Dreaming of 2023

After a chance of reflection from my Burts and Bubbles presentation and looking at some of the data of my students for next year I am excited for what I could inquire into next year!

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2023 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise

Achievement challenge 3 lifting reading achievement. I believe that reading is key for our students to be able to do well as it opens access to all other areas of the curriculum. My passion is reading for this reason and I believe is one of the reasons that I enjoy teaching it as it is not just closed off to one curriculum area. The data that I have seen so far shows that many of my students are reading around 9 and 10 years and this suggests that they are needing to develop that critican thinking and extended discussion during reading. From previous data I have found that students are struggling to read and comprehend the questions that they are seeing in PAT maths and Star along with reading. It can be see that that they are unable to infer meaning or apply knowledge. I have found that many students do enjoy reading while they are in a guided reading session and that extended discssion and critical thinking can come through it it trying to build on that while they are completing follow up tasks and working independently. 

What learnings from the 2017 - 2022 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking.

Talking with Robyn about her inquiry this year has inspired me to think about the enjoyment and passion that students have for reading and to take ownership of choosing books to read for enjoyment along with what we are reading and learning about in class. Looking at Clarelle’s inquiry from 2021 where she looked at the critical thinking of students linked in with my 2021 inquiry using vocabulary to strengthen students knowledge which I have also linked into my 2022 inquiry. 

How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and  kaupapa?

There are many ways that this work would supposred Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa:

• It reflects the value of learn, create and share. 

• It reflects that focus of Manaiakalani schools next year looking into raising reading achievement along with trying to strengthen that vocabulary in maths which is another focus next year. 

• Collaboatation with other colleagues as well as students. 

• Supporting connected and empowered learners. 

Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?

Manaiakalani observations have shown that extended discussion is an area that could have some development and be seen more in teaching. Manaiakalani research further investigates critical thinking and the use of generic reading tasks in order to focus more time and energy into planning as well being able to hopefully allow for that extended discussion of learners. 

How would you like to be supported in 2023 as you undertake this inquiry?
Regular release so that I am able to continue to focus on my target group and where we go to next throughout my inquiry. Along with the support of other teachers as well as the Manaiakalani team. 

How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with THEIR inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring?

Being available for collaboration with others within my school with similar inquiries. Supporting other teachers within my own team with findings from my inquiry to help build on their own inquiries as well as the direction we are going in a team. Supporting my colleagues through the running of workshops, sharing knowledge and offering assistance and ideas where needed. Working collaboratively within my team and other teams in the school. 

Burts and Bubbles 2022

 

My inquiry question for this year was: How to enhance well being and enjoyment while accelerating reading achievement for those students reading between the ages of 8 and 9 years? I identified this as my focus question when I noticed that a large group of my students were reading between the ages of 8 and 9 years, below where they should be reading at a year 5 level. Initially my only inquiry focus was on accelerating reading achievement, however with the nature of this year and ever changing events throughout I also decided to focus on the well being of my students and enhancing their enjoyment for reading. 

To build a picture of my students learning in reading I looked at a range of different data such as PAT reading, Star, Running Records, Spelling lists and Student Voice. To build a picture of student well being and reading for enjoyment I conducted surveys at various stages of the year. Which was fascinating to see what they thought. I have broken this down extensively on my blog. 

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase was that these students were able to read the text fluently with great decoding, however when it came time to answer the questions they were unable to infer meaning or answer questions related to vocabulary. Another thing I found was that my students didn't want to participate in reading outside of our guided reading sessions, there was a clear lack of enjoyment. 

From speaking to other colleagues I found that enjoyment for reading and vocabulary were key elements that many of our students were struggling with. I explored what the literature said looking at academic research that I have discussed in detail in one of my blog posts. 

The changes that I made to my teaching was integrating reading and writing with an overall topic focus each week. This allowed my students to immerse themselves in the topic specific vocabulary in both reading and writing. I implemented a spelling test using a pre and post test each week with the same words to gauge the retention of this new vocabulary. I also started taking my class to the library where they were able to choose what they would like to read in their own time. 

The easiest thing to change was the integration of reading and writing especially with the spelling lists. Some of the challenges were creating writing tasks that did fit in with the topic as well as being interesting and exciting for the students.

Overall there were some key markers of success. Students showed an eagerness to read independently from having that choice of what they wanted to read. My target showed more confidence in reading unfamiliar words and used new vocabulary more purposefully in writing tasks. My mid year data showed improvements in reading ages for some of my students. This data also showed key areas that needed to be worked. Student well being and reading for enjoyment surveys showed a shift with many of my students stating that they enjoyed reading for fun and felt confident and supported being at school. 

A highlight from this year was the change in attitude of my students towards “super silent reading” as they call it. At the beginning of the year none of my students really wanted to participate in sustained silent reading but we persevered. Now my students ask if they can silently read when they have finished their work or when they come in from play time which is a huge change!

The most important learning I made about my inquiry was the integration of reading and writing and the focus on student enjoyment for reading. By encouraging the enjoyment of reading with my learners they were more excited to complete reading tasks and participate in guided reading lessons. My students are now excited to share what they have learnt and are eager to find out more about the topic. The excitement that they have in reading has led to greater engagement and focus during reading.