Final Data for ALL

The children in the ALL invention group have had their final "official" assessment marked and moderated and now I have to analyse the results.

THE GOOD
There has been movement in some areas of writing with the most achievement being 9 sub levels for one child in the area of structure and language features. The children have all had different areas of success. Confidence has grown, they now are wanting to write and record their ideas - where there was a reluctance before. They are more willing to plan and think about the sequence of their writing.

THE BAD
Some of the group did not make any movement in some areas at all. Some of the children went backwards in the areas of ideas. I was very disappointed with the children's attitude rating as we had really worked on this area - the videos I recorded earlier in the month were very positive.

THE UGLY
The results for the spelling component of eAsTTle  were very discouraging. There were not any changes in their results - the mark before the intervention being <2B and then at the end of the intervention <2B. I was very alarmed until I looked at the individual papers, before and after. Initially the children's results were very low, some words had only initial and ending sounds. For the second sample the children had made some improvements but still not enough to move them above <2B. I did try using a spelling programme as a component of the intervention but to no avail. In this group 4 out of the 6 children have been diagnosed with dyslexia, I need to do more to support these children with their processing of words.

Literacy Circles - Clarity In The Classrrom

This term we are working on writing and illustrating a picture book.  During reading I have been using narratives and articles from the School Journal to give the children background and scaffolding to assist their understanding how a narrative "works". The articles were about two New Zealand illustrations and what they do to illustrate - their inspiration, how their day works, what process is needed to get their drawings approved to use in books.

I can sometimes struggle to use the correct WALT - what do I want them to learn? Yes, they need to know the structure of a narrative, but what are the skills needed to identify that structure? From the PD I took part in earlier in the year with Jeff Anderson, the phrase "What do you notice about what the author has written?" - helps me to redefine this. I am asking the children to understand the author's purpose, finding the evidence within the text, using inference to understand the 'hidden message', make connections with they know, ask questions, use clues to work out unfamiliar words as well as skimming and scanning to identify the main idea. So do I need a WALT? Should it be WDYN - What do you notice? and How did you do that? Helping the children identify the skills they used is very important to improve their own understanding.

To teach reading when the children can 'decode', is all about the understanding/comprehension of the message. This can be fiction or non-fiction, the skills needed are the same and the children need to use a range of skills and strategies to fully understand what they are reading. They need to practice reading - ask questions when they don't understand and think - How can I understand this better? Good readers will use strategies confidently and without thought. How can I make my good readers more mindful of what they are doing?

I have chosen to use novels with my more able readers to motivate them to read with more intent and to extend them more with fictional genre. While discussing the progress so far with a colleague, I mentioned that one child was relying on his knowledge of the movie based on the book. She asked if I had used Literacy Circles before and she would send me the labels for the jobs to do this. So tonight I needed to do some research on what a Literacy Circle was and how it worked. I was quite excited when I realised that this just what I needed to make these children be more mindful of what they were reading and to take more ownership of their learning. So to make this work I will work with this group to teach them the skills for each role, use my guided sessions to gather them together and unpack their success.

The difference intervention can make

One of the children in my ALL group has been part of my Inquiry - how can I make writing more successful for her with her dyslexia and elins glasses. I discovered that using different coloured pens would make her feel "special" and that she can write. Often her ideas have been over shadowed by her ability to write.
So here's the proof :-)

Student Lead Conferences

The weeks have flown and now Student Lead Conferences are here! This year I made the decision to let the children share "their" learning with their parents. This meant that I did not give them the graphic organiser with boxes to fill in, or teach them what to say during my guided sessions or put markers (stickie notes) in their books.

This was because a couple of weeks ago, a child in my class was going to be away for these conferences and her parents wanted to book in a Student Lead Conference, and because I had deadlines for reports and other school stuff I hadn't set her up as before. So one Friday, she came with her parents after school, sat down with her books, a whiteboard and proceeded to tell her Mum and Dad what she had been learning! Not the doing... She was confident and very clear about her achievements and what she needed to learn next. She even showed them the strategy she was learning in Mathematics and taught them how to do it.

The most surprising thing about all this was this was a child at the beginning of the year who used to drive me crazy asking for clarification every time after instructions were given. I taught a unit at the beginning of the year about how we learn best - she had great understanding of herself and now knows how to she can best learn.

So this week all I asked the children was to share their learning - and they are!  I have empowered them to share with their parents and anyone listening what they now know. It was refreshing to hear parents saying that they had learnt from their children, and were actually surprised by what the children could tell them.

