Review of Ready to Read books

I recently came across this review of ready to read books. My previous blog post mentioned the importance of introducing the text well. This explains why. It also confirmed a research fact I had heard of in regards to moving readers onto red as soon as possible, not just waiting till they can read a certain number of sight words and recognise all of the alphabet letter/sounds. 

Reading course with a Reading Recovery Tutor

This year I have attended three day courses with Joan. She is the far north Reading Recovery Teacher Tutor. We went to Shirley Tuisini's office at Kaitaia Primary and had three great sessions on teaching juniors about literacy. This was an excellent opportunity to review my current practice in regards to taking SEA, 6 year nets, running records. We also discussed ideas for writing, shared reading and guided reading.

A question posed to me by Diane my principal is "How can my students demonstrate the success criteria." Joan proposed a two day guided reading session where on the second day we focus on the follow up of the read from the day before. So if my focus is on "noticing the endings on words" then we will have a follow up activity that is specific for this learning. We also discussed using the buddies who come in from another class to ask the students "What are the strategies you are learning at the moment?" This initially had a great response after their teacher worked with them on discussing strategies.

There were quite a few takeaways from this course. Here are a couple I can think of at the moment:

-Reading recovery teachers work on two focus questions. She said everyone knows there is more learning occurring but they always have these focus questions.

-If students have b/d confusion then it is better to not use both in a focus activity/follow up task.

-Reading recovery teachers don't use the "read on" strategy. They work on fixing up at the point of error. So I have not used this strategy at all since then. I have found that this has increased my focus on 'searching through the word' as a strategy for students.

-In shared reading Joan covers up punctuation with sticky notes and takes them away when the students can say what punctuation is hidden. This is a goodie. Try it!

-The biggest takeaway is the reminder of the front loading for a book. She modelled how she does it and I could see from this parts I was missing. I think I am getting better at this and valuing that even though it takes some time and kids are usually eager to get started, it will often save time and gives them the language they need because they will encounter it soon.

Interestingly, Joan also recommended to me that I work out my kaupapa for a reading level. I have not quite sat down and done this but I do think about it. Recently, an experienced teacher took my class for reading over three weeks. And she asked me was a student able to join three phonemes together, e.g. c-a-t. I already had observed that she wasn't doing this and it was interesting to me that she also picked up on this quickly. For her, the student should not be reading yellow texts because this is part of the learning at red level. I took her back a level and shared the information with her mother and she is doing much better at school and home with reading.

MLC

On Thursday I went to the Maths Learning Community for school and came away with lots of ideas and thoughts about maths in the classroom. One school had just completed their local curriculum and were saying they have some 'musts' for maths. It was great to discuss the fluency of basic facts. We discussed how the necessity for some maths practice has changed as society has changed. For example, once upon a time a shop teller would add in their head the total for purchases. Now we have scanners and this is done automatically. So the contexts for doing maths have changed so how do we change our contexts or think about rich learning tasks.

Here are some resources I could bring back to Oruaiti School.

Teaching Son # 2

Last year I began teaching full time again as my first born was beginning primary school. It was great to see him enjoy school so much, but it made me a little sad that it wasn't me teaching him how to read. So when the opportunity arose for me to teach the new entrants I jumped at the chance and have been fortunate enough to teach my second son.

He was the four year old who would stop playing his game when his older brother began reading, edging his way to the arm of the chair to peer at the pictures, hanging on every laboured word read aloud by his big brother. I could see a flourishing love of stories and I wanted to be the person to teach him how to read for himself.

Most people nodded enthusiastically when I said I would be teaching my son. Not his kindy teacher, though. She gave me a raised eyebrow and said "Are you sure about that? He has a bit of trouble following instructions."

The transition to school was smoother than some, having his mum as the teacher. There were no tears at drop off time because he was still with mum. He hasn't been the star pupil one might have imagined, rolling around on the mat, playing when he should be listening, and bellowing frustrated "Muuuuummmm"s during writing when I am helping other students.

