My Inquiry 2018

My Inquiry 2018

Whats going on for our learners?  

To start my inquiry, I reviewed each tier 2 student. I considered what were their 

strengths as a learner, what barriers stopped them learning, what has their attendance been like, and are their any issues about their behaviour that could affect their learning. 

Below I have shared comments about four of my tier 2 students.

Here is a link to the tier document showing all tiers and I have highlighted the four students I have chosen to work with.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oMxT7Js8l_W3ATQx2Uec5tsUxe7ya5z6BTUe4JwvdfA/edit#gid=0

This links into the Teaching Standard number 5 because I have used OTJ as a form of assessment to place these students in the appropriate tiers.

We are using the Spiral of Inquiry to help



J

Cassius

JMY HUNCHES

Jo-Karin has come to us from another school. She has been at school for 28 weeks. She is one of 6 children and appears very shy. Since she has been at Stratford her attendance is okay. There are a few unexplained absences. There are signs of learned helplessness. She has 7 Red Sight Words(March) and is reading at Magenta Level 2. Jo-Karin is Maori. Her speech is good and she shows manaakitanga.

Tom has been at school for 38 weeks. He has a strong sense of humour and thinks everything is funny. He finds it hard to look after his own belongings and his mum and sister will pick up after him. He has some sounds missing. f=th no C sound He has a strength in Maths. He knows 19 Red Sight Words and is Reading at Level 3/4. Tom is learning to write using simple list one words. His sentences do not always make

sense.

Cassius Has an attachment issue with his dad. He has a sticker chart in place if he lets dad leave. He will hide to avoid doing any work. He would rather play than do guided learning in any subject area. He is attracted to the large screen and i-pad if one is out. He knows 5 Red Sight words and is reading at Magenta level 1/2. Cassius iMaori student.

Krishiv has been at school for 35 weeks. He is easily distracted and finds it hard to complete work independently. He knows 1 Red Sight Words and is reading at Magenta level 2. He enjoys maths and can count to 20. He is quietly spoken but can be very boisterous and physically rough at play in the classroom. His nationality is Indian but speaks english in the home.

Standards 4,5 & 6

Here is the evidence I have collected to help build a clearer picture of each students learning. This along with the focusing stage gives a clearer idea as to the students whole self.

Jo-Karin can write her name but the evidence is showing that she can write it backwards as well. When working independently she can write two list 1 words and draw a detailed picture plan.

Cassius's Handwriting is very large . He can copy over the highlighter well and he can write his name. He is working on size. When writing independently he writes letters only. His picture plan shows little detail. He can retell his story to someone.

Tom has been at school for nearly a year now. He is using some basic list one words and some from list 2. He can leave word spaces. His stories do not always make sense.He shows detail in his picture plan

Krishiv is using more sight words now. He is starting to stretch out words and write the letter sounds that he can hear. He is showing word spaces this is not always consistent.


I intend to interview these students to ask them directly what they think about their learning and to identify what they think they are great at.

I am part of the ALL professional development team for literacy, with a focus on writing.
Standards 4,5 & 6
I asked the students who helps them learn.
They drew a picture of the people who help them learn. We will do this at the end of the fifteen weeks to see if they any other understanding of who helps them.

So what am I doing to move these students on?
After talking to Lorraine about differentiated learning and using her as a sounding board for some of my students, I identified what was needed. Writing that makes sense, using fast words from Essential List One and Two. Moving students from writing letters to writing words.

May 2018
Here is a simple ice cream container that holds the list one and list two Essential Spelling words. Just another way to help students seek independently the words they need .

 I decided to try cut and paste sentences. We are looking for Capital letters. Full stops and a sentence that makes sense. Those that are able will try a second sentence.
Jo- Karin

Tom 2nd sentence does not always relate sounds to letters i.e. plumb = wbt tree - the

Cassius - Her is my hat. Missed the word red and her instead of Here. Great that it still makes sense. No word spacing yet.

  Krishiv - Sentence in order. Word spaces evident. Second sentence makes sense and some dominant sounds very evident for words that were needed. Leaves - levf two = tow

May 2018

I tried to use Colourful Symantics. This didn't go so well. Spoke to Deb and she suggest to go back and read the instructions again. Maybe I was using too many cards and the sentence was too long for the level of my students.


June 16
I went back and had another go with the Colourful Symantics (CS). I just used three cards this time. The students can copy the words

Here is a video of this group of students in a writing lesson using the CS

Video Observations

Remembered to ask what their learning goal was. They did Yeah!

Using Colourful symantics only 3 steps, Who, Is doing and what.

Children involved in choosing story.( ownership active)

Using a time frame for picture drawing. Stops loss of time.

Needed to do it because that is how we plan and that is the order of our writing.

Covered words to get students to add to memory. ( asked two students )

Lots of praise – “nice” ,well done, good boy, homai ki a rima

Making sense came through many times.

I seemed to be keeping them focused. Lot’s of teacher talk and prompting all the way through,i.e. What do we need next

Focused on surface features (goal)

Mr I Mr I Mr ing. ( prompting by me but students joining in)

What do you need at the end of the sentence. (responding active)

Encouraging to re-read their sentence. (active)

The lesson went longer than I thought. This was because Krishiv and Tom wrote two sentences and Tom wanted to keep going. (Hooked in active)

Evidence

Students got to choose the cards. Students taking ownership of story

Students showed they could hold a sentence in their head because they could repeat it back to me.

Students could copy the given words into their books.

They were enthused to write more.

