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Tuesday 14 November 2017

Impact Burst!

What happened for the learners?
Over these last two terms, the students have overtime become more active in participating in the guided reading sessions. They now actively takes part in their learning through asking questions and sharing their ideas with each other. They make inquiries into what we are learning about. They have become more focused and engaged with the discussions. 

They are continuing to develop and use Reading strategies that are modelled for them during the sessions to develop deeper understanding of the text so that they can begin to extend their thinking beyond the text.

What evidence do I have for this?
This is evident in my recordings of the Guided Reading sessions, my students' results and also in the students' self reflection.
Below is a recording of my students' self reflection:
The students were asked the following reflective questions:

  1. Do you think Reciprocal Reading has helped you to become a better reader?
  2. How has it helped you?
  3. What have you started doing more of during group reading time?
  4. Do you think you can use the skills that you have been practising during guided reading across the other learning areas?
  5. How do you think you can use the skills across other learning areas?

      Below are the results collected from Running Records/PM Benchmark for the targeted students:
      Target students
      May results
      November results
      Child A
      Level 12
      Level 15
      Child B
      9 yr R.A
      10 yr R.A
      Child C
      10 yr R.A
      10.5 yr R.A
      Child D
      Level 27
      Level 29
      Child E
      Level 26
      Level 26
      Key:
      Moved up
      Stayed the same

        What did I do to make this happen?
      • Deliberate acts of teaching of questioning skills using Reciprocal Reading cards as a guide.
      • Facilitating the discussions so that it is focused and relevant to students' understanding and knowledge so that they can begin making the connections. 
      • Explicit teacher modelling of how to make predictions, ask critical thinking questions, summarising and clarifying ideas and words within the group setting. 
      Wonderings about what next:
      • Even though students are now more verbal in sharing their ideas and engaged with group discussions, students need to move on from just answering the questions that they have been asked and have deeper and more meaningful discussions that extends their learning and helps them to develop a global view.
      • The development of meaningful learning talk is very important and building the confidence and the skills so that students can draw out ideas of their own and respond appropriately and thoughtfully to others.

      Sunday 12 November 2017

      Monday 13th of November 2017

      Reflection:
      Recording of today's session. Students have days when they are more vocal than other days, I used more prompting and questioning today to draw out the ideas from the students.



      Students' self-reflection of Reciprocal Reading:

      Friday 3 November 2017

      Week 9 Intervention!



      Reflection:
      I needed to work out a better way of documenting the evidence and progress that the students are making, so this week, I have decided to trial organising all the video onto one Google Slide.
      This looks tidier and I can watch the progression in order instead of going from one blog post to another.

      Saturday 21 October 2017

      Week 8 of intervention!

      Target group

      Reflection:
      Second week back in Term 4, students were a bit unsure of what to say...More prompting from me this week, however, the students were engaged in the text and slowly started participating more. Emphasis on "All ideas are good ideas!"

      Friday 20 October 2017

      Mindset for achievement!

      Been hearing a lot about growth mindset recently and author Carol Dweck, so I decided to find out more... Read an interesting article on fixed and growth mindsets.
      This article talked about how students' attitudes can greatly influence their achievements in learning.
      Then it led onto talking about how to go about changing mindsets for success.
      Our teaching practice in the classroom affects our students greatly.
      One of the emphasis to change mindsets talked about the impact of praise and feedback.
      It also talked about the impact of teacher mindset, which I find very interesting. In the 2012 study, they found that educators who had fixed mindsets used 'comfort-oriented' feedback for the students (feedback that didn't encourage the students to challenge themselves) this correlated with low motivation and of the students having low expectation of themselves, thus not achieving well academically.

      Reflection:

      • How can I change my own fixed mindset?
      • How can I change my students' fixed mindset?

      Tuesday 3 October 2017

      Week 6

      Friday 29th of September
      Reflection:
      Students led this session on their own with very little teacher input. The students displayed confidence and active listening which enabled them to participate in the discussions that occurred during the session.

