Reflections for Bursts and Bubbles

First off I would like to say a massive Thank You to Fiona Grant for all of her support and guidance during my CoL inquires over the years. I would also like to thank our convenors Carmel Bullôt, Richard Johnston and the whole CoL team for another fantastic year of growth and learning through this CoL inquiry. I would also like to give a special mention to Russell Burt who was the previous CoL convenor for all of my previous years during CoL and Dorothy Burt for all of her wisdom and help throughout the year. I would also like to acknowledge all of my CoL and PES colleagues who have helped me along this journey this year. I have been so fortunate to be part of the CoL teachers since 2021, so this is my 5th year and I have learnt so much. My focus has always been around reading because I am so passionate about everyone be able to read and I truely believe that it is important to be able to access other areas of the curriculum. I have loved my journey through CoL and have built on my inquiry each year, it is not something that is done in isolation or by yourself which is why I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of CoL this year. This is my inquiry for the year in a nutshell, thanks for following along! Although this is the end of CoL it's not the end of my inquiry so I will continue to share my learning along the way! Thanks again to everyone who has made this journey possible. 

My inquiry question for this year was: How can the deliberate use of extended group discussions enhance learner confidence and improve engagement and achievement in reading? I identified this as my focus question after noticing that many of my students were reluctant to share during our guided reading sessions. Most of these students were reading just below where they should be. This made me ask the question what I do to help these students become more confident in extended discussion and how to ensure these students are reading at or above where they should be. 

To build a picture of my students' learning I looked at a range of different data such as PATs, anecdotal notes from guided reading sessions, probe and running records. I've broken this down extensively on my blog. 

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling stage was that while students understood what they were reading, they struggled to have discussions around what they had read. These students were really confident in answering literal questions but were struggling to unpack the text to answer inferential, applied knowledge and vocabulary questions. 

From speaking to other colleagues, I found that many of our students encountered similar obstacles, building confidence and engaging in extended discussions was challenging for them. After exploring research and having discussion with my colleagues I discovered strategies that could have a difference, such as using question cards to encourage students to share their thoughts and ideas during guided reading lessons. 

The biggest change I made to my teaching this year was using specific question cards for both fiction and non-fiction texts. These questions are designed to make students think deeply about what they read. To help everyone participate, each student gets a card along with their text they are reading before our guided reading session. This important step gives them time to plan out a good answer they can share confidently. This ensures that everyone shares and lets them have great conversations with each other so they really understand what they have read. We also worked on building confidence through students creating videos of their discussions and creating tasks like interviewing the author. 

One of the easiest changes was creating a warm up activities for reading where students would need to infer meaning from an image or to answer inference questions. Some of the challenges included building the students confidence to share with each other during small group reading. We spent a lot of time working on how to have conversations with each other around and building relationships within our reading groups.

Overall, I would rate the changes in my students' learning as successful. My students can now confidently discuss texts with each other, leading to richer, more meaningful discussions. My mid-year data showed that most of my students made at least six months' progress. The small end-of-year data that I have available so far indicates a further six months to a year and a half reading progress for the students who have been tested. 

A major highlight of this year was creating a book study focused purely on encouraging students to read for enjoyment. While my own class participated positively, the initiative gained significant momentum when I shared it with a colleague. Her students embraced the concept with enthusiastic energy, which unexpectedly sparked a friendly reading competition between the two classes. It's been great seeing the excitement and competition really push both classes to read for enjoyment and not just because they have been told to. 

So, what is the most important learning I made about this inquiry? Confidence and conversation are the most powerful tools in engaging students with their reading and driving deeper understanding. By deliberately structuring our group discussions and giving students the specific tools to prepare, we completely shifted the dynamic. My students are now excited about reading, eager to share their ideas, and, most importantly, confidently engaging in rich, extended discussions with one another.

Positive Results

It has come to that time of the year where we have started our testing. We are really lucky at the end of the year to have one of our wonderful teachers Jenni Clarke complete our running record and probe tests for our learners. I have been able to see some of the data that is coming in so far and most of my students who have been tested have made at least 6 months reading progress!

