Qu 7: Readings to support my hypothesis...

Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped you form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning.

If I want to use Talk Moves in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language I need to make sure I have set the norms that allow for academically productive talk to take place.

'Students explain their ideas in detail with evidence... listen carefully to each other with respect... evaluate their own and others’ competing ideas.... are intellectually engaged.... Talk is not an add-on... it is a critical component of the lesson... that allows students explore ideas and use evidence to build and critique academic arguments.'
Page 13 of this reading suggests four goals that might support me in providing a learning environment where academically productive talk to take place

1. Individual students share, expand and clarify their own thinking
2. Students listen carefully to one another
3. Students deepen their reasoning
4. Students think with others

Michaels and O'Connor (2012)

Talk Science Primer

Instructional strategies are the tools of effective practice. They are the deliberate acts of teaching that focus learning in order to meet a particular purpose. Instructional strategies are effective only when they impact positively on students’ learning. Teachers need to be able to use a range of deliberate acts of teaching in flexible and integrated ways within literacy-learning activities to meet the diverse literacy learning needs of our students. These deliberate acts include modelling, prompting, questioning, giving feedback, telling, explaining, and directing.

Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8, p. 78

 

Oracy is defined as ‘the ability to use the oral skills of speaking and listening’.... Spoken language is... of equal importance to reading and writing.... we need to make our classrooms talk-rich environments where every child is encouraged, expected and supported to develop a range of effective speaking and listening skills in a range of contexts.... Strategies for talk need to be in place to promote the transfer of knowledge, skills.... In practice this means there are two aspects to oracy, each equally important: learning to talk (oracy education) and learning through talk (dialogic approaches to teaching and learning).

Mannion, J. (2020, October 19). Oracy in The Learning Skills Curriculum: Rationale. Oracycambridge.Org. https://oracycambridge.org/oracy-learning-skills-rationale/#_ftn44

Qu 6: How I will use the data...

Explain how some of the data you have used to build a profile of the students’ learning will be used as baseline data at the end of the year.

Time point one data (shared and analysed in this blog post) was captured through:

• Informal teacher observation
• Student voice
• Assessment (IKAN, PAT Maths, GLoSS)
• Formal observation by a colleague to identify teacher talk time vs student talk time, strategies I use, purpose for talk (teacher/student)

This year I have moved away from comparing historical data with current data as the picture painted does not relate to my inquiry question. I feel however, the methods of data collection used at time point 1 will be able to be easily replicated when I am gathering data at the end of the year and will allow me to make clear comparisons.

The comparative data I am most excited to see is the data from the formal observations as this is not subjective. It is real and will allow me to see very quickly if there have been shifts in student confidence levels, teacher/student talk time and the amount of scaffolding I am needing to provide to get the maths talk going.

Student voice comparisons will allow me to see if there has been any shifts in attitude, use of content specific vocabulary and efficacy. Assessment shifts will allow me to see if the language we use when actively participating in Talk Moves conversations is helping to make the connections to the learning needed to show that understanding is being transferred and applied independently. Finally the informal observations will show if there has been any change in participation levels.

Qu 5: Nature and Extent of the Student Challenge...

Share your findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each finding.

The challenge for my students this year is to make accelerated shift in Maths by being able to talk about their learning in thinking groups, explain it on their blogs and create comment threads that invite others to respond by talking/writing about their learning in maths.

Accessing content vocabulary continues to be one of the obstacles that seems to limit assessed student achievement. Our students are not confident when using maths vocabulary out of context. As a school we have been inquiring over the last few years into ways we can help our students to see that learning used in one area can be transferred to another - linked to vocabulary, instruction and strategy. With teachers being transparent in their inquiries we can see what is working and what we can build on. Building on from the year before is the direction we are all heading this year. In 2020 we were successful in using our blogs to encourage our learners to share their learning, ask questions and talk about their learning.

