Formulating my Hypothesis (Hunches) Part 1

As a Kahui Ako, we're constantly making observations and forming "hunches" about what truly helps our students achieve in the classroom. Here are my hunches I've gathered from readings and PD based around reading improvement for students at a Year 7 and 8 level.

My first hunch is this: if I model my thinking process (out loud) when reading aloud, then my students will know how they could be thinking when reading a story. It's about making the invisible work of a proficient reader visible, giving them a roadmap for their own cognitive journey through a text.

Another strong hunch I've developed is that if I provide diverse text sets, then students will be more inclined to engage with the variety of reading opportunities presented. Offering a rich buffet of genres, topics, and formats ensures there's something to pique every student's interest, making reading less of a chore and more of an exploration. This came about from the Reading Intensive Practice PD I'm currently undertaking every 3 weeks.

And finally, my third hunch: if I consistently provide opportunities for students to talk about their reading with their peers, then they'll deepen their comprehension and develop a stronger sense of reading community. When students articulate their interpretations, challenge each other's ideas, and build on one another's understanding, the text truly comes alive, and their confidence as readers soars. We've been building towards this slowly over time as we try and get some 'ground rules for talk' set for our reading discussions.

In our small groups we've been sharing our hunches with each other and also giving feedback or ideas on how we can make this practical and more succinct for our learners. I appreciated my groups practical feedback and ideas as this has helped me formulate a plan of attack going forward.  

Hypothesis/Hunches

One of our PD sessions was a really helpful talanoa within our smaller groups. We got to share 3 hunches we had with the group. Our group was then able to contribute ideas or add onto what they thought our hunches would lead to.

We used a template/talking frame like this - 

How to formulate? The simplest way is to use this form: if...then…

“If I encourage my students to write for real reasons, then they will be motivated to write.”

“If I focus on extending their 'on-task' behaviour with strategies to manage themselves then they will improve their writing.”

“An emphasis on behavioural and cognitive engagement as well as teaching social skills will enhance my students’ ability to focus and increase their writing skills.”

Using this talking/thinking frame, were my 3 hunches:

1. If I use materials then students will be able to image sets of numbers. 

2. If I use more warm-ups/games at the start of lessons it will hook students into the learning.

3. If I mix up between book work, slides, and hands on activities, then students can grasp concepts better.

One suggestion from my group was: If I alternate doable create tasks then students would be able to demonstrate their learnt skill.

I am very thankful to my group for prompting new thoughts and ideas to trial in class and also encouraging us in our inquiry process.

Hypothesis 2 & 4 - Interventions in action

Term 3 started by revealing new reading groups and explaining why the changes were made and the challenge was made for others to monitor their own reading so they could see their progress - especially my target students who were still tracking along the colour wheel.

As a result from running records last term, one of my target students has moved out of the target group into the next reading group up. I haven't quite figured out how I will ensure the same interventions used with the group will be used in her new group but I will endeavour to sort that out next week. 

Here is my collated data for Hypothesis #2: Student voice. This also includes our goal setting talk which links with Hypothesis #4: High expectations. 

One of my highlights from this one-on-one session was students were able to say what they were good at and what they needed help with. I could also see that students struggled with spelling and they saw this as a barrier in their writing. 

They also completed a quick sight word test.

My goal for this term is to make the students learning visible. Only 3 or 4 students have shown they are able to select the best part of their learning/task to share onto their blog. My aim is to up-skill everyone in the group with the skills to share from 'explain everything' and then write a short description about their learning to accompany this.

End of Term 2 update

Here are the results of our mid-year running records testing. As mentioned in my Hypothesis 3: Being test ready, I've noted behaviours and test outcomes for my target group without much scaffolding into what to expect when they are being tested.

Observations: 

Before Testing: The majority of students were quite apprehensive about being tested. They didn't think they were ready for it and kept asking questions about what to expect before I'd had a chance to explain how testing works. Once my explanation was given 2 of the boys did make comments like "oh Miss I'm dumb I won't get anything right" and "Oh man. Can we just talk about it?" meaning he just wanted to discuss the book like we normally do in guided reading sessions. The rest of the group were ok to go along with it and give it their best shot. 

During Testing: Most students who moved up more than 1 level struggled reading their 1st test and I was a bit 'iffy' about whether I should keep testing or not. But because they scored more than 98% accuracy in decoding and 100% in comprehension, I went ahead and tested them up. What I noticed was that they got better (more fluent) in their reading. My hunch is that this was confidence/momentum gained from the 1st test that the next one they were more relaxed with and just read normally without being nervous about the 'testing atmosphere'.

