Data check in

At our last PLG we were asked to look at what kind of data we have used throughout the year and think forwards to our bursts and bubble presentations coming up in a few weeks. I have used a mixture of both qualitative and quantitate data throughout my inquiry this year. Below I have outlined each of ways that I have collected data and how I will use these data to see how effective the intervention has been. 

Guided Reading Data
This has been obtained through anecdotal notes throughout the year. This has been the best and easy way to keep track of my students throughout the year. It has also given me a way to tweak the intervention as I go and make changes. 

Running Record Data
I have been looking at this data throughout the year to see if there have been improvements from the intervention. I have used this to not only look at reading age and level but which aspects of reading that these students are needing to work on. 

PAT Data
I will use this data to see the changes in reading throughout the year also. I have placed this data into different categories to be able to have a closer and more in-depth look. 

Key into Inference Data 
Unfortunately this has been been an area that I have not been so onto it with documenting but from what I have see and how I have used this tool it has been very informative and successful. 

Monitoring of implementation

It is that time of year where we need to start evaluating what we have been doing throughout the year to make sure that we can see the shift and change of our implementations. One of the first things I have decided to explore is the evidence about the monitoring of my implementation. Here is some of the data that I have collected so far. 

This is a break down of my June running record data. This year I have wanted to focus in on the comprehension part of the test and see if there are any trends in the data. I will then look at the end of year data and compare this with mid year and beginning of the year data. 

I have then looked at my beginning of the year data to see if there has been any changes or shifts in the comprehension part of the running records. Below I have added the beginning of the year data. 

The graph below shows the reading change in reading levels from November 2022 (end of year testing) and June 2023 testing for reports. 

The graph below shows shows the changes in reading ages from November 2022 to June 2023 testing. 

What methods have you used to collect information?​

• PAT testing data
• Running records data
• Anecdotal notes
• Key interference data

​How have you been systematic in that collection?​
I have tired to make sure that especially with my anecdotal data that I have been looking at this weekly and recording this. However I could have placed it in a more collective place where I was able to look at the data better. I have also been collecting the key into inference data but this has been something that sometimes doesn't fit into our rotation for the week or what we are learning so its about keeping myself acceptable and making sure that I make time for it was well. 

What does the data tell you?​
My mid year running records data suggested that what I have put into place has worked. I made sure to test these students before I started the intervention to see if there was any shift from the intervention. This was important to have as a baseline because students could have still made progress from the end of the year. With PAT it is harder to see that data as there is only two points of the year that we do test this so it will be interesting to see that this data shows.  

What are you going to do with the data in terms of ‘tweaking’ your intervention?
From looking at the data of the mid year running records and my anecdotal notes of the students I have been able to tweak the intervention and how it works in the classroom. I tried to make sure that the tweaks where not to large so that I could still use the data as a place to show success. I have used the research and readings that I collected earlier in the year to shape my intervention and what do use in order to make tweaks. 

Key into Inference

One tool that I have been really excited about this year has been the key into inference resource. I have only really just scratched the surface of using this as a tool but from what I have used and see it has been really effective in making my students think critically and not just pick a literal conclusion. I have used this tool as a micro formative tool throughout the year and it has been one of trial and error which I will outline in detail below. 

The first thing I tired was photocopying the tasks for the students and having them complete them during guided reading. This did not work as well as I would have liked. It was one of those things that took a long time to organise because there weren't enough pencils (they have mysteriously vanished as usual). So this was the first part of the hurdle the second part was actually being able to understand what they students had written, some of the writing is very clear and some is very hard to decipher. So after much trial and error this way I decided lets try something else. 

The second thing I have tried is to create these in Google Form for the students to complete either before guided reading or during guided reading. This has proved to be quite useful and an easier way to look at the data and analyse it quickly as it is already in a spreadsheet. The only problem I have encountered with this is making sure that the link is only visible to the students in my class due to copyright. The other issue I am having is teacher error, I have created these forms but each time I have created them there is something that I haven't like about it or something that hasn't been effective. So again this is a work in progress. I know I will be able to continue to use these resources for the rest of the year as well as next year so its about trying to find what works and what doesn't. 

