RPI: Creating

Today's session was a very hands on creating day filled short, sharp and longer create tasks that can be used to help embed ideas and capture readers interest from your students. 

Dorothy took us through the pedagogy and research behind WHY create is so imperative to our teaching and student learning. We are the gatekeepers! We need to make time and intentionally provide opportunities for create in our students' learning. 

Check out my slide deck for some of our create tasks.

Slide 1 - Creative illustrator and performer - We used one of the 2 prompts provided to come up with our own take on an image that would match the text. I created mine using Gemini as it is provided for our students in their Google suite. Other apps suggested were Craiyon and Canva. 

Slide 2 - 'Tighter & looser' session - This gave us ideas on how tight or loose we made our scaffolds/templates for the student create tasks. We were provided with many ideas of the types of templates, then had to create our own based on a text we were planning to use in the up coming weeks. My text was about Lizards in the L2 School Journing - June 2024. 

Slide 3 - One shot film - We got to create a book trailer to try and sell a text to our class. I used quick time to record mine on my laptop in one of our podcasting rooms with the blue background. I then used imovie to put in the blue screen and produce my promo video for Selina Tusitala Marsh's book - Mop Head.

Kiri also took us through some great examples of longer create units that have been used throughout the different clusters. These are great examples I'd really like to get to one day - especially if I get a chance to start novels with a group of higher readers in my class. 

One thing I will be implementing next week - Will be a short create task before we read the whole text - just like we did in todays lesson. And I will also make an effort to make time for a 'tight' create task for all my groups next week.

RPI: Day 7 - Thinking

 Today's RPI session covered 'Thinking' - more specifically Critical thinking and how we can expose, model and extract this from our learners in our classes.

Dorothy Burt started us off strong with an overview and reminder of our Cybersmart features available to all to ensure our students are being smart citizens online.

Next Naomi covered an integral part of why and how we cover reading in our session about higher order thinking.

Helping Students Think Deeply About What They Read

Good reading lessons aren’t just about reading the words — they’re about helping students think. The Effective Literacy Strategies remind us to plan for different levels of thinking: literal (what the text says), interpretative (what the text means), and evaluative (what we think about it). The deeper thinking happens when we go “above the line” — this is called higher order thinking. At this level, students are not just understanding a text, they’re analysing, evaluating, and even creating new ideas. Tools like Bloom’s Taxonomy and Solo Taxonomy help us plan these kinds of lessons, where students think more deeply and make stronger connections.

To help students understand this kind of thinking, it can help to use simple examples. We might say that learners start out like magpies — gathering interesting words and ideas from texts. But when they begin to think more deeply, they become like hawks — flying high, looking closely, and noticing things others might miss. This kind of thinking helps students realise that language has power. Authors make choices to guide how we think or feel, and readers can notice and question that. When we plan lessons that include these kinds of thinking, we help our students become smarter readers and better thinkers.

I thoroughly enjoyed our session on Perspectives and Positioning.

Kiri's session about using provocations helps students become deeper thinkers. Instead of asking easy questions, a provocation makes a strong statement that not everyone will agree with. This gets students talking, thinking, and sharing different opinions. It encourages them to explain their ideas and look more closely at what a text is really saying. This is part of building critical literacy — helping students see that language has power, and that authors can influence how we think. When we use provocations, we help students go beyond surface-level understanding and think about whose voices are being heard and what messages are being shared.

Part of our homework was to bring a text - My chosen text was Bok Choy - Paul Mason. As part of our perspectives and positioning activity we shared on Canva a provocation from our text, as well as an opportunities for students to respond - called 'create to resist' - this encouraged us to think what opportunities will learners have to make different choices as authors or creaters. Below is what I came up with for my chosen text.

Below is what I am committing to follow through with in the weeks to come. I've already started creating some of my response to text tasks here in our session today, and I look forward to implementing my extended discussions using the provocations we shared. 

End of Term 2 Update

 The end of term seemed like a distant event that would take a while to get to. But in true busy school term fashion, it has landed upon us with a bang and a rush to complete all our many mini projects and marking.

