First Steps: MIT15 Update #1

I have been fortunate enough to move through to the 2015 teaching year with some students who were in my class in 2014. This has given me 'feedback experts' who have a level of skills and knowledge in one curriculum area and can talk those new to our class this year through the process of giving peer led feedback. We have a new independent reading challenge which is allowing us to build on the familiar. By that I mean strengthening the feedback comments that were developed last year. This has been a very positive process so far. I love hearing the learning conversations that take place as the 'experts' guide my new learners. The exciting part for me is that the buy in and engagement in these tasks is gaining strength as the unfamiliar becomes the familiar. I have set up the program so that everyone has a buddy. This has allowed me to spend time guiding and conferencing each pair at the level they need. For some we have walked slowly through the process, and for others the scaffolding has almost been removed. 

The album below reflects examples of peer lead feedback in Reading, the curriculum area we focused on last year. The next step is to find out if my learner's feedback skills and knowledge in one curriculum area transferrable to another.

By providing this 'peg to hang the new learning on' I leapt into the oblivion and buddied up my class so that each person had a 'critical friend' to give them feedback on their personal writing. I needed to see where my learners were at as far as being able to give feedback in Writing so I simply asked them to work together to see if, when wearing their critical friend glasses, they could use our success criteria to notice where their partner had made a connection. 

The album below reflects examples of peer lead feedback in Writing. This is a snapshot of the initial independent feedback comments. The students were reminded only to use the success criteria to see where their partner had 'got it right'. 

What's Next?

The comments I have included in the album show that I have a great starting point. My next step is to look closely at the content of the comments and see if genuine connections have been made. I will do this by comparing the comments with the actual work analysed.

Creating something that is going to help somebody else learn:

Today the Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers 2015 (MIT15) group met to share the focus of our inquiries. It was inspiring to be a part of this discussion and to have the opportunity share this process with such talented educators.

Stage #1:

I am very passionate about shifting student achievement and know that by empowering my learners with the tools to help them reach those ever changing ‘next levels of learning success’ is one way of achieving this.

Student success in Writing is quantified against a series of levelled national standards and national norms. The achievement levels of our own priority learners are measured against the achievement levels of all New Zealand students at the same year level, and sadly our data continues to reflect noticeable disparities. Last year an assignment for university provided me with an insight to the power that peer led feedback had on shifting student achievement in Reading when it was given and received in real time and context. This year MIT15 is allowing me an opportunity to explore if by drawing on this knowledge, I am able equip my students with some of the metacognitive tools that will allow them to strengthen their own understanding of the language features and structures needed to reach national levels in Writing.

The ‘Comments’ tool in Google Docs, when used as a forum for the learning conversations peer led feedback facilitates, will afford my learners opportunities to learn with and from each other in a safe place, where successes and errors are noticed; and ideas can be suggested, challenged and resolved, as opportunities to 'create something that is going to help somebody else learn' are actively sought.

                                            William Glasser

Stage #2:

I will ask the questions:

• ‘Are the feedback skills and knowledge in one curriculum area transferrable to another?’
• ‘Are all learners able to notice and feedback on the deeper features of their peer’s writing?’
• ‘Is the feedback justified and interactive?’

Shifts in student achievement will not happen simply because the concept of critical friendships is introduced. Attaching a name to something will not cement understanding. To build and strengthen the content knowledge of my priority learners I need to borrow from Dorothy Brown’s idea by providing opportunities for ‘repetition without boring’ so that real connections can be made and understandings strengthened through informed learning discussions.

Sparking Student Interest:

This week saw the start of my MIT inquiry. I selected a group of talented young writers who will become not only my target group, but also our resident Room 5 'experts'. The group challenges will provide opportunities to work independently, collaboratively and with me on writing tasks that will challenge the students to move their writing to the next level. Taking a forensic (really close look) at what their peers have written is what will help each student in their 'critical friend' role to give focused feedback and feed forward. 

Learning from and with each other will help increase our overall understanding of structure and language features as our Room 5 writing programs evolves this year. The students are expected to take risks by trying to incorporate new learning into their independent tasks and when asked justify (say why) this new learning was used when responding to feed back.

Link to MIT student tasks

Shaping Aotearoa

A reminder from Dame Whina Cooper that we are the guardians who take care of the children and so shape Aotearoa New Zealand.

Week 1 Term 1 Reflection:

The first week of this new school year was very different than those of past years as this year I have an extra set of eyes on me. Room 5 have welcomed our fabulous student teacher who will be with us on and off throughout the year as she works towards her final teaching practicum. I have been teaching for over two decades now... shocking when you put a time frame on it! In my mind it seems like only yesterday that I was starting my first class as a beginning teacher, as we were called back then. Over the years experience has taught me what works and what doesn't in the first week of school. The learning I plan for that first week is instinctive and is done in such a way that not only do the students get to know each other and their teacher, but I also get to know what make my learners tick. In saying that I have never had to justify the purpose behind why I do things the way I do. I am sure walking through the door of the classroom as a student teacher on the first day must be a daunting challenge, but in saying that think about this from the perspective of the classroom teacher. Everything you do and say is being observed and analysed. Luckily as 'teachers' we clicked straight away which I'm sure not only put her at ease but also allowed me to breathe out!

