Teacher Inquiry 2022 - Blog Post 1

Kia Ora,

The 2022 teaching year has begun, and alas, the education climate has again been influenced by the disruptions of covid. Low student numbers, isolating pupils, and an undeniable need to put student wellbeing at the heart of learning, have presented myself and my colleagues with challenges towards getting our classroom learning going successfully in full-flight.

Nethertheless, as a team, we have responded well to support each other, and have maintained a strong focus on building positive relationships with our students, and completing our literary and numeracy testing to the fullest extent possible.

On the first count, I have made having positive, supportive relationships with all my pupils the single most important goal for myself in Term 1. I know that this has been a success. So far, so good. 

On the last, I have luckily secured myself a full complement of student data.

With the data close at hand, I have now commenced my formal learning programmes. So, what has this looked like, given the challenges we are facing as teachers? 

Not surprisingly, the reality has been less than linear.

Despite the readiness of myself and pupils, there has been a hugely evident need to ensure that my students’ wellbeing has been well-prepared alongside proper classroom teaching.

So, to explore this, I have asked myself some questions to reflect and act on.

The first is question is: ‘what do I do, as a matter of habit, organisation, or structure in the classroom, for students to be well-prepared emotionally in order to learn?

Firstly, and primarily, I have been maintaining a structured daily and weekly routine. Our morning routine of preparing the classroom, calling the roll and date, reviewing the daily schedule, and sticking to the routine, has helped my class be “ready for learning”. I have taught my students what being ready for learning looks like and sounds like in Room 4. This has all culminated in students being really happy to learn.

The second question I have pondered is: 'What have I done to prepare the well-being of my students in our key learning areas?

And to answer - I have maintained a structured programme of learning in the core areas.

My writing program, so far, has been quite successful, as it takes place first in the mornings. I have structured it in this particular way: as a class we have mat time for teaching, writing time, and finally, student sharing and listening to writing time. I have a system whereby students know and expect that their name will be called at random at the end of writing time for sharing. This, I think, has added to the easy and happy attitude to writing I have seen in each of my pupils. Students are highly motivated to share the writing they have produced and are confident sharing their ideas with others.

My reading program is going well, too. I have organised activities and ability reading groups underway, complemented by a phonics routine, Big-Book routine, and reading for enjoyment after lunchtimes on the mat. Students have visual aides to help them know where to return their daily instructional reading book, have zones for bookbags, and named labels where they can locate their reading group.

For Term 2, my focus will be on building a routine and structure around my math program, which took a little longer to establish in Term 1, and which is a bit worse for wear. However, one thing I have done well is to have a fun focus in mathematics. We routinely play warm-up games, have a teacher-led warm up routine, and use ‘hands-on’ learning aides and digital devices to support learning. This week, I have made table rotation cards, and this has immediately changed the feel of the class during math, as pupils sit in groups at organised tables, while I teach small groups. I have also noticed that bringing math forward earlier in the day has increased student engagement, and this is to be not unexpected given how students attention spans and energy levels tend to wane as the day passes. 

Now looking forward to Term 2, I will be asking myself the question: ‘how will, and what will I do, to ensure that student well-being is a priority in order to maintain pupil confidence and an ease of attitude towards learning over the long-term?’

2021 Teacher Inquiry

My 2021 Teacher Inquiry at Panmure Bridge School

Blog Post 1

This year for my Teacher Inquiry the question that I have chosen to investigate is: 

Will a focus on oral language in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary?

Developing a hunch: during Term 1 and 2 Maths testing and classroom teaching I noticed a pattern with the majority of my 25 students. When answering questions most students did not display confidence with new or learned math terms. this hindered their ability to explain their answers, despite sometimes having confidence with their answers. To see whether my approach for my Teaching Inquiry will be effective and accelerate student learning I will monitor a target group of 6 students who are tracking below their peers for their expected year level.

Here are the data for Time Point 1 for my 6 'Target' students below:

I am hoping that by explicitly modelling maths vocabulary and focussing on student voice and student baseline understanding of math concepts that this will accelerate my target students' progress. 

I also want to see an acceleration of my target students' understanding of number strategy.

Here is my Casual Chain Strategy that I will use over the term of my inquiry:

LINK - a large copy

I will be introducing vocabulary terms to my class each week and then reinforce them in my small groups. These terms will be known as focus words. We will attempt to learn this word in a variety of ways, particularly with student-led talk. Going over new words will be particularly important for my target students some of whom are ESOL students.

Developing my wall displays will be something I will do more of as well. 

iPad Professional Learning Group Session 4

This Month's iPad PLG focus was on using the Explain Everything application to further enhance my  digital capability as a teacher. We created a sample EE and shared it to a common drive. Creating an efficient 'work flow' for the students was a focus too, so that students have limited distractions in class.

T-Shaped Literacy for Juniors with Dr Rebecca Jesson

On Tuesday 22nd June I attended a talk about T-Shape Literacy for Juniors given by Dr Rebecca Jesson from the University of Auckland. The aim of the talk was to further explain the 'Big Ideas' contained in Junior School Ready to Read books. I found it useful as I can use my texts to create 'Text Sets' - a set of books that have a common theme - and to teach themes such as helping, of healthy eating that sit above the decoding element of each reading book.
 

Pause Breathe

On Tuesday 8th June, I attended a Pause Breathe Smile Professional Development session run by a qualified practitioner. The aim of the PLD was to introduce us as a staff to the evidence - based practice of Mindfulness and how it can be beneficial to our teaching and the learning of our students. Results show that participation in Pause, Breathe, Smile:

• Improves focus and attention for better learning outcomes
• Increases calm and student wellbeing
• Enhances self-awareness and pro-social behaviour
• Reduces test anxiety and boosts resilience
• Decreases teacher stress and burnout

There are 8 lessons to engage in and teach and I am looking forward to what positive outcomes this has for me and, in particular, for reducing stressful moments when teaching.

 

Manaiakalani CREATE Staff meeting- Term 2 2021

 

Manaiakalani Staff Meeting Term 2

Today, I attended the Manaiakalani Staff Meeting Term 2. The focus of the meeting was on the 'Create' segment of the 'Learn Create Share' model of teaching pedagogy used by the Manaiakalani cluster of schools. This meeting provided an opportunity to see what kind of 'Create' learning teachers are doing in class to support ākonga and for teachers to take away new ideas to use in their own classrooms. I attended the 'Creating Digital Floor Plans' session where we used an online application to create a house using ideas of standard measurement and 2-D and 3-D shapes. I found this useful for my students as this Term's math strand subject is Measurement and Geometry. I will attempt to have a lesson using this application once my students are familiar with the mathematical concept of area and have
confidence from having undertaken some measurement practice.

Manaiakalani Teacher Only Day Friday 16th April 2021

 

On April 16th, I attended the Manaiakalani Teacher Only Day. The professional development focus for the day was on literacy - and reading in particular. I attended three well run sessions with highly knowledgeable presenters. My chosen workshops were: Enhancing Reading with Explain Everything; Effective Reading Practise; and T-shaped Literacy for Juniors.

I found the workshops helpful for some areas where i am focussing on my teaching practice. For example, I now use Explain Everything in my reading program when I see my reading groups and this is helpful for creating reading response tasks and also helps my efficiency and preparing resources and materials for my students. I feel I have a more digitally enhanced and more effective teaching practice based on attending this Teacher Only Day.