One massive success is a student who struggled to make progress during mid year testing and who had been on the same level for several years has made one and a half years progress. They have done really well and are so much more confident with their reading. 

Many of my students are also very excited for reading and are willing to read for longer periods of time for enjoyment. I initially started my novel study for my own class and shared it with my colleague Sarah Tuiā and her class absolutely love it and are so excited to read books for enjoyment. It has started a little bit of competition between the two classes which has been great to see. From this it has made me think about how we can make this into a team challenge next year to try and engage everyone in reading. 

I am looking forward to being able to graph all of my data in a later post and see the overall extent of what they students have made progress. I also need to collate my data for my last reader profile survey which I will also share in a later post. 

Summary Key Changes

In this blog post, I’m going to summarise some of the key changes I’ve made in my teaching practice and explore other factors that have influenced student learning from my inquiry so far this year. It’s been a journey of reflection, observation, and tweaking to find what works best to engage and support my students. I’ll be sharing some of the shifts I’ve noticed, what’s had the biggest impact, and where I’m heading next.

Group Discussions and Question Cards
By adding in this simple task at the beginning of every lesson has made my guided reading sessions more vibrant with a lot more buy in and participation. The students are excited to share and I am not having to pull information out of them. They are also more comfortable with each other and being able to share ideas, it is a safe space where everyone can share their thoughts and ideas. 

Inferencing 
Building this in as a warm up activity each day for reading has been really beneficial the students are now thinking about what the question is asking them rather than just making up an answer from the first few lines of the text. Building in on using the image prompts too has been a big help as it is making them look at it from a different perspective. One other really cool thing is that we have been using AI generated images for our follow up tasks and the students need to feed the right information otherwise the AI tool will make up what it thinks they are wanting which has made the students really think about what they are writing and how they are describing things.

Response to text tasks
These have been working really well. It has been really clear to see the link between what we have been learning in guided reading and then focused on after reading either independently or as a whole group. By having the create element to this task the students have had the opportunity to explain key pars of the text in a different way that is meaningful to them.

Novel Study and Reading for Enjoyment Time 
By having the novel study alongside our reading program this year has allowed students to choose something that they want to read and find enjoyment in reading. I have created my own small library shelf in my room this year which allows the students to pick something new to read and gives variety that they might not have checked out before. By having time each day set aside to silent reading the students are picking texts they like rather than just a random book. 

It’s been an exciting journey to see how these changes and approaches have shaped student learning this year. The question cards have boosted student confidence in unpacking a text and I’m keen to build on this even more next year. Picture prompts have encouraged deeper thinking and made students more confident in sharing their inferences, while response-to-text tasks have let them show their understanding in meaningful ways.

Introducing the novel study and reading time has been a game-changer. It’s helped reignite a love for reading, giving students more freedom to explore and discover texts that interest them.

I’m proud of the progress made so far and am looking forward to continuing this journey, building on what’s working and staying open to new ways of supporting our students to grow as readers and thinkers.

Quantitative data & Qualitative Data

For our last PLG we looked at our data and evaluated what types of data we have used this year.  In this blog post I will outline the key quantitative and qualitative data that I have used throughout my inquiry this year.

Quantitative Data

• PAT Reading comprehension - I used this data at the beginning of the year to see where the students were at with reading comprehension. I will then compare this to the data at the end of the year when students complete this test again. 
• PAT Reading STAR - This data was analysed at the beginning of the year and I will again analyse this data at the end of the year to see if there is any shift.
• Running Records and Probe tests - I have looked at 2024 running records for all of my students and then compared this with the running records that I completed for mid year testing. I will then compare this with running records that students will complete at the end of the year. 
• Student survey - So far I have completed the learner reading profile surveys at the beginning of the year and will complete another one for the end of the year to see if there are any changes to this. 

