday Must-Do's'. This includes a vocabulary activity. We use Monday to front-load the learners with vocabulary that feature in their texts. They unpack the vocab using word pyramids, where they have to identify the word, its definition, synonyms for the words and use the word in a sentence. That way, when the session with the teacher occur throughout the week, the learners have equipped themselves with understanding of key words.

*All of the above readings were carefully chosen because of it's relevance to my inquiry. Under each link, I included my hunch.

Blogpost #7: Stocktake of My Inquiry so far...

• Have I used a range of sources/ tools/ evidence about what teachers understand and do?

• Longitudinal reading achievement data (BOY and EOY, including previous years)

• Pillars of Practice Tool (Image below)

• Reading Practice Intensive Resources

• Sheena Cameron Resources

• Learning Progressions

• Students Assessment Data

• Do I understand their strengths at least as much as I understand their areas for development?

• Student learner profiles

• Teacher Notes that include student data

• Have I developed a strong profile of their achievement based on sound theories from a range of relevant sources?

• As a team, our goal is to move the students achievement closer to the norm line and to achieve bigger norm diff gains.

• Identify THREE measures you could use pre- and post- to compare students’ learning before and after your intervention.

• Reading Planning (from BOY to EOY)

• Pillars of Practice tool (with anecdotal notes)

• Teacher Reflections

• What opportunities have presented themselves during this time to innovate and collect evidence of students’ learning?

• RPI has sparked a burst of 'learning' amongst my team. It's brought back the excitement for planning Reading. The resources and ideas that are shared during RPI sessions have prompted changes that we have implemented. We have reading task boards for each group, our teacher notes actually make sense now, the independent activities consolidate the reading strategies and more. We're currently planning what our Vocab Wall is going to look like. Student engagement is evident and the urgency to complete their reading tasks is becoming a consistent reputation.

**Observation - Vila Cheng from GI Primary

 This term, I am covering an AS CoL teacher (in cover for Amy who is on maternity leave). With this role comes responsibilities of making contact with teachers from other schools in the cluster and supporting them as best as I can.

I reached out to the schools in the cluster via email and I received a response from Vila from GI Primary. She wanted to come and observe me teach Reciprocal Reading. Fortunately, my reading programme was taught through RR at the time with a focus on extended discussion. 

Last year we received RTLB support with how to teach Reciprocal Reading, but in previous years, we were fortunate enough to pop into PBS and observe Robyn and Kiri in action. Best team to observe. To this day, I still use the resource Robyn shared with me on RR.

Blogpost #6 - Hypothesise & Research continued...

Explain how some of the data you have used to build a profile of the students’ learning will be used as baseline data at the end of the year.

Some of the data I have collected to build a profile of the students' learning are:

1. PAT Reading Comprehension
2. PAT Vocabulary
3. Student Voice on a Padlet
4. Probe Reading Test
5. RPI Learner Profile (from beginning of year)
6. Teacher Observations during Guided Reading
7. Completed Follow-Up tasks and Independent activities from Reading
8. Whanau Voice (from our school Talanoa evening). We listened to our whanau and their stories. They voiced how important Education was for them and all identified what they wish for their child to accomplish this year.

Listed above are the different measures of DATA I looked at to help me form my inquiry for 2023. Results from PAT assessments are from end of 2022 and beginning of 2023. The padlet consists of student voice from one of my reading groups. I have used the most recent assessment results and trust that they serve as a sufficient point of reference prior to the intervention.

I feel I have looked at various measures of data to build an accurate profile of my students and their learning in Reading.

Blogpost #5 - Hypothesise & Research

-Share your findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each findings:

Reading became a focus because of what the DATA said. Using students assessment results from EOY 2022 and BOY 2023, Reading stood out as a learning area that most students scale score was under the norm. 

At Glen Taylor School and in our team (Y7&8 learners) alone, learners from an Asian, Maori, Pasifika and MELAA background were scoring under the norm, compared to our European learners who scored above the norm. This could be down to a lot of reasons, such as; our non European learners are multi-lingual and have a first language other than English. 

I also created a PADLET to gain some student voice around Reading. Their likes/dislikes about it, what books they prefer to read and what I can do as a teacher etc and here is a photo of their responses.

RPI was ready for launching in the beginning of 2023, two of our teachers were signed up, and I was asked to be their mentor teacher. Fortunately, the two teachers are from my team, which made it easier. RPI is a Reading Practice Intensive that provides teachers with support to acquire content and practice knowledge to influence high quality reading outcomes for learners.

