Reading during Lockdown

During Lockdown we took a team approach to distance learning. In order to make sure all learners had learning at/near their level we organised all five year 3/4 classes across our team into 3 groups of each subjects. 

This is our organisation for reading:

From Monday- Thursday each group has a reading task connected to one more more texts at their level. Then once a week they meet with a teacher to discuss one of these tasks and focus on specific needs of the group. During distance learning I took the middle green group. This group would have had a few of my inquiry learners however many of the learners from my class who would have been in this group did not engage in distance learning. This meant many of my inquiry group learners were in the higher turquoise Group working with Angela Moala. This is an example of weekly reading planning. This was done by our wonderful students teachers. 

This Class Onair Lesson provides an example of a reading lesson with my group who are working at a reading age of 7-8 years. 

Words are a huge part of reading

 This year my inquiry focus has been on reading and trying to accurate reading learning for children who we reading below their chronological age. 

I have made a number of changes in my teaching ready for term 4 building in the changes I made earlier in the year. 

Towards the end of term 3 I finally had a chance to test the children 1-1 on their sight words. I expected this to be a significant challenge for the learners in my target group but was surprised that for the most part sight word knowledge sat at normal level. They knew sight words up to their current reading level. There were a view gaps that I will not more specifically in a future post. 

Given this new information I started asking if its not sight words which I still could be as they need the next set to progress forwards what is it? 

We have continued to us the Dr Gwyneth Phillips work around picking up the pace in literacy and I do believe that systematic use of these has supported reading however I still asked what am I missing. 

This is when I started thinking more about Phonics. We do phonics in context in our guided reading programs but that doesn't see to be enough. I started looking at the errors children reading between level 3 and 20 were making and so much of it came down to phonological knowledge. For example children were saying single letter sounds not blends, or mixing up vowels in the middle of words. 

I have taught for almost 5 years now and have not at this stage implemented a systematic phonics program. 

So given what I have found out what next:

Every day in Room 21 we do hand writing in the morning. Now I am going to use the more systematic phonics approach to this. I am drawing on the resources from the site progressive phonics who provide a step by step phonics program for free. I choose this as it allowed me to start at the Intermediate level in which they have a strong focus on blends and use poems, flash cards, games and more to learn blends and words in order. 

I still have a lot to do and the year is drawing to a close. perhaps phonics will be the missing piece that helps these kids to start to fly in their reading. I sure hope it is. 

I have also started to provide even more milage. Milage is something I know works to build fluency, word knowledge and over all reading ability. In order to do this each day I have had a buddy reading book along side the teacher supported book. 

My hope is that this will combat some of the effects of the two lockdowns. 

Inquiry intervention

What micro changes have I made in my teaching so far:

Listening to children more one on one

This year I have made a point of listening to children reading below their chronological age one on one at least once a week. This allows me to give them specific feedback and more importantly positive encouragement. It also allows me to see needs that I could not see in a small group. 

Independent reading time

Every afternoon after lunch, I have independent reading time for my whole class. This is 10 to 30 minutes depending on focus and need of time for children to read books themselves. These range from readers, to picture books, to chapter book and non fiction books. I do limit this to physical books to support focus. In reading time children have access to digital books but during this time the focus is on reading physical books of choice. Children have suggest they like this time. I use this time to check in on my target group and listen to them one on one. 

Sight word teaching and games:

I have become much more specific in my sight word teaching. Using 1/3 of each group session to look at words. This can range for words in content, topic specific words to word families and sight words. I still have a lot of work to do in this area but have made a good start always writing words on the table. Next I want to capture this in a rewindable way so that children can go back to it. I have also introduce sight word games like jenga, sight word snap, memory and more. I want to introduce more games and get children developing their own games. 

Looking at the books closely:

I have started looking at the books closely and looking for books that provide more challenge like the ready to read books and sunshine books over the PM books. I have been careful in my selection to provide books they have not seen over and over. 

Bursts and Bubble Reflecting on my inquiry

I am excited to share my inquiry in 3 minutes at our Bursts and Bubbles. Thought, Idea, Innovation, Imagination, Inspiration



The catalytic aspect of student learning for my inquiry was gifting vocabulary across my literacy program in an effort to increase overall literacy achievement for my learners.



I identified this as my focus when I noticed that while the cluster wide and school wide data showed a need to focus on improving reading many of the learner in my learning space were struggling writer coming into year 3 writing at a 1B level.



The sources of evidence and data I used were from both the areas of interest for me and my learners. I used Star Reading data, Running records, e-asstle writing data, samples of writing taken from the learners writing books as well as my own observational notes of students reading and writing behaviours.

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase were that learners were writing very short stories that were lacking in the areas of ideas and organisation. They also struggled with decoding in reading with all 11 learners in my target groups reading at a year 1 level. While they were eager learners they often struggled to get started and to attempt unknown words in both reading and writing.



