Blogpost #9 - My Journey so far...

My inquiry is FINALLY beginning to make sense. It's like someone trying to see their reflection in murky waters.

My inquiry this year focuses on something internal, raw, real, truthful. Yes, my focus is on Identity & Cultural competencies and my inquiry questions about "Accelerated Shift" in literacy through teaching in a more culturally responsive way...BUT, it still doesn't quite hit the nail on the head with what I really want to share.

I've been a CoL teacher for Glen Taylor since Term 3, 2018. Now, in 2021, the processes are beginning to make more sense to me. You create an inquiry question, plan and hypothesise how to achieve the question, begin your investigation/study, research it and present your findings at the end of the year. Then you repeat it the following year. But I think it's more than that. It takes more than testing and data collecting to change data results of students from Pacific backgrounds. I say this, because I was one.

If I think back to my primary years, testing was based on answering questions about something I was unfamiliar with. At times, I remember I had to write about 'skiing', and I had no idea what to write because I'd never touched snow before. 

But it was in Year 8, I remember when my South African teacher organised an 'international food day' and we all had to bring a cultural dish from home to share with our Syndicates. I remember standing at the front of the hall in my cultural attire, sharing, smiling and dancing away when the Tongan flag appeared on the screen and a Tongan song was playing in the background. The next day, we were told to write about the experience. I remember getting an 'excellent' for that piece of writing. I had a smile that painted my face that whole day.

That one experience had lived with me till now. This is what I do in my class with my kids. Restoring the faith in them that they are good 'writers' or 'readers'....but through a cultural approach.

I believe the teacher holds the key. If the teacher does not change their practice, then how can we expect a change/shift in student achievement? To teach our dominantly Pasifika & Maori students, you HAVE TO make a connection, and that comes from within.

Dr Rae Si'ilata stated at our Term 1 Teacher only Day, "English can never translate the depth of our Reo & Talanoa". 

We need to encourage our learners to come into the room with the voices that have raised and taught them. Privilege the native speaker, recognise the language and cultural resources. Teach through the medium of their languages.

This is why I decided my inquiry will focus on IDENTITY & CULTURAL COMPETENCIES. Rather than focusing on 1 particular learning area, I apply this practice in all learning areas in my class but because the criteria for CoL achievement challenges expects us to choose a learning area, I decided on literacy. Literacy provides the space for expression and story telling. It enables the learner to speak from the fatu or write to 'hit the fatu'. This is why I chose literacy as my subject of focus.

As teachers, it's important you understand your own distinctiveness, identity and culture in deep and meaningful ways in order to genuinely engage and respond to the distinctiveness, identity and culture of others. For young Maori and Pacific people in NZ, research shows that the stronger our cultural identity, the stronger our wellbeing is (Hawk et al, 2002). If we embrace and strengthen cultural identity, we strengthen our wellbeing. The more we teachers understand ourselves, the better we can understand our learners.

Documents being used & how: TAPASA & TATAIAKO 

• TURU 1: Identities, Languages and Culture - 
  
  • Use experts in the class all the time - use them as experts
  • Learn to pronounce my name correctly
  • Don’t be scared to ask the kids the questions.  
  • Learn greetings in our home language
  • Watch them before school or in the playground play and interact (especially Pasifika)- how to take it into learning programme.
  • Ask what they’d be doing at church time especially celebrations
  • Pg 7: number 2, not be frightened to get pronunciation wrong and show i’ve given it a go but follow up with the question of ‘have i pronounced that right’, can you help me.
  • Be out in the carpark and talking to families in the carpark, supermarkets.

• TURU 2: Collaborative and respectful relationships and professional behaviour

• Build relationships with Pasifika communities and cultural leaders.

• TURU 3:Effective Pacific pedagogies

• Observe, listen carefully and waited longer - don’t interrupt children’s thinking.

Blogpost #6 - May Blogging - How will I use the data?

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.

Data gathered through:

1. Learner Voice Questionnaire
2. Informal Teacher Observations (Incl Observation of Student engagement)
3. Formative & Summative Assessments (PAT, Probes, Padlet, Google Forms)
4. Teacher Observations
5. Learner Profiles (Filled in by students)
6. Visuals (Photos & Video Recordings)

This year I have collected some valuable data about each of my students'. I share this information with my learners too because I feel it's really important for the students' to know where they are and where they should be by the end of the year, with the guidance of this inquiry.