Qualitative Data 

• Teacher Reflections - After each guided reading session I have completed detailed teacher reflections on the group as a whole as well as individual students. I will use this data to compare students learning throughout the year as well as their overall confidence in reading. 
• Observations - I have kept a record of observations through Vosaic. This tool uses AI to analyse the lesson and from there we can generate our own prompts to gain feedback on our lessons and next steps. I will use this data to compare my teaching for the rest of the year. I have used this to look not only at my own teaching but the dissuasions that students are having and how I can make changes to this. 

I have used a range of different types of data throughout the year and will continue to use these different tools to see if there has been shift in my students reading as well as my own teaching practice. 

Question Cards

In my previous blog posts I have talked about question cards that I have created that students have to answer during guided reading. Through research and discussions with colleagues I decided that this was something that I wanted to implement with my reading groups. 

What is it?
I have created 6 question cards for fiction and then 6 question cards for non-fiction texts. They are very generic and can be related to all texts. The reason I have gone with 6 is because all of my reading groups have a max of 6 students in them. 

How does it work?
Before guided reading sessions I have been giving my students the text that they are going to be reading. From there they are given on of the 6 questions and this is the question they will be answering when we meet back together. They are usually given 20 minutes to read the text and think about how they are going to answer the question. 

This has been working really well and I have been finding my students who are less likely to share are a lot more confident because that have already thought about what they are going to say. Another positive is that the students now know the order of the questions and will take the lead to ask each person to read and share the question. After these questions we can unpack the text in greater detail and the students are a lot more comfortable sharing for the rest of the lesson.

Fiction Questions

• Who are the main characters? How do they change throughout the story?
• What is the main problem or conflict in the story?
• Where and when does the story take place?
• What is the central message or idea of the story?
• What is the author's message to the reader?
• What connections can you make between this story and your own life or other stories you have read? 

Non Fiction Questions

• What is this text really about?
• How does the author organise the information?
• How has your understanding of this topic changed after reading the text?
• What is the author's purpose for writing this text?
• Do you agree or disagree with the author's ideas, and why?
• How can you share what you learned with others?

These are very generic questions that get to some of the key points of the text and really make the students think more critically about what they are reading. I have laminated a number of sets of these and find it really easy to give out with the text as we are setting up our sessions. I look forward to using these for the rest of the year and will make some changes if I need to. 

Check in - Monitoring

After our last PLG we were asked to describe and explain the changes of tweaks that we have made in our practice along the way. This blog post will outline some of the tweaks and changes that I have made. 

Individual Questions
This has been working well, by giving this to the students while they have been reading is good as it gives them plenty of time. It is also starting to open up conversations as a group and less teacher directed. 

Specific Questions
This has also been really beneficial and I have stared to add different types of questions into our guided reading sessions as well as follow up tasks. 

Inferencing
By having practice with the images and key into inference the students have more exposure and are showing a lot more confidence in answering these questions. 

Novel Study 
I have had a lot of buy in from the students and they are excited to read a book for the fact that they can complete a task about it. Interestingly enough the classroom next to mine is using this as well and they absolutely love it!

Next steps
I will continue to implement these changes to my practice and monitor some of the things that are working and some parts of this that might need continued change throughout the rest of this term and into term 4. 

Implementations

In this blog post I am going to outline all of the implementations that I have added into my reading sessions this year. This is a way of seeing if what I have implemented has made a difference to my teaching and the outcome of my learners and I will be able to check in against this at the end of the year. 

Individual Questions
I have created question cards that are for fiction and non-fiction texts that the students will be given for pre-reading. What this looks like is each student will have a question that they will need to answer during our guided reading session. They will be given 20 minutes prior to our reading session to read the text and think about how they will answer the question in our reading discussions. This will allow each student to share answer and become more confident in sharing. 

Reading Article and Specific Questions
After analysing my running records and PAT data from the middle of the year I could see very clearly which questions that the students were struggling with and which types of questions I should focus on unpacking during guided reading sessions. For my reading task boards this year I have continued to have an overall focus each week with an article directly related to the topic, this has generally been AI generated and at a year 6 reading level for the whole class. 