      Saturday 30 September 2017

      Week 5 trial

      Monday 25th of September 

      Reflection:
      Still building the boys' confidence to speak and giving them a lot of reassurance.

      Tuesday 26th of September 



      Friday 29th of September
      Reflection:
      I allowed the boys to lead the session and interrupted as minimal as I could.
      The boys were very focused and they know how to use each card and are all becoming more confident in contributing to each part of the story to develop their understanding.

      Sunday 24 September 2017

      Week 4 trial!


      Reflection:
      The boys' confidence seems to be increasing and more engagement as more are participating in discussions of the text.
      I will trial using School Journals next week as the length of the e-books and the vocabulary in the audio books at this stage seems to be challenging for the boys so discussions continue for a long time. Also, I'd like to try and vary my resources so that the boys can be exposed to both digital and non-digital texts.
      Hypothesis:
      I predict that using the School Journals will help the boys put the stories into context and support them to participate more during our guided reading sessions.

      Wednesday 20 September 2017

      Target student intervention 2: Intensive reading mileage and reinforcement!

      One of my target students joined my class in Term 2 this year with limited English vocabulary and knowledge. He is able to communicate orally with others, however, reading and writing skills/ knowledge is very minimal. I needed an intervention to help my student to read and write so after my first conference with the child's mum in Term 2, we started practising high frequency words every day at home and I also introduced 'Starfall' (audio book website) to my student as initially he wasn't able to sound out any of the words independently. We started with the 'Learn to read' section and then this term we moved from the 'Learn to read' section to 'I'm reading' section as I wanted my student to feel some success that we are moving forward and making improvements in our reading.
      Student is now able to sound out most of the high frequency words without audio or support.
      I will continue to monitor closely the students' responses during Reciprocal Reading sessions and will test student again in the last week of the term.

      Part one of intervention: Practise with audio book.

      Part two of intervention: Practise with teacher.

      Part three: Record reading independently using a digital platform.

      Monday 18 September 2017

      Week 4 trial!

      Reflection:
      A friend suggested to me over the weekend that perhaps the boys could have a shared glossary of new vocabulary that they come across as we read together.

      Sunday 17 September 2017

      Where to next after week 3 of trial?

      Reciprocal Reading is also called Co-operative Reading.
      As explained on TKI ESOL online.
      This led me to read Teaching reading approaches and strategies


      Hypothesis:
      I'm going to try RIQ and Developing high level questions.
      My prediction is that these strategies will help my students to become more confident in sharing their ideas and ask questions that develops their understanding, which will in turn improve their ability to make connections and inferences with what they have read.

      Friday 15 September 2017

      Teacher modelling session!

      Today, I modeled for my boys' reading group how questions, ideas, thoughts can be shared during our guided reading session using Reciprocal Reading.
      I didn't film this session because I wanted the boys to feel comfortable about asking any questions that they may have about Reciprocal Reading.
      The session went well and I hope that this session has helped them to feel more confident in sharing their ideas next week.

      Thursday 14 September 2017

      How do I guide, facilitate an engaging reading session?

      Reflection of week 3 trial:
      Students are still unfamiliar with using the prompt cards...
      Reflective questions:

      1. Are the prompt cards too difficult to follow/ understand?
      2. Have I given enough examples?
      3. Am I talking too much? Is that why the students are not talking?
      4. Is there too much peer pressure within the grouping? Do students get along with each other? Are they likely to communicate with each other?
      5. Are there any other obstacles?
      Where to next...
      • Take a step back and more scaffolding of prompt cards and strategies are needed for students to gain the confidence to take risks in asking questions in order to develop their critical thinking skills.
      • Teacher modelling of each prompt card before, during and after a reading session. 
      • Teacher to engage students through questioning, strange example, contextualise learning so that students can make connections with text.
      • Use a range of teaching resources, not limiting to online e-books. For example, school journals as most texts are culturally appealing and sensitive for the boys in my class.

