Formulating an Hypothesis (Hunch)

In preparation for our PLG today we have been asked to formulate a hypothesis or hunch around our inquiry. We were asked to generate a minimum of three hunches from what you have learnt so far about your students and their learning environment. Below I have listed my hunches that I am looking forward to discussing with other at our PLG this afternoon. 

1. If I encourage my students to share their thoughts and ideas in pairs, then they will gain the confidence to share these ideas in guided reading sessions. 

2. If I focus on setting up table groups and discussion points before guided reading sessions then the students will improve their ability to have conversations about what they are reading. 

3. An emphasis on using images and specific generic tasks to show what inferring and other reading comprehension skills will enhance my students ability to understand more complex parts of the text and answer questions that require inferring and referring back to the text.

4. An emphasis on understanding how to have basic conversations as well as teaching social skills and norms will enhance my students ability to share during reading sessions. 

Baseline Data

One tool that I have used is running record data. This baseline data that I have for my learners is their reading ages and levels from 2025. I have placed this into a spreadsheet and given each of the students an ID code to protect anonymity of the students. You will see from this data the ages and levels that my students are reading. 

Another one of my tools and measures was to look at PAT data in more detail to see areas that my target group excel in and areas that might need development. Below I have added in data from my beginning of the year data for my target learners. The group I have identified are all year 6 learners this year. 

From this data I have a clear picture of what my students strengths are in reading and some areas for improvement. Below I will look in detail at each category of question and explore what the data shows. I have used PAT Pānui - Aratohu Kaiako (Teacher Guide) which is available online and gives a great run down of each of the questions and areas. I have used direct quotes from the resource created to breakdown what each type of questioning means and I have put these in italics. I thought about rewriting them in my own words but the guide succulently details each type of questioning well. 

Retrieval
Questions require comprehension without needing to make any inference, so that the answer within the text can be matched to the wording of the question (PAT Pānui). From the data above I can see that this area is mixed with some of the students do really well in this area and some needing some extra support. From looking at this data and seeing the students in this group I think they have forgotten to look at the text for the answer and we will need to make sure that we are focusing on referring back to the text. 

Local Inference 
Questions require comprehension of implied information from within relatively small sections of text. The answers are straightforward and localised but require some inference where the answer is not explicitly stated in the text (PAT Pānui). From the data above I can see that this is an area where the students really struggled to answer the questions. This has highlight another are that needs work. 

Complex Inference
Questions require ākonga to connect information from different sections of text to draw an inference. Complex inferences may require linking of more than one idea or phrase and analysis to identify the best answer (PAT Pānui). Looking at my target students data I can see that some students did well in this area however there is also room for improvement. 

Interpret and integrate
Questions integrate ideas and information making sense of the intent and developing a more complete understanding of the entire text. At this level of inference ākonga use their own experience and understanding to unpack more abstract ideas and meanings within a text. (PAT Pānui). 

Critique and Evaluate
Questions require ākonga to draw upon knowledge of language use, presentational features, and general or genre-specific features of texts and understanding of how the language and features determine the meaning or purpose. These questions might be about how the writer achieves a particular purpose or meaning. (PAT Pānui). 

PAT Star
This is my PAT Star data from the beginning of the year which I have also had a look into. By looking at this data in detail I have also noticed strengths and areas of improvement for my learners in word recognition, sentence punctuation paragraph comprehension and vocabulary. These are some key areas that I want to explore with my learners going forward this year.

This post is already so long that I will delve into the data in detail in another blog post. If you have made it to the end, thank you for following along and looking at my baseline data selection. I am glad to have finally collated all of my baseline data and look forward to exploring it in greater detail at a later date. 

Tools, Measures and Approaches

From our last CoL meeting we were asked to think about the tools, measures and approaches that we might use this year as well as having baseline data to compare our inquiry to for the end of the year. In this blog post I have outlines some of the tools, measures and approaches that I will use as baseline data for my learners which has continued to from and shape my inquiry.

PAT Reading Test
Looking at raw data from this test as well as a deep dive into the type of questions that students were able to answer and those that were a struggle and see if there is a trend in this data.

PAT STAR
Looking at raw data from this test as well as a deep dive into the type of questions that students were able to answer and those that were a struggle and see if there is a trend in this data.

Running Records
Exploring running records from 2024 as well as previous years for each of the students to see if there are trends in this data and what areas these students might be getting "stuck."

Attendance Data

I would like to have a look at this data to see if there are any trends into this and what the attendance is like with this group of students.

Student & Whānau Voice
Completing a student survey around attitudes and feelings towards reading. I would also like to hear what Whānau think about their children's reading and what we can do to work together to have student success.