After Testing: Once I showed each student how far they'd moved on the colour wheel or stages on the back of the books, they were quite excited and almost in disbelief that they made it that far. One student commented "Not even Miss. Those colours are wrong I'm still reading at red level". He said it as a joke, but I could tell he was so used to reading at such a low level he lacked self-belief that he could get that far up on the colour wheel. I definitely made sure to encourage him with lots of praise and hi-5's and to keep it up as we'd like to keep moving up next term.

Testing Results:

- 3 students moved up 3 levels and could still be tested higher. But due to time restraints, I had to stop after 3 tests.

- 1 student moved up 2 levels (moving up 1 level shocked him!) He didn't want to keep going for fear of failing when he was doing so well.

- 2 students failed their test so I was able to get a concrete level for where they are reading at now.

- 1 student (RF) I tested using Probe. She read so well and confidently that I have a feeling I may have held her back too long and she was ready to move sometime during the term. But now that I know, she will be moving up a reading group. I will still continue to monitor her progress as part of this target group.

Additional Information:

I've added this groups attendance records just as a side note about these students. After 6-7 years of schooling, and still reading below 7.5 years of age, one of the contributing factors was their attendance. A few of these students also need support staff hours and other interventions but due to their frequent absences, they do not qualify for funding to get them this help. I went into to this challenge knowing this, and am committed to doing my best for them and with them on whatever day they do turn up. A great example would be student AT who with only 35% attendance for the 1st half of the year still managed to move up 2 levels. I encouraged him to wonder about what he could achieve if he actually attended school more regularly. Overall, I, along with my group and support staff worker were very happy with our mid-year results. This has definitely helped me shape my 4th Hypothesis about high expectations. Stay tuned!

Testing out hypotheses

For each of your hypotheses, explain how you will test it and what evidence would support (or refute) that hypothesis.

Here is a plan for how I will test out each hypothesis giving a before and after 'snapshot'.

Hypothesis 1: Vocab and Comprehension:
My evidence to best show this would be a combination of my teacher planning in the DATs section (Deliberate Acts of Teaching) and the reflection notes describing how the group discussions went around vocab. Also students follow-up tasks on their blog. If students are able to explain that their learning was about the vocab found in texts rather than what the story was about.

Hypothesis 2: Student Voice
Evidence for this would be collecting student voice surveys from each Term as the year goes on. I'll also be looking at my reflection notes to see who/how many students I get to see 1-1 each week.

Hypothesis 3: Being Test Ready (Scaffolding)
I've put scaffolding in brackets as I feel it is the taking away of the materials students are using in their learning which will give an indication as to how well they can cope with learning without all the gadgets. As I haven't done much prep work this time round for running records testing, I can compare behaviours during testing - without any preparation around what to expect when you get tested - to later on in the year and format lessons so students know what to expect.

Hypothesis 4: High Expectations
The best way to try this out would be from our goal setting at the start of each term. From the goals we set at the start of the term, I will test to see who has made shifts and who hasn't. From there I'll evaluate and reflect on whether the expectations were too high, and if so, what's a smaller step we can aim for that's not reading age related but maybe more towards vocabulary.

Most Test Worthy Hypotheses

Explain the hypotheses about teaching that you decided were MOST worth testing, and why.

'' For students truly to be able to take responsibility for their learning, both teacher and students need to be very clear about what is being learnt, and how they should go about it. When learning and the path towards it are clear, research shows that there are a number of important shifts for students. Their motivation improves, they stay on-task, their behaviour improves and they are able to take more responsibility for their learning. ''

Absolum, M. (2006). 'Clarity in the Classroom'.

“Effective teachers inquire into the relationship between what they do and what happens for students (outcomes). But effective teachers do more than simply inquire (or reflect) – they take action to improve the outcomes for students and continue to inquire into the value of these interventions.” 

(Aitken, 2010)

In delving deeper into this inquiry, I've realised there are so many factors and points I would like to cover in order to get my students into the right head space where they can take responsibility for their own learning, and my role in helping them get to that place. Here are a list of hypotheses I have decided (based on learning conversations around the school) are MOST test worthy and beneficial for my learners at the present time.

