Implementation

During our last CoL PLG we were asked to discuss our implementation and answer some key questions to see how we are tracking. In this blog post I will outline these questions and my answers in detail.  

Question One:
Share data/info that you have collected/recorded about the implementation of your changed practices or intervention (what evidence do you have about what you did differently?)​ What methods have you used to collect information?​ ​- How have you been systematic in that collection? - What does the data tell you? - What are you going to do with the data in terms of ‘tweaking’ your intervention?

The evidence that I have to show about my implementation is my spelling tracking that I have been trying to remember to do each week. I do have a bit of data to share about this. This is where I test my students on a Monday before they have seen the spelling words. This way I am able to introduce them before we begin reading and place them into a sentence that is in context with what we are learning about for the week. The students then have a spelling task each week to complete and take these words home in list form to practice after school. I then complete a post test on Friday where I test to see how many words they were able to get right, using the same sentence. I then compare the data, for the most part I have seen my students make progress with their spelling words from the beginning to the end of the week. This is something I need to continue to work on remembering to do as I quite often forget to add the data.

I have also been using my reading data which I have in a spreadsheet for tracking. The surveys that I have been completing are also in a spreadsheet where I can analyse the data. I do need to do this survey again soon. Another way I have been collecting data is through taking notes during our guided reading sessions and compiling these together along with my next steps. I have changed some of my implementations over time which have been documented in my inquiry blog.

Question Two: Describe the evidence you have so far about the effects of your changed practices/intervention on desired learner outcomes and how you summarised and recorded these: What methods have you used to collect information?​ - How have you been systematic in that collection?​ - What does the data/information tell you?​ - What are you going to do with the data/information in terms of ‘tweaking’ your intervention?​

What I have found so far is that linking the reading and writing is working. I can see this from my students use of new vocabulary in their writing throughout the week. The students are also showing that they are understanding these words while they are reading in our guided reading sessions. I am also finding that the students who are practicing their spelling words throughout the week have shown that they are able to make progress in the learning and understanding of these words. Again these have been recorded and outlined in my blog and are recorded in my CoL data sheets that I have been using throughout the year.

Question Three: Explain the reflections and tweaks you have made along the way and the reasons why you made these changes. Share your evidence for these decisions. What methods have you used to collect information about the tweaks? - How have you been systematic in that collection? - What does the information tell you? - What are you going to do with the information in terms of understanding what needed ‘tweaking’ and why?

Some of the tweaks I have made is changing the spelling words of my students from the essential spelling list and just overall topic specific vocabulary to focusing on new words that the students are coming across through their reading texts in guided reading sessions. Another tweak I have made it chaining from 3 writing groups to 4 and these follow along with my reading groups. I do have specific writing sessions that are group according to my three groups but making sure that the spelling and language in writing is related. I decided to start tracking spelling progress as well which has been great but I also do keep forgetting to do this unfortunately.

Through this discussion at the meeting I have been able to clarify my implementations as well as reflect on what is working and what I might need to tweak a little bit more.