Growing vocabulary knowledge...

This term I have been exploring ways I can grow my learner's vocabulary knowledge and awareness. I say awareness as many of them had not made the connection between the norm of high frequency words and their more powerful synonyms. 

Today I used the poem 'Two Day Wonder' by David Hill to explore juxtaposition and vocabulary choice. This poem (shared by Kiri) looks at two days through the eyes of the same character. Verse one describes a dull and gloomy day which links directly to the character feeling unwell, whereas verse two sees the character recover from his illness ready to venture into the bright new day ahead. 

Once we had explored the language used in the text I used the idea pf juxtaposition to open the door wider to let the synonyms (and antonyms) in. This search provided us with a much broader word pool, and introduced the students to new vocabulary that did not require any dictionary meanings to be located as the connections between the words made sense.

To strengthen the connections to the new vocabulary I introduced the idea of creating word clines. This was a huge success and prompted some very rich discussions as thinking was justified as to why one word was more powerful than the other. To put the learning into context we then used our new word knowledge to write our own contrast poems that describe waking up in the morning and coming to school in summer versus the same journey in winter. As the teacher in this learning opportunity it was extremely rewarding to see learners who usually struggle move beyond the security of their 'go to' high frequency words create writing that was powerful and rich.

Example 1 written by two of my target students:

In summer I get dressed for school and make sure my arms see the sunlight.

The street awake and chattering.

Trees motionless and attractive.

Birds are flying and whistling.

Clouds high in the sky and far, far away from humanity.

Carefree people laugh and smile.

The bell goes but no one hurries to class.

In winter I get dressed for school and make sure my arms are hidden from the darkness.

The street asleep and silent.

Trees moving and unsightly.

Birds are hiding in their nests.

Heavy clouds are low in the sky, nearly touching the earth.

Downcast people moan and whine

The bell goes and everyone hurries to class.

Backward Mapping for Clarity

Below is my graphic that reflects the backwards mapping of my inquiry. I saw Karen Ferguson's post on how she did this and was immediately drawn to her graphic. As always Karen was happy to share when I asked if I could 'steal' her graphic idea to break down my inquiry.

Last week Kiri and I met with Aaron Wilson (WFRC) to discuss our planned inquiries. Here are my takeaways from our conversation.

With my focus being student efficacy (in writing), I have realised it is important to plan how I can help raise this, and as such have been looking at where I can notice success throughout my lessons. Aaron suggested in addition I pay attention to how I am phrasing my instructions, an important consideration and something I have been adapting over time.

Below are some of Aaron's suggestions as to how by keeping in mind that scaffolds are bridges not supports, I can help break down the barriers my target group have of not knowing what to write.

• Use vocabulary lists as plan - eg: list all the 'cool' words - must use 5
• Picture dictation, dictated drawing
• Summary of a story
• 10 statements - Draw clouds - 1 minute to draw (only one word allowed to be used)
• Using the pictures to ignite the talk
• Retell using the pictures, this is then in their own words
• Write captions for the pictures
• Multimodal opportunities - Hear - Draw - Speak and Listen - Write 
• Change the setting / characters
• Draw stick figures to plan the writing
• S chart to show progression

I am excited to implement some of these ideas as I know my learners respond well to 'fun' writing that has a clear end point. I will be taking Aaron's advice and will use video to map the changes over time.

Observation Opportunity in LS2...

I work in a shared learning space with Kiri Kirkpatrick but rarely get an opportunity to formally observe her teaching practice, so when an opportunity arose I grabbed it with both hands. 'Teachers who share their love for words (logophilia) and who provide engaging opportunities to interact with words across all content on a daily basis will ignite this word learning passion in their students' (Keys to Literacy blog). This is something that most definitely happened in our learning space this week.

Kiri introduced her group to a shared text using the sophisticated picture book, 'Memorial' written by Gary Crew. Throughout the sequence of lessons Kiri introduced her learners to a wide variety of vocabulary that not only explored the content but also the layout of the text and the hidden meaning behind the images. 

Learning Through Talk cites Blachowicz et al, when defining word consciousness as being 'an awareness of words and their meanings, an awareness of the ways in which meanings change and grow, and an interest in and motivation to develop new word knowledge...'(p73). Kiri used this strategy to explore a wide variety of themes the learning was most definitely not 'dumbed down'. 

The vocabulary explored like the text was sophisticated. Each new word was unpacked through paired and whole class discussions, defined and explored in context, and linked back to something the learners could use their prior knowledge to forge a strengthened connection to. What this meant was that her learners were motivated and connected to the content. To grow and develop this new word knowledge Kiri used questioning throughout to revisit the language which ensured each word was not only seen and heard, but also used. 

The DLO below is an example of the follow up tasks that reflect the content covered.

My takeaways:

• The teaching strategies in our shared learning space are aligned through the use of a shared language of instruction. This sets our learners up for success regardless of who the teacher is in front of them.
• To introduce my focus students to more sophisticated vocabulary to help ignite the passion for wanting to develop new word knowledge (eg: peritext, juxtaposition)
• To look for opportunities to use sophisticated picture books as a mentor text in writing lessons
• When looking at language features and vocabulary in mentor texts ask questions like:  'How do/does ... add to the text?' and 'Would the story make sense without...?'

What does success in writing look like through the eyes of my learners...

Following on from my previous post I asked my learners what success in writing looks like. My initial thinking was that I would use padlet as my platform but realised this would remove the anonymity of my learners, so I changed to using a google form to collect my responses. The discussion around the questions I asked was rich and incredibly worthwhile. 