Hypothesis 1: Vocab vs Comprehension

Should I be focusing more on vocab rather than comprehension? Based on observation and testing so far, generating general conversation about a text has been difficult at times because the reading hasn't been fluent enough. Decoding is a bit of a stutter so the understanding of words hasn't been too clear. I believe although they are Year 7/8 students, a focus on vocabulary and letter sounds would more beneficial not just for their reading but also for writing. This hypotheses has come about through my observations with Helen Squires, specialised spelling test from Donna Ryan.

Hypothesis 2: Student voice

Am I checking in enough 1-1 with students? Am I listening to what they have to say about their learning? What I have found so far in my random 1-1 sessions is they become more switched on after their talks with me. They pay more attention and I guess they start to feel like they've been listened to. Doing more of this during a term would benefit students in my target group especially because they already have poor attendance and some have been identified as having behavioural issues. 

Hypothesis 3: Being 'Test' Ready (Scaffolding)

Am I setting students up to be 'test ready' in Year 7/8 standardised testing situations? With iPads and using voice typing, and all the specialised scaffolding students are needing in order understand what they are learning about. None of these are on hand to use during normal standardised testing. Am I setting them up to be test ready?

Hypothesis 4: High Expectations

Are my expectations of my target group high enough? Or is it too high? Keeping in mind that these students have been at school for 6-7 years already and are still reading at 5.9years - 7.5 years reading age. Is a jump from 6years to 6.5years in a term too high of an expectation? 

What I read & who I talked to...

The latest task in our inquiry process is to develop a set of hypotheses about patterns in my teaching that could be changed or more effectively address the student learning focus.

The first part of this is:

Describe your process for developing hypotheses (what you read, who you talked with).

Learning Conversations with Colleagues

One of the starting points for this process would definitely be the sharing time in our team meetings where we share our success stories and things that have been going well in class. We also share our struggles and areas in reading which we need help with. Being in a team with a wealth of knowledge is great as everyone has gems and pointers to try out in class to help cater to some of the struggles with our learners.

Conversations with CoL Across Schools Teachers

I've had really informative discussions with 2 across schools teachers each time I've booked in with them. Clarelle Caruthers has helped with iPad activities using Explain Everything. Donna Ryan has also been helpful with her knowledge of assessments for students who barely register a mark on standardised tests for Year 7/8 students. 

1-1 conversations with students in target group

Some of my release time on Thursdays have been used to have discussions with the learners in my target or focus group. The aim of these discussions is just to check in with them in regards to their whole well-being. Are they getting enough sleep, is there something we can do to help them get to school on time and everyday, do they need lunch, what are they struggling with in class (can be other classes) and share some of their success with things they've shared on their blog.

Teacher Observations: Agility with Sounds with Helen Squires

I was fortunate to be able to observe Helen take a group through Betsy Sewell's program 'Agility with Sounds'. Definitely made me see some of the gaps my learners have being catered to through this program. Here are some notes taken from that session. Thank you Hannah West for taking notes.

Professional Reading: Here are a few readings I've looked into in my 'delving deeper' phase of this inquiry. I have chosen these mainly from recommendations from others and colleagues directing me to where I could find more information about how to cater to my learners needs better. Also I wanted to find out about my own practice - am I being explicit enough, or pitching and planning work at the right level for my learners?

1. What every primary school teacher should know about vocabulary - Jannie van Hees and Paul Nation

2. Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing - I. S. P. Nation

3. Clarity in the classroom - Michael Absolum

4. ESOL online - https://esolonline.tki.org.nz/

Tools, Measures and Approaches

Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students’ learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools. 

Kahui Ako Achievement Challenge 5: Improve the achievement of students with special needs in the learning areas of English/ key competency using symbols, languages and texts.

My inquiry problem/ challenge: Students who are 'stuck' in their learning 2-3 years behind where they should be at for Year 7 and 8 getting ready for College.

One of the reasons why I chose this challenge, was because this particular group of students had not made much - if any - shift in their reading age for the last 2 years. A look back at their records is shared in my blog post about 'Why I've selected this challenge'

To measure how much 'new knowledge' students are learning or picking up, I plan to use the following tools and approaches:

- HFW Test (High Frequency Word Test): This test has sight words up to reading level 15 or Orange. This is a great indicator for students who recognise words they are reading daily. Very quick test to administer.

- Student Voice Survey: This would be very informative for my teaching so I'd know whether students like/enjoy the task they are given. Are instructions easy to follow? Do they feel like they get enough 'teacher time' in class. This could reinforce or change the way I teach for sure!

- Running Records: The 'ideal' aim is to improve their reading ages to enable students to cope with the academic workload required of them in College. Because PAT test don't give us behavioural/ learning difficulties related to reading, a running record every 4 or so weeks would be more informative for both students and myself.