      Tuesday 12 September 2017

      Trial week 3 part 2

      13th of September
      Continuing to encourage students to contribute and lead with their prompt cards.
      Using e-books from Get Epic is really engaging as it has illustrations or photos for students to discuss.
      I have noticed that this group is still very teacher directed, but a few of the students are displaying more and more confidence in sharing their ideas during reciprocal reading.
      I have asked the students to set up a Glossary to record down vocabulary that they are unsure of...this hopefully increases the students' bank of words and increases their understanding of text.

      Sunday 10 September 2017

      Week 3

      11th of September
      Still quite students driven, but some students are more responding more.
      Trailing a record of new vocabulary to ensure understanding of text and continue to guide and ask questions to encourage thinking about text.

      Tuesday 5 September 2017

      Labelling my Inquiry into practice!

      I will be using the following labels to clearly categorise my Inquiry journey.

      LEvidence,LScan,LTrend,LHypothesise,LResearch,LReflect,CPlan,CTry,CInnovate,CImplement,CReflect,SPublish,SCoteach,SModel,SFback,SReflect


      LEvidence
      Learn - Gather Evidence
      CPlan
      Create - Make a plan
      SPublish
      Share - Publish
      LScan
      Learn - Scan
      CTry
      Create - Try new things
      SCoteach
      Share - Co-teach
      LTrend
      Learn - Identify Trends
      CInnovate
      Create - Innovate
      SModel
      Share - Model
      LHypothesise
      Learn - Hypothesise
      CImplement
      Create - Implement
      SGuide
      Share - Guide
      LResearch
      Learn - Research
      CReflect
      Create - Reflect
      SFback
      Share - Feedback
      LReflect
      Learn - Reflect


      SReflect
      Share - Reflect

      Monday 4 September 2017

      Week 2 of trial...

      5/9/17

      Reflection:
      Students are beginning to share more, however a lot of teacher modelling and teacher prompting is still needed. Have one student and teacher leading discussion at the moment and a lot of prompting (to be expected). A lot of scaffolding of vocabulary and teacher modelling of questioning techniques needed, but students are feeling more confident sharing their ideas.

      Sunday 3 September 2017

      Target group

      31st of August



      A couple of the boys were starting to feel more confident in asking the group the question on their card. A lot of unfamiliarity with the use of the cards.
      Need to introduce the vocabulary on the cards first, such as identify, difficult.

      Saturday 2 September 2017

      Comparison group - week one

      31st of August

      This group consists of girls that are reading below their chronological age and needs support to explain their ideas and thinking of text.
      Also trialling reciprocal reading with the variation of using online ebooks from Get Epic!

      Wednesday 23 August 2017

      Introduction session to Reciprocal Reading!


      This was inspired by my senior teacher who is running a Teaching Inquiry into Learning Talk.
      I realised that my students were talking however, they weren't developing their understanding because it wasn't contextualised and there were very little in-depth thinking involved.
      So I questioned myself and thought, how can I make sure that the boys were engaged and involved using the learning context.
      This led me to my trial of Reciprocal teaching as I have not run this before.
      I introduced Reciprocal Reading to my target group and will be running this every day for the rest of this term.
      Will be reassessing students' reading age using running records every two weeks.

      Monday 21 August 2017

      Developing understanding of Reciprocal reading!

      Using Reciprocal reading as a guided reading strategy, I will be running it as part of my reading rotation.
      Using the Reciprocal reading cards, they are guided by the questions and I am there to guide them as students go through the process.
      Using the Reciprocal reading process will help students to develop their understanding and knowledge, also building their confidence to share their ideas and knowledge with others.
      This process will hopefully allow more student autonomy and drive students to start thinking critically by asking questions about what they read.
      The students will be guided using the Reciprocal reading cards: Predicting, Questioning, Clarifying, Summarising.

      Resources/ Readings


      Resources to assess student outcome:

      Where to next...
      • Design and implement a digital version of reciprocal reading using the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy to accelerate learning for my target group (boys).