The presentation below reflects the questions I asked and the responses my learners gave with anonymity in tact. Out of interest I asked the people my learners identified as 'good writers' to contribute their ideas too (burgundy font). The difference in these responses is definitely reflected in the detail.

We will revisit this at the end of term 2 to see if an increased understanding of the writing process has changed any perceptions.

Sharing how we 'Rewind to Remind'...

Here is my first ever screencast. It describes how I have set up my google drive to store my digital modelling folders for learners to access immediately after lessons. Hopefully this will inspire a few more Chromebook teachers to have a go at using 'Rewind to Remind'. 
Fiona Grant captured this process on digitally and will share the work flow early next term.

Here is the link to my site if you wish to see how my learners access our 'Rewind to Remind' modelling clips.




Here is the link to Mele's blog post that explains in her words how we use 'R2R' in our maths time.

Learning from Research #2...

Having sought advice on my inquiry from the team at Woolf Fisher Research Centre earlier
in the year, I was given some great avenues to explore. Naomi Rosedale suggested that I
‘put aside “high stakes” associations to the achievement rubrics etc. and initially focus on
socialising a classroom environment that builds a community of writers, where risk-taking
is valued, and mistakes or misunderstanding can be brought out into the open for support
by the community…’

'Reading for Understanding' (Schoenbach, Greenleaf and Murphy) was the text suggested to me so I have begun reading about ways of “apprenticing” a
culture of literacy support. Naomi thought I would have lots of ah-ha moments as I read
this, and she was right! I have been exploring the chapter ‘Metacognitive Conversation -
Making Thinking Visible’ and have decided to share ideas that I am going to try in my
own classroom to help grow student self-efficacy and increase oral language opportunities.

Notes part #1:

Metacognitive conversation is an internal and external focus on how readers make sense
of text. (Can I apply this to writing?) Internal - noticing what is going on in their own minds
vs external - discussing what they are noticing, what stumps them and how they problem
solve. Basically it is looking inside their own minds to observe their thinking processes then
comparing their thinking with the thinking of their friends.

Studies show that when Metacognitive conversation is integrated into a teaching program
learners have become curious about how their minds work as they make connections to a
text. This process helps to demystify the reading process as they can see and hear how
their peers and their teacher work through a challenging text and can then apply that
learning themselves when facing a similar problem. Students become active agents in
their own learning journeys when talk makes thinking visible. Metacognitive Conversation
allows students to see their own thinking and the thinking of others, which in turn helps
grow efficacy as they can see how they can be successful.

Exploring Students' concepts of Writing: Students have different ideas of what success in a subject area looks like.
The example explored in the text was based on reading but I can see how this can be
adapted for a writing lesson as well. I will be asking my students:

• How can you tell if someone is a good writer?
• Who is someone you consider is a good writer? Why?
• What do you have to do to be able to write successfully in maths, reading, inquiry, tech and writing lessons?

I will use the digital platform Padlet to create a collaborative picture of what my learners
think, and will check back in with these responses at the end of each term to see if any
thinking has changed.

Learning from the research #1...

I recently read an article 'Insights for Teachers: New Zealand student self-belief and confidence, and implications for achievement' on the Education Counts website. (Link here) Even though this article is linked to student self-efficacy in maths, I have found that I am able to draw several parallels from the findings shared to the baseline writing results in my class.

'Student achievement in mathematics is related to many factors.... a range of student attributes were measured... student confidence (self-efficacy), self-belief (self-concept), learning approaches and motivation... and how these factors relate to mathematics achievement. Māori, Pasifika students and students from low socio-economic backgrounds report themselves as less confident (self-efficacy), having less belief in their abilities (self-concept) and more anxious in relation to maths.'

The level of shift (in this case in maths), was linked to their own beliefs about 'their maths ability, their confidence to tackle maths problems and the extent to which they were anxious about maths activities'. The PISA study carried out in 2012, showed that students with lower anxiety towards maths and higher self-efficacy scored higher in the test. On the flip side, students who were more anxious and identified themselves as having a lower self-efficacy scored lower in the assessments. 

I am aware that many of my target learners feel extremely anxious when asked to write independently. Nobody ever wants to 'fail' in front of their peers, so rather than take risks they prefer to disengage in the learning. I have started the year as I mean to go on, on a mission to increase the levels of self-efficacy by breaking down the walls anxiety and a lack of self belief have built over time.

I have done this by introducing a few quick writing challenges that I learnt at the Jeff Anderson PD I went to last year. To allow for stronger connections to be made I added my own twist to these tasks. The aim of these quick writes is to scaffold my learners into seeing that they can be successful in writing. From a teaching perspective I need to help my learners write sentences that made sense, used content specific vocabulary and were correctly punctuated. I used the challenges of 'Let me tell you something about...' and '2 words 1 minute...'. Both of these are timed challenges that are supported throughout using collaborative talk. This talk allows confidence levels to increase as ideas are shared and tried out before being committed to paper. The individual competitions to see if day 2's word count is higher than day 1's provides intrinsic motivation and helps to lessen the anxiety. The comment said to me at the end of our writing time today "That was fun Miss. I used heaps of words from my word list and only forgot some of my capital letters. Next time I'm going to get them right..." shows me we're on the right track.

Below are links to a few blog posts that reflect this learning using a known topic. I have permission from the students to share these examples as they are proud of what they have achieved.

Let me tell you something about... 
2 words 1 minute...