- Weekly Reflections/observations: Completing this straight after reading sessions would be useful in moving forward with this target group of learners. - Seek help/advice/ideas from CoL across schools teachers: I have already had a meeting with Clarelle Caruthers who has helped me with iPads and how to set up my site so it's easier for this group of learners to access and navigate. I've also made an appointment with Donna Ryan for the holidays to set up a plan of attack how I can better assess and cater for this group of target students.

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.

Refocusing my Inquiry

As inquiries go, it's an ongoing cycle/process. So this is the next phase of my CoL inquiry brought about by the changes and happenings in my class.

"What effect does 'student voice' have on accelerating student learning?"

This came about from my previous post about Student Voice. My thinking or hypothesis is that allowing students to have a voice empowers the learners. This in effect will boost their confidence or willingness to participate and engage in maths activities in class.

I will delve into more readings around student voice and report back.

CoL inquiry - LEARN checklist

During our first CoL meeting for Term 2 we were introduced to a new Inquiry Framework. It followed our Learn, Create, Share pedagogy and so I have made a summary page for the 'Learn' part and matched it up with my inquiry posts in Term 1. This is focussing the inquiry - "What is important? (and therefore worth spending time on) given where my students are at?"

As you can see, one of the areas I need to work on is 'Scan' - what outside factors are contributing to students not being able to retain number knowledge well in their heads.

This term, I will looking at the 'Share' part of our framework.

Gather evidence	Student achievement data eg. standardised tests, OTJs, internals and externals Anecdotal evidence eg. observations, formative assessment tasks, student voice,  parent voice, previous teachers, surveys,  learning walks and reciprocal visits	Accelerating Learning for our priority learners CoL inquiry - 3 weeks in Making learning rewindable through digital affordances End of Term 1 - Inquiry Reflection
Scan	Wider perspective on learning not just aspects that are easily measured eg considering perspectives of our young people and their whānau. How engaged are they with learning? Can they describe what they are learning and why it is important?  (AfL) Links to Key Competencies
Identify Trends	Looking at all the evidence, thinking hard about its “shape”. Noticing where there are cohort trends that extend out beyond the class, to the team or department, maybe even for this school across schools in the CoL Clearly identifying the common learning challenges or problems. Looking for and identifying strategies that are known to have the greatest impact on on this/these challenges	Accelerating Learning for our priority learners CoL inquiry - 3 weeks in End of Term 1 - Inquiry Reflection
Hypothesise	Analysis and interpretation often take place in the mind of the teacher, who then uses the insights gained to shape their actions as they continue to work with their students. These theories for improvement should connect with the inquiries related to the Achievement Challenge of the Department/Team, the School and the CoL.	Accelerating Learning for our priority learners
Research	“This involves asking questions about how well current strategies are working and whether others might be more successful. Teachers search their own and their colleagues’ past practice for strategies that may be more effective, and they also look in the research literature to see what has worked in other contexts.”	Number Knowledge framework - PD Making learning rewindable through digital affordances
Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	End of Term 1 - Inquiry Reflection CoL Inquiry - Term 1 highlights

CoL inquiry - Term 1 Highlights

The end of Term 1 is actually here!! As the term draws to an end, I have been trying to take stock of what changes I have made in my teaching and how I deliver mathematics to my students. Not only that, but also making week by week behavioural and learning observations in trying to find out what is making it so difficult for students to retain number knowledge as they move up through their years at school.

In my previous post, I shared a slide outlining the outcomes of my CoL (and school) inquiry. Some of the main points were:

• YES! - devoting class time to practising number knowledge makes a difference
• Students need a repetitive cycle of maths vocab, materials and use of scrap paper in their daily learning of maths.
• Students are stuck at the 'imaging' stage for fractions of numbers. They always revert back to drawing a fraction then sorting out the numbers into that fraction. (This is instead of using timetables knowledge to find the missing numbers)
• Familiar context of questions helped students understand questions better - therefore they can focus what is happening with the numbers more.
• A mixture of engaging activities (both hands on and online) are needed for my lower learners - even though they were not in my priority group.

So for the last two weeks of school, I have been trying to gauge what have students have picked up so far and where do I need to go to from here. One of the things was an IKAN test which was shared in my previous post and as I commented, although not everyone of my priority learners made a shift, you can easily tell by talking to them in their group that they have a better understanding of place value and fractions.