Fast forward to 2021 and we have all got new students in front of us. For many the simple transition between rooms is a challenge for many of our learners as they leave behind the known when they walk through the new doors of the unknown. The students who were with me last year, for the most part, are able to talk confidently about their learning when asked. This is because this is embedded into our classroom culture. However for many others being asked to talk about their learning is a huge challenge. Low self efficacy and a limited knowledge of vocabulary means these students find the 'talk' component to be overwhelming. Student voice collected earlier in the term identified shyness as one of our biggest obstacles and shows what I have stated above to be an accurate observation. It is from this data that I now realise the more able students find it frustrating that others in their group rely on them for the answers. The fear of 'getting it wrong' or having their ideas overlooked are other factors at play here.

I know from previous inquiries that if students are not able to use their words to explain their thinking, their connection to the task become compromised. I want all my learners this year is to create comment threads on blogs that help strengthen their connections and the connections others are making to the learning. I want them to refer to the learning intention and confidently use content specific language when giving feedback and feed forward. I also want questions to be asked that provide opportunities for those receiving the comments to justify their thinking. If this is to become the norm and be a successful intervention I need to provide a scaffolded framework so that opportunities to use content specific vocabulary in context, are not seen as safe learning opportunities and not overwhelming and scary situations.

I need to help my learners understand what a learning conversation is and realise 'talk' has a valid place in our class strategy toolbox as it helps us unpack and reflect on our learning. So the question I am asking is 'will using Talk Moves in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language?'

Pau Te Hau (2021)...

In 2018 we participated in the Pau Te Hau research. Pau Te Hau or 'Get Puffed' and is a program of high intensity interval training (HIIT) that was devised by Dr Nigel Harris and his team at AUT. This program uses technology to motivate the students to challenge themselves to up their intensity. Heart rate monitors anonymously projected onto the screen show each student how they are going and encourages them to get puffed by turning their colour from green to red. What was great about that was the fact the students who didn't have high levels of fitness achieved the red zone first, this increased efficacy and motivation across the group. The challenge is against yourself and not the person next to you. 

This year Panmure Bridge School is excited to be one of the randomly selected schools who have been offered this opportunity again, so last week Dianne, Greg and I spent the day at AUT with the Pau Te Hau team. The focus of the day was set the teachers who will be carrying out the HIIT sessions up with the tools and knowledge needed to run successful sessions. After a tour of the incredible facilities at the Millennium Institute of Sport we took part in one HIIT session. What I noticed is that as soon as our heart rate monitors appeared on the screen both Greg and I pushed ourselves to turn our colours red. We weren't competing against each other as we didn't know who was wearing which monitor, but were both definitely motivated to succeed. Immediately afterwards, apart from being completely puffed, I felt alert and was fully focused.

Here are my notes from our guest speakers:

Professor Dave Lubans, Newcastle University, Australia 

Shared with us the benefits of running HIIT sessions has on learning. Apart from improvement in metabolic health, fitness and body composition, research has shown that the more energy our students burn, the better they learn with improvements being seen in cognitive performance, focus in class, memory and on-task behaviour. A real eye opener were the findings of global trends in fitness in kids which showed Australasian children would finish a 1 mile race 200m behind their parents at the same age due to the change in our lifestyles and the introduction of easily accessible screen time.

Dr Isaac Warbrick, AUT

Telling the stories that inspire these exercises will help students make connections to the learning. These activities are connected to maramataka - cycles of the moon based on the observations of the tupuna from yesterday and the changes in nature that comes from responding to these cycles and rhythms with the movements connected to story of the creation. Creates links to tikanga and NZ history where two worlds are blended by valuing both worlds. Maori stories are not myths and legends - they are Maori science and understandings that explain why things are the way they are - it’s is the talk that is passed down - is called purakau. 

Dr Denise Atkins, AUT

Shared with us ways we can connect to the curriculum and encourage our students to reflect on their own performance. By monitoring feelings before and after exercise students will be able to reflect and see the benefits (physical literacy). Feedback strategies should be formative. The fact this program allows individual students to anonymously monitor their own progress removes the feeling of being disenfranchised from constant failure. If the reflection is done 10 mins after exercise students will be able to appreciate euphoria from exercise. It is also important for teachers to reflect and observe the impact this program has on the students.

• What did you like/not like? 
• How would you rate your performance? 
• What could you do differently next time? 
• Did you achieve your target?
• Could you help someone who was struggling? 
• What progress have you made?...

