Bursts and Bubbles 2025...

My concern that the rigor Structured Literacy brings would unintentionally lead us back to the uninspired consolidation tasks of the "duplicated worksheet" era was my why behind this inquiry. This was a time that stifled creative expression and deep, transformational demonstrations of learning, so my goal was to ensure creativity thrived alongside the new structured literacy framework.

To explore this I compared the planned Create opportunities across our kura between Terms 2 and 4 by analysing teacher planning, staff feedback, class sites and student blogs. I wanted to see not just what was planned, but what was actually happening in classrooms. 

Early observations showed very quickly that our junior team already excels in hands-on, collaborative creativity. This insight prompted me to shift my focus to the senior team. However, it soon became clear to me that no one needed added pressure from me when they were implementing new learning for the first time. So I decided to refine my focus to my own Year 7 and 8 classroom, where I could explore creative practice with our most confident readers.

In my classroom, the introduction of AI tools such as Gemini Gems, alongside our established follow-up challenges, enabled students to build on prior knowledge and engage in richer, more independent learning conversations.

By narrowing my focus or, as I like to call it, “taking a selfie”, I was able to demonstrate that maintaining a creative emphasis within a structured curriculum is not only possible, but highly effective.

The findings were encouraging and I was able to see that Create oportunites are firmly embedded at PBS without explicit intervention from me. They just needed to be viewed in an alternative way.

The greatest challenge throughout this process has been adapting to the various course changes my inquiry has taken. My journey has reminded me that Create must be purposeful and engaging. It is not an optional add-on; it is a vital vehicle through which students construct, represent, and deepen their understanding.

I will move into 2026 recognising that: 

Create extends beyond digital tools; hands-on, collaborative approaches are equally powerful.

And finally, student agency drives academic rigour; when learners have creative choice -  engagement and independence increase, because this is when learning becomes truly transformative.

Bursts and Bubbles 2024...

My inquiry this year has had many twists and turns. Achieving accelerated shift in Literacy was identified as being one of the most important issues facing our Y4 - 8 team, this year, when the time point one data was analysed. What began as an inquiry into how learning gained from professional development was helping to strengthen teacher practice and student achievement in literacy, completely morphed into the one you can see on the screen behind me. Why? Because it simply wasn't working.

The effect of staff changes on PLD is something I hadn't initially taken into consideration and I found myself going round in circles. I began my journey by trying to ensure we were all on the same page. I knew consistency and a shared language of instruction would help our students to make the connections they need to be able to access their learning with confidence and understanding.

This wasn’t about disregarding what my team brought to the table, but rather about aligning our thinking. However, as we were all coming from such different places, both literally and in knowledge gained from recent PLD, I hit a wall I couldn’t get over.

Midway through the year I spoke to Naomi Rosedale to get her advice on why this wasn’t coming together for me. To be honest, by this time I had pretty much lost interest as I was going round in circles. It’s amazing the power one conversation can have. I left totally reinspired with a completely new inquiry focus and my new best friend, the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice sitting comfortably in my Google drive. Aligning what I was looking for with the Pillars of Practice was the lightbulb moment I needed. In Term 3 I used the pillars to look closely at what and how we, that is my team and I, were actually teaching the tamariki in front of us, in our reading lessons. Time point one data analysis helped me gauge whether or not the learning planned met the learning needs. To allow for consistency, I took the stance that if it wasn't in the planning it wasn't happening. The follow up discussions were both rich and gave all of us the clarity we needed to help us move forward in our quests to meet the learning needs of our individual classes. This process was repeated in Term 4 and Time point 2 data analysed alongside it. What I noticed was with a shared understanding and stronger knowledge of why we need to make changes, changes had been made. These findings and the student shift we are celebrating are all explained in detail on my blog. Changing my inquiry focus has allowed me to introduce change in a manageable and achievable way. Mindsets where planning is concerned, have moved from compliance to purpose, something I struggled to initially get buy in from. I feel that looking closely at my own planning put us all on an even playing field. Having a framework allowed us to all learn together but at our own pace. The big message I want to share here is that change is good, it should be embraced and we should not be afraid to walk in a different direction if what we have tried is not working.

Bursts and Bubbles 2023

Last week the Manaiakalani COL teachers shared the impact of their 2023 Teacher Inquiry. The link to all the inquiry bursts can be found here. 

Here is my journey...

Here’s a question that frustrates me each time I mark easttle writing samples… Why have you used that word? Yes, the words change, but the question stays the same. 

We model, unpack and provide rich opportunities for a wide variety of vocabulary to be explored and used, yet at the end of 2022 and again at the start of this year, most of my learners reverted back to using simple everyday words in their independent writing. I thought this was the catalyst for the low vocabulary and spelling scores. Scores, I thought, we could improve with a concentrated focus on spelling conventions and rules.