My intervention this year is the implementation of RPI; it's resources, tools and teacher practice knowledge to influence high quality reading outcomes for all of Team Tui.

Blogpost #4: Discussion with SLT and catalytic Issue of learning

Following on from my blogpost #2...

Upon discussions with SLT, we agreed that my focus will be on the Reading Practice Intensive. I am a mentor teacher for two teachers in my team, who are part of this programme. My role is to support my teachers build their capability through RPI, ensure they have access to up-to date practice content during our meetings and watch the impact this intervention makes on their wider practice and eventually improve learning outcomes for our learners.

READING continues to be an area of weakness in the cluster and within our school. 

If you look at the graph below for our writing data, learners from our Y7-8 cohorts are at, above or very close to the norm. You can see it's quite complex to distinguish the norm line from the Maori, Pasifika and GTS data. To me, this is a good sign.

Whereas, with our reading data, there is a wider gap for our Maori and Pasifika Y7-8 learners between them and the national norm. You'll notice the dotted norm line is higher.

We decided as a team that content and practice knowledge acquired through RPI will be implemented in all our classes. Consistency is key! As a team, we run on a collaborative model. We plan and teach collaboratively and it only makes sense that I too, incorporate the tools and methods my mentee teachers are expected to use.

The group of learners we wish to focus on, are all our students, but with a close eye on our Maori and Pasifika learners.

We hope that the RPI programme will enable us to make a difference in the learning this year and show a shift in our end of year reading data.

Blogpost #3: Summarise the challenge of student learning

For my 2023 inquiry, I am choosing to focus on Reading. This learning area continues to be an area of weakness at school and within the Manaiakalani cluster. For the last couple of days, I have been looking at some of the data from Edpotential. I specifically looked at our school report, to identify data from our students recent PAT Reading Comprehension assessment then went and looked at the cluster reports.

Figure 1. PAT Reading Comprehension Mean Overall Score by Year Level & Ethnicity (specifically Maori, Pasifika, Glen Taylor School and Norm highlighted)

In the graph above, I specifically wanted to look at Maori and Pasifika data. Why? Because the dominant demographic at our school are Maori and Pasifika learners. I am choosing to focus only on the year level I teach, which are Y7&8. As seen on the graph, you can see progress made by the learners from T1, 2022 to T1, 2023 for both Pasifika and Maori groups. 

The image below shows more clearer picture. As a classroom teacher and a team leader for the Senior school and a focus on Maori and Pasifika students, I want to ensure that the progress continues for our learners. The mean overall score for Y6/7 and Y7/8 is is higher than it was in T1 of last year.

According to our Principal, for the Y6-Y7 cohort/group (3rd graph), we only have 1 student identified as Maori in that cohort and was probably absent on the day of assessment, hence why there is no data for Maori for that group. 

In any ideal world, we would all love for our students to be at or above the national norm, but it isn't an easy journey. After further unpacking of the students data, our team got together to identify a goal for reading for the year.

For reading, we want our data for term 1, 2024, particularly our Y6-Y7 cohort, we will work to gain a norm difference of plus 5 (i.e. 13 in total). From their PAT assessment, we have identified the need of a focus on inferencing and vocabulary (refer to graph below).

Overall, student data indicates that we are adding value and closing the gap for writing, less so in reading and maths (school and cluster wide). The questions remains, WHY? Perhaps moderation and teacher judgement plays a role in identifying next steps vs gaps in teaching areas contributing to less movement in maths and reading; perhaps students are more motivated in writing and the steps required for advancement more clearly more communicated than, say, those indicated by the maths matrices and/or more group focused (contributing to that vexed issue of heterogenous vs ability based groups - with the caveat that even ability based groups contain a mix of learning needs. 

Professional Reading #2 - Building creative thinking in the classroom: From research to practice

 Title of Book/Reading/Study Programme

International Journal of Education Research: Building creative thinking in the classroom: From research to practice

Link to Reading

Author/s or Lecturer/s or Speaker/s

- Emma Gregory, Mariale Hardiman, Julia Yarmolinskaya, Luke Rinne (2013)

Synopsis

Classroom instruction often overlooks the importance of encouraging and explicitly teaching students to think creatively. Yet classroom learning offers an ideal opportunity for students to master content knowledge and to creatively apply that knowledge. a skill important for success in any environment. Literature on creativity is reviewed with a focus on findings that inform how creativity can be taught. Reviewers argue that some changes in the ability to think creatively arise due to factors that are directly manipulable in the classroom, whereas other changes stem from increases in capacities of cognitive function. 