However, there is something quite special about cuddling up to your son on the couch in the late afternoon with a small reader you're hearing for the second time that day, listening to the chirping, sweet tone of your little one becoming a reader. Reflecting on his reading journey so far I do acknowledge it hasn't been just me who has taught him to read. Each day I give him a book, carefully crafted for interest, personal experience and a level just right for him, written by one of New Zealand's many marvelous authors. He gets tips from his group peers, older reading buddy and beloved Nanza. Most of all, he himself has the keen desire to know how to read that little story.

I asked him one night, "Do you miss preschool? Would you like to go back?" To which he replied,
"I like preschool, but I like learning to read."

PB4L Day

Ideas from Meeting time with Chrystal

Websites to go to for Lesson Planning

Websites to go through: https://www.pbis.org

https://www.pbisworld.com

Question: How many times are we giving children a chance to practise this lesson? 8 times should really be the goal.

Reading Observation

As the year progresses it has become evident that my personal inquiry is centred around reading. It is my favourite curriculum area to teach. It is definitely the area I am drawn to when I have spare time to read about. I love noticing phonology and orthography and get a buzz out of students enjoying reading. In spite of my great interest it is still a challenge to get some students moving. We have noticed at Oruaiti School that we have quite a number of students who are not reaching curriculum expectations. Some factors are out of my control. So I am thinking a lot about how I can improve my practice to lift the achievement in my class. Here is a reading lesson observation. I am still pondering my focus question. Watch this space...

Number Agents_The journey begins

I want to begin this next post with a quote from Leslee Allen's blog.

"When was the last time you went out and 'did' maths...well probably often, but I bet you didn't think of it in that narrow way, because what you were doing was connected.  That is how mathematics needs to be presented to our children."

https://numberagents.blogspot.com/2018/06/challenging-our-thinking-about-maths.html

Leslee Allen has developed the Number Agents approach to maths. I have been interested in this for a while, but it was Petrina, our beginning teacher who's interest made me finally check out Leslee's blog. So over my holidays I have read up and begun developing how I will incorporate my own agency for Kowhai class to embrace this imaginary, fun-packed learning world.

So far, I feel I have squished in a bit too fast as it is Term 3. However, I do feel I know my learners pretty well and so feel confident they will trust me to push through the 'setting up' stage. Although it seems like a lot of extra planning for maths at the moment I do envisage great benefits for a few reasons: 1) It seems like a logical way for me to begin mixed ability grouping, 2) I am struggling with mixing play-based learning ideas vs the traditional classroom and this seems a good mix for quality teaching and learning, 3) It is a good inquiry journey to begin with Petrina (my mentee) so we can learn and reflect together.

Creating High Expectation Classrooms PD

Today we have had a great session from Christine Ruby-Davies on her research about creating high expectation classrooms. This has come at a good time for my focus on setting SMART goals which I have planned for this week. Many of the ideas match our learning from RBL.

At the end of the session we were asked : How will you set up a high expectation classroom?

I did reflect on this at the beginning of the year. One point that came up then was that high expectation teachers don't need to have extrinsic reward systems. That reinforced my decision to not have sticker charts for the children which was tough at the start. But I am glad for focusing on other motivational strategies instead. So I will take this a step further by considering non-contingent rewards. In the past I have set up independent activities where students are given choice. I still need to set up some choices for students to have autonomy over literacy activities.

And think about mixed ability grouping, goal setting, positive class climate.

For this term I have planned to try 'Number Agents' a drama approach for maths which uses mixed ability grouping for problem solving. I will have other blog posts in regards to this trial. Goal setting is something I have planned for this week in fact because it is part of my inquiry thinking. As for a positive class climate, I think I will have to ponder this a bit more. I always intend to have a positive class climate and believe I consider this. However, today some biases that teachers demonstrated in the research pinched a couple of nerves, so I will have to consider what it is that I could do differently.

