My reason for choosing this inquiry and the shifts between time point 1 testing and time point 2 testing are explained in detail in the previous two posts. The changes/tweaks I made are shared here and the picture the data paints is here. These posts explore both the qualitative and quantitative measures undertaken this year.
Summarise evidence about key changes in teaching and other factors that influence student learning.
Creating a causal chain helps you to stay focused on the purpose of your teacher inquiry. It is so easy to fall down many rabbit holes along the way so having a causal chain to look back on helps to keep you on track. My biggest takeaway from looking at a variety of readings is if we are to develop reading for pleasure habits in students we need a collective and collaborative approach that allows our tamariki to see role models at school and at home who value reading.
I wanted my students to want to read a wide variety of texts because they want to. My aim this year was to help the students in LS2 to see our weekly library visit as both fun and to quote one of my learners, understand 'that opening the covers of books you haven't read books is a fun way to find new ideas or even learn a thing or two.... It's like a supermarket for the brain' - quote taken with student permission from this year's T1 writing sample. My challenge was to find out why the links in the chain appeared to be broken again. I work in an ILE and share a class with Dianne Fisi’iahi and knew that if my inquiry was to become a success it needed to become our inquiry.
We began by:
- Actively planning time in class for reading for enjoyment, after all if you want something to happen you need to make time for it to happen.
- Getting to know our learners as readers by gathering student voice through Naomi Rosedale’s Reading for Enjoyment survey.
- Analysing beginning of year data to give us a clear picture of what our students can do and where our knowledge gaps are.
- Connecting with whanau to foster support for reading for enjoyment at home
- Using our student leaders as role models to promote reading for enjoyment across our school
- Creating our own LS2 Reading Challenge to motivate our learners to read a wider variety of texts.
- Making reading for enjoyment visible in our class
- Researching the benefits of RFE and ways other schools have grown this culture
Write an overall evaluation of your intervention in terms of the causal chain you had theorised. To what extent was the intervention successful in changing factors such as teaching? To what extent were those changes in teaching effective in changing patterns of student learning?
At the end of Term 2 I looked back at my causal chain and realised through our weekly RFE tips shared at assemblies by our student leaders and our Leaders in the Library initiative, my students are seen as readers. More importantly they are beginning to see themselves as readers as we are actively reading for enjoyment in our classroom each day. To reinforce this latter point I made a point of capturing all of this in photos which were prominently displayed in our classroom. However because I was always beyond the lens I had not been allowing my learners to consistently see me as a reader.
I was introduced to my students as readers when they completed RFE survey at the start of the year and got to know them better by observing what books they were choosing to read then taking time to talk to them about their chosen texts. I also asked for text recommendations and made sure my learners saw me reading the texts they had suggested I read. This served two purposes, one showed that I was an active reader and the second that I valued their input.
We turned the results of our monitored time we spent RFE and the RFE survey into purposeful statistical inquiries by using the data gathered to identify the problem areas and offer possible solutions. This gave all of us ownership of our shared goal of increasing the time we spent reading for enjoyment.
The RFE display in the classroom not only gave my learners the opportunity to see themselves as readers but also the opportunity to talk about the importance of RFE to their whanau during our student-led conferences. The parents/caregivers enjoyed seeing not only their children in LS2 reading but also their younger children. Listening to some of the conversations taking place during this time I realised that our learners understood what RFE was and were able to talk about why they needed to be encouraged to do this at home. As a result most of the parents/caregivers leaving the room promised to help keep the reading for enjoyment going at home.
Timetable opportunities for RFE so students read the books they take out of the library and introduce LS2 RFE challenge to encourage students to RFE in their own time helped us to drive this initially, however whilst the timetabling remained in place, our reading challenge fell by the wayside. After several attempts to reignite this we understood that our 2022 were not motivated by the follow up challenges. We wanted them to want to read so readily removed any barriers that may have prevented this from happening. What was a success however was our RFE Holiday Challenge. A reading challenge created and managed by two of our student leaders. What was exciting to see was who participated and what they have posted on their blogs, even more amazing was the interaction that took place in the blog comments. 38% of our class took part in this challenge which may look like a low number, but in my mind that's 38% of our class that we know of who made time to read for enjoyment over the holiday break.
As I stated in a previous inquiry, in all assessments our students are required to read and respond to questions. Often our students are often 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. Sharing an infographic I saw online with our class last helped to strengthen connections and understandings to the importance of RFE. We didn't focus on the test scores rather the amount of word knowledge gained by finding 20 minutes a day to read.
Creating and referring back to my causal chain has resulted in this intervention successfully changing my thinking around the value of RFE in the classroom. I am now seen as a reader and know that if this is to continue I need to continue to motivate my learners and plan time for this to happen within our class program. The changes in teaching have been effective in changing patterns of student learning as our students now open the covers of the books that once simply stayed in their trays. The data analysed in my previous two posts are evidence of the shifts in both mindset and learning. I do see a change in attitude towards reading, strengthened connections to new learning, increased vocabulary awareness which has been transferred to personal writing, higher levels of self efficacy and an overall shift in achievement which has resulted in a higher number of our learners achieving at or above the expected norms in literacy.
Write a reflection on your own professional learning through this inquiry cycle.
One of the most important changes I made in my teaching was to make sure my students saw me as a reader. Chrissy Smith put it best when she said ‘by not reading with our students we are not valuing what we are asking them to do’. I am definitely now a teacher who actively opens a book when my students open a book. My biggest takeaway from looking at a variety of readings earlier in the year was that if we were to develop reading for pleasure habits in students we needed a collective and collaborative approach that allowed our tamariki to see role models at school and at home who value reading. Leaders in the Library, whanau support and sharing RFE tips at assemblies has helped achieve this and are initiatives I want to keep in place when we move into our 2023 learning journey.
I have summarised my own learning in my Bursts in Bubbles presentation which can be read here. My journey this year reminded me if you want something to become a success you need to be walking the walk and talking the talk. Plan for it, drive it and find ways to give your students ownership of the change you want to effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment