the inquiry question

2A.IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY QUESTION

How can I identify, develop and support the development of student writing that is personalised for student needs?

During my first term with the students in 2B I noticed that what I had planned to teach and what students needed was not always the same. I found some students needed to go back to understand the focus and others were ready to move forward to the next step. I also found that my instructional approach sometimes left students confused. This was due to my explanation and their need to start from step 1 rather than step 3, scaffolding their learning at earlier steps rather than beginning at a later step.

When discussing my concerns with my mentor we worked together to identify an inquiry question that could assist me in targeting student needs and helping them as learners to become more independent. My question looks at three main aspects to help improve my practice that will allow me to cater to student’s individual needs.

Identify: Firstly I need to identify where my students are at every lesson and what is the next progression for them. This will be done through common assessment tasks (proficiency scales), work samples, student feedback, year level meetings and moderation with Level 2 team.
Develop: Secondly I will need to plan carefully the development of the unit of work and prepare appropriately to address the student’s needs through my instructional approach and activities. I will develop this through observing my colleagues, discussions with my mentor and colleagues, professional development sessions and readings and through trial in my own classroom.
Support: Thirdly I need to put into place different supports for my students to help them progress in their learning. This is taking into consideration their language experience and backgrounds as well as their home life and parent support. I will support my students through constant monitoring of learning, discussions with students to gauge understanding, allow for emotional or social issues and take time to work through them to help students to continue their learning and provide students with differentiated activities.

In the course of my inquiry, I anticipate making the learning more meaningful for each student and helping them to build confidence and independence in their writing by providing them with targeted activities that support their learning progression. By identifying, developing and supporting each student’s development through their own learning process this will help to facilitate improved learning and a greater sense of achievement with students.

Descriptors 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 & 6.4

2B. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

DATE: 6/6/16

WHO & WHAT I OBSERVED: L.C introducing narrative writing to Grade Six students (50 mins).

This lesson focused on setting and painting a picture in the readers’ mind by using rich describing words.

WHAT I SAW/HEARD/EXPERIENCED: L.C began her lesson by showing students on the interactive

whiteboard a snippet of a piece of writing ‘Spinner’s End’. She used words when talking with students

before reading and asked what they meant as she knew they would later be in this snippet of writing.

She began reading and asked questions along the way – What do you know? After reading she discussed

why this was her favourite example of setting and how it used many descriptive words to help paint the picture.

L.C asked students to come up and underline adjectives within the writing piece. She then gave each student

the same snippet of writing so that they could highlight all the adjectives within the text individually.

She referred to students as ‘Year 6 authors’ and discussed how they can use adjectives to make their writing more interesting. Then they were asked to draw a picture of the setting from what they had heard and read in the text. Throughout this process L.C would consistently point out students and say “I like how student x has used smoke in the background to depict no sign of life”. She ended the lesson by getting students to share their work with each other; What did you see? What did you like? They concluded that the writer’s description worked well because they all had drawn similar things. L.C then challenged her students when reading, to look out for great settings.

WHAT I LEARNT: Immediately walking into the room I could see all her students were alert and focused. It was evident she had built good relationships with her students and they knew what her expectations were. Throughout the entire lesson she always questioned her students, inquiring about everything, helping them to think deeply about what they were learning. L.C planned her lesson well as prior to reading the text she had already introduced words such as strewn and relic in her normal conversation with the students and clarified meaning so that when the word arose within the text they already had an understanding of what it meant. She referred to her students as ‘year 6 authors’ and this really resonated with me. The language she used with the students made them feel included, as if they were their own community and that they were professional writers. I was able to learn the importance of building and maintaining good relationships and how doing this first, can help the learning to flow later on and that it is important to constantly question and inquire with your students to help them to think beyond the surface. The activities that are prepared need to planned and well thought out to have the intended outcome. L.C linked the whole lesson and it was really clear what she wanted her students to learn. Language used with students can have a powerful impact on their self-confidence and progression. Making students feel a part of the classroom community and believing in them that they are all capable of learning and progressing is vital.

