Why is it catalytic?

Explain why you judge this to be the most important and catalytic issue of learning for this group of learners this year (In chemistry, a catalytic substance is one which increases the rate of reaction, but it also offers an alternate path for the reaction to follow).

My previous post shared anecdotal notes and levels from past years for my target students. I feel this gives insight into how 'stuck' these students have been throughout their years up to Years 7 & 8. This chart is a quick summary of where they are now in Term 1 of 2019.

Reading mileage and vocabulary acquisition through the scaffolding of different strategies such as the TESOL strategies. This is what I judge to be the most catalytic issue of learning for this group of students. There are 3 Y8 students and 5 Y7 students.

I believe that unlocking this catalytic issue would open learners capabilities towards accessing the wider curriculum. It would also set them up towards coping with learning in high school.

Why I've selected this challenge

Describe how and why you have selected this challenge of student learning. Locate your inquiry in the context of patterns of student learning in Manaiakalani overall.

My inquiry has been selected from the Woolf Fisher research findings shared with our Manaiakalani Cluster in February of this year.

The above is our cluster data for the PAT Reading Mean Scale Score by Year levels and ethnicity. The 4th and 5th box relate to my Year 7 & 8 students and more specifically the Maori and Pasifika students who are my target group. (Yellow and light blue line)

A closer inspection would be this graph looking at our Pt England School data for reading.

To help me get to know my learners better, and get a picture of just how much (or little) progress they've made throughout their schooling years here at Pt England, I took a look through their black folders. Here are some of the things I found of interest and may help me in understanding exactly what in their learning these students are "stuck" with.

Of these 8 students, 3 are off to College next year. THIS is why I've selected this challenge. What can I do to help these students cope with the work load, general learning, and expectations of College. What skills, strategies can they take with them to help them be independent learners?

CoL Teaching Inquiry 2019

I am very excited to be one of the Within schools CoL Teachers for 2019. 

This is the Manaiakalani Teaching as Inquiry Framework which I will be following with regular updates throughout the year.

Over the last few weeks, I have been observing my students and getting to know them better. I am doing this in the hopes of identifying a group of students who are really 'stuck' with learning and need extra support to get them moving (at hopefully an accelerated speed). Students who are operating 3 or more years behind where they should be. This is crucial for our students as we prepare them for high school and NZQA qualifications. 

I will be labelling my posts as I update my inquiry throughout the year to make the content easy to access.

Labels:

LEvidence, LScan, LTrend, LHypothesise, LResearch, LReflect,

 CPlan, CTry, CInnovate, CImplement, CReflect,

SPublish, SCoteach, SModel, SGuide, SFback, SReflect

Label Key:

LEvidence	Learn - Gather Evidence	CPlan	Create - Make a plan	SPublish	Share - Publish
LScan	Learn - Scan	CTry	Create - Try new things	SCoteach	Share - Co-teach
LTrend	Learn - Identify Trends	CInnovate	Create - Innovate	SModel	Share - Model
LHypothesise	Learn - Hypothesise	CImplement	Create - Implement	SGuide	Share - Guide
LResearch	Learn - Research	CReflect	Create - Reflect	SFback	Share - Feedback
LReflect	Learn - Reflect			SReflect	Share - Reflect

2019 - Inquiry into Reading

Inquiry Question: How can I utilise TESOL strategies in a Learn, Create, Share setting for Year 7 & 8 students reading below the reading age of 8 years old.

Achievement Challenge: Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts.

Why this line of inquiry? I've chosen to take this line of inquiry based on Woolf Fisher research. Research showed that especially in Year 7 & 8, reading tended to move further and further away from the national norm. This was particularly true for Pasifika students.

Why TESOL? TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The make-up of my 'target group' in my literacy is class are 8 students who are reading below the reading age of 8 years old. This group has 5 student's whose English is their second language. 4 Tongans and 1 Samoan. The group also has 3 students (2 Tongan and 1 Samoan) with learning difficulties or some sort and cognitively struggle to read simple texts.

Starting point/Hunches: TESOL strategies are purposely set up for students so their learning is repeated over and over again, and in the process, scaffolded so eventually they'll be able to say or write and read on their own. So I think if I apply and use TESOL style strategies and activities on students who are ESOL learners, students who are not speakers of another language would still benefit because they need the same repetition and scaffolding second language learners need.
This balances and encourages receptive and productive forms of learning. Making learning rewindable will be of great benefit to this particular group. This means the work they have completed is there on the site for them to access again at a later date.