2023 COL Interview....

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2023 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise

The  achievement challenge number 1 - Raise Maori student achievement through the development of cultural visibility and responsive practices across the pathway as measured against National Standards and agreed targets for reading Years 1-10.

My Inquiry focus question for 2023 is: To what extent does students’ cultural capital and  their prior knowledge would impact learners shifts/achievement in Reading and Writing?

For the past 22 years I have been in the teaching field and I am proud to be a teacher who is culturally rich and has brought a wealth of cultural knowledge to the classroom. Being a bilingual, originally from Fiji, migrant in New Zealand, completed my studies in Pasifika speciality and recently completed my TESSOL program gives me a real insight into my second language learners’ dynamics.

I have to mention that GIS is a culturally responsive school. It offers a learning environment where every students’ cultures, languages and life experiences are acknowledged, validated and celebrated. Towards the end of Term one we have our cultural celebration and here we can see all our students take so much pride in their costumes and the performance. However, I have noticed that we are not making good use of this wealth of cultural diversity as this can hugely assist our tamariki’s language learning. For example, interviews with family members, assignments asking students to write about learning experiences that occur outside of school, and assignments involving family stories and traditions all can play a significant role in discovering information about a students' cultural heritage.

For instance my 9 year old daughter who is in year 6 now experiences a lot of difficulties in her Writing especially. Last year I tried my best to help her in composing her recounts and do her daily reading. This still did not help her much. But one thing she took great interest in was her weekly classical dance practice. I began to notice that she started doing research on google and youtube about her dance form, where it originated from and the way the dancers put on traditional outfits and the significance of the jewellery. In term 4 she did her e-asttle writing assessment whereby she had to write a recount about what she did really well that made her family and friends proud. Her teacher was surprised as she had recounted about her experience, proudly explaining about her dance form and giving all the finer details that she has learnt about her culture. She managed to get a 3B in her writing test, which was a big shift. 

At that point I again felt the importance of heritage language, culture and the contextual learning which is very important to our second language learners.

What learnings from the 2017 - 2022 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking.

I have watched the 2022 Bursts and Bubbles live stream and all of them were brilliant and inspired me to choose a visible inquiry that will inspire my learners to achieve their challenge. I have listened to Scott’s (Tamaki College) presentation and he reflected on local history and student engagement. He mentioned in his blog that “There is evidence to suggest that an authentic engagement with local history via Mana Whenua lifts both student interest and engagement with the stories of the past”. This finding does tell me the importance of culturally responsive teaching and how the students enjoy the stories about the past especially in their community. His Inquiry focus has inspired me in a sense that students take more pride in their cultural history and they actually enjoy knowing more from their parents and grandparents.

How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and  kaupapa?

All these years I have practised this pedagogy therefore I will use it in my lessons too. 

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. Manaiakalani reading data suggests that reading is an area of need. 

I have noticed for PAT Reading comprehension for 2021 Y5 to 2022 Y6 Maori students have made significant progress till 2022 February and then there was a slight drop. On the other hand, Pasifika students have made significant progress throughout.  With my teacher inquiry in mind I am looking forward to seeing how I can help my Maori learners to achieve their target levels and my Pasifika learners to maintain that shift and even go beyond that. Another observation I made  was that the number of children participating in a SLJ programme (in the wider Manaiakalani programme) is growing.

How would you like to be supported in 2023 as you undertake this inquiry?

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

I also believe in smart teachings like using graphic organisers and other learning tools that will help me to achieve my goal.

I am looking forward to engaging with the Manaiakalani team, and other CoL teachers in professional conversations.  I’d love to be supported to explore the research, the dynamics of culturally responsive teaching further in 2023. 

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.

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

I am looking forward to sharing my findings with my syndicate and also during staff meetings. Later in the year I would like to share my Inquiry journey with the whanau during assembly. Teachers from junior and senior sides are always welcome to my class and I am always willing to share my practices with them.

Being Cybersmart in a Learn Create Share World

 

Doing more investigation on Language Acquisition Factors!

 Language Acquisition Factors

In the paragraphs below I am going to discuss three-second language acquisition factors that have an effect on XXX’s learning. Although there are many factors that affect L2 acquisition, I will mainly focus on motivation, attitude, personality and self-esteem.

Motivation

“The most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation” (Lightbown & Spada, 1999, p. 163). Over the two years, I have observed that XXX is a highly motivated child. He tries his best to participate in all the activities and be in the limelight! According to XXX's mother, she motivates her son to study hard and always reminds him that they have come to New Zealand because she wants to give him a better education and a good lifestyle. This can only happen if XXX works hard in his studies and gets a white-collar job. The way XXX is motivated is more relevant to “Extrinsic” motivation. This type of motivation drives a person to be competitive in life and expects rewards such as money, praise or positive feedback (Khasinah, 2014). However, Brown (1994, as cited in Khasinah, 2014) states that  “researchers claim that intrinsic motivation leads to greater success in learning a foreign language, especially in a long run” (p.259). Overall, it is quite evident that XXX is motivated to acquire L2 but in long term, his extrinsic motivation behaviour might clash with his intrinsic motivation behaviour.