From this the students are then given journals at their reading level loosely related to the topic is possible. The article has a response to text task which is where I have focused on ensuring that each week students are exposed to these types of questions:

Literal, Inferring, Vocabulary, Applied Knowledge, Reorganisation, Reaction and Evaluation. 
I have done this to make sure that all of the students are exposed to these types of questions regularly so they will be able to understand how to answer them.  

Key into Inference
This is something that worked well last year so I have decided to bring it in again this year. We have been working through these every day of the week as a warm up activity which has been working well so far. 

Inferencing Images
Again this is another thing that I have introduced to get students to infer meaning through different types of media. This has been a warm up activity too which has been working well. 

Book Study
This is something else that I have created to get students engaged and excited about reading. We have been working on choosing a book to read for enjoyment and setting aside time each day to read this book. Through this the students can complete a novel study around the book they are reading. This is a work in progress and I am trying to make it look more engaging and enjoyable. 

Causal Chain

My focus question for this year is:

"How can the deliberate use of extended group discussions enhance learner confidence and improve engagement and achievement in reading?"

One thing that I have been working on when looking at my inquiry is creating a casual chain. Below I have shared my casual chain where I have looked at my inquiry focus question in detail and have thought about how I can show changes in my students achievement. A causal chain is when a cause leads to an effect and that effect becomes the cause of another effect A leads to B. B leads to C. C leads to D. During the process of my inquiry these year there have been several events that have occurred that have lead to changes in my focus as well as my own practice. Below I have completed my casual chain of events that have led to changes and improvements to my inquiry. This also outlines the roles that I as a teacher play in these changes as well as what is expected from the students and the changes in their roles.

I have added in my causal chain below:

In some of my previous posts I have talked about why I have chosen to look at these areas as well as what I might try differently in the classroom to have accelerated shift in reading. I have outlined these in a lot more detail in my casual chain above. Through these implementations and changes I have been able to solidify my inquiry focus and my next steps in order to see if these implementations are successful. I hope that the changes that I have made throughout this inquiry will continue to show results in academic achievement as well as the confidence to participate in extended discussions and for students to think more critically. 

Mid Year Reflection

During the holidays I looked at my data and regrouped my learners. What I have decided to do it make the groups smaller (6 max per group) which will allow everyone to be able to share during guided reading. This has also given me a chance to see if I can extend the learners with higher level texts as we progress through the term. 

After having conversations with colleagues in how to make it possible for students to share ideas with each other it was suggested to give the more reserved students a question that they know they are going to have to answer. So what I am going to do is create little cards for fiction and non fiction texts that have generic questions and give these to the students before the see me for guided reading. I will also get the students to read the text with the cards before they come and see me so that they have more time to think about what they will say. Hopefully this will help build confidence. 

Another thing that I want to bring in and focus on again is ground rules for talk and reintroduce the ideas of having everyone share. We will start this with basic conversation starters that are really easy things like what superhero would you be and things like that. 

I think the key thing I have taken away so far is the need to build confidence and I am going to try and do this in as many ways as I can. I will also be implementing key questions that focus on inferring, applied knowledge and vocabulary. 

Mid Year Data

I have just completed my running record and probe tests for the middle of the year and have analysed the data. I have created a graph to show the reading ages from the end of last year in comparison to the mid year testing reading ages. 

From the graph and looking at the data I can see that most of my students made at least 6 months to a year gain in reading age. There was a small number of students who had made no progress in their reading ages. From looking at this data and my reflections and anecdotal notes one thing I can draw from this is the students who are less likely to share their reading learning are the ones that showed no shift in mid year testing. 

One of the other things I have noticed is the jump from PM to Probe testing can have a bit of an impact on reading ages. When looking at a couple of my students and previous trends I can see that they may have been tested too high at one point and have needed to be tested back so look like they have't made shift in reading age but I can see improvements in reading groups. 

