Bursts and Bubbles

The catalytic aspect of student learning my inquiry focused on this year was will a focus on spelling conventions foster an environment where word consciousness strengthens connections to the learning?

I identified this as my focus when I noticed while observing students from past years and noticing the actions of our learners this year stop writing completely as well as stop reading and avoid sharing back to the class when they lose the connection to words needed to continue to make sense of the learning. 

To build a rich picture of my students' learning I used T1 and T4 spelling tests, eAsttle writing samples and student voice.

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase were the need of my students to expand their vocabulary and feel confident when they felt they wanted to use that word and know how to spell it or at least try to spell it. 

My profiling of my own teaching showed that I had strengths in co-constructing with my students to achieve what areas of vocabulary needed to be looked at to give them the courage to use new words.  But that my students would likely make more progress if I developed in committing to understand where they have come from and what their aspirations are going forward and how I can assist them in that.

The changes I made in my teaching were to listen to what my students wanted to learn and how they wanted to learn, rather than preconceived ideas of what I thought they needed to spell correctly. One major thing I have learnt is to ask for help if you find yourself lost throughout the inquiry process and break it down into smaller more manageable pieces.

The expertise that helped me what changes to make were conversations with Robyn Anderson.  One of the best pieces of advice she gave me after using a resource was to make it your own then you have ownership and understanding.

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as they have more confidence within themselves to try new vocabulary.  The evidence for my rating is that their in class reading improved as well as their Probe scores, along with eAstle and Spelling test increases.

The most important learning I made about my focus of student learning was that there are many ways to skin a cat but the most effective way is to co-construct and have meaningful conversations. The most important learning I made about inquiry was that you might start at a certain point wanting to reach a certain point but it does not always work out that way. Change is good, and inevitable to be able to progress. Some learnings that would be relevant to other teachers are to ask for help when you need it and to be flexible with where you want your lessons to go.

PLD 2023

 As usual Panmure Bridge School always encourages us to do as much PLD as we can.  This year I have participated in PLD in person and online.

Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey: Online                                                                Supporting Students to become Competent and Confident Spellers

This was a 3 hour online PLD that was held of 2 days.  It was looking at how to use simple high-frequency words to build onto to give the students confidence to use those words spell new words.

I used aspects of this PLD in my Teacher Inquiry this year.  Connections to the sounds, words, using the spelling rules as a tool. The use of their spelling tools will be part of my literacy program going forward.

Maori Achieving Success as Maori: Webinar

This was PLD on how, in our schools and the education sector as a whole we can think how we look at ways Maori is Achieving Success and how we can work together to ensure this happens. 

What is it like when you engage in Maori - it's like the pieces fit together!

School should reflect both worlds - that has to be the place we start - where we get to see their worlds. 

This webinar really made me think about how I think and teach and how even with the best intentions that maybe I am doing a disservice to my students. One of the main points I got from this webinar was you have to really understand where the student is coming from and that they need to know that you respect that place and you are trying to ensure that they feel relevant and heard.

T-Shaped Literacy: Online

This has been ongoing PLD with the University of Auckland. This year we looked at 6 units as follows:

• Mood and Atmosphere
• Characterisation
• POV/perspective
• Great Beginnings
• Genre
• Features
• Symbolism

This has been a big learning curve in my thought process and teaching practice. Breaking down a text and looking at an individual unit over a number of texts, exploring it deeper and deeper has been a revelation to not only myself but my students. I am fortunate to have the expertise of my teaching partner Robyn Anderson (PLD on a daily basis) to discuss ideas with, especially when I have trouble understanding the unit or struggling to find a text set to work with. Sometimes the most unlikely texts make the best examples for teaching. Through doing T-Shaped this year the biggest take away for me is to ASK FOR HELP if you need it.

