2023 CoL Teacher Inquiry: Bursts and Bubbles

I'm delighted to share my amazing journey of CoL with you all. As we arrive at the end of 2023, it's a moment to reflect on the insights gained and anticipate the possibilities ahead!

Here is a short reflection of my Inquiry Focus for 2023 and following that, there's a summary of my 2023 Inquiry in the form of a Google Slides presentation.

My Inquiry question for this year was:

Will a focus on cultural visibility and prior knowledge accelerate student confidence and capability in Reading?

By intentionally integrating cultural visibility and leveraging students' prior knowledge, educators create a more inclusive and engaging learning environment. 

I identified this as my focus when I noticed that certain students were not utilizing their prior knowledge and lacked confidence in reading or sharing their cultural stories.

To build a rich picture of my students’ learning I used the evidence and data from the PAT Reading Comprehension, e-asTTle Reading Comprehension assessments, student voice, and baseline observations. 

During the profiling phase, I noticed my target students prefer to sit silently but all become nervous if asked to read a paragraph. With my inquiry in mind, I stepped back and watched how they interacted with others when working in Reading groups. Actually, they were very quiet, did not want to read loud and there wasn’t much interaction between them.

After taking a mini-lesson with my focus group, profiling my own teaching provided valuable insights. For example:

• I used a number of deliberate acts of teaching.
• At some points, I felt that I could have asked more questions.
• Also, I should have given them enough waiting time to answer the questions.
• I did more talking as well.

The changes I made in my teaching were ….

• I am not going to rush through the lesson. 
• Conduct small group reading instruction to provide targeted support. 
• Establish clear, measurable learning objectives for my reading lessons. 

The literature/expertise that helped me decide what changes to make are summarised in my blog in detail. 

An integral part of my inquiry was an extended discussion whereby my students do predict, summarise, question, and clarify. I got this idea from Vygotsky's theories. 

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as….positive, with noticeable improvements in engagement, comprehension, and confidence. 

The evidence for my rating is that…. I have observed increased participation during discussions, greater depth in understanding demonstrated by students, and a noticeable boost in their confidence when expressing ideas and sharing their thoughts.

The most important learning that I acquired about reciprocal teaching in my class is the power of collaborative learning and shared responsibility among students.

Remember friends “Teaching with cultural responsiveness means understanding that every student is a story waiting to be heard and valued”.

Response to Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako teacher within-school role

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2024 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise.

I’m considering The Achievement Challenge 3 as an area of focus.  -Lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Māori students (both genders) in years 1-13

I’m also considering my Inquiry focus question to be around:  Can reading stamina and increased reading mileage, lead to improved performance/outcomes in e-asTTle reading comprehension/PAT assessments?

This year, my primary focus was on implementing culturally responsive teaching, emphasising cultural visibility, and tapping into my students' prior knowledge. I'm convinced that my efforts in this area have greatly benefited my learners.

• The major changes in my teaching practice included:
• Engaging in more extended discussions with my reading groups.
• Dedicating additional time to the careful selection of texts and genres.
• Implementing more explicit planning.
• Setting realistic goals for myself.

However, I encountered other significant challenges. One of these challenges was the observation that my students lacked reading stamina and reading mileage. They struggle to maintain their concentration during extended reading, and when they take e-asTTle reading comprehension assessments, they tend to quickly become disinterested and fatigued. Consequently, they often resort to randomly selecting answers.

I strongly believe that it is imperative to expose our students to a wide range of texts and genres to enhance their vocabulary, broaden their background knowledge, and elevate their overall reading skills.

What learnings from the 2017 - 2023 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking?

During the year 2022, I actively followed the blog of my school colleague, Zhydah, where I witnessed her seamless handling of her responsibilities as a Community of Learning (CoL) leader. She occasionally shared her CoL journey with us, which served as a powerful source of inspiration, motivating me to step up and take on the role of a CoL leader within our school.