Pau Te Hau is an exciting opportunity and having run this once before I know the benefits it brings. Even more exciting this time around is that we have the option of using prerecorded sessions or making our own. There are 40 exercises to choose from and I am looking forward to seeing the changes in my students as we work our way through this program and they begin to see the benefits that short burst of exercise bring. 

Qu 4: Collecting evidence and data...

Begin to collect evidence and data and come to the next session ready to share your preliminary findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge i.e. using your baseline student data and evidence.

My focus group are made up of a mix of Year 7 and Year 8 students. Four students I taught last year and two who are new to LS2 this year. These students are the students who prefer to sit silently in maths time. They work hard and listen carefully but all become anxious if they are asked to share their thinking during instructional teaching times. With my inquiry in mind I stepped back and watched how they interact with others when working in maths thinking groups. The information below indicates what I observed on this occasion.

• 6/6 students look at the person speaking and nod their heads in a way that looks to others like they agree with what is being shared.
• 1/6 students offered to act as scribe.
• 4/6 students turned down the opportunity to act as scribe.
• 6/6 students did not share an alternative strategy (their book work showed a variety of different strategies had in fact been used)
• 4/6 students did not volunteer to speak first during sharing time.
• 6/6 students enjoyed the group success when their group's strategy was successfully shared with the class.
• 1/6 students offered to act as spokesperson.

Student Voice

The best way to see how my students feel about contributing their ideas when working in thinking groups or commenting on a maths blog post is to gain their perspective. I used Google forms to capture this data as it allowed my learners to share their thinking with me without being influenced by the ideas of others.

Focus Group Baseline Data

Baseline Observation 

To enable me to measure time point one data with time point 2 data I took Kiri Kirkpatrick up on her offer to observe my learners and I in a guided lesson and record the talk that took place in that lesson. After the observation Kiri showed me how to analyse the amount of student talk compared to the amount of teacher talk in the lesson, so that when we repeat the process later in the year I will be able to see if my intervention has helped to change these percentages. 

For anyone wanting to replicate this, you need to listen to the audio and record the timings of who is speaking and for how long. I will unpack this further in a future blog post. Analysing the audio takes a while but gives you also gives you so much more information about your own practice that you can reflect on. For example, I noticed that I use a wide variety of deliberate acts of teaching (DATs) to scaffold the learning and help my learners strengthen their connections to the task ahead. 

I used modelling to clarify and let my learners see what they needed to do. I realise that I prompted to encourage talk and the use of the content specific vocabulary. I used questioning throughout the lesson to encourage my learners to add detail to their responses. Without realising, I heard that my feedback to affirm, inform and guide was ongoing, informal and when needed. There were several opportunities where telling and explaining was used to help clarify confusions, and I directed my learners towards the success criteria, questions stems, new content specific vocabulary and the teaching DLO slides when specific instructions were given so the purpose of the task was made clearer. I could also see that I need to allow a longer period of wait time with the students who prefer to listen rather than contribute. On two occasions I feel I stepped in too early which meant the students who were less confident with sharing actually weren't given a true opportunity to take a risk and share their thinking.

The lesson captured was an honest one. I did not do anything I don't normally do because someone was observing me because I wanted real and purposeful feedback. Additionally this group had not worked together before so confidence levels were altered. 

Qu 3: Building an accurate profile of students' learning - tools, measures and approaches...

Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students’ learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools.

My challenge this year is to strengthen the language and learning in maths that our students need to be able to actively participate in Talk Moves, so this can be harnessed and replicated in blog posts and comments. 

Link to causal chain

In all assessments our students are required to read and respond to questions. Often our students are not literate in their own language so the gaps that emerge when questions are written in english are getting wider, thus causing bigger disconnects in the learning. This year I want to implement the strategy of Talk Moves in Maths. Talk Moves is a strategy that promotes classroom conversations centred on maths that helps to improve students' understanding of mathematical concepts. It is a framework to prompt the discussion, and will allow me to capitalise on the learning I got from my inquiry in 2020 by providing authentic opportunities to use this 'talk' within blog posts and blog comments to help strengthen connections.

