Anita's Teaching as Inquiry Blog

  I've had a massive reflect. After reading the BES (Best Evidence Synthesis) The Complexity of Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement in New Zealand June 2003. There were a number of finding that were relevant for my Inquiry.  These are that: • Most parents want their children to succeed educationally and are prepared to help in any way they can. Many want their children to have a better chance than they themselves had. Limited facility in English is not an insurmountable obstacle. • The traditional view held by many Pasifika parents (particularly migrant Pasifika parents), that the teacher is the ‘expert’ seems to be changing. There is growing recognition that both school and family have joint responsibility for children’s education. • The process of partnership building should add to family practices, not undermine them. • Connections and partnership building can be initiated by teachers ‘reaching out’ to parents. It can result in teachers ...

Some of the key changes in my teaching has been to create the authenticity of my learning design. Grabbing the situation and making the most of it. Covid Hit, forced lockdown, created an authentic and rich learning experience for writing. Below are some of the learners written reflections about the lockdown. This is evidence to show shifts in learners language development, chose of emotive language. A small sample of Learners Writing... "I had many yellow moments because I was having fun doing my art work at home. The blue times were sad because I missed my dad. My purple time was special because I got to spend time with my family". * * * "My days were colourful like a rainbow because sometimes my sister and I would fight. It made me red. Yellow was when I was jumping on my bed. I was green I was watching movies. My black times were when my sister was mean to me.  My blue time was nice because I got to get some seaweed from the beach". * * * "I was d...

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2021 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise Achievement Objective 3 Lif t the achievement in reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Māori students (both genders) years 1-13 Evidence My noticings confirmed when completing a recent gap analysis in school talk progressions and Wolf Fisher that junior teachers challenges are in; Oral-rich’ literacy learning, and oral language capabilities Having a wide reading and writing (digital and print) Reading and writing links - The area I am interested in and want to investigate further. Fluency and automaticity Stonefields a need P Passion/expertise   Passionate in the area of literacy, I have experience across all primary year groups in literacy. I feel like I’ve spent some quality time and found an area of passion in the Junior area. I believe  my practise can help across all year groups....

Māori Learner's Perspective (Y1/2) - What can your teacher do to help you be a  successful writer? Grayden  Manaia Sasha  Māori Learner's Perspective - What puts you in the learning pit when it comes to writing ? Mila Sophia  Sasha  \ Manaia

In respect of my previous blog post 'Why am I selecting this Hypothesis.' My hypotheses are “If I encourage my students to write for a real purpose , then they will be motivated to write.” "If my learning design is rich, real and multi-model i n it's approach, it will provide more opportunities for learners to experience success in their writing. “If I focus on providing feedback to my learners, they will know their next steps and will take ownership to improve their writing.” “An emphasis on using the whole body to learn will enhance learners ability to write." "If I have high expectations of my learners in their ability to talk and write they will make improved shifts in their writing achievement." "If I provide extend my learners oral language skills it will allow for more opportunities to gift language. Evidence for this will show in what learners are saying and writing." After continuing to reflect and r...

Some great takeaways from the data show that parents and families that view their wellbeing at the forefront of their child's development. Our families want their child to experience success and happiness. We can teach this through our learning design. This can be done by learners following their passions and scaffolded through this process. 

The Big 3 The learning process The learning pit  The learner qualities Using the Big 3 and school talk. The strategy is aligned with our school's strategic goal. This tool is enabling learners to be agentic, and take ownership in their learning. By talking about what puts them in the learning pit, unpacking the learning progression. Interactive Tool This supports the writing process of planning and crafting. recrafting and publishing

Buy providing learners with Tools and Strategies in a range of forms ie visual, tactile and digital. It will help learners to be able to talk about when, where and why they are learning. Using School Talk as a basis to determine where our gaps are, what the learning progression is and where to next.

                  Parents and children were asked to stand in a continuum to see the variety in writing motivation. We were able to indicate that there is a huge range amongst us all and we talked about how we structure our writing in the hub to cater for the different needs. We shared some strategies of how to help our children at home with writing too. A great success engaging our whanau.