The last few weeks have been tough but rewarding at the same time. From our reports deadlines in week 6, to prepping for ERO in week 8. We had an amazing celebration of Matariki with our Dawn Service led by Matua Willis - it really was a great understanding and feeling of welcoming in the Maori New Year, Remembering our loved ones who have passed and setting new goals for the future. Check out a little snippet of our morning.

In terms of my inquiry, I'll be posting up during the holidays the running records results from the mid-year testing as well as our OTJ's that went out as part of our learners reports.

RPI: Day 5 - Planning reading for the wider programme of learning

 I really enjoyed todays sessions about reading and can finally say I have caught up homework from Day 3 and Day 4 of RPI. As I only have 3 days a week in class, I have to make sure I am super organised to try and implement or try out some of the activities and programmes we cover so that I am able to collect sufficient evidence and also students get a decent go with me in class.

Dorothy's session this morning covered the 3 click rule around our learning sites and what we need to ensure students learning is visible. I feel my team do this very well and have been doing so for a few years now. An area of improvement for our own site would be to intentional with have the following elements as shown in the slide below. 

Another part of todays session covered 'Reading Apprenticeship' - I definitely need to implement the use of this specific language so students know what is expected when they are asked to move into these groups. Reading Apprenticeship - is the metacognitive discussion on reading processes. This is for students and led by students. 

One part I really enjoyed today was in our breakout groups. My group was with Naomi and our session was called "read like writers and write like readers". This was great fun and she's modelled it just like how we could for our students. This reminded me of some PD we did some 10+ years ago called 'Reading - writing links' by Rebecca Jesson and she called it "cameo texts". I really enjoyed this session because as Naomi shared, it definitely beats trying to get 2 alliterations or 'make sure you use at least one simile'. But rather students have an extract of text which models exactly what you would like your students to replicate. The hardest part for me in creating this would be creating the scaffolded part especially when you want to use more than one text.

Having us teachers model and try out some "Think Alouds" today was very useful as without the practice and monitoring from our facilitators we probably wouldn't be doing this justice or even doing it wrong. 

I will also aim to have a better go at collecting text sets from EPIC to help with reading in class. Overall another super useful session and I look forward to using some think alouds in class.

RPI: Guided reading observations - reflections

 One part of our homework for RPI was to observe a couple of groups using one of the following tools for observation. Although I have year 7 and 8 learners, my highest reading age is 9.5 years old. So I decided to use just a scarp piece of paper to record reading strategies and behaviours shown by my different groups. Below is one of my lower level groups.

This proved very helpful as each student was able to see my feedback on their piece of paper, then take that paper away as part of their follow up activity with their support staff. This was also very useful anecdotal notes for both myself and students to see what they are doing well, when breaking up unknown words, and reminders to not skip over the simple words they already knew.

My higher level readers also got a taste of reading aloud together but at their own pace. I must admit, we spend so much time unpacking texts, and working on extended discussion, I have been expecting students to read the text independently before coming to see the teacher. So this was refreshing to see and hear students fluency, pronunciations and word attack skills still being used at a higher reading level when their main focus is reading to learn, rather than learning to read.

My hope is more check points and modelling of this as a whole class, will go well towards the overall reading fluency and improvement in reading for all students.

1st South and East Auckland Maths Challenge for 2025

 Ever wanted to hook competitive kids into maths? Now's your chance! 

Last week Pt England hosted the South and East Auckland Maths Challenge hosted by Katalina Ma from Auckland University. This is our 4th time joining the competition and our 2nd time hosting. 

This time we had great competition from Panmure Bridge and Glen Taylor joining us for the first time. The South Auckland schools who also competed were South Auckland Middle School, Viscount, Mangere Central and De La Salle.

Below is a bit about the Maths Challenge. 

Katalina and Josephina are the co-founders of maths challenge. Initially it started in south Auckland (SAMC) for year 9 and 10 Māori and Pasifika students with an objective to increase interest in competitive maths in preparation for the regional Mathex competition.