HOW DOES THIS HELP ME ADDRESS MY INQUIRY: Through this observation I have been able to reflect upon my own practice and what improvements I can make. It has helped me to address my inquiry through the develop stage. I was able to witness a well planned and thought out lesson which made me realise how important it is that I continue each week to assess and reflect on the program planned to make sure it is linked to previous learning and that the learning that happens is a steady progression. The way that L.C interacted with her students made it clear to me that I need to more regularly incorporate deep questioning and help my students by consistently clarifying their understanding in my instructional approach. By doing these things it will help to make sure students understand tasks and activities on a deeper level and it will also allow for me to see which students understand and can move forward and which students need more time, thus personalising the learning to meet their needs.

OBSERVATION ONE

Descriptors 1.2, 2.5, 3.6, 6.3 & 6.4

DATE: 8/6/16

WHO & WHAT I OBSERVED: I observed J.F teaching Preps a literacy lesson (50 mins). This lessons focused was on the letter ‘L’.

WHAT I SAW/HEARD/EXPERIENCED: J.F began the lesson by singing songs students already knew to engage them. She began the morning routine with practising the sounds of the alphabet using Cued Articulation. She sounded out words with them and got students to copy, she then wrote the letter on the board and made students do a capital and lower case L in the air with their fingers. She began asking students, “what do you know that starts with an ‘L’ sound?” Students used previous knowledge and things around the room to help them. She then read students a book, ‘The Lion and Mouse’ which focused on the ‘L’ sound. Whilst reading the book she made connections for the students about others books they had previously read before. She also questioned the students several times throughout reading the text “How does the lion feel? Have you felt like that before?” She quickly and briefly went through what each activity group was doing and all the students began their allocated tasks. One group focused on handwriting, one group did a craft activity, one group went onto the computers to listen to reading and the last group had Guided Reading with J.F.

J.F’s behaviour management was using Assertive Discipline strategies. She would not speak to the student if they weren’t doing the right thing in whole group discussions on the floor. Instead she would draw a sad face and write the student’s name underneath it. The student immediately stopped and began to focus on J.F after this happened.

The things that I saw in the room that helped me was the Prep motto. ‘In Prep we are kind, caring and friendly’. Other things that stood out to me was different activities that students had completed were up on the walls and there was also many words around the room (golden words, months and days of the week, seasons).

WHAT I LEARNT: From this experience I was able to learn about the importance of the foundations of language. J.F used many different ways to teach the letter ‘L’ (word walls, books, saying it aloud, using actions, drawing it in the air and group activities- craft, handwriting, listen to reading on computers and Guided Reading). All of these strategies help to consolidate the learning for students. It reminded me that there are multiple ways to approach the same learning. Making sure that each activity is linked and the focus is incorporated within all the learning.

From observing J.F I learnt what effective modelled reading to students looks like. She made connections with the students and asked questions to help students make meaning from the text. She also allowed students to be apart of the story by repeating parts of the text and making different sounds when appropriate.

HOW DOES THIS HELP ME ADDRESS MY INQUIRY: Each student learns in a different way and at a different pace. By using a range of strategies to teach the same focus it caters for all students. Personalising the learning for students by completing a range of activities helps to consolidate their understanding and allows for the difference of pace in their learning. This observation helped me to address the support stage of my inquiry. By providing students with word walls, visuals, actions and hands on activities, I can support them as EAL learners and help to cater for their individual learning needs.

Descriptors 2.5 & 3.6

OBSERVATION TWO

OBSERVATION THREE

DATE: 10/6/16

WHO & WHAT I OBSERVED: K.R teaching a Writing session to her Grade Three students. The focus of the session was on similes.

