Evaluation / the ENTIRE Bursts and Bubbles presentation!
Target Group: B.R, L.T, K.H, M.A, S.T
The catalytic aspect of student learning my inquiry focused on this year was "What changes can I make in my practice to ensure that my learners deepen their understandings of key concepts and ideas in writing?"
I identified this as my focus when I noticed the attitudes and behaviour of my students towards their learning in writing wasn’t making traction in their achievement in this learning area. Although cluster wide data shed a light on Reading, my learners in my class this year needed a big booster in the learning of writing.
To build a rich picture of my students’ learning I used:
• Student Voice - through a google form. I used the Literacy Learner Profile that I had used in previous years as an ALL teacher to collect information about interests, attitudes, struggles and things they enjoy about writing.
• Writing samples - EOY 2019 and BOY 2020 easttle writing, unpacking any patterns, gaps and strengths in their writing as well as any across the curriculum writing that we had from the start of the year.
• PAT - Vocabulary and Reading. Although I have had a writing focus, I believe that reading and writing go hand in hand, so by looking at Reading data, I’m also able to understand how and what some of their reading habits and attitudes towards Literacy as a whole.
The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase were:
Strengths
• They could confidently share their ideas with others, however, they were often being prompted by T for more information. The information was there, it was more so that they didn’t see this information as necessary, hence why they didn’t share when they were talking with a buddy.
• The best writing from my learners, both quantity and quality came when it was Free Writing, when they weren’t bound by a topic or genre.
• Sequencing and ordering of their ideas
Needs
• Elaboration and complexity of ideas when writing.
• The idea of ‘show, not tell’ when writing
• Not knowing how to plan and craft their writing
• The skill of editing - the how, what and why of editing.
The profiling of my own teaching showed that I had strengths in knowing and connecting with my learners and that I had a strength in unpacking what my learners were able to do and their next learning steps but they would make more progress if everyone had something to write about and that I allowed more time to:
• share ideas and plan their writing
• focus on aspects of writing over a period of time and not in a one off lesson/writing session
• edit and re-craft their writing
Some of the big changes I made in my teaching were:
• The introduction and implementation of Daily 5, a literacy framework that instills behaviours of independence, creating a classroom of highly engaged readers & writers with my learners being actively engaged, productive students who have developed a true love of literacy.
• Planning; to make a deliberate choice to identify and highlight which part of our school matrices we were focusing on and link this to the Writing LPF, Learning Progression Framework. Furthermore, unpacking this purpose of writing and providing them with a variety of engaging writing tasks that supported the learning of this feature.
• The structure of my writing programme and providing my learners with authentic learning experiences so that everyone can write.
• Giving more time. To everything. The planning. The editing. The writing. The conferencing.
• Being more vocal and explicit with teaching the progressions; e.g. if our focus was on vocabulary and using interesting words, what can I do as a writer to move from Level 2 to Level 3 etc.
• Quantity vs Quality. The deliberate conversations and lessons focusing on either one and ensuring that my learners knew which one of the two we were focusing on. What I noticed was when we were writing in our books, my learners were producing better quality and quantity of writing - however, this is a battle I continue to have as my learners LOVE writing on their devices.
• Using ALL strategies, particularly GRR and Front Loading of vocabulary or experiences to ensure that my learners are equipped with the tools to be able to write successfully.
• Changing the time of my writing. Based on student voice, writing was easier when it was after morning tea, coming in to class with a buzz of energy to be able to write.
The literature/expertise that helped me decide what changes to make were:
• Kanohi ki te kanohi - face to face korero with my colleagues especially Johanna. There were a lot of bouncing ideas, questions and some things to try with my learners to see if it made a difference.
• Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey - A balance Reading Programme. Although the focus for this was on reading, I was able to implement similar strategies to writing, and my learners were able to make the connection between the two e.g. the idea of show don’t tell as a writer and inferring when I’m a reader.
• Boys in Literacy PLD with Marshall Diggs - provide my learners, particularly my boys, with experiences to build language for writing. Having more example texts that support the teaching and writing for my learners. This can come in a range of forms; pre-written/published texts, MoE resources, student writing and/or teacher writing.
• Best Practices in writing instruction (Designing an effective writing programme) Steve Graham, Charles A.Mac Arthur, Jill Fitzgerald. I need to ensure that I am fostering a love of writing for my class, so establshing a good mood for this was important. Making student writing visible, having high expectations, providing enough support for my writers so that they can write (use of models, teacher sessions, word banks, front loading, peer support, word cards etc)
The easiest and hardest things for me to change were…..
• Easiest things - deliberately choosing to use ALL strategies in my teaching of writing (GRR, Frontloading, double dosing)
• Hardest things -
Time. Allowing time for them to be able to write and go through the process of writing.
Getting them motivated to write in their books. Their devices, especially for my year 4s who were brand new to chrome books and typing, were doing more harm than good in writing. The process of typing hindered and slowed down the actual writing and getting the ideas down on paper before they were lost.
Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as a positive and encouraging shift. The evidence for my rating is that my students 1. See themselves as writers. 2. Have an understanding of the writing process and what that might look like for them. 3. Increase in achievement and engagement.
The most important learning I made about my teaching in writing was that I need to give my students TIME. DO NOT RUSH THE LESSON EVEN IF THERE’S NO TIME. MAKE TIME. and that it’s important my learners have an insight to the big picture/journey of writing - knowing where they are and how to progress. Some learnings that would be relevant to other teachers is
• integration is important.
• students should be able to make links to their learning in reading and writing - double dosage at it’s finest.
• don’t rush the process of writing. Unpack each part of the journey and equip students with the tools they need to be successful, whether it be an experience, word bank, different structure, no structure.
• Listen, observe, reflect, rinse, make changes (repeat)
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