Giving Effect to Te Tiriti of Waitangi: Online

New Zealand School Trustees Association - Board Matters

As the staff rep member for the BOT of Panmure Bridge, I took on this PLD as a matter of being prepared for and understand Te Tiriti of Waitangi when it came up in board matters. Having previously done a webinar Maori achieving success as Maori, they both spoke the same message. Listening to Maori, understanding where they have come from and where they want to go and how they are going to get there. It comes down to equality and equity and how we present that to our community, parents and students.

 

Teacher Inquiry 2023 Reflection

 

Inquiry Question: Will a focus on spelling conventions foster an environment where word consciousness strengthens connections to the learning?

Outcome 1: Increased awareness of vocabulary

Outcome 2: To approach new learning with confidence

Outcome 3: To understand spelling conventions

Intervention:

• Students to complete spelling test (term 1/ term 4)

• Use steps for consistent spelling tasks online.

• Teacher modeling conventions so students see me modelling what I want to see them doing.

• Create an word consciousness list that is visible.

• Timetable opportunities for word consciousness with specific skills.

• Introduce LS2 to specific designed conventions - teacher lead

• Co-construct conventions lists and follow up activities - Listen to and act upon student voice

• Encourage the use of new vocabulary when discussing familiar words.

• Strengthen vocabulary connections to the area of learning 

• Use visual clues to remember the conventions. 

The darker highlights indicate that I feel I have meet these interventions to a good level, where the lighter highlights show that these interventions needed more consistency or more explicit teaching. I found that I didn't leave enough timetabled lesson time to effectively cover the interventions I was hoping to achieve higher outcomes in.

Teacher Learning:

• Analysis spelling test (T1 to T4) - What has changed as a result of our intervention? What do we still need to do?

• Professional readings to strengthen my connections to research findings.

• Strengthen word consciousness by tabletiming opportunities for students to complete steps tasks.

• Create scaffolds to show spelling conventions in a visual sense.

• Co-construct with the learners a list of conventions

Here I have ticked all the boxes but I feel that I have not ticked them as many times as they needed to be. 

• The testing was successful - my target group either stayed the same or increased their spelling, however they got some words wrong in the T4 test that they got right in the T1 test and vice versa. Maybe going through the test itself after it has been marked will allow the students to see where they are going wrong - sometimes its missing out by 1 letter or 2 letters around the wrong way. 
• When it came to Professional Readings, some of the articles made me more confused than I was in the beginning, they just didn't seem to fit with what and how I was thinking. The outcome of this is the more professional readings I do the more they will align with my thinking and vice versa. 
• Timetabling is something that happened but not always when it was meant to or how long it was meant to.  To change this I need to make sure everything is extremely prepared in both my mind and resources so no time is wasted.
• Co-constructing with the learners was an integral part of my inquiry. Listening to what they had to say and discussing how that would work which was valuable.

Student Learning:

• To attempt to use other vocabulary when writing.

• Revisit and repeat the same spelling test to see if our word consciousness has made a difference.

• To participate in the steps program

• To participate actively in co-constructing a conventions list

• To confidently use new vocabulary in their writing.

• To understand the spelling conventions when writing unknown words.

My target group along with the rest of my students were amazing in taking on new learning. I think the biggest win was the conversations we had about words and how different words can come from words and how in some cases words from other languages even have close to the same sounding/spelling so they could also make that connection.

Measurable Outcomes:

• Increased achievement between time 1/time 2 data 

• Analyse changes in student responses in writing survey

• Understand the spelling conventions.

• Increased engagement in timetabled steps opportunities 

• Increased confidence in using their new knowledge of spelling conventions in their writing.

My target group all increased in their writing and one has significantly increased and I believe that this is from the use of new vocabulary and her willing to show confidence in spelling this new language. Increasing their Steps usage has helped with their understanding of words and how they are used. As their teacher I need to change how to include more structured learning when it comes to the spelling conventions.

I feel the main thing is when I look back on my Teachers Inquiry is to ask for help when things get too overwhelming or when you just don't know where you are going or how you are going to get there.