      Sunday 20 August 2017

      Where to next? Contextualise understanding....

      First challenge for my students were...
      understand content before being able to make inferences.
      Next challenge...
      Contextualise their understanding so that students can begin asking questions, making connections and inferences.

      Saturday 19 August 2017

      Reciprocal teaching

      Problem:
      My students talk, however, they are not discussing the content of what they are reading and is often misled in another direction, away from the topic. 

      Reflection:
      What do I need to do to refocus my students to enable them to have in-depth discussions and develop their understanding and knowledge?
      Will my students be able to understand and contribute to discussions if they understood the contents better?
      What about reciprocal teaching? If I ran reciprocal reading in my class with my reading groups and support my students to really understand the context, would this aid their critical thinking and 'get the wheels turning'? 
      From reading and studying the articles below on reciprocal reading, it is my strong belief that my students are not able to think critically and make connections with what they are reading due to their understanding of the content.

      Research articles on reciprocal teaching:

      Where to next (actions):
      • Design and implement a digital reciprocal reading programme.
      • Track target students using running records.

      Friday 18 August 2017

      Breaking down the Inquiry process!

      What should I teach next, how should I teach it, and what do I base those decisions on?
      The questions below relate to the Inquiry model and are based on the questions in The New Zealand Curriculum. These are the questions that I ask myself as I move around the cycle of my teaching.
      Teaching inquiry: Pedagogy choices
      Questions:
      • How can I teach my next reading lesson most effectively?
      • What language learning tasks and approaches are most likely to help my students progress?
      Learning inquiry: Outcomes for students
      Question:
      • What happened as a result of the teaching?
      • What are the implications for future teaching?
      Focusing inquiry: Curriculum choices
      Question:
      • What is important and worth spending time on, given where my students are at?
      Is there something I need to change about how I teach this?
      Questions:
      How can I teach more effectively?
      How can I maintain a communicative approach?
      How can I incorporate tikanga into my teaching?
      How can I involve whānau in my teaching?
      • What are the next steps for my students’ learning?
      Questions:
      What language needs to be reinforced or introduced next?
      What different contexts might my students need to use this language in?

      Sunday 13 August 2017

      Achievement challenge 3

       Lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Māori students (both genders) years 1-13

      Monday 10 July 2017

      June data


      PM Benchmark/ PROBE reading results show a drop in reading ages of more than 6 months...
      Reflection:
      What is working? What is not working? Where to next?
      What has had an impact on student learning? 
      Need to further investigate into what is causing the drop in reading ages...
      Actions to take upon reflection:
      • Analysis of data in consultation with senior teacher and other colleagues.
      • Read research articles/ books on learning talk, critical thinking, classroom talk and effective questioning. 
      • Test and reassess target students (boys) and compare current data.
      • Analysis the effectiveness of teaching approaches and strategies.

      Friday 26 May 2017

      Delving into learning talk!

      One of the focus that was identified earlier in Inquiry this year is that most of my students are will to share their ideas, however the talking is often not focus learning talk.
      So I asked myself...How do I create an environment where my students feel safe and confident enough to share their ideas?
      This reminded me or the blog post that posted back at the end of November 2016 on 'Talking matters'
      Which motivated me to look into classroom talk...
      In discussion with my other colleagues, we further identified that critical thinking and making connections was an area that would encourage students to develop their understanding and knowledge of content.
      So... the question then became...what strategies and approaches do I use in my classroom to help my students to develop their critical thinking skills??
      This term, I decided to trial using De Bono's thinking hats as a follow up activity as part of my reading rotation.
      This was difficult for some students, especially among the boys they needed a lot more scaffolding, discussion, processing time before they felt comfortable enough to share (even within a small group setting)
      Reflection:

      • More scaffolding, discussion needed to encourage reluctant talkers.
      • Use the 'right' questioning techniques to develop student agency and independence.