Attitude

XXX’s positive attitude to his target language reflects that he is a keen learner and knows very well the importance of L2. XXX’s parents attend parent-teacher conferences and participate in all school-related activities which might help XXX to progress in his learning areas. For instance, in the past years, our school participated in the Pasifika Early Literacy Project (PELP) whereby Pasifika children were given dual language books to take home and read with their whanau. To help XXX and other children in their L2 we made a large cloth bag known as a story sack that contained favourite children's books with supporting materials to stimulate language activities and make reading a memorable and enjoyable experience for everyone.  Hence, (Gardner, 1985, as cited in Khalid, 2016) states that L2 learners with positive attitudes toward the target language will learn L2 more effectively than those who lack positive attitudes. 

Personality and Self-Esteem

Over the two years, I have observed that XXX is a quiet boy who likes to stay in his own space working quietly. However, this year I have seen some changes he is more talkative during class discussions participates in extra co-curricular activities and takes an active interest in the whole school Jump Jam. To achieve something in life, a person needs some degree of self-esteem and self-confidence  (Khasinah, 2014).  For instance, our school’s focus for this year is “Mastery”. Thus, the principal asked some of the children about one thing they are going to master this term. XXX replied that he is going to master “backstrokes” during swimming class. I felt it was very impressive for him to give that type of answer. Being surrounded by supportive parents and a teacher creating the right atmosphere for learning, XXX will be motivated to master L2  (Khasinah, 2014). 

Some key factors in successful learning!

 

As teachers, we must always remember that the classroom provides a comfortable learning environment. Some key factors in successful learning are feeling confident, carrying a positive attitude and having high self-esteem. As such after designing these activities for my class considering their language learning needs,  I feel that our learners must always be given an effective integrated approach in the classroom and it is essential to provide a rich language environment. The four activities that I designed based on the four skills basically demonstrate a good language model and involve a lot of opportunities for interactive skills. As teachers, if we do integrate these types of activities or games during Reading and Writing sessions then definitely our ELL’s would benefit as there will be lots of opportunities to talk to their partners, ask questions, respond, participate, write, learn, create and share. Another thing I have discovered is that learners do not show any kind of stress when working in pairs and small groups. I have also noticed that those same learners in normal classes stay very quiet and reserved but whenever I have introduced one of these activities the children seem to be very enthusiastic. ‘Barrier Games’ and ‘Say it’ I have designed it for the first time and most probably I will use these activities after my guided reading session. Or probably in the last block whereby they can have some good fun times interacting with their pairs and at the same time enhancing their language learning ability. According to the English Language Learning Progressions, my learners are making some good progress in all four skills. Furthermore, I have also noticed that some children in my class are reluctant to ask for clarification. As a qualified TESOL teacher, I will always practice collaborative learning in my classroom that allows children to interact and listen to each other's ideas freely and will definitely create a lot of opportunities to integrate these four skills in my class so that L1 learners feel more confident.

Design four activities with a focus on a specific language feature that will help them meet those needs.

I have a Year 5 & 6 class where the majority of the learners are from non-English speaking backgrounds.

I identified what my student’s current language needs are and then designed four activities with a focus

on a specific language feature that will help them meet those needs.

After my observations and findings, it can be said that the current learning situation of my learners is

that most of them have Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. The learners have difficulty

following a series of instructions and have a short concentration span. Some of my learners also find

difficulty while interacting in pairs (student to student and student to teacher), interactions in small-group

contexts and as well as interactions in whole-class contexts. I have also noticed that some of my

students pause and hesitate while speaking and have pronunciation problems that show features oftheir first language. To add on, some of my learners find it difficult to use their prior knowledge to

make predictions and their comprehension requires more inference. Furthermore, other errors include

failure to understand the meaning of the text and lack of cohesion while connecting ideas.

(Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 6).

Four different activities

Task 1: Barrier Game - Describe and Draw

The overall aim of the activity is to integrate listening with speaking, reading and writing.

The comprehensive Learning Intention is to encourage children to respond actively when they do not

understand something.

Task 2: Say it

The overall aim of the activity is to emphasise the importance of an ‘interactive classroom’.

Comprehensive Learning Intention is to speak fluently, with occasional pauses and hesitation.

(Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 11)

Task 3: Cloze activity

The overall aim of the activity is to understand the meaning of the text.

Comprehensive Learning Intention to help the readers to recognise and interpret the main ideas of

the text.

Task 4: DictoGloss

The overall aim of the activity is to integrate the four skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing

to meet different language demands.

Comprehensive Learning Intention is to identify and record keywords in the text.

Six Key theories in the education of bilingual learners.

Certified Google Educator Level 1

Computational Thinking DFI Day 8

Dance Party Coding

I explored about coding and I really enjoyed creating this Dance Party.

 

External Recognition Agenda: DFI Day 9

The highlight of the day is that I have passed my "Google Certified Educator Level 1"

Hi Sandhya, 

Congratulations, you're a Google Certified Educator! 

Yours in Education, Google for Education Certification Team 

I am more confident now. I enjoyed doing this course face-to-face. I learned a lot of new things that I could share with my syndicate and my learners. There was a lot of collaboration and discussion during the course. The delivery was clear and well presented. It was easy to follow and share back. My goal is to keep learning more and attend the toolkits and PLDs so that I’m in the loop and it will refresh my learning as I continue in this Learn Create Share journey.

Time to get creative with Screen Recording: Create using Screencastify

Today I used screencastify to explain how to embed Google DLOs into New Blogger. This was quite interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed while creating this.