Additionally, my collaboration with another colleague, Rebecca, facilitated open discussions and made it significantly easier for us to delve into our inquiry focus. The highlight of my CoL experience this year was undeniably the "Hanga Meeting." During this event, I had the privilege to work closely with Rebecca Kirby. Together, we shared our expertise in flax weaving with our dedicated team of teachers. This "create" meeting had a profound impact on my confidence level, leaving me with a sense of immense pride and happiness.

How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa?

I will mostly use collaborative pedagogy with my learners. It will be learner-centred so that they are empowered to share their thoughts and opinions freely and confidently.

I will also ensure that learning is ubiquitous and visible as well.

My inquiry will follow the learn, create and share model as I dive deeper into reading, create a structured approach to literacy that best meets the needs of my tamariki and share this teaching inquiry with my colleagues at Glen Innes School, and the wider Manaiakalani CoL. 

Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?

I explored Edpotential and read the cluster report for Manaiakalani and the school report. Our school reading data suggests that reading is an area of need. 

How would you like to be supported in 2024 as you undertake this inquiry?

I have been using a collaborative approach with my colleagues and I will continue to do so so that my work becomes more manageable. 

I am looking forward to engaging with the Manaiakalani team, and other CoL teachers in professional conversations.

Inviting CoL (AS) teachers to observe my reading class and provide feedback.

How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with THEIR inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring?

I would love to have the opportunity to share my findings during staff meetings and visit classrooms during my release in order to share my findings. Teachers from junior and senior sides are always welcome to my class and I am always willing to share my practices with them.

Evidence about the CHANGES to the intervention

As you can see my focus group is doing very well except for those highlighted students whose progress is not as expected.

Here is an update on the progress of the reading focus group, which has been underway for a specific period ( 2023 Term 1 to 2023 Term 4). My focus group has been quite successful in improving the reading skills of the majority of participating students. However, there are some students whose progress appears to be stagnant.

1. Overview of the Reading Focus Group:

The reading focus group was initiated with the goal of improving reading skills, focusing on the cultural visibility and prior knowledge that might help them to accelerate their confidence level and the capability of reading. There were altogether 8 students (4 Year 6's and 4 Year 7's). The group has been meeting regularly, and various strategies and resources have been employed to enhance their reading abilities. The strategies used include targeted reading exercises, one-on-one support, and the utilization of appropriate reading materials especially Maori and Pasifika-themed journals and stories were chosen. 

2. Overall Progress:

The majority of students in the focus group have shown significant improvement in their reading skills. Their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency have all seen positive growth. Also, I am using Reciprocal Teaching (Extended Discussion) with my Level 3 group. This has been quite popular in my Reading Class and I believe the students are enjoying it! The group's collective progress demonstrates that the focus group approach is effective in achieving its objectives.

3. Identifying Stagnant Progress:

Regrettably, some students within the focus group have experienced stagnant progress. These students, [highlighted in red], have not displayed the same level of advancement as their peers. Their reading skills have shown limited or no improvement despite my continued efforts.

4. Possible Causes of Stagnation:

To address the issue of stagnant progress among the highlighted students, it is crucial to identify potential causes:

Lack of Engagement: I felt these students were not fully engaged during my guided reading sessions. 

Home Environment: External factors, such as home environment and support, may be affecting their progress.

Attendance and Participation: Also Irregular attendance and participation may have contributed to their lack of progress.

5. Next Steps:

In light of the stagnation observed in some students, I proposed the following steps to address this issue:

Individualized Assessment: In Term 4 Week 4 I will do individual assessments for these students.

Customized Learning Plans: Those highlighted students are also going to another teacher on Tuesdays and Fridays from this Term. The teacher is working on the gaps, especially comprehension area.

Parental Involvement: Collaborating with parents and guardians to improve the home support system and reinforce the importance of reading outside the classroom.

Regular Progress Monitoring: Implementing a system for frequent progress monitoring to assess the effectiveness of interventions and adapt strategies as needed.

6. Reflection:

I invited AS CoL teacher Christine to observe my class to get more ideas as to how I can improve my teaching strategies.