Since starting in 2019, maths challenge has since then expanded to include central and west schools for years 9 and 10 as well as year 7 and 8 in south Auckland. This year they are looking to expand again as we all know the real fun for maths starts in primary school! So they are on the hunt for any interested parties keen to provide an opportunity for your year 5 and 6 Māori and Pasifika learners.

The competition concept is very similar to mathex where it's a team of 4 students with one student being the runner. There are 15 questions to complete in 20 minutes. 

If you are a teacher, parent or student interested to join this competition, then please contact katalina.ma@auckland.ac.nz

Check out the maths challenge in action from last week at Pt England school or click on the links below if you'd like to know more.

University of Auckland

Newshub

Tagata Pasifika

Social media - Instagram

RPI: Day 4 - Small group reading instruction

Day 4 of RPI covered small group reading instruction. Rather than putting all my notes from today dumped here on my blog, I threw it onto ChatGPT to see if it could make sense of what I had written down and I was pleasantly surprised with its sense making of my bullet points. 

Reading Apprenticeship vs Guided Reading: What’s the Difference?

Guided reading focuses on teacher-led small group instruction with texts at the students’ instructional level. We use this time to:

• Introduce word work
• Observe reading behaviors
• Provide explicit teaching points (one at a time—less is more!)
• Scaffold understanding with targeted strategies

In contrast, reading apprenticeship—especially at the high school level—is about gradually releasing responsibility so students can read and reason independently. It’s built on Pillar 2: Rich content coverage and Pillar 3: Gradual release. This approach helps students become metacognitive readers who take risks like saying, “I didn’t understand that—can someone help me?”

Both methods have their place. The key is knowing when to lead, when to guide, and when to let students take the wheel.

Teaching Students to Think Aloud and Read Strategically

Modeling is essential. A digital modeling book with these four parts can be incredibly helpful:

• Learning Intention
• Success Criteria
• Vocabulary (co-constructed with students)
• Teaching Points (e.g., identifying main ideas, understanding author’s craft)

Use screenshots of 1–2 text pages. Model how to notice key details and then let students justify ideas with evidence. Encourage students to annotate and leave digital comments to show thinking and participation in group discussions.

Vocabulary: Set Them Up for Success

Gift your students the right vocabulary. Use word cards, displays, and multiple encounters with key terms. Vocabulary is more than definitions—it's about using, seeing, and understanding words in context.

Introduce new texts by previewing vocabulary, but leave room for student exploration. Foreshadow where needed, but trust them to engage with the text using the scaffolds you’ve provided.

Observing Readers: Less Testing, More Listening

One of the most powerful teaching tools is listening to students read aloud. Have cues in place for when individual students will read, and use a recording sheet or even Google videos for playback and reflection.

• Use running record-style observation:
• Left column: What they read correctly
• Right column: Omissions, misreads, errors that affect comprehension

Avoid bombarding them with comprehension questions. Instead, listen for fluency—expression, pace, volume, smoothness—and use that to inform your next teaching move.

Student-Led Discussion: Make It Conversational

The goal is to build purposeful, peer-to-peer conversations. Everything should go back to the text. Use the oral language strand to frame ground rules for talk, and support effective questioning—both open and probing types.

• Before sending students off to read:
• Annotate together
• Set a clear purpose for reading
• Prepare background knowledge using multi-modal materials (e.g., videos, anticipation guides)

Consolidation and Follow-Up: Revisit, Don’t Reinvent

Follow-up sessions aren’t for introducing new content. They’re for:

• Rehearsing vocabulary and strategies
• Consolidating learning
• Bringing together different perspectives
• Blogging or sharing outcomes in digital spaces

This is where students truly start to own the learning, reflecting on what they’ve read and how they’ve read it.

Overall, another great workshop session to add to our kete in class. As shared in our session by our facilitators, it's not meant as extra work but rather to add to our normal class routine so that students get used to the think alouds and follow up tasks.