Motivation

Doing this reading as part of our CoL PLG this coming Thursday. I think it was quite lengthy and very wordy, but definitely had some ah-ha moments and highlighted some key points I felt was relevant and resonated with my practice.

4-5 Quotes I resonated with:

1. ...A student's ability to creatively apply information they have learned, is best supported when creative thinking is taught in tandem (having two things arranged one in front of the other) with subject matter content, rather than in a standalone way, divorced from content...
2. Content knowledge has been argues to be the foundation for creative thinking and innovation...creative thinking cannot occur unless one has first mastered a body of content knowledge
3. ...educators must give students opportunities to flexibly apply content knowledge; it appears that this can be accompanied by offering students active learning experiences...
4. ...teachers should include learning that is hands-on and experience-based to motivate students, supply sufficient information and experiences...
5. Knowledge gained through experience allow children to construct mental models

How will it help me? How has it helped me?

I found this to be a very complex reading. I had to re-read it multiple times to actually understand what it was about. I felt this reading was relevant because it highlighted that classrooms in which teachers fostered student creativity, saw student achievement gains. It emphasised the processes and mental models behind the teaching and learning of CREATIVITY. Educators must give students opportunities to flexibly apply content knowledge and build that knowledge through active learning experiences.

So What?

I think our school is on a roll with this concept. Our learn, create, share pedagogy provides learners with the opportunity to drive their learning and experience 'lightbulb moments and learning pits' along the way. To explore, discover and investigate areas of interest and passion. To learn the processes of inquiry and develop their own understanding of the key concepts. Our learn, create, share models were created with intent that the learners could adapt to and follow. One of the main objectives is to encourage students to "think outside the box", be CREATIVE and go forth with it. To not limit themselves to the 4 walls of the class but use the power of the internet to help them get in touch with people across the street, the city, the country and the world.

Anyhow, my takeaway from this reading is to encourage creativity in all areas of learning. With my focus on RPI this year, I can see how creativity is one of the driving factors behind the task-boards created for the learners and the activities included. 

Blogpost #1: Student Inquiry Foci for 2023...

This year my Inquiry has a main focus & a sub-focus. How this will turn out is still quite blurry but I do know my purpose.

My main focus is on the Reading Practice Intensive (RPI) where my role is to mentor 2 teachers in my team. I want to inquire into the shift in our Reading Programme and if the changes made will produce an increase in student engagement and achievement.

My sub-focus is a collaborative one with fellow CoL teachers (Dorothy Apelu, Robyn Anderson, Dianne Fisi'iahi & Amy Tofa) and looking at how we could limit the language hurdles faced in Y8-9 High School transition #WordConsciousness.

I am hoping that through RPI and the changes my team have implemented and will continue to make in our Reading Programme this year, a vocabulary list or bank of words could be generated (in collab with other CoL Kaiako), to assist our Y8 kids with their transition into Y9.

So far this year, my team and I have been working in the school hall in an MLE. We have about 72 kids and 3 teachers working in 1 space. It's been an interesting, yet positive experience. With both teachers in my team taking the RPI intensive, it only makes sense that we all follow this approach. We work quite collaboratively and plan this way too. We have implemented the reading task-board idea into our programme, it's very multi-modal, and we have teacher workbooks - this is to help us track learner progress, keep record of their levels, strengths & weaknesses and make further teacher notes about the child's learning throughout the year.

Through talanoa with my team, we identified spelling to be a weakness amongst our team. All students bring different understandings and practises to the conception of spelling. We were recommended a book called 'The Code'. Fortunately we have an expert teacher in our RT Lit team whose followed this spelling programme thoroughly in her practice. Upon rich discussion with Kate, she advised that we have the student sit the test so we can identify the appropriate rules they need to be taught. Good thing is, the rule comes with a particular spelling list. These are just one of the changes we're taking on board for 2023, to ensure our deliverance of Reading and the shift in our programme, proves to be a productive one.

Next steps:

• Have the students sit 'The Code' spelling test
• Have Kate or Amanda from RT Lit, come in to model how to teach particular 'spelling rules'
• Meet with the CoL collab teachers to further work on our inquiries and what to do this year to help with Y8-9 High School transition
• Continue to mentor my 2 RPI mentee teachers