Stocktake of my Inquiry...

My inquiry this year has been to say the least, challenging. Not because it is unachievable, but because my initial idea just wasn't working. I had several attempts at exploring the effect of our recent Reading PLD on student achievement but soon found out this wasn't going to work as my team are are all coming at this from different places. The PLD I have had differs greatly from what the others have had. My biggest learning has been the realisation that something I think is a normal part of a lesson is not necessarily seen the same through the eyes of others. It was also a real eye opener to realise the effect of staff changes on PLD, something I'm sure all schools experience. 

After speaking with Naomi Rosedale at the last COL meeting, I realised I needed to make some changes. Once I had worked out my new pathway forward things began falling into place. I had a plan and had begun putting that plan into place, but what was missing was the framework to bring everything together. Naomi suggestion was that I align what I was looking for with the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice. That was the lightbulb moment I needed.

Last year two of my team took part in the Reading Program Intensive (RPI) and although I didn't, I did join them in their journey through my role as a mentor. As a mentor I didn't get the explicit introduction to the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice (MRPP) so I needed to strengthen my connections. I did this by reversing the roles. This time it was me in the learning seat and Toreka in the mentor role, and turned into one of this richest learning conversations I have ever had. 

Together we analysed my long term reading plan and one randomly selected example of a guided reading plan against the MRPP.  As we unpacked each section I could see a clear picture of where my successes were and where my gaps were. Toreka was far more generous than me with this process. She kept saying 'I know you do this, I've seen you do it...' but I was of the opinion that if it wasn't in the planning it wasn't there. That decision allowed for consistency when I repeated the process with my team's planning.

The image above is the result of my conversation with Toreka. I'm sure to anyone looking at the writing all over the MRPP matrix it will look chaotic, but to me it's a rich summary of observations made, explored and discussed. I think what I liked the most in this process is that it is a true picture of my strong belief that we learn best when we learn with and from each other.