Lesson Study Observation 3

It was the last lesson study observation for writing in Puriri. The lesson was executed well by Petrina and it was terrific to watch decisions we had made to improve student learning work. B was once again helped by the planning to check in with her group. She was empowered by the strategic group selection and seemed motivated to write the debate. All in all, it has been great to see her progress and see how careful attention to her learning preferences has impacted her learning.

The collaboration with colleagues was great for sharing ideas and really focusing on the learning outcomes. Getting to know learners also has given me food for thought with my own teaching practice. It was great to finish this just at the end of term as I am excited to specifically design lessons for my target students next term.

Lesson study

Manaiakalani Toolkit

Today Donna led me through setting up a class site. I am very excited to use this for planning so I can share planning with parents. Eventually, I may like the students to use it with devices as it is designed for. However, while we don't have one to one devices I would like to go slowly with the students.

Here is my start... Kowhai class site

Yay!

Inquiry Goal Term 2

Today in our staff meeting Meg asked us to make a goal for the end of the term in regards to our spiral of inquiry. With my coaching partner I came up with the following:

Goal:  Motivation - For students to understand their learning - Talk about their learning, not just what they are doing. Value self management. Modelling what they are learning not what they are doing.
Reality: Not clear success criteria yet. Enjoy sharing though. Helping flow of learning ownership on them.
Options: Need framed questions/statements.
What next? Making L/I & S/C visible.

Smart Goal:
By next Friday I will share the S/C in this format with the class so that they can use them at reflection time.

My Reflection time might look like this:
Task: Writing about what I did at the weekend.
LI: WALT use past tense - write one sentence.
Should: Write one sentence.
Could: I can create at least 2 past tense words.
Could: I can create at least 3 sentences using past tense words.

Lesson Study Observation_2

On Thursday I observed B in a second lesson study in Puriri class. Once again it was interesting to watch her closely and notice when B understood the learning and when she needed help. One of the recommendations after feedback from the last observation was to check in with B to make sure she understood the learning after being sent off. This was helpful and got her and her group moving.

Lesson study observation

Reflections for each block_Students Discussing their Learning

This week I am trialling a reflection time at the end of each block. The intention is to get students to understand and communicate their learning (not just what they were doing). This week I hope that they will feel rewarded for the work they do independently, in a group and with their teacher. They will want to share and therefore have some learning to show. In future weeks I hope this will progress to talking about their learning and success, and progress to identifying their next steps and setting their own goals.

A great deal of my time in class at the moment seems to be spent on helping students remember what they should be doing when they are not with me. I have to help them a lot to use the ipad. At the same time I am differentiating their learning to practise their next steps. So T is practising spelling, but E still needs to practise writing the letters that represent sounds. T is a growing expert on Seesaw and I am reluctant to let E use an Ipad after recent incidents. T could be an expert to help E use the Ipad, but E needs to be allowed to use the Ipads.

I hope that some of their learning may be recorded to use to show to parents. Interestingly, this week we have decided to focus our ALiM inquiry on engaging ALiM parents to help them understand their child's learning. I think this time could allow me opportunities to record their reflections so that parents can understand about teaching and learning in Kowhai.

PB4L meeting

Today I have been at a meeting of PB4L coaches. We have been asked to use the vision, values and strategic goals to write a purpose statement for the PB4L framework.

I came up with this:

To develop a positive school community of caring, confident and responsible (lifelong) learners who will inspire, create and grow together.

I think that the goal that lends itself as closely to incorporating the PB4L framework is Goal 1: All students to have access to relevant, meaningful teaching and learning experiences...

Maybe we could add: “through a PB4L framework.”

I will take back to the staff some other meeting minutes

Some other favourites from the meeting were:

Crystal is recommending that the framework of PB4L framework is recognised in one of our three goals as it is how behaviour is managed at our school. If these goals cannot be changed for now then we can look at the other parts of the charter should be specifying PB4L practices.

• I liked Lisa’s idea to have students tell us what is happening in the playground and then anything repeated becomes PB4L focus, e.g. graffiti the staff didn’t know about.
• Another teacher said how their school is really starting to get good at tracking behaviour. So I want to make sure I am doing this.
• I also see I need to have a good read of the folder to catch me up with what the framework entails.

