How Maths helped my students see their true RFE picture...

Giving my students and authentic purpose to carry out a statistical inquiry strengthens their connections to the task as a whole. This year we have been trying to increase the time we spend reading for enjoyment (RFE). After chatting with Fiona about my inquiry I realised I needed to be regularly monitoring my intervention so that I had concrete data to allow me to measure shifts over smaller periods of time. 

I wanted to find out:

• How much time do you RFE each week?
• What time we are reading?
• Where we read?

The Process:

I found out:

To allow me to gather a fair picture of the time spent RFE I used the data from the 22 students who were present at school for the time period 30/7 - 12/8. This meant that my data was clean as it put everyone on an even playing field as no one had extra time to read, or missed the opportunities that were given in class to read.

From the data I collected I can see that evenings are the most popular time for reading for enjoyment in LS2, with bedrooms being the preferred space. When we unpacked this further I found out that this is the time of day when chores are done, younger siblings are in bed and RFE is used to get some downtime in a quiet space. What I didn't include in this data was that 7/22 students choose to RFE on a rainy day. 

Hours spent RFE increased by 129 hours from 143 hours in week 1 to 273 hours in week 2. This is probably a direct result of our focus on RFE. I can see from data not included that the students who were absent during this measurement period, RFE was not something that is embedded in the reading habits of my students. The overall data paints a good picture as shift did occur. My goal now is to explore ways I can keep this momentum going.

Restating my inquiry question and chain of events...

'Will a focus on Reading for Enjoyment increase student self efficacy and capability in Reading?' This is the question that is guiding my inquiry this year and is the question I keep coming back to when I need to refocus myself. My thinking behind this question has been if I open the doors that lead to opportunities for my learners to read for enjoyment I will open the doors that self efficacy is hiding behind. A few weeks ago I was chatting with Fiona about where I was at in my inquiry when she asked me how I was changing minds and ideas...

My earlier blogpost about my causal chain is here. I use this tool to keep myself on track and focused on my inquiry. Taking the time to evaluate where I'm at to write this blogpost, shows me that I'm meeting the goals I set. I have needed to reset timeframes a few times and this is something I think needs to be shared. Things happen along the way that cause us to lose focus or traction. It is how we get back on those tracks that counts, not how long it took us. 

Term 2 was a challenge for me as far as my inquiry was concerned. Erratic attendance, timetable changes and staff absences meant we weren't able to get the traction I had hoped we would at this stage in the year due to disconnects in continuity. Not an excuse just a real picture of the current climate many schools find themselves in. At the end of the term I worked alongside a group of students to help them create our LS2 RFE Holiday Challenge to help reignite my inquiry for both myself and my students. We 'sold' the idea to our parents at our student led conferences by having a wall display that each student explained to their whanau. Having such a visible display was the key to opening rich and purposeful dialogue about what reading for enjoyment is and why it is so important. It worked! My students and their families bought into the challenge and I was motivated after watching the challenge evolve online. 

                                 

Fast forward to Term 3... Reading for enjoyment (RFE) is firmly embedded into our timetable. We begin each learning day with all of us stopping and reading for enjoyment for 15 minutes. To help us keep track of the time we use a large purple egg timer as this not only ensures no short cuts with time but also gives those who need a visual guide, exactly that. 

I made sure I introduced the book I'm reading with the class and told them what made me want to read it. My current book is Bastion Point 507 Days on Takaparawha, Auckland, 1977-78 by Tania Roxborogh. All our students know that I love history so by sharing that I chose to read this text because I want to see the event from a different perspective (- I explained here that I only knew what I heard my parents talking about from what the papers reported at the time) I am also showing my learners that I am a lifelong learner. This text has lead to a number of chats with my students who have shared how some of their whanau were there and have told me about their memories of the protest. One student has even asked to read the book after me because her nan was there and she wants to talk to her about what she remembers. 

I had collected baseline data using Naomi Rosedale's RFE survey in Term 1 and knew that I was going to give my students the same Google form in Term 4 then compare the data, but realised the gap between time point 1 and time point 2 would be too long to wait to see if any change is taking place. I knew if wanted to capture a true picture I would need to get buy in from the class so I created a purpose for our challenge (statistics) and asked the students how we could record the time spent we reading for enjoyment over the next seven days. A number of suggestions were made with the most popular being that I create a chart to put on the board that the students would fill in each morning. 

This worked really well as everyone was able to add at least 15 minutes to the chart every day. The visibility of the chart kept it alive in the classroom and the larger times being recorded by some, motivated others. At the end of week 2 we had a set of data that we transferred to individual Google spreadsheets, graphed and analysed. To allow for comparisons to be made and measured we decided to collect data for the following week. A task made much easier when we harnessed the digital affordances. The end result had a number of outcomes:

1. Each student was able to see the progress in time spent reading for enjoyment. Those that had gaps were able to explain why, making everyone accountable to themselves.
2. I got a rich overall picture of the amount of time the class as a whole spend RFE.
3. We had an authentic purpose for our maths task that made the learning meaningful and purposeful.
4. The data collection served as an intrinsic motivator to encourage everyone to find time to read for enjoyment.
5. I realised that my students enjoy talking to me about the books they are reading so I need to continue to make time for this to happen.
6. My class respond well to reading challenges.
7. This challenge reminded me that I needed to drive it constantly. RFE is not an embedded habit in our classroom so I need to continue to motivate and encourage my students if I want them to pick a book and enjoy it.

Have a look at David, Farzana and Fotu's blogs to see what they discovered about their RFE habits.

Teacher Inquiry at PBS...

At Panmure Bridge School we decided as a school and before our students returned in February, that our initial inquiry focus would centre around student engagement by establishing foundations to go forward with formal learning. To support this at a school wide level we have started with syndicate discussions using the questions the COL teachers discussed at our first meeting.

This will then followed up with a blog post that encourages everyone to think about what it is they have been doing to engage their students and keep them engaged in class and online. We learn best we we learn from each other and in our current situation, this will be such a powerful resource to have at the end of the term because each and everyone of us is constantly changing and adapting what we are doing in our rooms.

Thinking ahead to Term 2 we will be using our data to form the basis of our individual teacher inquiries. As a school we will have an overarching focus on Reading, but at teacher and class level this picture will look quite different. Having an idea of the way forward allows teachers to start thinking about the direction they will take. As always having an overarching focus allows for the conversations to flow as we bounce ideas off one another.