Week 3 - Text selection

Week 3 - Text Selection

For me this week I feel that I have solidified a lot more around the 'why'. The importance of taking the time to select the text for our learners, what is actually going to help us to meet our learning objectives? Gone are the days where we go to the bookroom and take the next books on the shelf because thats where we are up to (baring in mind I teach Yr7/8). What Dorothy talked about - documenting and recording what we have read digitally daily. I do this for my basic facts so why am I not doing it for the independent reading? It seems so obvious upon reflection. Will definitely be starting this next week!

Encouraging the Oral fluency of our readers is huge. I would like to include in my weekly task board that students need to rcord themselves orally reading at least twice a week. Chooseing one of those scripts for them to analyse. I am not sure how this will look yet, but definitely food for thought. It might be a great independent task for my release teacher. I can see this as a fantastic tool to help build the confidence of some of my more reluctant readers if this is promoted in a safe non threatening way. So many valuable takeaways with resources. ideas. I love the sharing and reflection time, I always come away buzzing. A huge takeaway I am taking back to my team tomorrow is the termly overview of text and the year text coveage. Since starting the RPI I have been tracking my own text coverage but it is definitely timely to be looking at my team and what we are covering and looking forward into Term 2 with where to next. Building/creating/sharing multimodal text sets no only helps us to reflect on what we are using within our teaching but helps us to formulate a valuable resource.

Soooo many useful pieces this week and lots of food for thought!

Week 2 Reflection - Know Your Learners as Readers

This week has been a huge week of reflection for me.  Do I actually know my learners?  How am I using my data to the greatest effect?  In a nutshell I don't think that I am utilising it to its fullest.  So what am I going to do 

My biggest take away from todays session is the tracking sheet and having a comprehensive collection of data.  How am I going to use that data to create next steps?  My goal before our next session is to really unpick the PAT data even more closely and look at the common factors.  Having the progressions and all planning information in a one stop shop is amazing.  I think that it not only helps with planning but also keeping us on track to ensure that I am giving due diligence to all areas and not more focus on the areas that I may feel more comfortable in.  

For me as part of my takeaway rom today's session I would like to really unpack the data that I already have and fill in what I can on the tracking sheet so that I can build up a clearer picture for myself. I am the person who loves analysing data to inform my practice so I would feel that I have a

The LTP is definitley something that I will be utilising sooner rather than later, so helpful with future focused planning. I am excited to give this a go! Albeit a little daunting at present.

As part of our Kahui Ako this year we have a major focus on Formative assessment so the reflection on this and creating refined LI and SC is timely. This will help me when I take my learning back to my team and I can tie it in to what we have a our Kahui Ako goals. The next 3 weeks are going to be busy, but I am excited for the challenge and I look forward to seeing where the data leads me!

What kind of Reader are we in Totara 1?

The implementation of the reading survey with Totara 1 was a very interesting exercise.  A very large number of my students don't see themselves as readers and have a real barrier towards reading.  75% of my students indicate that they don't like reading at school.  This correlates to the 78.6%of students who have indicated they don't like reading for enjoyment in their own time.  

The majority of students in my class do not actively borrow on a regular basis, therefore their personal reading over holidays and for enjoyment is low.  A large number of students see themselves as good readers which is a positive.    

The tamariki see themselves as good readers but were unable to explain how that reflected within our data.

One thing we implemented immediately was a refreshed approach to our 'library corner' within our classroom.  I am very fortunate to have a double classroom space and a breakout space in between.  The first thing we have done is create a space where the students want to be - it is a work in progress!  We have moved our library space into the break out space.  We have taken all the books and sported them into genre.  One of the big takeways we discovered from completing our survey was students felt overwhelmed when selecting a book.  We decided to store our books in topics/genres to help takeaway that stressor.  The students were the ones who categorised them and we spent a good chunk of time working together and deciding on what went where.  We had a few tricky ones that they could decide so as a class we shared the blurbs, discussed the covers and brainstormed where we felt they were a 'good fit'.  This excercise was amazing!  So many of my reluctant learners were exposed to books that they didn't know we had.  I bought out my collection of books from my own children and added them.  Lots of rich discussion were had

Fair to say the 'Reading Nook" is a hit so far!  With comfy cushions and bean bags and a fluffy blanket why wouldn't it be!  Children are asking to read in there, work in there or just pop in before school.  In my eyes this can only be a win win.  They may not have a text in their hands but they are sourounded by literature!  We are looking forward to continuing to make our space our own.  Next step is to buy containers to store each topic to make it even easier to find what we are looking for.