Now the big test was to see if students were able to transfer this knowledge by using it in strategies to solve questions in the Gloss test. Here is an example from one of my students and the gaps we are looking to address throughout the year.

This student is still going with his test, but already I can see where I need to address first - Proportions and Ratios - Fractions. Our work on fractions in class obviously hasn't made any shift for this student so I need to analyse why that is and pose more similar word problems for him to practice over the break. This is good for me to find this out now so I can plan for it next term.

Highlights for Term 1

• Maths PD by Jo Knox
• Priority learners engaged in their learning 
• Compiling evidence of students learning on video and on paper
• Making learning REWINDABLE for ALL my learners!
• Using digital affordances to support my teaching and helping to scaffold student learning
• Sharing our inquiries in staff meetings as well as CoL meetings so we are held accountable for what we say we are going to do. 
• Learning conversations about what's worked and new things to try from PES staff

Where to next?

• Collate learning evidence & data to analyse
• Plan according gaps and learning needs identified - Look back at PAT data
• How else can I help to 'increase the achievements of Year 7&8 learners in maths, as measured against the National Standards and agreed targets.'

Inquiry Clarification

Inquiry focus: "Will devoting more time to number knowledge, accelerate the rate in which students pick up strategies and mathematical concepts?"

Reasons: My reasons for choosing this focus was based on students IKAN test results. Students end of 2016 reports put their GLOSS stages at sitting 'AT' the national standard (stages 6-7). But when students sat the IKAN test at the start of 2017, their results were coming out at stages 4-5. This put their number knowledge well below the standard. The 2 main areas across the Y7&8 block where they showed weakness was in place value and fractions.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is, if I devote more class time to actually learning and practicing place value and fractions, the gaps students had in their learning will be filled and they would be able to make greater gains not only in number but also in understanding strategies and mathematical concepts.

Inquiry 2017 - Accelerating learning for our priority learners

Kicking off our inquiry for 2017, many of us teachers are eager to make a difference in shifting student data out of the below and well below category. But how? What can I as a teacher do to help? How can I change my teaching to cater for them? What is a priority learner? - How do I identify them? Where do we start?

Here is my starting point for my inquiry for 2017. Priority learners - Who are they? and what makes them a priority? I have identified my priority learners as that group of students who are sitting 'just' below the National Standard. I've identified these as my 'priority learners' because they have the best chance, with particular focus at filling the gaps, of achieving the standard. 

Having identified who my priority learners are, now I needed to decide what to do with them. Our school wide focus for inquiry is around mathematics. So looking at student data from 2016, I've identified a group of students who are 'AT' for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division, but are just below standard for ratio/proportions. My thinking is, if I target the learning needs of these students, the rest of the students who surround them in their groups (and will be getting the same targeted teaching/learning) will benefit from it too and therefore (hopefully) make a shift in their learning too!

Now I've reached the stage where I look at my own teaching, and inquiry into what approach I take with this group of learners that will accelerate their learning so they make more than a years progress within a normal schooling year. 

This is what I have come up with:

"Will devoting more time to number knowledge, accelerate the rate in which students pick up strategies and mathematical concepts?"

I have identified 2 areas already, based on the results from students IKAN test. Areas of concern are their place value knowledge and fractions. 

This year I have also picked up a new role as a CoL (Community of Learners) within schools. As part of my role along with "teaching as inquiry" I am also looking into what digital affordances we can provide for students which can't be done without chromebooks. 

So along with my inquiry into maths - targeting number knowledge, I also want to create activities which involve our "Learn, Create, Share" model rather than substituting activities which students can still do without the use of a chromebook.

It is no small feat what we are trying to do, but as I delve more into my inquiry and start putting things in place, I hope to update you with positive progress during this process. So watch this space!!

Teaching as Inquiry 2017

“Recognising and spreading sophisticated pedagogical practice across our community so that students learn in better and more powerful ways...”

The Manaiakalani Community of Learning is working together on this task using the expertise existing in of our community of learning.

In 2017 for my inquiry I have selected the following CoL achievement challenge: 

#4. Increase the achievement of Years 1-10 learners, with a focus on Years 7-10,  in maths, as measured against National Standards and agreed targets. My focus question is:

How can I accelerate students learning in maths through the teaching of number knowledge within a Learn, Create, Share pedagogy? 

The teaching as inquiry framework I will be using in 2017 has been specifically co-constructed for Manaiakalani schools using our familiar Learn Create Share structure.
The elements in this framework share close similarities with other models New Zealand teachers use.

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