The tools/measures/approaches:

Planning changes:

My first step will be to introduce the Talk Moves framework into our maths program so that the discussion stems become the norm within our learning time. Being silent is not an option if acceleration is to take place so I need to model the language and support the use of questions which lead to justification like ‘How do you know it works?’, ‘So what happens if you...’, ‘What about if you say…does that still work’, ‘So if we...' 

Additionally I need to continue to actively plan time in class, for students to create blog posts, comment on each others blogs and respond to comments on their own blogs. This will help me to see where connections to the learning content are strong, and where gaps in knowledge are evident.

Instructional lessons:

I need to create opportunities for my learners to focus, notice and use the words that help us make sense of the learning, and not only model this, but also prompt the use of these words by providing opportunities for explaining strategy choice and use in groups within the lessons.

I need to use Jo Boaler's strategy of setting up positive norms in my classroom. Actively strengthening the growth mindset in my students might help to break down some of the barriers that stop them taking risks when solving maths problems or sharing their thinking.

Provide visible scaffold frameworks and rubrics to support the talk moves process that are used across the school. 

Observation:

After speaking to Kiri Kirkpatrick (MET) about the best way to gather baseline evidence she suggested I measure the amount of teacher talk compared with student talk in a maths lesson. To help me get an accurate picture, I have asked Kiri to observe me at time point one and time point two. Having the same observer will be a huge benefit as the continuity will be in place.

PAT/IKAN/GLoSS Assessments:

Analysing these results gives me a clear picture of what my students can do and where our knowledge gaps are. I use these results to inform my planning and identify shifts in achievement. I need to look closely at the language of questioning and the content specific language that is used in these assessments to ensure my instructional language aligns. I do not want my choice of vocabulary to be a reason that any student loses their connection to the learning.

Student Voice:

Gathering student voice is a vital part of teaching. It gives us a clear picture of where our students are at, what our tamariki are thinking and what we need to do to allow our learners to make their individual connections to the learning. I need to ask my learners what the barriers are that stops them commenting on blogs, replying to blog comments and contributing their thinking to class and small group discussions. It is only by identifying these barriers that I can devise a plan to help break them down. This is not a time for me to assume and act, it is a time for me to listen then act on the information I have heard.

Peer to peer talk:

Peer to peer talk continues to be huge part of our learning time as it provides authentic opportunities for new words to be used in context. I can see that buddying my learners up they can talk through a blog post then collaboratively decide the appropriate feedback and feed forward through dialogic discussion before leaving their individual comments.

This will also provide the opportunity for my learners to buddy up and talk through comments received before responding.

To do this effectively I will need to:

• Strengthen my own knowledge to the strategy of Talk Moves with professional readings
• Strengthen my own knowledge of the growth mindset process 
• Teach my students how to use Talk Moves 
• Teach my students what growth mindset looks like
• Co-construct group norms so there is a shared understanding of the expectations
• Provide lessons that allow for this to take place
• Monitor, observe and listen to my students as they are sharing and/or recording their thinking in their groups 
• Consider the times different students need for processing when grouping my students
• Gather accurate time point one and time point two data for comparison.

Manaiakalani Cluster TOD...

We ended the term by coming together as a cluster to learn with and from each other as we explored the topic of effective reading practice. The bullet points below are the notes I made from each of the workshops I attended. 

