CoL PLG 2

Our second PLG for the year was held online due to our alert level still being in red. During our session we were put into breakout groups to discuss what direction we would like to take with our inquiry this year and how we could incorporate wellbeing and student engagement within the inquiry. This was really beneficial as it gave me the opportunity to talk through my ideas with other CoL colleagues and leaders and gain insight and advice on the path to take and what direction to continue on in. 

My takeaways

Having these conversations was very beneficial as they allowed me to think more critically about my inquiry and how I can incorporate wellbeing, engagement and confidence into my reading inquiry this year. In pervious year I have focused mostly on the reading data itself and not necessarily looked at other aspects of reading and how to strengthen this in the classroom and for learners at home. 

Next steps 

• Create or obtain a wellbeing survey to see how students are doing overall with being back at school. 
• Gauge reading enjoyment and students perspective on their own reading and what they think they need in order to be more successful in reading. I think I will use another type of survey to assess this maybe a google form. 
• Record my students reading and take notes in regards to confidence when reading aloud one on one and then in a group setting. 
• Continue on with generic reading follow up tasks related to the learning intention - big focus on the guided reading session, this will supplement the teaching. 

Questions and wonderings

 During our last CoL PLG we were asked to think about our classes and what they are looking like this term and this year. We were asked some key questions to get us thinking about our inquiry direction while also thinking about the current climate of the world and what our new sort of normal looks like. These questions have been very thought provoking and have lead to some create conversations with my colleagues and what direction I could take my inquiry. As I have already discussed I believe reading is a fundamental element to all subject areas which is why this is a passion and focus that I want to keep inquiring into with a new lens that includes engagement, wellbeing and enjoyment. Below are some of the questions we were asked to think about during our PLG along with some of my pondering about each one:

What is is like coming back to school for you?

This year has already had many changes with students being in and out with covid and then moving to a hybrid type of learning which I have discussed in my previous blog post. I feel like we started the year (well I know I did) ready for it to be back some kind of normality. However I don't think any of us knows that this new normal is going to be like! It has been really great to be back in the classroom this year, the masks have been hard but it has a nice feel about it. The changes can be challenging at times but I feel like the last few years have taught us to just roll with it which makes it a bit easier to navigate these constant changes in the classroom. 

What is the vibe in your class?

I have found that the students are really excited to be back at school and being able to see their friends and learn face to face. The social aspect is really great and it is so nice to see all of the children being about to talk and share with their peers again. The way we have set up hybrid learning has been great for that as well as students who need to isolate are going home, jumping online and completing the same work as the students at home and when they come back to school they are all on the same page and can get back to talking about their learning. The transitioning has been working really well in my class and it is now just our new normal. Welcoming the children back has become a normal new reality for us as well and the students are just taking it in their stride and getting on with it. 

What have you noticed about whānau- what is it like for them right now?

The communication that I have had with whānau of my students has been positive and they are all wanting their children to keep learning at home while isolating and coming back to school to learn once that isolation period is over. I feel that because we have been going in and out of school for the last few years our whānau are now used to the way it works and are happy to help out in any way that they can. I have had the privilege of being able to contact all of the families in my team as I have been running the online side of learning and most whānau I have spoken to are in good spirts and understand that the isolation periods are short and are comfortable to send their children back to school. A lot of whānau I have spoken at are really happy that we are able to keep schools open and in general just roll with it themselves. 

What excites you about this year?

I think the biggest thing that excites me about this year is being able to keep face to face learning happening. The last few years it has been great with the online learning and attendance of my students but it does limit and change the way we build and develop relationships with our learners. I am excited to be able to teach the core subjects in the classroom with groups and most importantly being able to have conversations and discussions as a class where everyone is able to talk freely without having to mute and unmute a microphone on a chromebook. I think as changeable as things are going to be this year the most important thing is being able to keep the learning and wellbeing of our students as normal as possible in order for the students to get the best out of their learning and experiences this year. 

Hybrid Learning

The last few weeks have been an interesting few weeks! Our number of students at school dropped dramatically for a week or so and then have started to pick back up again. This made us as a school reflect on what was needed for our community in order to continue giving our learners access to their learning and education. We deiced as a school to have a hybrid way of learning where our students at school would continue on with learning as "normal" as possible with the option for our students at home isolating to continue learning at the same time. 

What does this look like?

For our students at home we have gone back to our online learning model that we have used for the last few years with out team. Students have access to learning each day as well as two Google Meets a day to connect with a teacher from our team. The students at school are then shared among the teachers at school to continue learning at school. I have been tasked with looking after our online learners for the last few weeks and it has been an interesting and rewarding experience. 

In our first two weeks I had a large number of students learning online due to isolating at home. This was where we had more students online than at school. It was really beneficial for the students and their families have access to this while at they were needing to be at home. 

Online learning 

The online learning model that I set up was similar to previous years where students has access to reading, writing, maths and a design task each day. We have looked at different countries around the world which has peaked interest each day to come online and join the meets and find out what we are learning. (Pictured below)

We would also run two meets a day, one at 9am and the other at 12pm for the students to check in with me online for help with the work on the site and also wellbeing checks. 

My focus for the 9am online meet was always an introduction to the topic where we would go though each task for the day in detail and read the text as a group. Students would also have the opportunity to ask for help if they needed it. Our 12pm meets were always a wellbeing meet with a bit of fun for the students as well. I wanted to have it like this so we would have engagement with our learners online which would also then transition into coming back to school. 

The students seemed to really enjoy the online learning with many ready to return straight back to school after isolation periods. By keeping the learning going online and showing that school was a safe place to be after isolating it allowed the students to feel more comfortable coming back to school. It has also made those at school who need to go into isolation more comfortable with jumping online when they are at home and making the transitions easy. 

School learning 

This week our numbers has increased considerably with my class now being at almost 70% back in class. This has been a great change to see and has also changed the way in which we are running our online learning. We will continue to run it as is for the rest of this week and then will change to focus more on the students who are at school while also providing some sort of online learning to those who are at home isolating. My thoughts at this stage are to reduce the number of online meets to one a day where it is just a check in with the learners and see how they are going while also providing daily activities for them to complete. While those students at school will have "normal" like the beginning of the year learning. 

By having this option of online learning still accessible it will be easy to change to the demands of our team for those who need online learning and those who need at school learning. This has been a great way to try and continue on with engaged learners both at home and at school.