My profiling of my own teaching looking back at previous years data showed that I made  good progress in reading using my current approach. I noted however that when teaching writing I was not gifting the amount of language I suspected was enough to support vocabulary acquisition and retention in reading or writing.  This led me to think carefully about the gifting process in my teaching when the introduction of texts for reading, engaging learners in a writing experience and throughout the writing process.



The changes I made in my teaching were carefully selecting language when introducing learners to their texts in reading. I also worked on intentionally gifting language throughout the writing process and making this rewindable the use of audio clips in the explain thing activities. During my implementation I notice that writing was still short and that sight word writing was holding learners back. This is when I worked on building automaticity of sight words in context.



The literature/expertise that mostly helped me decide what changes to make were looking back at the inquiries in this area conducted by others in the past. I also drew on the professional learning from Jannie Van Hees and took the ideas she shared in CoL meeting and team meeting into my practice.



Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as interesting The evidence for this is that student achievement in reading was great with all but 2 learners making over a years progress and 2 learners making over 2 years progress. This is significant for these learners when compared their progress in previous year. While learners writing length increase this did not translate into shifts in writing level on the e-asttle test. I wonder if more regularity in implementation of approach would change the impact. 

The Key changes I have made in my inquiry

1. Summarise evidence about key changes in teaching and other factors that influence student learning.

At the beginning of the year it was clear that there was a huge need for my learners in writing and reading. See this blog post.

This need lead me to look at my practice and think about what I was doing and what changes needed to be made to address the clear need in the data. As a result I tried a number of different practice aimed at building vocabulary in literacy and building writing capacity and skill.

As a result I tried a number of different things. Looking back perhaps to many different things and nothing for quite long enough but my practice definitely changed.

Each term I made a change based on reflections on student engagement, data and need.

Early in the year, Chrissy and I worked together with a focus on building oral language and written language through connection of reading and writing with a strong focus on oral record. We did this by focusing on an element of text, setting, character and plot for 1-2 week blocks and this being the main focus of all reading and writing with an aim of building descriptive language around each element.

This is an example of the children's created character and shares the same feature as the reading activity. 

Here are some example of what this looked like. We found that well the language used within their activities was similar to that they already had and that this was not maximising gifted language the way we had hope. Gifted language was used more in writing however.

Also in Term 2 (See blog post) I looked at how I could gift more language using the digital technologies. I found myself over gifting which and the learners were so overwhelmed. I learned from this experience.

In Term 3 we had some wonderful team professional development with Dr Jannie van Hees this made me think about the things that are missing in my program. What am I doing about sight words. I started using this approach and the kids said "I like writing the little word." "I write more this time."

I also filmed this lesson for my Manaiakalani Google Class Onair.

Blogging

Blogging I back in full force. This year we have the Manaiakalani blogging app up and running and it is so exciting to see the learners blogging eagerly. I started off introducing the blogging process to a small group of learners in the class in order give them the skills and empower them to become blogging experts who other could go to for questions. 

Then I worked with kids 1-1 with the support of my expert bloggers to help them understand the process.

We are now moving into the phase in which each learner is ready to blog at different moments in time and I decided the best way to support them in this was to make the process rewindable and visible through the Cybersmart page on our class site. Salem helped me with this creating with me videos of how he blogged so that learners can follow them.


I think I my next step will be to create a photo process and QR code for the classroom wall that students can see and refer to and that links them straight to videos. This will empower them to be their own problems solve as they continue to gain confidence as bloggers.

End of year reflections

This year has been huge for me. I have learnt a lot about myself as a teacher and a co-teacher. I have found that working together being on the same page and investigating the same issues in teaching and learning. I have found that especially in reading we have made a lot of shift even though this is not the area of our focussing inquiry. 

Inquiry 

This year has been a huge year of learning for me in terms of DMiC maths and reflecting back the critical successes we have had in this area are. Children all have strong shared values around what maths looks like in our classroom. This is due to the early implementation of our class maths norms and the constant talk about them. The kids are excited to do maths, they want to talk to their friends about what they are learning and they want the problems to be hard. They don’t get upset when they do get the whole thing first time they listen and then try again. I skill have much to learn in DMiC but I feel one success is how well Chrissy and I have worked together to build our knowledge and help each other in this area well skill maintaining our own teacher voice and style. 

Other 

Reading

We are really proud of the reading shift we have seen this year. We have had most of our learners make over a years shift with half of our learners making 1.5 years or over. We feel this is due in part to our routines that encourage millage, we get kids to read every morning and take books home every night. We also believe that the discussions and creative tasks have had an impact here. Our class love reading and that love of reading is evident in their shift. 

Chart


Writing

This week we have been doing practice test condition writing for our test on Thursday. We have been talking to each child about their goals. It is so wonderful to look back at their writing at the beginning of the year and now and see so much more writing, more structure and more description, My biggest success her though are two boys, At the beginning of the year writing time would come and they would chuck their pencils and find a corner to hide or cry. Now they sit for 40 mins with everyone else and write. They write 4 sentences with no tears they just try and that is the kind of shift your feel as a teacher a shift from fear to happiness and pride. 