Ko te Kāhui Ako o Manaiakalani

Keynote speakers: Dr Rae Si'ilata and Kyla Hansell 

Link to presentation

• Transfer language - trans languaging does not represent the spirit of the reo.
• If don’t have the opportunity to connect to your language you lose the connection to it and it becomes devalued
• Bilingualism and biliteracy as well as giving chn the keys to the language of power. Are we improving English or losing the first language - L2 students are emergent bicultural learners - we should be adding English not replacing their heritage language
• Tchrs need to be linguistically and and culturally sustaining and revitalising the languages. Needs to be more than culturally responsive
• Privilege the first language speaker by asking them to read the language - helps all hear and connect to our new but their first words
• L2 integrates the work... input channels listening reading and viewing / output channels - speaking writing presenting - communication modes need to be integrated and connect between learning areas
• Who’s knowledge is valued in what I teach and how I teach
• Need to value the deeply embed cultural and language practices of our learners to strengthen the connections to the learning. (eg: translate the Haka and tell the story)
• Build from oracy to literacy to open up the linguistic space
• L1 builds a rich conceptual system to bridge the gap with L2 - ideas learnt in one language do not differ in another
• Input in L2 is translate to make meaning in L1 then transfer back to L2 for outputLiteracy practises in the home may differ from school... need to embrace the cultural practises of the L1 - our world view informs our literacy practises
• T willing to share the power with the chn in class where L1 is valued - T don’t need to be fluent in another language
• Dialect is not the same as accent
• If language is used to communicate it is a valid language code
• Reading is about making meaning by drawing on PK and own literacy practises - privilege the L1 language and literacy practises as it shows how they unpack a text to ensure meaning focused learning
• Mirror texts help us make connections to text as we see ourselves and our ways of life/life experiences that we can connect to
• Share rich opportunities for learning by tapping into the cultural capital of students and valuing the literacy’s in the funds of knowledge with school literacy’s
• Challenge critical consciousness- what is the schema you draw on to make predictions
• If we don’t know the context our predictions will be not connected to the topic
• Provides texts that are mirrors that reflect back the chns faces of the home
• Don’t be too hasty to cast aside your cultural treasures/literacy practises
• Eg: pronounce names wrong - text could reflect this provocation - chn cld create an app to show tchrs how to pronounce your name - tell us the history behind your name
• What do I need to teach - data - can I use a resource that shows the faces of my learners or their languages/empowers learners - make connections thru critical thinking and cultural values
• Tell story through the waiata and siva and link to literacy practises of reading
• Name Maori and Pasifika writers illustrators
• Open up what literacy is beyond a journal story - stories and symbols are a way of unlocking meaning
• Whakatauki - unpack the meaning
• History of NZ - learn from those who have gone before us
• Sylvia Ashton Warner taught Maori to read by getting them to write their own stories using their words - read about your kaupapa (strengths) as you bring a wealth of pk to the text
• Chn use meaningful lexical chunks to make meaning when lng a language
• Reciprocal power sharing relationships are a 2 way relationship - valuing the knowledge of the home language literacy practises and values

Cultural Capital in the Classroom
Presenters: Zhydah Petersen and Hevaha Tu'akoi

• How we can respond in a cultural way to all the learners we have
• We need to be culturally responsive because the backgrounds and cultural capital is diverse and should value all children
• Know your learners

Strategies:

• Activate pk
• Pronounce names and words correctly - students as experts be prepared to embrace what you don’t know and ask for help
• Make texts or conceptual concepts mirrored - chn need to see themselves in the work and resources
• Value the cultural contributions and capital - chn as experts 
• Build relationships and connect to the surrounding community
• Classroom environment should reflect the cultures of the students 
• Explore the taonga of names - get chn to explain the meaning behind their name and talk about the connections it may have to their history
• Be inclusive

Structured literacy for older struggling students: where it all goes wrong and what to do about it.
Presenter: Betsy Sewell

Skills that underly reading:

• Learning to read is about recognising the patterns
• Older students need to abandon pk and learn from new
• Frog - fr merge/ og merge students need to realise the word frog means your mouth goes to 4 places - understand how words work
• Split words into onset and rime to mix and match fr+og = frog... knowing these basics means many more words can be generated - Use affixes to extend vocab
• Need to stop and chunk the word to connect to spelling patterns - self teaching by problem solving sound chunks allows for stronger connections to be made
• Use context to figure out unknown words that are being derived from a visual connection
• Struggling spellers can’t figure out words they already know
• Try this... How many words can you read in a minute - graph result
• Shift the way chn read using decodable texts 
• www.agilitywithsound.co.nz has free assessment tools. The spelling test and decoding test will be the most revealing

Getting the Talk Going in Reading

This is the workshop that I presented with Chantal Millward. We shared the activities we use across the school to get our students to talking about the texts they have read.