So why do I do the things the way I do? It's simple really. To begin laying the foundations needed to build the collaborative learning environment needed to help grow the seeds of knowledge. Everything serves a triple purpose. Its about working smarter.

Purpose 1: To build the collaborative group working skills that allow the students to practise the thinking, sharing, negotiating and decision making skills they need to function successfully as one group as we unpack the skills and values that will help them make the important connections to their learning.

Purpose 2: To use the evidence of this thinking and create wall displays that reflect personal connections to the learning environment. I don't fill the walls alone when the students have left for the day we incorporate this into the lesson so that the ethos of shared decision making is encouraged. I have found by getting the students involved in creating the displays they are genuinely able to talk about what is on the walls and why it is there. An added bonus is that everyone takes ownership of the environment.

Purpose 3: To create a digital record of our learning that is shared on our individual blogs. In the past this would have been done in books as we practised ruling the pages, writing the date and the learning intention and reminding people (who most probably hadn't picked up a pen/pencil for the last six weeks) to write neatly. Sadly the audience for this task would have been limited to the author and myself. Parents and caregivers would only know what we had been learning if they worded their questions about the day cleverly enough to get beyond the typical responses of 'Nothing!' Being a 1:1 digital learning environment means the students and their parents/caregivers are able to access their learning or the record of their learning anytime and anywhere.


The buy in from the students has been amazing. I found myself almost apologising to my class on Thursday afternoon for not doing any art. I was in the middle of praising them for their contributions this week and explaining why it had been so important to establish routines and collaborative working skills when one of the students put up her hand and said, "Its ok Miss, look at our room, it looks great. We did heaps of work and we all practised those skills you were talking about." My heart melted to see the foundations of the very important student/teacher connections were being laid.

Outline of proposed innovation in 2015:

To use the ‘Comments’ feature in Google Docs to extend and accelerate my learners’ levels of cognitive engagement and achievement, through peer led feedback in Writing. This will leave a digital trail of evidence of genuine student voice (as a wider audience will be able to contribute their thinking in real time and in context), notify me via email so that I can monitor the quality of interactions and provide guidance in real time. Additionally it will create an online forum where successes and errors can be highlighted, ideas can be suggested, challenged and resolved; and changes implemented immediately. Something that could not be done without the affordances of technology. My inquiry would ask the questions:

• ‘Are the feedback skills and knowledge in one curriculum area transferrable to another?’
• ‘Are all learners able to notice and feedback on the deeper features of their peer’s writing?’
• ‘Is the feedback justified and interactive?’

I will monitor the learning gains that can be made with my Maori and Pacific students as they make connections between their established understandings and new learning in a different subject area. Writing could be seen as a challenge as it is a subjective, subtle and sophisticated medium. In 2015 it will be supported by ongoing school wide professional development that will provide a scaffolded platform for not only my knowledge and awareness to grow, but also that of my students.

Innovation in 2014:

I carried out a case study this year with a group of targeted Maori students in my class as part of the course requirements for the ‘EDCURRIC 740: Accelerating Digital Learning’ paper. The thinking behind this was that I would be able to accelerate learning in Reading by providing a platform, in this case an online forum, where the students would critically reflect on each others responses to a text and provide evidence to justify the reasons for their thinking. The aim of this intervention was to facilitate a dialogic environment where the students used the medium of discussion to become responsible for their own learning and drive their own shifts towards their next level of achievement. The link to the critical analysis has been provided for you to see the shifts made in the students thinking and achievement. Having deemed this ‘tool’ a success with a small group in Term 3, I introduced it to a wider audience in Term 4 that combined all of our Year 7 and Year 8 pupils. It was renamed I.R.C. (Independent Reading Challenge) and through emulation, guidance and shifts in their own learning has been running successfully for the last six weeks. It is important to note here that while shifts in e-asTTle data were not significant, shifts in STAR and Probe data have been, showing the value of student agency in raising student achievement. The success came as it allowed for peer led feedback to be given and received in real time and was in context. The ‘Comments’ tool in Google Docs allows for a wider and more varied audience to be reached quickly, something that could definitely not be achieved without being part of a 1:1 digital environment. Additionally it has allowed the students to access their learning and feedback anytime, any where and from any place. Thus allowing the students to drive their own challenge.

Term 3 Innovation

Term 4 Innovation

This pathway of student learning was created by two students in my class. It shows how my students access their learning and how they use peer led feedback to help them have self directed reflective learning conversations as part of our ‘learn-create-share’ process.

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