Describing and Explaining the changes or tweaks I have made in my practice along the way.

 Describing and Explaining the changes or tweaks I have made in my practice along the way.

Inquiry question: Will a focus on spelling conventions foster an environment where word consciousness strengthens connections to the learning?

My Thought Process

When I first undertook this inquiry it was to enable my students to have the confidence to be able to use the language the student wanted to use in their writing. In discussions with Robyn Anderson she had also noticed the same scenario within her groups, so we decided we would do a shared Teachers Inquiry. As we shared the classroom this made sense, however activities that were implemented in her groups did not translate in my groups and vice versa.  As a consequence we shared the focus but our implementation was individualised.  

Initial Thoughts of How I Could Achieve My Goal

I was under the naive impression that changing the students confidence in spelling and new language could be done by phonics and 'everyday rules' of spelling conventions.  This however was not the case.  I implemented the use of our school's Steps program ensuring it was timetabled each day as well as entering specific words we were looking on top of their assigned Steps work.  

While Robyns groups were working with affixes and suffixes we were working with beginning phonemes eg ph and f.  After looking at some examples of how that would work, I designed a form for my year 7/8 year group. I thought this would aide in my Teacher Inquiry but it didn't. I had once again over thought what my students needed and put too much on the task sheet and it became too confusing (not only for my students but for myself). 

Changes and Tweaks

I needed to make a few tweaks to the task to enable it to be an effect resource for my students.  This worked for part of the task but not the whole task. My students wanted to learn, but they wanted to learn words not the sounds of the words because they had already done that in the journers. So back to the drawing board, we played a form of a game. I choose a letter we would work with and gave a few examples of high-frequency words and the groups then added to those words by calling out words they knew starting with the same letter - this not only worked but was fun and gave the students some confidence that they knew more words than they thought they did and they could spell them too which was a bonus.

Children must learn to spell some “high-frequency” words conventionally if writing competencies are to develop (Croft, 1983). These high-frequency words are best learnt as a component of writing and not as a result of studying isolated lists of words as this enables teaching that is responsive to the individual child (Croft, 1983). Developmentally, children should be learning to spell words they almost know. These words will fall naturally within the child’s zone of proximal development, which refers to the gap between what a child can do independently and what can be achieved with the help of a teacher (Wood, 1988).

Language Experience

A change in my practice was recognising that when I was having conversations with my students they were taking on board new language that was in our conversations and I was making new discoveries about my students - making stronger connections to their worlds, therefore enabling me to change how I plan my lessons.  

Ashton-Warner (1963) referred to the conversation between the teacher and the child as a “passionate interchange of talk” (p. 66), saying, “I reach a hand into the mind of the child, bring out the stuff I find there, and use that as our first working material” (p. 34). 

At times I think I have taken for granted that the students prior knowledge would have included some of the language we were reading as some of it was what I would consider 'everyday talk'.  I had to change how I was having conversations to think explicitly about what was being said and how I could use that information to inform my planning decisions. 

Changing my Target Group

Looking at Time Point 4 it came apparent that one of my target group did not have the correct data for me to analyse.  I decided to take that student out of my numbers which in turn changed my data. Time Point 1 and 2 Data.   

Language Experience: Teaching for the Integration of Early Literacy Learning by Using What Children Know to Develop Active Problem Solving

Intervention: implementation & monitoring of new approaches

 

Intervention: implementation & monitoring of new approaches 

The 'worksheet' I had designed for my students to enhance their knowledge of how words are connected involved using phonemes that have the same sound, pictures to visibly see the difference of the sound, both familiar and unfamiliar words, an opportunity to define the words as well as being able to look for new words themselves.  Below on the left is my original worksheet and on the right the learners full in the rest of the words themselves and find the root words.  We had to do a lot of unpacking and defining for understanding so my students felt confident in finishing the worksheet. A teacher intentionally calls attention to specific vocabulary terms which heightens the student’s awareness of the new words heard or read (Manzo & Manzo, 2008).