Here is her feedback:

Here is the student voice:

So I'm already implementing those strategies in my Reading class. Let's see if I could see more positive changes and an accelerated shift in Term 4 assessments.

CoL Teacher Inquiry: Where am I up to?

Restate your inquiry question and your theory of action/chain of events.

My Inquiry Focus:

Will a focus on cultural visibility and prior knowledge accelerate student confidence and capability in Reading?

• To explicitly teach inferencing to help students draw conclusions and make educated guesses based on the information provided in the text and their own background knowledge.
• To give explicit instruction in comprehension strategies to help students understand, predict, summarise, question, visualise and make cultural connections to become strategic readers.
• To provide explicit teaching around extended discussion to develop students’ ability to engage in in-depth conversations about a text, sharing ideas and building upon the opinions of others.  

Describe how you will collect information about the implementation of your changed practices/intervention.

• Providing a clear explanation of what inferencing is by allowing learners to go beyond the literal meaning of the text and find the hidden meaning.

• Incorporating Multimodal learning such as visuals, audio, and hands-on activities.

• Tapping into learners’ cultural capital and selecting texts related to their culture.

• Encouraging students to activate their prior knowledge by using the KWL Chart (Know-Want to Know-Learn) 

• Teacher modelling so students know what an extended discussion looks like.

• Providing more extension activities such as analyzing short stories, poems, or more complex texts where inferencing plays a significant role.

Timepoint 2 data (shared and analysed in this blog post) was captured through:

• Informal teacher observation

• Student voice through Google forms

• Assessment (PAT & e-asTTle)

• Recording my lesson

The PAT and e-asTTle assessments were carried out in mid-term 2. I am really looking forward to seeing an accelerated shift later in Term 3 and Term 4. I believe Term 1 & 2 data collection will help me to make clear comparisons at the end of the year.

Term 3 Check-in with Students

I sent a Google form to my target students to reflect on the extended discussion that is happening in the class. Here are the responses, when they were asked how having the extended discussion chains helped their reading.

I am getting there! Collaborative dialogue taps into social learning theories. Learners can benefit from each other's experiences and insights. Peer support and feedback can be motivating and helpful in overcoming comprehension challenges.

Time point 2 Data

 

CoL Teacher Inquiry: Causal Chain

Our task before the next CoL meeting was to create a causal chain to address specific areas of concern, think about our intervention, and understand more deeply what we can do as a result of a shift in student achievement.  Here is my causal chain that summarises my inquiry so far that shows a plan for my intervention in Term 3. 

 

 I have zoomed in on this section of my causal chain as this is my current focus looking ahead to term 3.

An integral part of my inquiry is an extended discussion whereby my students do predict, summarise, question, and clarify to improve their understanding of their text and gain more confidence in sharing.

I got this idea from Vygotsky's theories (Reciprocal Teaching) which is used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting.

Formulating Hypothesis

Incorporating interactive and diverse reading activities, such as guided group discussions, storytelling, and creative writing exercises, will positively impact students' reading comprehension, critical thinking skills, and overall literacy development. As a result, students in my Reading class will demonstrate improved reading proficiency, increased interest in reading, and higher levels of academic achievement compared to those in traditional lecture-based reading classes.

As such I came up with three hunches that I have learnt so far about my students and the learning environment.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

My Inquiry so far

• Using a range of evidence, tools, assessments, student voice, and whanau voice to understand the students learning.

• Understanding their strengths and the next learning steps.

• Student voice- mid-year.

“Creativity Empowers Learning”

 

Hanga - Create 2023

On Friday, June 2nd we had our cluster Teacher Only Day at Pt England School. 

"During our Kahui Ako workshops, teachers from the Community of Learning (COL) took the initiative to share and exchange ideas on how to incorporate "create" activities in their classrooms. I have always had a great passion for weaving, and I had the opportunity to try it with my class last year. We even went to Te Oro during the Matariki celebration and engaged in more weaving with flax. Therefore, I decided that weaving with Harakeke would be the best 'create activity' to share with my colleagues during the Hanga Meeting. So, I had a chat with my colleague, Rebecca, who is a new entrant teacher at our school and is also part of the COL teachers. Knowing her passion for weaving with her little ones, I was sure she would be interested, and we embarked on a perfect collaboration for this 'create' meeting.