I am most excited to see the data from assessments but also through teacher observations because it's raw and it's not scripted. Student/Learner Voice will also allow me to see if there has been a shift in attitude towards the above learning areas. I look forward to hearing my 6 quiet, highly disengaged boys who initially disliked the words 'Reading & Writing", share their experiences of being part of the Pashiska Boys.

Evaluation for 2020 (Bursts & Bubbles Presentation)

 The catalytic aspect of student learning my inquiry focused on this year was 

How will I change my teaching practice to ensure my learners are developing a deeper understanding of vocabulary (in Literacy)?

I identified this as my focus when I noticed

The discrepancy between reading and writing was evident in school wide data but also my class assessment data, leading me to choose reading as my focus area for my coL within school inquiry & focusing on vocabulary as it was the highlighted area of weakness in my class.

To build a rich picture of my students’ learning I used ……. (sources of evidence and data e.g. PAT reading, my own vocabulary test, student voice)

Student Voice - through google forms, padlet, interlead, literacy learner profiles from ALL intervention to collect information about students cultural backgrounds, things that were important to them, their reading interests, attitudes towards reading, what they’d like to read more of, types of texts etc

PAT Vocab results - I’d use these results to help me identify the level of understanding my students have with words.

Samples of Writing - I’d use samples of their writing throughout the year and from summative assessments to assess their standard of vocabulary used. From this, i’d know if they’ve used words correctly and words we’ve learnt and discussed during our reading sessions.

Talanoa with students’ previous teachers, themselves and their whanau - for more insight on students, id approach previous teachers

Blog posts

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase were (their strengths and needs)

Strengths - They enjoyed reading through song lyrics, reading myths & legends from their cultural backgrounds, reading about cultural superstitions, visual prompts helped them understand the text more, texts on things they liked/enjoyed & familiarised with

Needs - 3 main areas were: Vocabulary Knowledge, Decoding, Comprehension

My profiling of my own teaching showed that I had strengths in …. 

• Whole Class teaching

• Engaging students 

• Teaching my way! in a way it made sense to me

But my students would likely make more progress if 

• I provided students with explicit instructions to build vocabulary

• Creating more Cultural experiences for students to be more hands-on and actively involved in.

• Constant exposure to new key words and topic-specific vocabulary

The changes I made in my teaching were ….

• Changing my Reading programme, Implemented of Daily 5 programme and using a balanced reading structure inspired by Sheena Cameron

• Creating Authentic Learning Experiences relating to my students cultural background and using these experiences as points of Talanoa in class, enabling students to be exposed to thematic key understandings relating to our school LCS focus for 2020 which was IDENTITY

• Taught through cultural competencies framework - being aware of what was important to my students identity and using that as the hook in my practice this year

• Links to the LPF documents

• Front-loading students with keywords from the text prior to the delivered lesson

• Implemented the Sheena Cameron Vocabulary programme through my guided sessions 

• Continued to implement ALL strategies

The literature/expertise that helped me decide what changes to make was…

• The Reading Book by Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey

• Effective Literacy Practice in Y5-8

• Tapasa cultural competencies framework

• What every primary school teacher should know about vocabulary by Jannie Van Hees

• Boys in Literacy PD by Marshall Diggs

• Talanoa Framework

The easiest and hardest things for me to change were…..  

• My teacher ownership - giving more authority to the students

• Stepping out of my comfort zone and implementing a reading programme that was initially foreign to me

• Changing my practice by trying new things that I believed would help my inquiry but also be successful for my students achievement

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as….  

“Work in progress”. 

Out of my 6 target students, (L, B, C, T, G, N), 4 made accelerated progress and the other 2 made steady progress. 5 of my students are Y8’s and I can confidently say that most of them are mentally & emotionally ready for high school learning.

5 of the boys are Y8 and they are leaving school with a passion for education and have the drive to persevere with their High School learning next year.

The most important learning I made about …. (my focus of student learning) was that 

• Talanoa/Story-telling and Oral language provides opportunities for students to dialogue more, enhancing their knowledge of vocabulary in English as well as their first language.

• Authentic cultural learning experiences provides opportunities for students to read/write/problem solve - it also encourages teachers to learn more about their students identity

• If you want to hit the nail with teaching Pasifika/Maori students you need to invest time into learning about the culture they identify with and what this means to them is key.