Key Takeaways
Inferring was an area where many students struggled. Applied knowledge was another key area that needed to be developed. Vocabulary and unpacking new words was also another area that I need to focus on. From the probe testing I have decided to make sure to include a range of the types of questions each so that students are exposed to these not just during testing. Decoding is really good its unpacking the text and understanding more complex ideas.  

Observations

This year we have continued to use Vosaic to upload videos of our teaching which is then analysed by AI to provide feedback and next steps. What I really like about using this is it also provides articles that you can read which can make you delve deeper into next steps. 

What I have done so far this year is I have uploaded my teaching videos as well as some videos I took of students while they were working independently and having their own discussions. 

From one of my guided reading sessions I was provided with a summary of teacher taking time and student talking time. From this video it showed:  
Teacher talk time: 66.67 %
Student talk time: 33.33 %
From this I could immediately see that I am talking too much during our guided reading sessions and I need to ensure that there is more student voice. From looking at the notes of this lesson it has shown that I am trying to set up student lead talking which is why there is more talking from me that the students but it is a good gauge to see what my next steps are. 

This was the feedback and next step suggestions that I was given:
"The teacher could incorporate more student-led discussions to enhance engagement and ownership of learning. The teacher might also consider using more visual aids or hands-on activities to cater to different learning styles and keep students engaged. Additionally, providing more wait time after asking questions could encourage more students to participate and think critically about their responses."

After I read with this group I kept the camera recording to get a clear picture of what the students were doing after guided reading sessions and how they were able to have discussions themselves. For this video it showed:
Teacher talk time: 38.5 %
Student talk time: 61.5 %

This was the feedback and next step suggestions that I was given:
"The teacher could incorporate more structured group discussions to ensure all students participate equally. The teacher might also consider using visual aids or multimedia resources to enhance engagement and understanding of the topic. Additionally, implementing a system for students to share their thoughts in smaller groups before discussing as a whole class could foster more confidence and participation."

From this feedback I was able to create a direction of my next steps and what I can work on. One of the key things that I have taken away from this is having a set of generic questions that can be given to the students while they are reading and this will be a question they need to answer. This will ensure that everyone is able to share an answer to a question and participate in discussions. 

Mid Year Stocktake

It has come to that part of our inquiry where we have been asked to stocktake what we have done so far. I have used the questions below to help structure this blog post and have kept them in here as well just so you know what I am answering and why. 

Have I used a range of sources/ tools/ evidence about the students to understand their learning in a really rich and detailed way? Do these include: standardised assessments, student voice, whānau voice?

In my previous blog posts I have outlined some of the tools and evidence that I have used about the students in detail which has allowed me to really understand their learning in a rich and detailed way. Some of the key tools and evidence that I have used are:

• PAT Reading Data 
• PAT STAR Data 
• Running Records and Probe Tests
• Observations from guided reading
• Reflections from guided reading sessions
• Reader profile survey (student voice)

Do I understand their strengths at least as much as I understand their areas for development?

From the tools and evidence that I have collected I have been able to see the areas that my students excel in which is being able to decode really well. The students are also able to easily locate key information from the text to answer literal questions. I will continue to work on strengthening these areas as well as working towards filling the gaps. 

Have I developed a strong profile of their achievement based on sound theories from a range of relevant sources?

I have looked into some academic readings which I have written about in a previous blog post. I have also spoken to colleagues about changes that I can make in the classroom.  

Identify THREE measures you could use pre- and post- to compare students’ learning before and after your intervention.

I am going to be using a range of different tools to measure pre and post intervention to be able to compare learning. I will outline this below with a brief description. 

• PAT data - I will use Reading Comprehension and STAR to compare students data from the beginning and end of the year.
• Running Records & Probe tests - again I will compare this data from the beginning of the year to mid year to end of the year. 
• Reader profile survey - I will compare this data at three time points throughout the year to see if there are any changes to student voice on reading. 
• Observation data - I will collate this and see what trends I am noticing from observations. 