Observation Data

We have been using Vosaic to analyse our teaching and share things that we can work on in our teaching. I would like to use this for my teaching as well as with these groups of students while they are completing follow up tasks to see the shifts and trends throughout the year.

Reader Profile Survey Results: Term 1

As part of my inquiry this year, I’ve started by gathering student voice through a Reader Profile Survey. This was something that we did last year for RPI and is something that I have decided to do again this year as well as get my team to try and do in their classes. From this survey in term 1 here are some key findings:

A number of students reported that they don’t read very often outside of school. This is something I’ll need to consider when thinking about how to support reading mileage and reading habits beyond the classroom.

Confidence levels are mixed. Some students feel comfortable sharing their ideas and participating in discussions, but others are still very quiet and hesitant. This lines up with what I’ve been seeing during group reading time, where a few confident students carry the conversation while others hang back.

Talking about reading isn’t yet the norm. The data suggests that many students aren’t regularly discussing what they read, either in class or at home. Encouraging these conversations will be a key part of my focus this term.

Target Group Selection

My target learners are students who are reading from the age of 9-12.5 years. Their learning levels are either just below or at where they need to be. What I want to do is focus on how to extend these learners to be at or above moving into year 7. Common trends that I have noticed is that these students are able to decode really well however when it comes to answering questions that require critical thinking such as applied knowledge, vocabulary and inference questions they struggle. Observations from these reading groups show that there are some confident students in these groups who will share their thoughts and feelings but there is no discussion and often they don’t even refer to the text for their answers. Observations from Vosaic shows that there is a lot of teacher lead discussion, with questions and answers and I am often having to prompt students to share their ideas with each other.

Ways in which I might be able to clarify my problem is through formative assessment looking at PAT reading and STAR as well as running record data from previous years. I will also compare this to 2025 testing data. From observations during literacy sessions I will be able to see students' behaviours towards reading. I will conduct a reader profile in order to see students' attitudes towards reading. I would like to look into research about language acquisition and see if there are some assessments that I can use to see the change in this throughout the year.

Potential tools and measures:

• Formative assessment
• Performance in current testing round
• Classroom behaviours
• Language Acquisition
• Attendance data
• EdPotenial data (longitudinal)

Discussion with Colleagues and School Leaders

So far this year, our staff meetings have been focused on setting our inquiry direction for 2025. As a school, we are continuing to prioritise raising achievement in reading and maths, which reflects the needs we have seen across our learners.

After reviewing my 2024 data, spending time observing my students in reading sessions, and having valuable discussions with colleagues and school leaders, I have decided to continue my focus on reading for this year's inquiry. While my focus area remains similar to previous years, I want to refine and deepen my approach based on what I am seeing in my current class. This year, my inquiry will centre on raising reading achievement for students who are currently reading between the ages of 9 and 12.5 years. I will continue to focus on developing critical thinking skills and encouraging extended discussion during reading sessions. Through my observations so far, I have noticed that some students are confident and naturally lead group discussions, while others tend to sit quietly and rely on their peers. I want to find ways to empower all learners to contribute meaningfully to discussions, share their ideas confidently, and strengthen their reading comprehension through richer conversations.

Bringing Every Reader Into the Conversation – My 2025 Inquiry Focus

Last week we had our first CoL PLG for the year and our focus before our next session is the summarise the challenge of student learning. One of the cluster goals this year is 1.5 years progress inside a year, focusing on the big three of reading, writing and maths. As a school we have found the key areas that we want to focus on with those being reading and maths. From looking at my data and my reflections from being part of RPI last year I would like to continue my focus on reading. Being part of the Reading Practice Intensive (RPI), gave me lots of practical strategies and helped shape the way I thought about reading in my classroom. This year, I’m keen to build on that learning and continue to focus my inquiry on reading, digging deeper into what my learners need, and how I can better support them.

At the end of last year when I was looking at the data for 2025 and presenting my ideas for CoL 2025 my thought process of what I wanted to look at for this year was to extend my students who at or just below where they should be for reading and focus on critical thinking and extended discussion. From looking at 2024 data for these students in my class I would like to focus my inquiry on my students who are reading between the ages of 9 and 12.5 years.

I have spend the first few weeks of this term observing my learners in reading and have found that there are two extremes in this group of students. There is a number of students who are confident and really like sharing their thoughts and ideas in guided reading lessons, however there are a large number of students in these groups who rely on these confident ones to share and will just sit back and not take part in these discussions. I have completed a reader profile survey in week 1 and I will share the results of this in another blog post but it was really interesting to see the students thoughts and feelings around reading.

The main challenge that I can see my learners are facing is being able to have conversations and discussions as a group with everyone being able to share their thoughts and ideas. I want to be able to build a space where students love to read and share what they have read with each other. This is the transition from learning to read to reading to learn and this is what I want to empower my learners with this year.