Boys in Literacy PD - 25/09/2020

 Name of Course/Programme/Seminar:

Boys in Literacy PD

Provider/Presenter:

Marshall Diggs 

If I was to summarise the key things I took away from this Professional Development what would they be and why?

• Teach and develop Reading Strategies which invite boys to create, compete and imagine
• Teach boys these 4 strategies: Making Inferences, Making Connections, Decoding, Summarising

• Boys will read material that interests them and captivates their attention

• Boys shouldn’t be sitting for longer than their age and 10 minutes

• You can have control OR you can have growth, but you can’t have both

• Your greatest contribution at school is not what you can teach - it’s WHO YOU TEACH

How has this professional development challenged my thinking?

• This PD was a reminder about the importance of knowing my learners.
• Use to my advantage the positive relationship I have with my boys as the stepping stone of really making a difference with their learning in literacy
• It hasn't changed my thinking - it's reaffirmed my thinking - particularly around the strategies I should be teaching in Reading. From the Sheena Cameron PD, earlier in the year, I had identified similar strategies as the NEED in my classroom. Today's PD confirmed I'm on the right track.
• Reminder that boys think, learn and work differently to the girls
• Move away from the traditional 'Writing genre teaching' and empower boys through engaging tasks that involve boys to write about facts, competition, humour, survival, conflict, adversity etc
• Inspire boys to WRITE through learning experiences - i.e the flying teabag experiment (Concrete Prompts for an Abstract Task)

What aspects of my practice would I consider changing as a result of this professional development and why?

• Some aspects of my literacy programme - include more warm-up games such as word association, Buddy A & Buddy B, Walk & Talk, Tap & Read
• Use videos to prompt writing
• Word Banks are effective when wanting students to remember key vocabulary (I had started this after the Sheena Cameron PD)
• Subtle Praise
• Boys shouldn't be sitting longer than their age + 10 minutes - so encourage them to walk about the class and elbow shake others or play the finger/palm game as little brain breakers
• Boys in Literacy PD 2020

 

Professional Reading #3

 Title of Book/Reading/Study Programme

The Reading Book

Author/s or Lecturer/s or Speaker/s

Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey

Synopsis

• Explicit teaching of Reading is important at all levels
• Reading for pleasure, Reading to support Writing, Reading to Learn
• Work to ensure students develop a love for a Reading and a love for Oral Language and Vocabulary
• Do a lot of Shared Reading with Year 7 & 8
• Reading Process - Critical Thinking, Cracking the Code (Decoding), Comprehension
•  

Motivation

• This Reading Book has helped re-ignite my passion for teaching Literacy. It started from the PD (beginning of Term 3) and since then, my planning for literacy has improved. It makes sense, I am more motivated to teach literacy and I have implemented changes into my planning and my teacher practice.
• I am CONFIDENT that with the changes/interventions I have in place, that my students will make great progress, come end of year assessments. I have more structure to my planning, I have goals in place and have belief that it's working in my class.

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

• This book has been a pivotal tool in my change of practice in literacy, particularly in Reading. In Term 3, I introduced a structured reading programme that includes modelled reading, shared reading, guided reading and independent reading.
• I have seen engagement from students that were disengaged from reading and hated the subject. Two students in particular would always claim they couldn't read any material whatsoever and would often ask me to read it for them. From Sheena's book + PD, she encouraged using song lyrics as a resource and use it to teach inferencing. I'd introduce the goal (WALT) through my shared reading lesson and continue it in the guided lesson. The inferences made by these students who claimed to not be able to read, was astounding. I highlighted parts of the lyrics for each student to infer. Responses from our discussions were recorded in the modelling book.
•  
  
  
  
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So What?

• Having a structured reading programme and following it consistently has been very effective. If this is the result from having changed my practice a term ago, I can't wait to see the difference it continues to make over time.
• Yes, having a structured programme has been a positive change, but I believe including Pasifika cultural competencies in my practice has contributed to the success also. For example, demonstrating awareness of my learners identities, cultures and languages underpins the way they think and learn. Having positive and respectful relationships enhances learning and well-being for my Pasifika students. Inclusion of effective pedagogies for my Pasifika learners such as Talanoa, celebration of language weeks, authentic learning experiences such as making an 'umu, roasting a pig on the spit or making a hangi are moments in time the learners' will celebrate and remember forever.