From the few of these that I have completed this has been a really effective tool to quickly gauge where students are and what they need to work on. I am just needing to make it more user friendly for myself and my classroom, so watch this space!

Student Voice

I have been pondering student voice for the last few weeks now and have been trying to think of the best way to a) collate this and b) how to show that there have been changes throughout the year. I always tend to find that this is the last thing I think to look at whereas it should be the first thing we look at. Because the students are the ones who we are needing to see if they are enjoying the changes and if they are working for them. 

I have been lucky enough to be recording Class OnAir again this year and I have been able to capture some great student voice throughout the year. Even though I haven't complete formal assessment of student voice I have been able to gather this anecdotally throughout the year. We have been focusing on how to infer meaning and some of that has been through the development of characters in a story, how they are described and what actions they are showing in a text. 

The more I think about student voice the more I think about to one of my lessons this year, which I thankfully had on camera for a Class OnAir episode. One of the questions was how do we know then the text was written. There were many clues of this in the text however most of the students thought that it must be in olden times because it was about an old lady. But one of my students pointed out that they were watching the show "Brooklyn 99" which is show that has only recently been around. Through this realisation the students made the comment that he was "mind blown" because he could finally see that there are clues through the text that we can use to understand hidden meaning. This was not only a great learning experience for the students but it made the other students excited to find clues as well as complete the follow up task of creating a GIF. 

I have come up with a way to access student voice and this has been more of an anecdotal way this year. At the beginning of the year students set goals for what they wanted to achieve and a lot of these goals were around reading and how to improve. So I will use this as a baseline and then interview each of the students as a goal check in to see how they are going with their goal and how much they understand the key areas that they have been working on in literacy this year. 

Informal and Formal Checkpoint

From our last PLG which I unfortunately missed we have been asked to think out some key checkpoints to see if our intervention is working as well as what we can do to change things to make it better. Below I have outlined some of the ways that I have informal checkups on my learners and how my intervention is working. 

Guided Reading - Informal
This is the best way to be able to complete an informal check in on how the students are going. As I have outlined in previous posts by taking notes during guided reading and having these reflections as anecdotal notes has been a quick way to check in to see if students are able to understand inferring questions as well as new vocabulary that they come across. The follow up tasks from our guided reading sessions also provide a good place to see what the students have learnt and how they applied that knowledge to what they are doing. 

Along with informal checkpoints there is also the need for formal checkpoints. Formal checkpoints allow you to check systematically how learners are experiencing the intervention and whether it is beginning to have the impact on learner outcomes. I have outlined some of the ways that I have completed formal checks to see where my learners are at throughout the year. 

Running Records - Formal
I have completed running records at mid-year testing as well as throughout the year to see how the students are progressing and if the intervention has been impacting learner outcomes. This is a great way to see quickly what areas that the students are still needing to work on. 

Key into Inference - Formal 
Through this tool I have been able to have very quick formal assessments of my students to see how they are going. This tool shows very quickly and clearly if the students are able to infer with small sentences or short paragraphs. The great thing about this tool as that I am able to work with a group of students who are needing extra assistance and then extend the students who have understood. 

PAT and e-AsTTle - Formal
PAT tests are the tests that we complete at the beginning and the end of the year so these are the overall formal assessments that I will be able to use to see shift between the beginning of the year and the end of the year. I have also completed some e-AsTTle tests throughout the year that has provided data for me to look at and decide the next steps for these target learners. 

I think it has been really good to see which types of checkpoints I have used throughout the year as our inquiry starts to wrap up as this has allowed me to think about how I can show these changes and the different forms of assessment that I have used. 

Recording Data

While I was looking at the tools that I have been implementing to my inquiry I have been focused on how best to record data in order to see if what I have implemented has caused shift in my learners. I have outlined some of the key ways that I will be able to record and check data and some of the ways I have reassessed my inquiry with the data that I have recorded. 