After reflection of my initial concept of designing a word list to show the differences and similarities of phonemes, I realised that my students were still struggling with the beginning of the given words.  While having discussions in the talanoa time it was suggested that I not only make the words visible to my group but to also place a sound bite on each word so that my learners could hear the word.  The fifth framework suggests involving students in original investigations of word and word features.  (Ashlie R. Jack, 2011). When I was discussing how I was going to alter the way I would be doing the word sheet to my students, it then dawned on me that as well as working alongside words the students had searched to expand their knowledge they could place a sound bite on those words so I could navigate their learning by hearing if they are pronouncing each sound correctly that would enable them to have an understanding of how the word sounds as well as being conscious of how the word is spelt. 

With monitoring the trajectory of the understanding the students have with words they have been introduced to and observing how they have the confidence to look up new words to ensure they have not only the spelling correct but also an understanding of the definition given.  

I have really changed my thinking of the teacher teaches the unknown, to the teacher and students co construct through discussions or informal feed forward and feedback of what works for them and which words, sounds, chunks etc  they have difficulty with.

Causal Chain 2023 - Teacher Inquiry

 

My inquiry this year is to see if a focus on spelling conventions foster an environment where word consciousness strengthens connections to the learning? By creating a causal chain this helped me see what I wanted to focus on, where I was and where I wanted to end. This then helped me fill in the chain with my thought processes, data, strategies, interventions and outcomes. In short what is the purpose of my Teacher Inquiry and how can I change my teaching to foster the desired outcome. Working backwards in the map allows you to have a vision and work out step by step how you could get there. It is important to know that not everything will work but when that happens it is a learning opportunity, an opportunity to change your thinking and teaching practice and move on to the next strategy or intervention to get you closer to your inquiry focus.

My Causal Chain (backward map) is shown below.

Causal Chain Link

Robyn and I are doing a collaborative inquiry as we share a class. We have the same vision but we have different groups of learners which means our approach is different yet aligned. We have noticed the same behaviour overall from our learners. When writing they revert to words they either know or can spell rather than expanding their vocabulary by using unfamiliar words. Our hunch is that if our learners have opportunities to have a timetabled sessions of Word Consciousness - understanding the connections of the words, the chunks, decoding the words and spelling conventions, the learners will gain the confidence to begin to use the 'new' words with confidence in their everyday learning.

Qu 4: Collecting evidence and data...

 

Begin to collect evidence and data and come to the next session ready to share your preliminary findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge i.e. using your baseline student data and evidence.

For this inquiry I will be working with a core group of 8 students from a group of 21 year 7/8 students. My inquiry group consists of 3 x y7 girls, 2 x y7 boys and 3 x y8 boys. Looking at the Writing and Spelling data, these students were identified as those that had gaps that needed filling to accelerate them to the level of their year group.

  What I noticed when analysing my groups e-asTTle was that the majority of the year 7 vocabulary scored higher than their spelling, however the level of their vocabulary was lower than expected. Out of my 3 year 8 students, 2 of the students vocabulary was at a higher level than their counterparts, which is showing me they have used higher level language. This could possibly be because of the T-Shaped literacy programme we used last year as well as RFE Robyn introduced in LS2. The other year 8 student was not in our class last year which is evident by his lower vocabulary mark.  The difference in the year 8 and year 7 vocabulary has come with understanding how a basic word can be replaced with a more enticing word in their writing. This was evident with year 8 using words in their e-asTTle writing sample about a community facility like 'affordable' rather than 'cheap'.

My next steps are to familiarize the students with new words and expand their vocabulary knowledge along with learning the spelling conventions, essentially word consciousness. To aide with this I have looked at my hunches, talked to colleagues and have introduced both a digital resource along with each student having their own book to make their own word bank.