Inquiry update Term 3

This week I had a release day to work on my MIT (Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher). The focus for my day was to amplify my Inquiry and step up the interaction and conversation in my classroom.

As a result of this my students and I talked about the vocabulary we have been learning through our discussion based mathematics and created rewindable videos that children can watch to remind themselves of the words we have learnt.

We also learnt to use a range of discussion prompts which can been seen in my earlier blog post.

In order to make this accessible for the learners and other teachers. I created a site which makes all this visible and links to QR codes which students can scan and see a model to support them. Click here to see the site.

Please note that this is not a finished site and will continue to develop throughout the year. 

CoL Reflecting on my actions Conversation 2

As we continue to explore our inquiries it is important to look at what has worked, what has changed and for who. I have been thinking about this a lot. What is my impact and how do I really know that I am having one. Yes I know that sounds a bit strange but it is really important to me that the things I plan and run through over and over in my head are seen by the children as having the desired impact and if they are not why. 

What have I done differently:
-I have introduced frameworks for discussing the norms of mathematics in the classroom. I have intentionally been discussing this framework daily with the kids to build a knowledge of the language and develop a positive mindset for my learners. This is something I first saw in Rob Wiseman's Class.
-I have been choosing vocabulary that I know the children struggle with and unpacking it for the learners in the launch of the problems. I have been thinking carefully about the vocabulary in the follow up activities for the children to ensure that language is recycling of language.

I know that I have done something differently because we are all taking on new a approach to mathematic. I am constantly reflecting and considering What Next?

I feel that I always want to do everything but that is not reality is it. For that reason I believe that a lot of the changes that have happened have been the intended changes however there is always times where things do not go to plan.

CoL Reflection on Inquiry Conversation 1

This term we have been challenge to think back to help us move forwards and to make sure that our theories and practices are clear in our minds as we move forward into term three. At our recent CoL meeting Dr. Rebecca Jesson provided some scaffolds to help us to this effectively. 

1. I have been engaging with a range of research including the resources and models from CS unplugged,  literature on vocabulary development, Our DMiC professional learning and mentoring as well as the wonderful support from Dr. Jannie van Hees. As a result my inquiry and approaches have drawn on different pieces of this research. I have tried to include the recycling of vocabulary as this was a point the Jannie explain is very important for vocabulary retention. I have done this through the use of our class mantra and using topic specific language in our problems that we unpacked through our problem launch.

2. One thing I have noticed throughout this process is that I am testing a lot of new ideas however the data I have been collecting is mostly anecdotal. As such I am not following the research based principles as closely as I have done it past projects. I believe the elements of reflecting of self and how my action have impacted is still there however my theories have changed a modified throughout the process. I still believe that the problem is a lack of topic specific vocabulary in mathematics makes it challenging for kids to attack larger problem.

My theory is that through exposure to, use of and recycling of this language in guided and independent work in multiple contexts students will develop a deeper understanding of this language increasing their ability to solve larger problems. 

3. I have learnt so much... I feel like I have been in a state on conflict in my inquiry for two terms and I have tried so much and much of it from anecdotal evidence has worked well for a number of learner. However now it is time to collect more specific evidence and look at a group over a two week period in which I am front loading language in the DMiC launch, using specific language in the problems, providing opportunities to use a recycling the language in group discussion and independent tasks. 

Coding Fun and Frustration

This year I wanted to take on coding as one of the tool and a lenses that I used to address the issue of Mathematical reasoning and language that my learners were facing. In term one I looked at coding 'theory' with my kids. I did this through using the CS unplugged tasks and adapting them for Explain Everything on students iPads.

This term we have begun using scratch and first thing I noticed was the problem solving. Student in my class knew what they wanted to happen but they found that when they pressed run what they had coded was not what they expected. This lead to a lot of great questions and talk in my classroom as learner drew on the skills of others or tackled the problem on their own.

Well there was a lot of talk reflecting back I am skill concerned about the quality of the talk. I think for my next lesson on coding I want to draw on some of the ideas Dr Jannie van Hees shared with us and scaffold specific vocabulary which we will continue to build in our cries for help and frustration as we solve our coding challenges.

Manaiakalani Teaching As Inquiry Framework

My 2018 CoL Inquiry Focus

"Increasing Mathematical ability,  using coding to build computational thinking and vocabulary"

The Manaiakalani cluster are always working together to overcome challenges for our learners with a focus on specific achievement challenges that exist with our community of learning.  

In 2018 my inquiry will focus on the CoL achievement Challenge: 

Lift the achievement in maths for all learners in years 1-13. 

I will be using the Manaiakalani cluster inquiry framework to focus my inquiry and make my learning and teaching visible in 2018. This framework has been co-constructed specifically for Manaiakalani schools drawing on the New Zealand teaching as inquiry framework and using the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy as a guide for inquiry. 

Throughout the year I will label my blog post to make sure it is easily accessed by others. I will label them using the Learn, Create, Share structure. 

Click on this link to see blog posts organised by label-Inquiry links