Initially I used PAT Star and PAT reading as a guide for the beginning of the year to see where the students were at. This was easy enough to graph but I also just looked at the numbers and thought what is this actually telling me. So what I did was I looked at this data in depth and for my target group I analysed each part of this data to see what needed to be worked on. This is something that I will also be able to look at with end of year testing that will give me data to go off. 

Other reading data I looked at was the students end of 2022 running records. At first I looked at the data of what level each of the students were at but again that only showed what they had achieved. So before having my students in front of me I decided to analyse their end of year running record data to see what areas needed to be worked on. From this is found that the students main areas that needed work were inference questions, applied knowledge and vocabulary. This then allowed a good starting point for when the students were in front of me what we need to work on during guided reading. 

Another way of collecting data has been through my teacher notes from reading with my reading groups. I try at least once or twice a week to hear each of my students read aloud and take down notes of what they are doing well and what they need to work on. During these sessions I also take note of who is sharing their ideas with the group and who is able to answer questions. These anecdotal notes have been really helpful for next steps and also to see the confidence in my students shift. So this is another form of data that I have. 

Finally I have the data of the key into inference resource. This is something that I have been working on with my whole class so it has provided really great information about where students are at and what they are needing to work on. This is a very quick way to see where students are and can group students to work on how to infer meaning from these different levels. 

Overall I think I have used both qualitative and quantitate data to see how well my implementation has worked. There is a good amount of baseline data that I will be able to use to compare end of year data to see if there has been shift with my target group of learners. I think the anecdotal notes will be just as important to see shift in attitudes and confidence throughout the year. 

What have I implemented?

This week I have been reflecting and thinking about what I have implemented and how I can see if there have been changes to what I have implemented with my inquiry. This is something that we discussed at our last PLG. 

"At the end of the inquiry cycle, you want to be able to attribute any changes in learner outcomes (in part) to changes in the experiences of learners. To do this you need to be able to demonstrate exactly how the learning experience has changed for learners"

This is what we have been asked to think about in order to see if what we have implemented has been successful. This is always an area that I forget about so often when I am doing my inquiry so it is a great reminder to think about what I am going to be be able to use data wise as a baseline to see if what I have implemented has caused a change or has been successful. So I have been thinking about the things that I have implemented for my inquiry this year and outlined this in detail below. 

• Picture Questions:
  The first thing I implemented with my reading groups was to have a picture with questions that require the students to think beyond the image that they are looking at. These pictures posed questions such as who is taking the photo along with a range of different questions that required the students to infer meaning. 
  
  
• Photopea GIF:
  Another one of the things that I have implemented was the use of Photopea as a create task in order to have students infer meaning from a story or article. This could be inferring the meaning of a characters feelings or new and unfamiliar words and phrases that we have come across. This has been a simple task to try and have students focus on creating a visual to show hidden meaning from the text. 
  
  
• Key into Inference: 
  Another key tool that I have continued to implement in the Key into Inference resource. This resource starts off by having students infer meaning from a sentence firstly focusing on who, what, why, where, when and how. Then finally as the text's progress the students are then required to infer meaning from paragraphs. This has been a very useful tool as it allows very quick results to see which students have grasped the concept and which students need further help. 
  
  
• Shared Reading:
  This year I have also really focused on having a shared text to read as a whole class. Through this we will unpack a text in detail and look at key questions that require inferring as well applied knowledge questions which are accessible to all learners in the classroom and allows to start focusing on that extended discussion as a class.
  
  
• Guided Reading:
  Finally I have focused on ensuing to explicitly plan for inference questions as well as applied knowledge questions. This is something that I have been doing previously but have made sure to be more explicit about this in my planning and in my teaching. Research and observations from this year have shown that when something is intentionally planned for then teachers are more likely to make time for this during guided reading sessions. 

These are the key things that I have implemented this year in my inquiry. I have found each one of these valuable and interesting in their own ways so far. I have been constantly looking into the effectiveness of each of these implementations and have changed how I use these in the classroom as a best fit for what works. As I outlined earlier it was a thing that started with looking at my target group but some of these implementations were working so well I tried it with a number of other students in my class.