What the Research says...

With technology at my fingertips and time not on my side, I prompted Gemini to undertake a deep research to find out more about why teacher confidence levels drop when faced with implementing new learning. 

Click on image to hear the audio overview of full research findings

This is my summary of the findings...

The decline in teacher confidence during the implementation of new learning initiatives is a predictable reaction caused by challenges to personal competence and structural deficiencies like planning time pressures and knowledge gaps. Teachers initially find themselves juggling  anxieties where they worry about the changes needed to be made to routines, alongside professional fears associated with the uncertainty that comes with stepping into the unknown. 

As implementation begins, the concern shifts to logistical and structural constraints where concern connects to the amount of time needed to be prepared to teach the new approach. This efficacy dip is often worsened by perceived external and internal pressures to find the success quickly. PLD must be ongoing, curriculum-specific, and designed to close identified content and pedagogical knowledge gaps, moving away from generic, one-size-fits-all training. Time for reflection, implementation, peer and self observation, and skill practice should be allowed. Everyone learns at their own pace and recognising this is important. What has made the implementation of sound practice in structured literacy more fragmented for my team is the fact the Year 4-6 kaiako have had separate sessions from the year 7/8 kaiako. Different online delivery options has meant a similar message has been shared but as I attend one and most of my team the other, there are bound to be gaps in our shared learning which in turn has lead to levels of uncertainty being higher as I have always been two days behind in my own learning and unable to effectively support my team as they begin each new learning journey.

As a leader fostering a buffer against the cognitive and emotional load is vital is success is to be found and a genuine buy-in to be established. Allowing my team complete agency and control over their implementation decisions within their classrooms has meant we have come back together again with a stronger connection to our new learning. Confidence is emerging and as a result mentor observations to gather a baseline picture have begun. It is only now that I can begin to look for the opportunities being provided for their learners to be creative when undertaking structured literacy learning. I look forward to see where this takes us as the term progresses.

Describe and Explain the changes/tweaks you have made in your practice along the way...

I began with a focus of how we (PBS) are harnessing the digital to explore the create aspect of structured literacy. Students learn by actively constructing knowledge, not just absorbing it. This involves breaking down, rearranging, selecting, and demonstrating their understanding, so that  as Elwyn Richardson stated, “...whatever was in their mind, whatever they could visualise, whatever they could see, they created...” It is because of the very reason just mentioned, that I felt this is the the most important and catalytic issue of learning for our learners this year. I didn't want to introduce and unpack a text verbally through preset comprehension strategies. I didn't want to be the teacher who asked my students to summarise a text on a graphic organiser then leave it there. I am the teacher who asks a provocation and encourages talk and creativity. I want my learners to show me their connections to the aspects of the text we are unpacking using the plethora of digital tools available to us. Defaulting to substitution in response to a structured learning process does not, in my opinion, open the opportunities to 'empower my students with creative learning opportunities to help accelerate achievement'.

At the start of my inquiry I thought I would look at our school as a whole. This was when I realised I was comparing apples with pears. Many of our junior team facilitate amazing opportunities for their students to create to show their understanding of a text. Their learners are fully engaged and excited to share what they have been doing any time I walk into one of their rooms. The difference between what they do, and what the senior team do is that many of their create challenges are not limited to capitalising on the affordances digital tools provide. Changing my focus to just the senior team was my first tweak. 

When we began our structured learning PLD in Term 2 with our introduction to the program. We then moved forward into Term 3 for our Community of Practice (COP) sessions and began implementing our structured literacy programs. I made the decision from the outset to lead from the front. By that I mean I made a point of finding ways to include opportunities for my learners to show their understanding of the texts read by being creative. What I noticed other members of my team doing was simply trying to get it right with our new learning. I do have the advantage here of having taught structured literacy for a number of years in the UK. I was definitely 'rusty' but felt confident to add in the new elements to my program. Term 3 was not the time to push the 'create' as I needed a team who were strengthening their own connections and that was more important. This was my second tweak as I took the focus of others and focused purely on myself.

When we met to plan for term 4 I jumped on my 'create' bandwagon. With a number of examples under my belt and on my blog I was able to lead by example. Being able to visualise the outcome has seen a huge change in planning content in my team in literacy this term. I am now looking forward to seeing how these initial ideas look when they are finished. The change here is in my thinking. I now realise that adding create opportunities that capitalise on the digital tools we have at our fingertips comes when teachers feel confident of the challenge ahead. 

Implementing Structured Literacy one step at a time: Step #4 - Reading

After attending a toolkit on Gemini Gems run by Matt Goodwin I decided that introducing this in my learning time this might spark another layer of curiosity with my learners. I followed the prompts shared by Matt and jumped in boots and all to help my learners gain a deeper insight to our guided text 'Malala Yousafzai Speech at United Nations Assembly 2013'. 

Below are screen shots of the Gem we used that show my initial prompt and the students interactions with the Gem to support their reading. I used the prompt that Mat gave as the example in his toolkit, so need to acknowledge that it is not my original idea.

I found this to be a really creative way to help my learners make sense of the response questions in ways that helped guide them to where they might find the information rather than simply giving the answer. 

The way this ran in our room was after introducing and modelling how Gemini Gems worked, I put the Gem on my computer and left it available for student use on a central table. This was both a great resource and a really creative way to capture my learners interest in the topic. A bonus was that once the Gem had been used the conversation in groups was richer as new perspectives were shared when some students disagreed with the initial collaborative responses. The learning 'arguments' were evidence based and allowed for the skill of negotiation to be used authentically in context.

I used a Gemini Gem with two guided texts last term and found on both occasions this was a very effective way of strengthening my student's connections with texts they were not familiar with. The feedback from my learners has been captured below.