Some Observations made and as well as collecting evidence and data....

My priority group is made up of a mix of Year 6 and Year 7 students. I have taught only one student last year and all others are from the other classroom. These students prefer to sit silently but all become anxious if asked to read a paragraph. With my inquiry in mind, I stepped back and watched how they interact with others when working in Reading groups. The information below indicates what I observed on this occasion.

• They were very quiet.
• They did not want to read loud and clear.
• There wasn’t much interaction between them. 
• Students did not volunteer to speak first during sharing time.

Looking at my baseline data and my observations, enabled me to think more deeply about what changes I make in my classroom, the delivery of lessons and also what changes I should consider for content-based knowledge.

After having a good discussion with Zhydah and Hevaha, I came up with some ideas and how to introduce them to my class. 

To begin with, I recorded my Guided Reading Lesson with my Priority Group. Watching the video, gave me such an honest picture of my teaching techniques and the amount of teacher talk and student talk. As such I analysed my own teaching strategies and did some reflection on my practice which is as follows:

• I used a number of deliberate acts of teaching (DATs) to scaffold so that my learners are able to understand in a better way.
• Some examples of DATs were modelling, explaining, questioning and feedback.
• 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.

Now I am going to work on my practice and make some changes so that my learners don’t get bored also I am not going to rush through the lesson as my learners do not get enough time to collaborate and reflect.

Keeping the Inquiry focus in my mind I also prepared Reading Slides that are focused on Maori and Pasifika-themed stories. I went to the Senior Resource Room to find some good journals and also Ready to Read books that are based on these traditional stories about their Islands, culture and food.