Achievement Challenge 6 (lifting the achievement in maths for all students years 1-13) is the direction I see my inquiry going as it aligns with our 2021 school wide Maths PD and would enable me to build onto my 2020 inquiry. This year I have encouraged my learners to use and apply their learning, and the language linked to that learning by leaving purposeful comments on each other's blogs to promote authentic dialogic interactions. This change in my practice has not only given me opportunities to develop a strong cybersmart program, but also encourages me to think critically about the learning and language. If I am expecting the comments to be specific, the learning behind the blog post content needs to be equally specific.
What learnings from the 2017 - 2020 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking.
They say it takes a village and our COL village, who willingly share their practice, ideas and inquiry journeys allow me to do the two things I love the most. To teach and to learn. When I inquire into my practice it isn’t one specific idea or person that inspires or informs my thinking, but rather the opportunities we have to share our successes and strategise over our ideas that didn’t quite go to plan. How people overcome unplanned hurdles is what truly captures my interest, as it is these ideas I tap into and tweak when I have my own hurdles to climb over, or am helping someone else find a way around theirs.
They say it takes a village and our COL village, who willingly share their practice, ideas and inquiry journeys allow me to do the two things I love the most. To teach and to learn. When I inquire into my practice it isn’t one specific idea or person that inspires or informs my thinking, but rather the opportunities we have to share our successes and strategise over our ideas that didn’t quite go to plan. How people overcome unplanned hurdles is what truly captures my interest, as it is these ideas I tap into and tweak when I have my own hurdles to climb over, or am helping someone else find a way around theirs.
How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa?
To accelerate student achievement the Learn Create Share pedagogy and kaupapa of Manaiakalani is the glue that holds my planning together. Focusing on what it is I want my learners to share helps me unpack what I want my students to learn, and identifies what I will need to creatively and explicitly teach in order to help them form connections to the words they need to express their opinions and explain their thinking.
To accelerate student achievement the Learn Create Share pedagogy and kaupapa of Manaiakalani is the glue that holds my planning together. Focusing on what it is I want my learners to share helps me unpack what I want my students to learn, and identifies what I will need to creatively and explicitly teach in order to help them form connections to the words they need to express their opinions and explain their thinking.
Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?
Recognising our tamariki don’t have the academic literacy to access the learning is the research finding that challenges me most. Like many of my colleagues, what I see happening in the classroom is on many occasions not replicated in an assessment situation. Often this is because our learners simply do not have the language skills needed to unpack what it is they are being asked to do.
Recognising our tamariki don’t have the academic literacy to access the learning is the research finding that challenges me most. Like many of my colleagues, what I see happening in the classroom is on many occasions not replicated in an assessment situation. Often this is because our learners simply do not have the language skills needed to unpack what it is they are being asked to do.
How would you like to be supported in 2021 as you undertake this inquiry?
To help drive my inquiry the PLD support I would like in 2021 is a combination of feedback and questions from critical friends who challenge me and don’t just say ‘well done’.
To help drive my inquiry the PLD support I would like in 2021 is a combination of feedback and questions from critical friends who challenge me and don’t just say ‘well done’.
How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with THEIR inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring?
Aside from continuing to model my inquiry on my blog, I have found as the in-school COL teacher for PBS since 2017, the best type of support I can offer my colleagues with their inquiries is to sit down in a 1:1 situation to help them to backwards map a possible pathway. This gives us a great shared visual connection which we have found leads to rich conversations that we all learn from when we have our termly check in chats. The part that excites me most about this process is seeing the enthusiasm others bring to the table when they begin to see the difference the changes to their practice are making for their learners.
Aside from continuing to model my inquiry on my blog, I have found as the in-school COL teacher for PBS since 2017, the best type of support I can offer my colleagues with their inquiries is to sit down in a 1:1 situation to help them to backwards map a possible pathway. This gives us a great shared visual connection which we have found leads to rich conversations that we all learn from when we have our termly check in chats. The part that excites me most about this process is seeing the enthusiasm others bring to the table when they begin to see the difference the changes to their practice are making for their learners.
