Restating the Question

At this point of my inquiry it is important to restate my question for this year to see that I am on track and what I can do further with my inquiry. My question for this year is:

How can I help my students reading between the ages of 9 and 10 years make accelerated progress?

I have been looking at this question and thinking about how this has shaped and changed throughout the course of the year. From my mid year data I did have some success with the things that we have been doing in literacy and have been able to add further students to my target group. This has meant that my overall group sample is now quite a large one which will hopefully allow some great data to see at the end of the year. 

As things go it always makes sense to implement these changes with all of the students in the class to see that if it works for not just one group but how it can be seen in the classroom. I think I have been using lots of these tools with a large number of students so I think it is really important to look back at was my initial question was and to make sure I am on track with that part of my inquiry. I think as teachers we sometimes get really excited about what we are changing and try and save the whole world at the same time so it has been good for me to be able to take notice of the initial question and reground myself in this stage of my inquiry. 

Throughout the year I have completed research and observed learning and behaviour around reading. I have looked into running record and PAT data to see what areas need special focus. From this I have found three key areas that I am focusing on this year. 

1. Comprehension strategies: inferencing and applied knowledge.
2. Critical discussions around what students are reading. Thinking about author's purpose.
3. Improving understanding of vocabulary through inferring meaning of these words using clues from the text.

These are the three key areas that I have been focusing on and have identified with my causal chain. I think it has been really important to stop and take stock of what I have been doing so far this year in order to keep my focus on what I started this year looking at. Like I said above we can tend to get a bit carried away when we are excited about something but this restating and looking at what I have been working on has given a new focus and appreciation for what I have done so far and where I am going to go from here.