Where am I at and how will I measure this?...

As my inquiry has now taken a new direction I needed to collect an additional set of time point 1 (TP1) data that can be used at the end of the year to provide evidence of shifts in teaching. As this is for inquiry purposes the information needed to be formative. It needed to identify our current strengths as well a identifying our areas for development. The Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice (MRPP) matrix has helped me do exactly that.

After analysing my reading planning against the MRPP with Toreka, the next step was to work together to analyse her reading planning. On this occasion I took the lead but asked her to step in if I needed to relook at something. Again a rich conversation was had and a clear picture of where she is at captured. I then repeated this process with the rest of my team.

                                        

The feedback was really positive and discussions had were rich and honest. I think the high levels of trust play a huge part in this process and I want to thank my team for their parts in these conversations. This process fully was transparent and I openly shared my matrix with my gaps clearly identified. I think this helped in strengthening the buy in as it wasn't about finding out right and wrong but rather finding out where our areas of strength and areas to strengthen were. The latter have since become part of our co-constructed team PLD plan going forward.

The matrix for all initial discussions was very much a working document (see image above). This gave me an opportunity to identify what I saw in the planning and my team to talk to it. Sticking firmly to the idea that 'if it wasn't in the planning it wasn't there', allowed for consistency across the board but it didn't mean I didn't listen. Using pen and paper on this occasion meant any adaptations made were clearly visible to both of us. The part of this process that I really liked was being able to celebrate and sometimes point out, people's successes. I found that by doing this first the door was opened for those more challenging conversations to take place. 

The presentation below is the formalised version of these conversations. Each teacher has their own digital copy that identifies areas of strength, areas to strengthen and next steps.

From the perspective of team leader, I now have a clear and visual picture of where we are at and what it is we need to do to help accelerate shifts in student achievement in reading.