Production

As the date of the production looms closer I feel my anxiety rising in regards to the music. I have a great desire to hear the students of Oruaiti sing in unison. I think it is apt that a production highlighting the life of birds would have beautiful singing. But I'm not sure the best way forward to getting the musical accompaniment for my song. I think students involved in the solo aspects will perform well but need time and reassurance from a consistent beat.

Goal: Talk to drummers this week about keeping the beat. Talk to Pauleen about Graeme possibly giving me a hand with bass notes. Record tune for S and D to practice independently. 

Aim for singing first time whole school at Kowhai Assembly.

Lesson Study Observation 1

Today we observed the Lesson Study in Puriri. It was interesting to observe one student who I taught last year to see when she understood the learning and when she didn't. The lesson had been planned in detail previously collaboratively.

Lesson study observation

Lesson Study 07.05.19

Yesterday some of us met with Rhona Leonard to discuss a lesson study cycle to be taught this term. We will plan lessons collaboratively which will be taught in one class with observers looking at three target students. This is to examine how particular students learn and what they bring to the learning experience. The observers do not observe the teaching, they observe the learning for the targeted students. Students are interviewed after each lesson to discuss the learning which has taken place. Teachers then discuss their findings from the lesson, the information is then used to plan subsequent lessons. There will be three lessons in this cycle.

Rhona shared the following questions for us to reflect on:


1. What role does reflection and collaborative practice play in your current practice, before actually starting LS?
Reflection is an important part of my current practice. Much reflection can be internal thoughts which makes me change planning of learning, structure of lessons and classroom management. Recently my reflection has included the two teacher aides I work closely with. And thinking about this prompts me to think about the many people I reflectively collaborate with. Quite often if there are students who learn with other educators then I like to discuss the learning with them, e.g. our Resource teacher for Literacy. Prior to reflecting on this particular question I do think I have thought of collaborative reflection and practice as something that might be more geared towards planning a school event rather than actual learning in the classroom. But the more I think about it the more I realise how much collaboration actually happens. However, I do think sitting down to plan lessons collaboratively will be a lot more of a vigorous practice.


2.      Thinking about effective teaching and learning, what do you consider to be examples of this in your current practice, before starting LS?
- considering where students are at and planning appropriately
- noting student learning and next steps

Coaching Session with Susan

Today I met with Susan A for a coaching session. Generally I discuss what is 'on top'. However, for this session I wanted to discuss something that is 'important' but not 'urgent'. So we discussed steps for writing the induction and mentoring programme. Great to get started on this. Thanks Susan.

Coaching notes 

Initial thoughts on Inquiry

Teaching as Inquiry TOD 26/4

This morning we broke down and summarised the Spiral of Inquiry with Susan.

As a staff we had rich discussion on what each stage of Inquiry means and how we can
incorporate this into our practice. We then established a direction for our collaborative
inquiry that worked underneath the Ka Hui Ako overarching question:

How can I use rich tasks and flexible groupings to promote critical thinking?

Oruaiti School focus:

How can learners use a range of ways to demonstrate their learning?

Why?

We have noticed a school wide gap in students not being confident to articulate the
direction of their learning.

Seven principles of learning.

We identified Learners at the centre as our areas of focus.

These reflective questions are what we are focusing on:

We understand that there can be a range of ways that learners can demonstrate their
learning. We are interested in discovering which ways learners can currently articulate
their learning goals, needs and next steps and how we can support them to do this
better.

Week 1 Scanning:

• We will collect student voice

• We plan to teach lessons and ask students to demonstrate what they have learnt

(we will try 5 different methods e.g: discuss verbally, write, draw, song/poem/rap,
blog reflection, drama, p.e)

• We will record data and be prepared to share our findings at our staff meeting in
• Week 3, this will also be recorded on our blogs.

What was the most successful method?

Where do I think focusing my attention would be most useful?