I showed them what they did well, i.e. capital letters, word spaces, full stops etc

Praised heaps, happy kids at the end of the lesson.

Next step:

Still use colourful semantics. Stick to the three steps atm.

Moving Makayla and Cassius into a second sentence.

Hopfully they will have more fast words and transferring letter sounds into writng close approximations.

IDEAS

Get students to find the words of the week at home. They may be in a book, newspaper, magazine.

JULY 2018

Jo Karin - still lots of absences. She had chicken pox but had two or more weeks away. She can manage herself well but does not seem to respond well to new learning. Takes a lot of work to make a small gain. Needs support for reading, writing and maths. May have some delayed development. Something just not clicking

Krishiv is no longer a tier 2 student. He has made Accelerated Progress and is now a tier 1. He knows all his sight words up to purple. He is able to write several sentences on a topic. He is at for maths.

Cassius  has made an improvement with managing himself after  hitting a patchy spot where behaviour was shared with whanau. This has had a flow on effect to his learning. His readiness to learn has changed. No longer attachment issues with dad. Happy to leave him. No sticker chart needed anymore. He wants to be noticed doing the right thing. Almost over the top now just seeking attention. Trying to keep him focused by using praise. He knows most of the alphabet from the continued everyday  phonics in room nine. I know this term there will be more  progress.

Tom - still needs encouragement to re-read his writing to see if it makes sense. When guided he can do work but independently he is still not where he should be.  Running record was 84% at yellow 8.  Re organised my reading groups and made a yellow group with four students. Big improvement on sight words. Very competitive and upset he cant keep up with Kiarhn.

Makayla - New student to work with. She is ESOL and gets a half hour of support per week.
tries hard to follow instructions. Starting to manage herself bettter, especially at mat time.  May be ready to learn now. Responding well to praise. Looks at you blankly sometimes. Goes really quiet and will fly under the radar.  RAPT testing  at 4-1/2 years. Waiting for Rebecca to identify where to next for oral language. Knows most red sight words. Re testing again soon.

Here are some intuitive ideas as to why some students are tier 2
Learned helplessness, readiness to learn,  delayed development, ESOL (tenses)
Some students have now learnt the alphabet and their sounds . They just need to take this across into writing.

This term in room nine we have started on Learner Agency after the PLD during the holidays with Bex Galloway.
We have Bronze 1,2,3, silver and Gold.
Jo Karin is a Silver learner
Krishiv is a Bronze 2 learner
Makayla is a Bronze 2 learner
Tom is Bronze 3 learner
Cassius is Bronze 2 learner

I have set up boxes over the holidays for each student in the class. These contain all their books, whiteboards, markers, butterfly alphabet/blends cards, spelling cards
Currently the students are managing their own time and have to do their handwriting and writing by 12.30 in between reading, writing and maths workshops. At 12.30 I check in with everyone. Those that have not done both sets of work will then sit at a designated place to finish. So far my tier two focus students have managed to complete their work.
Setting up visual planners for my silver students and a wall display. Students have medals they wear around their necks to signify who is at what level. They seem very proud to wear these. It is great to reward the students based on their self management rather than by their levels of learning.
Conferencing with students went well. They believed they could do all the learner agency stuff at bronze until we talked about some of their learning dispositions. In agreement with the students they were placed at a level as above.




Evidence:

Tom: I am having a game night with dad. We are playing Fortnite.
We are getting two sentences now. He is trying to stretch out words. Using punctuation. Tenses = play instead of playing.

 Krishiv: I was sleeping at 3:00 am somebody knocked on my door. I opended the door. I saw a killer clown. He threw a knife at me. I ducked down. The clown said tomorrow.
Lots of fast words known. stretching out sounds and making great approximations.

 Makayla: I went to my friends house.
She can work independently now. Attempting unknown words. Makes sense. No punctuation.

 Jo-Karin: I am the dog. I am inside.
Very simple basic sentences. With help beginning to stretch out words. Small bank of spelling words known. Keep building these.

 Cassius : I am on the cow.
He will still write using letters only. I will remind him before he writes he needs fast words. Some words starting to show in between odd letters. Can write a sentence with teacher help.

Term 4 Review. 12/10/2018

CHECKING - Have we done enough
The learner agency is working well in that the students need to continually use the skills that a bronze learner uses and then add more to become a silver learner.

There is a change in Cassius readiness to learn. He wants to now participate and is able to stay more focused.

Tom is struggling with reading. He can read many words individually but running records indicate no movement at the moment. Will try CVC games to help improve his phonemic awareness. This will hopefully help transfer these words into his reading and stretch out words he needs in writing.

Jo-Karin has been away again at the end of last term. These absceneses are mounting. She has made a small improvement in reading and writing. She is building her confidence and with the confidence she is participating more in group work.

Krishiv is reading at level 18. He is decoding well but comprehension needs a boost. His writing has progressed and can write close approximations. Will only do what he has to.
He is managing himself better and can stay focused for a longer amount of time.




Noise levels within the class has been an issue. It appears many students cannot stay focused because they are being interrupted by other students who are not yet ready for learning.
When playing the students get carried away and use a number 4 voice. Several students are naturally loud and they are encouraged to use a number 2 voice.
I have put up a chart on the wall and we are being proactive in reminding students before they are sent to play the required level of voice.



Another management tool that has been implemented is the different attention grabbers that we are using.
e.g. I say "flat tyre"the children say Shhhhhhhhh and stop and freeze.
This is working well. I have introduced up to 5 and we will stick to these for the remainder of the year.
Testing is beginning and I look forward to showing students progress.

J