I did mark their books vigorously and made sure that they had all work up to date. My style for teaching in my guided sessions has changed too. I now make sure I discuss the why and the success criteria - how do you know you can do this? The children help with the setting up of task boards and constructing the WALTs. I have tried very hard to give  the children a variety of perspectives and cross over ideas/concepts through curriculum areas to build a deeper understanding. THis has been most successful.

How will I run Student Lead Conferences in the future? I think that the children need to tell me.

Managing all the areas of need in the class

At the moment I am struggling to make time for the other children in my class with needs.
This morning before school after discussing Mathletics with a colleague, a couple of the children asked me to show them how they are going on Mathletics - certificates, points etc.
One of the child asked if I could help her tell the time as she could pass the measurement activity I had set for them. I spent nearly half an hour with 2 children learning to tell the time.

My question to myself then was _ "Am I doing for those in need or just those who asked?"
"What do I need to do to ensure that they get it? Mathletics?"

Then just before I received an email from our SENCO asking about a Maori boy in my class who sent alarm bells ringing at the beginning of the year, with his data. He is well below in all areas - reading, writing and maths. He had been in radar, but nothing had been done for him last year (2014) as far as we could find in the records. So I was able to have a Teacher Aide for him, covering Reading Mileage and another Teacher Aide for Mathematics knowledge  (Stage 4) for the first Term. This was such a boost for him and the other child failing.

But for this term there hasn't been any intervention for him - just me. He is improving and progressing as he is part of my ALL group and is having an intensive guided session for writing everyday and the language is flowing - such an improvement. So when the SENCO asked should he be on an IEP - Yes because he has slipped through the gaps before and No, because he is responding to the class environment and he beginning to share his ideas.

So what next? I need to make time to really look at my data and pinpoint those children who need a "lift" and explicitly teach so that they don't fall behind.

ALL - What's working? What's not!

After today's sharing of blogs and the Team Leader's meeting, I realise that I need to make time to reflect, make changes, records those changes and try something new/different.

So to do this I will try to begin with questions.

What's working for my struggling writers?

Because I am working with them each day for guided writing (20 -25 minutes) and then an extra 45mins over 3 slots, the children are feeling much more confident.  They are now following aspects of the writing process - planning, drafting, revising and in some cases publishing.

The children are using a range of sentence starters and structures - moving away from simple sentences and adding depth to their writing. Ideas generally haven't been a problem for this group and orally their language is quite good. Now the children are stretching out the sounds they hear within words and are beginning to use tools - exemplars, essential lists and try/spell notebooks.

When the children are working in their independent writing books I have noticed some changes in the amount and the content for some of these children. The most noticeable change is their willingness to write - actually seeing themselves as writers, not as a subject.

What's not working for my struggling writers?

Mileage! I don't seem to be able to get through as much as I plan to do with this group. By the time we discuss what we are writing about, include everyone's ideas and plan, the actual writing in their books isn't being done in a timely fashion.  I need to build in some urgency - but this has been the problem for these children in the past, the pressure to get pieces of work completed.

Independently planning - As part of our experience I have recorded the words for use later, and then we have planned as a group together in our first session. generally I scribe and the children tell me their ideas, some children are asking if they can use other words in their planner.

Verbalising the learning - the children reflect and evaluate at the end of each piece. This gives them their next steps for their next writing piece. While the children are doing this, they are animated and can easily tell me what they need to work on.  I feel that when I'm not there beside them that this not at 'the front of their brain' helping them make decisions while they are writing. Could they tell someone else what their next steps are? Some, but not all!

What next?
I need to discuss with the children what 'we' can do to write within our time, more writing. What would help them? I will try to use Jeff Anderson - 5/7/10, write for 5 minutes, read and discuss your ideas/ improve it from feedback (spelling, editing) for 7 minutes, continue writing for another 10!

Encourage those who want to be independent in the planning stage to try to get the main ideas down and then to come back to the group and share. Give the graphic organiser (large copy) to pairs of children and get them to record what they want. Use sticky notes ( I do now - I scribe them) with more independence - children to write on them.

Before writing the children will be asked to share what they are working on in this session - I will write this onto the top the page for them to look at during this piece. Hopefully they will tell each other before  they start writing if I make "verbalising their next step" part of the practice!

How will I know if I'm successful?

My struggling writers will be able to tell me what their steps are, there will be more independence for the planning stage and there should be more writing.

Learning Te Reo

This year as part of my PD I am learning about Maori culture and the language through the Open Wananga. I have completed the first module and have started the 2nd one. I have found this interesting and empowering especially as far as the speaking of Te Reo. I have begun to use some of the kupu in my classroom. My class now says a karakia to start the day, working on a karakia to end the day next.