Keeping Up with Mrs Faalili

The domino effect  A causal chain is like the domino effect, if I make one change then I hope the rest will follow, you push the first domino over and the rest just topple down afterwards The focus of my inquiry is  How can I support my Year 8 students transition into Year 9 and achieve success? What changes in my teaching practice are going to lead to this change  Professional readings and research Collecting & analysing data - Observing what is currently happening in our setting that supports the transition for our Year 8 learners Observing Year 9 habits and movements Student Voice - worries and concerns for our Year 8s heading into Year 9, tips and advice from Year 9s for our Year 8s End of Year data for current year 9s. This will be compared to this year's end of year data. Use the comparative data to identify patterns and students who achieved accelerated progress.  Start the conversations of high school now! Don't wait for term 4.  Be proactive in Y...

The causal chain - What is it?  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. Any intervention you design will (consciously or not) be based on a causal chain you have in mind - this is your theory of action. The image below highlights the causal chain to show flow for my Year 7/8 Inquiry Group - The Hiss Hass Hoos Boys. One thing that I haven't mentioned on my causal chain is address the issue of a group of them always late. I timetabled the group so that I see them first thing in the morning. This, I hope will encourage them to be at school on time, ready for learning. Milo with Mrs Faalili is also on the menu - breakfast club 8:30am as another way to build relationships with the group. 

Describe how I will collect information about the implementation of my changed practice/intervention How will I collect information? -  Student voice , through google forms or interlead. See  T3 Student Voice Post  as an example. This will help me get an idea of where my students at and how they feel about writing. Do they see themselves as a writer? This will also give me ideas on the topics of writing, future lessons e.g. teaching them editing skills, word building, and also what I need to stop or cut back on doing. -  Student writing and analysis  of this. The use of LPF Writing and our school matrices to help make a judgement of what they can do independently. We are currently exploring the Writing LPF as a staff and refining our teaching practice along the way. We are focusing on one signpost at a time so this will allow for in depth reflection and refining of teaching practice. -  Student blogs - and the quality of their writing in the post. ...

Evaluation 1. Summarise evidence about key changes in teaching and other factors that influence student learning. This year has been a great journey. Some wins and some losses but it's been great learning for my students but also for me, as a teacher. The use of ALL strategies has been pivotal in the progress that my learners have made. With the targeted group of 6 boys, I listened to what they had to say about reading - how they felt about reading, what makes reading enjoyable, what makes reading hard and spent time really thinking about how I will implement their reading programme. Seeing them consistently throughout the week was always a challenge - and not all weeks I was able to see them 3-4 times, but from the get go - we were open, set goals and worked hard to try and achieve them. Biggest changes in my practise - *Acceleration rather than remediation. I had to know what Reading looked life for Year 5s and 6s in the Curriculum. * Using ALL strategies; brain storm...

Gathering some base line data and actually getting into the classrooms today to see amazing reading lessons across our school today. - Looking at independent reading activities - Supporting learning activities for reading - Guided sessions - Collecting Student voice     Some takeaways and questions 1. How are we supporting the teaching and learning of decoding & comprehension strategies? 2. How confident are we at teaching decoding & comprehension strategies?  3. Do our learners understand the what, how and why of learning?  4. How do we support our teachers to be able to teach decoding & comprehension strategies? 

Talofa  Lava! My inquiry this year as a CoL Within School Leader is how can I change my practice to lift achievement for Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Maori students (both genders). I'm extremely excited to be able to delve into my practice this year and really look at how I can raise student achievement in Reading. Come on this journey with me. Malo Lava, Poto