Manaiakalani Wānanga 2021

Wānanga 2021

We came together face to face in regional clusters or from far and wide online during this wānanga. Here are a few notes I recorded from today's session.

Pat Sneddon - Amplifying the learn, create and share - Pat shares an important message especially in these challenging times and the impact of Covid 19 has had on our communities. Manaiakalani learn, create, share pedagogy has helped close the gap when in online learning and demonstrates just how important it is to maintain and build on this pedagogy in our current changing environment.

Dr Rebecca Jesson - I always enjoy listening to Dr Rebecca Jesson. She has a wealth of knowledge and I always walk away with another gem or to or a different perspective to investigate. She spoke about the importance of the purpose of the 'why' behind reading and the importance to fine and review.

Looking at the data

• Interrogate evidence of strengths and needs
• Identify strategies likely to work, based on research evidence
• Close interrogation of implementation - so that strategies adjusted to learners’ strengths needs
• Refine and review

Design with the end in mind

This model was developed this year bringing together elements of the Manaiakalani pedagogy, high leverage practises and digital affordances and has informed the observations, questionnaires and these recommendations.

T-shaped Literacy

The importance of purposeful text to go of surface and depth

Up until recently, the selections were not chosen to build knowledge from one lesson to another. The units of study, five or six weekly lessons, were all too frequently a hodgepodge of selections organized under a vague theme, such as serendipity or adventures. Fortunately, the most recent versions of core programs present units of instruction with unified themes and selections that build knowledge over several lessons (LaVenia, 2019).

The importance of higher order questioning and extended discussions.

Students are invited to speak and students build on from each other to extend the discussion. The importance of teaching discussion skills.

Learn, Create, Share

Reflecting on my own professional practice and exploring ways I can implement more SHARE opportunities in our team

Currently our students have the opportunity to share within reading groups, use of blog to share across the team and give feedback to others, creating to share e.g poster or direct action of their learning. 

How can we increase the SHARE platform in our school community?

It's MIT time... after an informative morning the time came to share our pre-recorded MIT Pecha Kucha. It was a surreal feeling sitting with our cluster watching myself online. It all went well and I feel painted a good overall summary of my journey this year. I am proud to be amongst a great cohort of teachers during this 2021 MIT inquiry and each and everyone of our tools or websites will be valuable resources in the future. GO TEAM! 

iMovie Experience

Oh my! What an experience...

With the ongoing COVID level changes and Manaiakalani HQ in lockdown our wananga presentations have gone from live face to face in Auckland, to live online from Auckland to pre recorded and shared in our own regional clusters on the 30th November. With the ongoing support from Matt (MIT mentor and digital guru) I created my Pecha Kucha in Google Slides, downloaded as a PNG, uploaded into iMovie, recorded audio, added to iMovie and then edited! Whew!!! 

I will not be giving up my day job any time soon to become a video editor.

After many takes (many, many, many takes...), splits and cuts to remove unnecessary gaps to keep it within the correct time frame and aligning each still shot with the correct video recording, the completed video is done albeit with a few obvious edits.

The biggest challenge now is to sit in the wananga and watch myself on the screen with our Tairawhiti Cluster. 

 

The Power of Instructions or The Power of Inclusiveness?

 

This MIT inquiry journey is fast coming to an end. As I put my final touches on my Google site I have found I am still challenging my own thinking. The outcome of my final product is completely different from my initial idea which Dorothy and Matt said would happen! 

What started as a focus on instructions has merged into a curation based on inclusive practice. My Google Site is a collection of specific tools and strategies. It is a living document of ever evolving resources, tips and tricks to support educators in the classroom. Other educators will have the opportunity to submit readings, resources, or personal tips and tricks through a Google form.

I am looking forward to sharing this with many and hope to gain more information to build a strong resource.

Zooming in on Reading Data

As I zoom in and reflect on the changes I have made with instructions across our curriculum program I have the challenge of locating some diagnostic data. The interviews I have done with students have all been positive and largely in favour of the introduction of new digital instructions sitting alongside the more traditional methods of classroom visuals, dot to jot and teacher modelling. There is need for both and it has made me stronger in my inclusive practice to ensure the right instructional strategies are used for the right tamariki.

There have been significant shifts within some students PM reading levels, which is a huge celebration but I can’t establish that this shift is amplified by the introduction of different instructional strategies as this cannot be quantified in raw diagnostic data. 

I have  however identified a shift in their learning  behaviours, attitudes and students seeing themselves as successful learners resulting in them being empowered to drive their own learning. 

This data shows shifts in PM benchmarks reading curriculum levels of my target groups.

Super proud of this cohort of students, they have worked hard and it has payed off.

Some of the results in this cohort are;

• An ESOL student who came to our team with little English has move from PM level 10 to PM level 26

• A severe dyslexic student who was stagnant at PM level 10 for 2 years has shifted to PM Level 12. Digital tools and the use of a multi modal platform has opened up his learning experiences.

• An ASD student who had shifted from PM level 22 to PM level 24 and has become more confident with joining in group discussion allowing further understanding and development with comprehension.

As a kaiako, many of us are quick to reflect on what didn't go well and improvements needed for next time rather than celebrate what did. I think teachers are the hardest working of many professions. We are driven by the love of what we do and the many beautiful smiling faces that pass our classroom doors. I know I need to celebrate the little successes more often, especially as those aren't reflected in our school wide data.

Google Site

 

LOCKDOWN Mahi...

I got busy adding more information to the creation of my Google Site. I have included four key areas. 

  1. All about me - some information of how and why I have created this Gsite. 

2. A link to my professional blog which follows my inquiry journey. 

3. A curation page - which has a range of links to specific needs and links to resources e.g Autism, Dyslexia.

4. A Google form for educators to share their gems and knowledge.   

          

Each section is slowing filling up with some valuable information. Some specific to learner needs, some general information that I have found valuable,  some apps and tools I have used, some are game changers like MOTE!! Gotta love Mote it has transformed how I give digital instructions, how I  comment on digital mahi and much more. 

As I move through the design process my final product is constantly evolving and changing with each stage. It is nothing like I initially envisaged all those months ago at the first connect hui in Kuaotunu. I am hoping it will be a valuable resource for many but if helps only one that is still awesome! 

Data Collection Term 3

With the return to level 2, back to school we go. With only a three weeks until we head into the school holidays there is a lot to do. 

Lockdown did give me that elusive thing called TIME to continue to work on my Google site, the finish product of this inquiry but I have to be honest I have not done as much mahi as I should have before lockdown hit in terms of data collection for my inquiry... time to get busy! 

Data collection has always been a challenge for me during this inquiry, how do you collect data on how effective instructions are? How can you tell if the students understand these instructions?  Earlier in the year I interviewed a large group of students across a range of learning needs, I have documented their responses. My next steps are to get the students in our team to fill out a Google form and answer 5 questions all about instructions and compare the responses with the students I interviewed in Term 1. 

The questions for this google form formulated by some year 5 students in our team.

As part of my inquiry I have been working with a group of students with specific learning needs in reading throughout the year. Adapting their multimodal reading slides and making changes around instructions to see if makes a difference. Here is one reading slide I have adapted for a student with severe dyslexia with a reading age of 6.5-7 years, PM reading level 11. In this particular reading slide we had a new student so I ask him to support him in how to use the reading slide. Like any student he loves being a helper and was proud to be sharing his knowledge with another student.  

Next is to do a PM assessment on the reading groups I have been working with this year and compare the results to the mid year data. Exciting times ahead. Better get busy...