Blogpost #7 - Plan and conduct detailed inquiry...

Plan and conduct detailed inquiry into specific aspects of your current teaching that are relevant to the hypotheses you identified in the literature.

Prior to lockdown, I decided to implement the Daily 5 reading programme in my class. It took me 6-7 weeks to set-up before launching it. It's been a success so far, the students enjoy the independence of selecting which daily 5 task they complete and in which order, in addition to the blocks I will be working with them.

However, I still felt like something was missing. I wasn't clear myself on what I wanted to see. But personally, I didn't feel the spark or the connection between my inquiry, what I had implemented and my students learning progress. I decided to approach other teachers in the CoL cluster for some insight, they suggest implementing dual language texts in my sessions, did that. Yet, I still felt the same.

Current Strengths:
After seeking some feedback from colleagues and other CoL teachers on planning, implementing an integrated curriculum and inquiring into a different approach for teaching literacy, I've identified the following aspects as strengths in my practice

- Being culturally responsive to my learners
- Inclusion of student voice
- Planning format changed (Merged aspects of ALL intervention + A balanced Reading programme by Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey)
- Clear learning intentions - student speak
-Respond to student voice and ideas
- Try something new - having a clear structure for my reading programme
- Integrated curriculum (cross-curricular approach) - ie. Celebrating events that provide authentic learning experiences for the students (Our Samoan Language Week, Ancient Egyptian Studies, Matariki - refer to slide below for evidence of work created by the students)

To date, I am pleased with the progress my Literacy Champs have made, especially during and after lockdown. I have seen an increment in engagement and student output. Although guided sessions have been minimal, I am still looking for a structure or proper reading programme to follow. Yes, Room 11 follows The Daily 5 reading programme, but I know and feel there is room for improvement.

From the literature I've read, I plan to continue adapting the method of TALANOA. I believe it creates unique opportunities for my students to engage, interact and communicate in a way they familiarise with, including talanoa in their first language. Taking into consideration my target students ethnic background, the group consists of dominantly PASIFIKA and MAORI students. The Pasifika way is spoken rather than written, based on oratory and verbal negotiation which have deep traditional roots in Pasifika cultures. Talanoa for Pasifika inquiries and researches will make available more valid and authentic information than other methodologies (Vaioleti, 2006)

Areas for Development: 
I hope to provide my students with more opportunities to recognise the vocabulary of literacy success. I also plan to have video recordings of a typical literacy lesson in my class where talanoa takes place, in hopes it captures students learning new vocabulary while in dialoague, or when completing follow-up tasks or independent activities.

I'm on the look out for a structured programme that is effective, easy to follow and makes sense to me. Right now, DAILY 5 feels like its only one piece of the puzzle. I am currently looking at the Reading Book by Sheena Cameron for some ideas. So I hope that provides me with the other piece to the puzzle i'm looking for.

I also plan to continue my talanoa with other CoL teachers who are working on the same achievement challenge and have a conversation about strategies that might be working well for them.

Blog post #4: Collecting of Evidence and Data

Begin to collect evidence and data and come to the next session ready to share your preliminary findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge i.e. using your baseline student data and evidence

Collecting Data and evidence has been at a steady pace because of lockdown. However, student work output provides some form of evidence of students work ethic and abilities.

I started collecting evidence by using the Literacy Learning Map document. This was provided by our ALL intervention facilitator. Using this information, I converted it into a google form Learning Map - Google Form (as did my fellow CoL teacher Poto Faalili), and invited the students to complete this to provide me with some background knowledge on their interests and what their thoughts are about literacy.

Due to Lockdown, I feel like my inquiry came to a halt. It was the fear of not knowing how to go about things because was use to be normal (assessments, in-class observations, 1 to 1, guided sessions) is no longer normal. Virtual learning is now the new normal.

However, in hindsight, I plan to use the following to collect data and evidence from:

1. Literacy Learning Map/Google Form
2. Student Blogs
3. Student Home Learning Site (This was an expectation for my class to create during lockdown. We are planning to use it for the remainder of Term 2)
4. Student Work Output (looking at the quality of the work they have produced)

Blog #3: Tools, Measures & Approaches

Blog #3 Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students’ learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools.