The time point 1 data analysis showed that my learners were using words they could spell, instead of the words they wanted to use, but couldn’t spell. 

However, as we all know, some ideas don’t go the way you want them to. I thought, if we knew how to spell the words, we would use them. Wrong! Yes my learners could easily spell and define the vocabulary we explored in class, but unless directed to, simply did not use them. 

This all changed when Dr Jacinta Oldehaver sent me a professional reading that unpacked the word gifting journey Sylvia Ashton Warner had been on many years before me. In a nutshell, what began as a focus on spelling conventions and rules, quickly morphed into an inquiry into word consciousness which involved my learners being aware of new words, their meanings, and how these words are used. 

My students were conscious of the words they were meeting in their T shaped literacy units because they owned them. When I say owned them, it is because I physically gifted them a word each. A word on a square of paper that they had to keep alive by looking after them and bringing with them physically, to each literacy lesson. 

The motivation to learn these words, and more importantly use them in context came through daily challenges that as a group they were expected to meet. Who would have ever thought these small squares of paper would encourage 15 students to make sure each word had been used by its owner twice each lesson! This group knew when a word had only been used by it’s owner once, and got very creative in their ways to ensure the daily target had been met. Intrinsic motivation at its best.

Ironically I started hearing these words used in discussions across the curriculum and noticed they were spelt correctly when used in written responses, which was something we never actually focused on. 

The inclusion of these words in the T4 easttle writing samples resulted in a noticeable change in vocabulary and spelling scores when time point 2 data was analysed. Student voice collected at both time points shows the fear of making a mistake remains the biggest hurdle. However for these students, the journey towards overcoming this has begun.

The most important learning I made in regards to fostering a culture of word consciousness, is that sometimes things don’t go to plan so don’t be afraid to start again if it all goes wrong. Drive the change and find ways to give your students ownership of the change you want to effect by making it purposeful and fun.

Bursts in Bubbles 2021

This year due to Covid restrictions our Bursts 'and' Bubbles became Bursts 'in' Bubbles, an online opportunity for the Manaiakalani COL teachers to share their 2021 inquiries into their own practice. You can watch the presentations here.

Inquiry Focus Question

Will a focus on oral language in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language?

The ability to use Maths is a communication tool to describe relationships and connections becomes compromised when maths language and literacy skills are not in place.

I noticed that my maths assessment results did not align with what I was seeing in the classroom. Formative maths assessments require students to read and respond to written questions, or to derive an answer and explain their thinking. The disconnect gap continues to widen when our tamariki do not have the comprehension and language skills in place that allow them to talk about their maths using maths words.

I used the evidence and data from the PAT Maths, IKAN, GLoSS and Running Record assessments, student voice and baseline observations to build a rich picture of my students’ learning.

During the profiling phase I noticed my target students sat silently in maths time, listening carefully and nodding their heads in agreement to avoid looking lost in the learning. Not having the words meant they became visibly anxious when asked to share their ideas. Collecting student voice each term allowed me to see maths through their eyes and helped to inform the changes I was making to my own practise.

Profiling of my own teaching after capturing and analysing the words spoken my baseline lesson gave me a valuable insight to the words and scaffolds I use. I use a wide variety, and a good balance of deliberate acts of teaching. However, I also realised that by stepping in with scaffolds too early meant the students who were less confident with sharing, 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 as I wanted real and purposeful feedback and evidence.

The changes I made in my teaching were to consciously allow longer periods of wait time and to find activities that allowed us to use the maths words in context. We introduced the Talk Moves framework, but did not connect to these question stems. When I asked my students why, they pointed out that we don’t actually speak this way. That was true so we adapted the original framework and made our own version called LS2 Moves.

The literature that helped me make informed changes are summarised on my blog. These readings reminded me that Talk is not an add-on... it is a critical component of the lesson... that allows students to explore ideas and use evidence to build and critique academic arguments. It promotes the transfer of knowledge, and skills with learning to talk and learning through talk being of equal importance.

The easiest thing for me to change was actively planning time for talk to take place, time for scaffolding the talk and time to let my students respond in their own time.

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as a work in progress. When lockdown sent us back to teaching online, the talk literally stopped. I lost contact with half of my target group and the students I did see, did not have the confidence to share their thinking in an online environment.

The most important learning I made in regard to increasing student confidence and capabilities when using spoken and written maths vocabulary and language was that you need to be creative.

Some learnings that would be relevant to other teachers are that you need to think outside the box. You need to adapt and try, then try again. If something doesn’t work, look for the why then find a how.