Academic Readings

It has come to that time of our inquiry where we are looking at academic research and readings to see what changes that we can make to support our hypothesis and inquiry. For my inquiry this year I have also sourced some academic research to have a deeper look into changes that will make to my practice to raise reading achievement for my learners this year. I had a look at three pieces of academic research will I will outline below in this blog post. 

Reading One:
The first piece of academic research that I looked into was "Improving pupil group work interaction and dialogue in primary classrooms." This research outlined how structured group work can make a big difference in student engagement. When teachers set up group activities in a thoughtful way, students get more involved and have better discussions.

What I learned from this reading is that I need to be more intentional about how I organise group work. So, I’m planning to mix things up by giving students specific roles in their groups and creating tasks that encourage them to think critically and talk to each other. 

Reading Two:
The second piece of academic research that I looked into was "Fundamentals of inferencing during reading." This article emphasises how important it is for readers to make inferences using their background knowledge. Good readers connect new information to what they already know, which is key for understanding what they read.

What I learned from this reading was the need to focus on teaching inferencing skills in my classroom. I plan to introduce lessons that help students practice making inferences while reading. I think the key thing to start with is gathering students prior knowledge using topics I know they are confident with to start discussions and make those connections. 

Reading Three:
The final piece of academic research that I looked into was "How Can Teachers Facilitate Productive Talk?" This article highlights how the way teachers talk can really impact small-group discussions. It introduces a lot of effective teacher dialogue and moves to help students engage more meaningfully with what they are reading. 

What I learned from this that my role as a teacher in leading discussions is super important. I want to start using specific questions that encourage deeper thinking and conversation. For example, I’ll ask open-ended questions that prompt students to elaborate on their thoughts or respectfully challenge each other’s ideas. I want my classroom to be a space where everyone feels comfy sharing their opinions and using evidence from the text to back them up. 

I’m really excited about these changes and can’t wait to see how they impact my students learning. These articles have been helpful in shaping my next steps, and I’m looking forward to trying these strategies out in my class. With a little tweaking along the way, I hope to create an even more engaging and effective learning environment for my students!

References:

Cook, A. E., & O'Brien, E. J. (2017). Fundamentals of inferencing during reading. Language and Linguistics Compass, 11(7), e12238. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12238

Wei, L., Murphy, P. K., & Firetto, C. M. (2018). Improving pupil group work interaction and dialogue in primary classrooms: Results from a year-long intervention study. The Elementary School Journal, 118(4), 568-588. https://doi.org/10.1086/697175

Wei, L., Murphy, P. K., & Firetto, C. M. (2018). How can teachers facilitate productive small-group talk? An integrated taxonomy of teacher discourse moves. The Elementary School Journal, 118(4), 589-608. https://doi.org/10.1086/697176

Hunches Response

During our CoL meeting last week we looked at our hunches and were able to share these with our other colleagues with this meeting. It is always a really helpful process sharing hunches and ideas with others as we often are given a range of different suggestions that can help with what we are trying to achieve. Below is some the feedback I had from my discussions on our meeting along with some things that I would like to try in the classroom. 

Hunch One
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. 

Introduce ground rules for talk into sharing in pairs within the group then gradually move to the whole group. Use Vosaic to film guided reading sessions to see what I can improve in my teaching to facilitate this. Along with filming groups working on a follow up activity to see how much extended discussion the students are having when not facilitated by the teacher. 

Hunch Two
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. 

Film students using Vosaic while they are working at table groups to see what types of discussion they are having and what I can work on. Filming groups working on a follow up activity to see how much extended discussion the students are having when not facilitated by the teacher. 

Hunch Three
An emphasis on using images and structured response to text tasks that always incorporate 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.

Change my follow up tasks to be more focused looking at key elements of adding in inferring questions, could have a focus on adding in multiple choice questions so that they are able to learn how to answer questions like this. 

Hunch Four
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. 

Upload reading texts to Notebook LM then add in some key questions and turn this into a podcast for the students to listen to. Integrating conversations into guided reading sessions and involving students in more collaborative discussions. 

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.