WHAT I SAW/HEARD/EXPERIENCED: K.R began the lesson with reading ‘James and the Giant Peach’. She used great expression and this engaged all learners in her class. She read the paragraph and described the characters to help make similes about them. She explained that similes are ‘similar’ to help students remember. K.R got all students to find an empty spot around the room and act out different similes. She then had a list of words on the board and got students to add to the list. Students were asked to write five similes using five of the words from the board and then to extend students they were asked to draw a picture to match each simile. She had a focus group of several students on the floor to help consolidate their understanding. She made some more similes with student involvement. Throughout her lesson she gave constant positive feedback to students ‘you legends’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘that’s awesome’. She also gave constant reminders of her expectations and the need for students to have capital letters and full stops in their writing. ‘Write three and check’ was the rule in the Grade Three class to ensure all students, after three sentences, made sure they checked their work for any errors. Throughout the initial whole group discussion three students from the group got special pillows to sit on. This was called ‘pillow talk’. This was to encourage participation and having a go. Throughout the week these three people changed and it allowed for all students in the class to contribute and become more confident participating.

WHAT I LEARNT: Through my observations of K.R I learnt the importance of consistently giving positive feedback to students, always noticing and praising them for their efforts. I also learnt the importance of being yourself in the classroom. K.R was a brilliant example of being authentic in front of the students and the response to this was high student engagement and eagerness to learn. She also catered for students who needed extending (five or more sentences and draw illustrations to match) and those who needed more support (focus group).

HOW DOES THIS HELP ME ADDRESS MY INQUIRY: The experience of observing K.R gave me a greater insight into strategies for extending and supporting students within the same activity. This will help me to better develop my lessons making sure I have extensions and supports for every activity. It also helped to address issues of classroom management, where to place myself if working with a focus group and how to make sure other students are still on task. By managing my time and positioning in the classroom, I can better support and identify personal learning needs.

Descriptors 2.5 & 3.6

WHO I TALKED WITH: I was able to have an insightful conversation with CB, my mentor, about my inquiry question and process. We discussed and formulated a more direct question and focus. We looked at my proficiency scale and how I could collect and use student data to inform my instructional approach. We spoke about supporting the student needs in my classroom (EAL) and what strategies I could use to assist student progression.

WHAT I LEARNT: I was able to gain a better understanding of Proficiency Scales. CB and I were able to discuss what it would look like if students met each point in the scale. We also looked at ways I can assess students to find out where they currently are on the scale. Once finding out where they are on the scale we discussed some ideas I can put into place to move students forward in their progress. This conversation helped remind me of the importance of student ownership of their progress in learning and how I can facilitate that progression.

HOW THIS HELPED ME ADDRESS MY INQUIRY: This has helped me to address the identifying aspect of my inquiry question. I feel more confident to use and assess with a proficiency scale. This will enable me to see more accurate results in student data. It will also assist me in creating lessons that scaffold learning which will support EAL students in my class. This professional conversation helped me to see how I can and why I should personalise writing for student's needs.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING I UNDERTOOK TO SUPPORT MY LEARNERS IN RELATION TO MY QUESTION FOR INQUIRY: When discussing my inquiry question with CB we were able to break it down into specific areas. One of the areas focused on supporting students in Writing. To support students in Writing I need to consider the students in my class, most of whom are EAL. We agreed that instructional approaches will need to be modified and varied to cater to EAL students in my class. This consolidated my learning from a previous PD which covered differentiation for EAL students. This PD gave me insight into effective scaffolding for EAL students. The presenter demonstrated and supplied resources of how we can model and modify work for EAL learners. After attending this PD and having professional conversations with CB I have become more aware of my planning and what aspects I need to modify and re-model to help scaffold learning. I have reflected on my previous lessons in the unit and have made changes to help target specific learning needs, for example, when and how to use adjectives in Writing.

PROFESSIONAL CONVERSATIONS

Descriptors 6.3 & 6.4

3A. THE ACTION PLAN

My action plan outlines steps taken to achieve my question of inquiry. Within the action plan I have identified two main reasons for the choice of inquiry and outlined the four steps taken in delivery of each lesson (modelling, guiding, applying and sharing). I have also acknowledged my gathering of information and knowledge through professional development and professional conversations. As part of the process of creating my action plan I have edited and modified elements to make the plan more effective. All copies of the action plan have been included to show the development of thinking (Appendix 20-22).

Descriptor 4.1

Modified the inquiry question again after discussions with my mentor and other colleagues.

Modified version after Professional Development and professional conversations.

Final version of the action plan with new inquiry question and more detailed actions.