Inquiry Question:

How will I change my teaching practice to ensure my learners are developing a deeper understanding of vocabulary in Literacy?

Reflecting on my 2019 inquiry, I decided to continue with a focus on literacy (Reading). Shifts were made by my target students, however, there was still room for more accelerated progress. After discussing with fellow CoL colleagues and teachers from school, I decided to continue with the focus on Reading.

I've identified possible tools that will help me carry out my inquiry this year, these are:

1. A.L.L strategies
2. Integrated curriculum using the L,C,S model
3. Learner voice
4. Students' prior knowledge and experiences
5. Talanoa
6. Cultural competencies for teachers of Maori & Pasifika learners - TAPASA, He Whakaaro, Tātaiako etc

To measure the students' progress, I will use assessments (standardised testing, formative assessments, overall teacher judgement, observations etc). This will inform me of what the students' strengths & weaknesses.

I aim to include the students' in decision making when it comes to their learning, having students choose the texts they wish to wish, choose what form of delivery they wish to be taught and encourage them to read both english and first language texts.

Working alongside the students' rather than a top-down approach will build our relationship, develop trust, result in highly engaged students and hopefully produce excellent results and higher level achievement throughout the year.

My chosen few...

To get a more detailed and accurate profile of the students in my ALL group - I used a Learning Map doc. This doc allowed me to gain valuable information about my students' attitude and thoughts about Reading. This information becomes the foundation to what I need to plan.

I will also be using the A.L.L strategies such as Front-loading, Double Dosing, GRR
(Gradual Release of Responsibility) and Visual Learning.
These strategies will help assist in accelerating the students understanding of what they are
reading and what particular reading strategy they are learning.

Currently, with my target students, I see them 3 times a week. 2 of those sessions are explicit teaching and one is a 10-15 minute front-loading session. This occurs during my scheduled Reading time in class which is from 11-12pm every day. I also see my group for 10 minutes before morning tea to front-load/double dose them with what our sessions will be about.

The reading progressions is an important text I refer to when I am working with my students. The A.L.L intervention is a programme that was developed to accelerate the students. So I use the progressions to identify what my group needs to be able to do at Level 4 and I teach that, with support from the A.L.L and reading strategies.

These are some of the tools and approaches I am using with my group.

Data Analysis

Today, my fellow CoL within schools teacher, Poto and I decided to sit down and thoroughly look through our 2018 End of year assessment data.

Thoughts surfaced, wonderings came to mind and questions were asked. The discussion we had was very intriguing and informative. Here's what we found:

What did we notice:

Reading:

1. There was an increase in no. of students achieving at WELL BELOW
2. Increase in those achieving ABOVE expectation
3. Maori - achievement much lower compared to other ethnicities
4. Decrease in no. of students achieving BELOW
5. Decrease in no. of students achieving AT, but increase in ABOVE.

Writing:

1. Decrease in BELOW, but increase in WELL BELOW
2. Decrease in AT, but increase in ABOVE.

Maths:

1. Increase in BELOW and ABOVE, Decrease in WELL BELOW and AT
2. Increase in ABOVE,decrease in AT, Increase in BELOW apart from Pasifika and girls.

What judgements overtime can we make:

From the findings we discovered, we came up with many questions and discussed possible next steps for our Inquiry focus here at Glen Taylor. Some of the questions we had were:

• OTJs vs Formative assessments - what provides more insight? What is being measured?
• Did the ALL intervention in 2018 for Writing, prove to make discernible impact?
• How consistent are the teachers in evaluating formative assessments?
• What changes can we make in our Teacher practice to ensure the resources and materials we use in class are effective?
• Mixed ability grouping in maths vs ability grouping? Which is more effective?

Summary of my CoL experience for 2018

Summary of CoL Journey for 2018

Having started the CoL within schools teacher role half way through 2018, I decided to apply for the role again because it was an informative learning opportunity for me. I became more interested about Inquiring into students' learning and my own teacher practice.

Last year I had the opportunity to work with a group of 6 Year 8 boys and 1 Year 7 who were disengaged and not interested in Writing. They lacked self-confidence and self-belief in their ability to write. I implemented the Accelerated Learning in Literacy strategies of front-loading, double dosing and gradual release of responsibility into my teaching practice. I asked questions about their interests and incorporated their adoration of music and visual images into Writing.

Long story short - here are the results made by my focus group from 2018.