Looking back at 2019! Moving forward to 2020!

As week 9 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting back over the last 12 months - it really is hard to believe that my third year as a classroom teacher is almost over! Humps and hollows, sidesteps and missteps aside, there have also been some triumphs. Here are a few of my personal highlights from 2019:

• By year end, all 6 Year 8 students in my target reading group made gains of at least 6 months in their reading ages- one student moved 2 years while two students made a shift of 12 months. It was a very satisfying to know that half the group would enter secondary school with a reading age of 11 years - the benchmark set for the students at the start of the year that would enhance their ability to access the Year 9 curriculum.
  
• Collaborating with team of Pt England staff (made of teachers and office personnel) to prepare and present to a PD session for staff about Tataiako, the Maori learners framework. It was an awesome opportunity to work together and produce practical steps our colleagues could implement based on the framework - the focus being to promote ways to empower those students who identify as Maori
  
• Embracing the opportunity to teach extension students in literacy. This really pushed me outside my comfort zone and required me to adapt to students who could unpack the deeper meaning in variety of texts. The students and I engaged in meaningful discussions across a range of topics. Students seized the change to grapple with a range of themes including stereotypes, race relations, family dynamics and climate crisis.

Now looking forward to the new year, I am excited by the prospect of new challenges including:

• Being part of the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) group for 2020. I am really interested in how we will apply the design thinking process to a rigorous teacher inquiry. I looking forward to meeting, working with and sharing ideas with educators selected from across the Manaiakalani outreach clusters.
  
• Continuing to develop my skills in teaching literacy, particularly writing
  
• Building my skills to teach Te Reo to Year 7 & 8 students

Farewell 2019 - thanks for the memories! Bring on 2020!

Where to from here? Update - Term 4, 2019: Teaching as Inquiry

Satisfying Results: Teaching as Inquiry - Update - End of Term 3, 2019

A Change of Tack - Inquiry Update - Term 3, 2019

Stuck Readers: Inquiry Update - End of Term 2, 2019

Word Attack Strategies: Inquiry Update - Term 2 Word Attack

Inquiry Update - End of Term 1

How do you RATE your teaching practice?

Today's staff PD session led by Dorothy Burt was a timely reminder that effective teachers are THE key component in achieving success in the classroom.  The world of digital learning offers many bells and whistles but nothing can replace what a competent teacher body can bring to the classroom.

Dorothy introduced us to the RATE framework. I found it very useful to breakdown how I can access EFFECTIVE TEACHING PRACTISE and continue my own personal journey to develop my teaching skillset.

R = RECOGNISE Effective Practice by seeking out out teaching practices that work. We got to see this in action at the end of our PD session with staff split into groups, role playing a guided reading session with a focus on a specific element of the NZ Curriculum (Reading, Level 2) with a 'teacher'  supporting 'students' to overcome decoding challenges. Lots of great ideas on display!

A = AMPLIFY Effective Practise by using the Learn-Create-Share pedagogy. Staying connected to other educators through our networks, keeping good practice visible, feeling empowered to get out and put different ideas into practise and taking advantage of colleagues skills and experiences at at time and place that suits (ubiquitous) e.g. online toolkits

T = TURBOCHARGE Effective Practise by using digital technologies to provide learning experiences that were previously not possible (SAMR model) or were not available 

E = EFFECTIVE PRACTICE 

Inquiry 2019 - A focus on Reading

BACKGROUND: The 2018 Woolf-Fisher research findings showed a clear achievement gap for Manaiakalani students in Reading across all age/gender groups in the cluster.

Reviewing my end of year data for 2018 highlighted a group of Year 7 students who had made no or little shift in their reading level over the year. Their end of year test results showed a reading level below their chronological age of 11 and 12 years old. In 2020, these students will  transition to their first year of high school and as Year 9s, will need a higher level of reading to support their learning

HUNCH: The reading comprehension of this group is being negatively impacted by a limited knowledge and understanding of essential vocabulary. My intention is to build an approach to language acquisition that uses specific word consciousness activities such as strategies developed by Paul Nation and Janni van Hees, that can be supported at home by a student's parents/caregivers. 

INQUIRY FOCUS FOR 2019: Manaiakalani CoL Achievement Challenge 4: To increase the achievement of Years 7-10, in reading, writing and maths, as measured against National Standards and agreed targets.

TARGET GROUP: a group of five Year 8 students (2 female, 3 males) who have reading ages ranging between 8.5-9.5 years. An initial goal is to raise their Reading Age (R.A) to 10 years by the end of the year.

FOCUS QUESTION: How will an explicit focus on words and word meanings improve the reading comprehension of Year 8 target learners?

STARTING POINT: I will test each target student to assess their current reading age and vocabulary levels. I will then trial a set of vocabulary strategies over a period of time before re-testing each student using the same test tools to determine what, if any, changes have happened.

Thinking ahead to the Class of 2020!

Our first meeting for 2019 and Andrea has challenged our team to identify the qualities/traits of what we think a typical Year 8 student would 'look' like. I got to work with Angela - back in the Team 5 fold after a break of a few years. Our brainstorm of ideas is below:

In no particular order we decided that if a Year 8 student left PES with the following attributes they would be ready to take on the world in their first year of high school.

seeing possibilities

respectful of others

risk-taker

self-pride

self-belief

goal oriented

self-confidence

resilient

problem solvers

kind

It was a powerful exercise. It was worthwhile to take the time now to think ahead to the end of the year and envisage the kind of young person we would be sad but proud to farewell. I would be really satisfied knowing that I played a small part in ensuring they leave us full to the brim with the 'right stuff' that will hold them in good stead not only as they take their first steps in their next learning journey at high school but also beyond into their chosen career paths.