The slide presentation we shared with our group started with a 'Karakia' (blessing), followed by explaining the 'Tikanga' (customs) surrounding the activity. We then shared the learning intentions with our fellow teachers. The meeting turned out to be a resounding success, and Rebecca and I were thrilled because it was our first 'Create' meeting, and the teachers in the group were actively engaged, busily crafting whetu (stars) from Harakeke (flax)."

Three pieces of Professional Reading to support my Hypothesis.

Provide opportunities for an extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation

Providing students with the opportunity to participate in effective discussions regarding the significance or meaning of a text in all content areas is a way to improve reading comprehension. Teachers may guide a whole classroom discussion or monitor students as they discuss in small groups. Effective discussions may include constructing comprehension and investigating outcomes both through cognition, relating what one knows, and listening to what others have to say.

Reference: 

Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices (NCEE 2008-4027). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Teaching students with comprehension difficulties

Issues with reading comprehension occur when students struggle to understand the meaning behind words, phrases and other texts.

Signs that may indicate a reading comprehension difficulty include:

• the trouble with letter and word recognition
• difficulty understanding words and ideas
• slow reading speed and fluency
• limited vocabulary or underdeveloped oral language skills
• difficulty answering questions about or discussing a text.

When supporting students with comprehension difficulties, it is vital to understand the reason(s) behind their difficulties.

The approaches include:

• building students' vocabulary
• building students' background knowledge
• modelled reading
• shared reading
• guided reading
• reciprocal teaching
  
• close reading.

Key elements of guided reading

Guided reading sessions are made up of three parts:

• before reading discussion
• independent reading
  
• after reading discussion

The main goal of guided reading is to help students use reading strategies whilst reading for meaning independently.

Why use guided reading

Guided reading is informed by Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development and Bruner’s (1986) notion of scaffolding, informed by Vygotsky’s research. The practice of guided reading is based on the belief that the optimal learning for a reader occurs when they are assisted by an educator, or expert ‘other’, to read and understand a text with clear but limited guidance. Guided reading allows students to practise and consolidate effective reading strategies.

Retrieved from 

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/learningneeds/Pages/comprehension-difficulties.aspx

Reciprocal Teaching is a contemporary application of Vygotsky's theories; it is used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practising four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting.

Retrieved from

https://strategiesforspecialinterventions.weebly.com/reciprocal-teaching.html

How am I going to use my baseline data?

 Timepoint one data (shared and analysed in this blog post) was captured through:

• Informal teacher observation

• Student voice through Google forms

• Assessment (PAT & e-asTTle)

• Recording my lesson

The PAT and e-asTTle assessments were carried out in Week  5. I am really looking forward to seeing an accelerated shift later in Term 3 and Term 4. I believe Term 1 data collection will help me to make clear comparisons at the end of the year.

My findings about the Nature and Extent of the Student Challenge!

The challenge for my students this year is to make an accelerated shift in Reading by being more culturally visible and making use of prior knowledge that will boost confidence and capability in Reading. 

One of the significant challenges my priority group is facing is the inability to connect ideas in a text, lack of concentration during reading, needing more prior knowledge and most importantly understanding the meaning between the lines.

How to overcome these challenges?

I am trying to incorporate different ideas and thinking strategies such as Reciprocal Teaching ( Tuakana Teina), more scaffolding and providing opportunities for an extended discussion of the text. 

Some of the strategies that I have already started working on it are : 

• More structured lessons - I have made some changes in my Reading Plan such as using multimodal planning. 

• Activating prior knowledge

• Explicit teaching like using small steps to allow students to understand and practise.

• Choosing texts and activities that are appropriate and matched to their level of ability.

• Collaborative learning - I am trying to incorporate more peer learning.

• I am working on my feedback as well, trying to be more explicit.

I actually created a Workbook to keep a record of the texts and the reflections.