Ideas ideas ideas

As a staff we got the opportunity to meet together to hear about each other's inquiries then share with them some ideas. This was really valuable for me as I was able to hear from teachers who teach in the junior school and have students at a similar level.

A few ideas from this session are:

1. Word Families

- In order to help students with their understanding of words they could form word families. Specifically get them to make word that rhyme.

- Get a physical magnetic alphabet board and allow students time to play and explore words.

2. Memory Games

- To help students with remembering words set students up with memory games where they will have to use words repeatedly. Students need lots of revision before they will actually remember words when they see them in a new context, so this could be a good way of getting repetition.

3. Explain Everything

- To help students with sound knowledge use some of the ready made Explain Everythings to give students practice with their sounds.  

Inquiry - Term 1 Review

Where is 2016 going? One term down already so it must be time for a termly review.

My 2016 teacher inquiry has begun!

This year Pt England's school-wide teacher inquiry focus is: Formative practice in reading/writing to improve students achievement. From this my personal inquiry for the upcoming year is.

"How can the study of words, their sounds and their parts improve achievement for low readers?"

This focus has come as a result of my inquiry last year into how to lift student vocabulary in reading? During the year I had a specific focus on vocabulary strategies but when I reflected on my end of year reading data I concluded that this focus was of benefit for my higher students but not at all for my lower students. Now this year with the average reading age of my students is even lower, range of 6.9 - 8.5yrs, I want to specifically focus on increasing achievement in reading for Yr 4 & 5 students who are well below standard. In order to do this I want to begin by increasing the actual study of words, their sounds and parts. Even though these students are 4-5 years into school they don't have the content or strategy knowledge to decode texts at their level. In order to complete this inquiry effectively I have chosen a focus group, the Drones, which consists of 7-7.5yr readers.

After analysing last year's data and testing each student within my group this year I establish three summary points. 

- All of my students within the group have low decoding skills. 

- When decoding students often sound out initial sound then simply guess the rest of the word

- At times students just say the first word that comes to mind which has the same first letter. 

From this point forward I have established two areas of focus

 - Tasks: Word study task (Learning to read) & Comprehension (Reading to learn).

 - Reading: The focus and attention within my group reading sessions.  

2015 - Looking Backwards & Forward

Where has this year gone? Looking back at the year gone it seems such a blur. When I began the year I was unsure of what I wanted to inquire into as part of my professional teacher development. So I began the year by focusing on establishing a digital tool, Steps to Success, that students could use to self assess their writing and therefore make improvements. I then moved the focus of this digital tool into Mathematics to guide students to use numerous strategies when problem solving. Within both of these areas it was difficult to get students to engage with the tool due to their lack of engagement and ultimately their low key competencies levels. While I was inquiring into these areas the whole staff actually had a professional development focus around vocabulary and reading. Therefore my professional teacher inquiry began to focus on my reading instruction and specifically the teaching of vocabulary. So as I look back at the year I recognise now that I actually put more attention into inquiring into reading without realising and documenting. Now that I am at the end of the year I have reflected on the year past by documenting my reading inquiry and what my goals will be for next year as I will continue to develop and inquire into my reading teaching practice. I hope as you read this or have followed my blog over the year that my inquiry may have proven valuable for your own teaching development and practice.

Manaiakalani Film Festival - Ant Boy

It was very exciting to be apart of the 8th annual Manaiakalani Film Festival for the first time this year. As a class we made a film about a boy who transforms into an ant. We wanted to make a film that had relevance to what we had been learning about over the past term. Alongside Trade & Enterprise we had been learning about our emotions and having empathy towards others. So the idea of Ant Boy was born from the phrase "put yourself in someone else's shoes." Hope you enjoy it. Click on the photo below...

Learning with my class site 2015

This is my screencast of looking at a learning pathway through my class site. Check it out. 

Term 3 Pitstop

This is an update and reflection on my inquiry journey over the past term. The two key points this term have been around motivation and engagement.