NCEA Level 2 DVC Inquiry Focus - Starting Point

The main focus for my ongoing teacher inquiry is the Year 12 group doing Level 2 NCEA Design and Visual Communication. (DVC)

This post is focussing on the starting point at the beginning of the year in March.

Here is the link to the doc with this information on it.

Inquiring into my teaching.  Teacher: Karen Ferguson     Group: Level 2 DVC Department: Technology - Design and Visual Communication School: Tamaki College         Date: March 2016

Scanning: What does the data say?  Who are our target learners? What do we know about them contextually, socially etc?   What are our learners saying? What can they do?  How do we know? Level 2 DVC - 19 students Here is the basic information about the Level 2 group - names, ethnicity, Level 1 Results,Literacy and Numeracy Here are the results of a Google form that I Sent to the Level 2 students to see how they Were feeling after the first project deadline. Here are the results for Level 2 from 2015 These results are one of the reasons why I have chosen the level 2 group to be the focus of my inquiry this year. Of the 19 students who are doing  Level 2 DVC this year, only 4 of them did Level 1 DVC last year. 5 of these students are in this class due to it being the only thing on the timetable that they felt they could choose at the time, so it was not a conscious choice to do DVC as a subject.		Focusing: What does “achievement” at this level look like?   What aspect of their learning should the change in my teaching focus on?  How will we know they are on track? We  need to break down the specific requirements of each standard to make sure we are covering everything to the required level. This will give students the opportunities to work at a higher level. Example of this here The focus needs to be on deeper thinking with their research and designing phases of the projects. This will enable them to achieve at higher levels. SOLO taxonomy structure will be key to this.
Checking: How will we ensure quality teaching practice as a result of our inquiry? I will use SOLO to support and structure the planning of my Level 2 course. Example here How will I monitor the progress of the target learners? Ongoing tracking spreadsheet What is happening?  How do we know?		Developing a hunch: What are our hunches about what has happened for our learners? How can we check our assumptions? How is my programme/lesson planning and delivery contributing both positively and negatively to my learners’ progress? Having to be taught with Level 1 and Level 3 students in mixed level classes means that the Level 2 students are not getting the attention that they need in the lesson. There is a large proportion of the Level 2 group that have not done DVC at Level 1 so they need do a lot of skills catch up. I need to start building the Level 2 course on the class site so that it gives the students the support that they need when they can not get face to face time with me.
Taking action:- So what action (strategies or practices) will be taken (SMART goal)?  What will we focus on in our cycle of inquiry? Ongoing support with project work ... Specific - Organise the class google site so that there are screencasts and videos of how to’s and skills to support the students when they can’t get face to face time with me. Measurable - Ask the students in the form of specific questions on a google form that can be repeated at intervals over the year to see if there is any change. Sticking rigidly to deadlines throughout the year to ensure that the students have the opportunity to cover all the work for the standards / credits offered. Achievable - realistic time scales for project work over the year in the form of deadlines and ongoing support in terms of examples so they know what they are aiming for. Realistic - working with the students on their project work - having examples ready for them to see, both done by me and other examples. Doing the work at the same time as the students, with them, so they can see it being done in real time and can see that it is doable. Time frame - ongoing till the end of term 3.		New learning: What theory or research informs our learning as teachers?

Here is the basic group information as of the start of the year.

	Ethnicity	Level 1 Credits	Lit / Num
1	Maori	22	No / No
2	CI Maori	77	Yes / Yes
3	Maori	58	Yes / Yes
4	Tongan	67	Yes / Yes
5	Samoan	111	Yes / Yes
6	Maori	47	No / Yes
7	CI Maori	31	No / Yes
8	Niuean	59	Yes / Yes
9	CI Maori	80	Yes / Yes
10	Tongan	120	Yes / Yes
11	Maori	71	Yes / Yes
12	Maori	72	Yes / Yes
13	Tongan	101	Yes / Yes
14	CI Maori	91	Yes / Yes
15	Samoan	48	Yes / Yes
16	Maori	70	Yes / Yes
17	Niuean	28	No / Yes
18	Maori	56	Yes / Yes
19	Maori	56	No / Yes

I sent out a Google Form to get some student voice at the start of the year.

Here is the link to what they had to say.

Here are the results from last year to give a comparison.

Internals ...

 

Externals ...

 

Here is the tracking sheet used over the year to keep check of where they are up to.

(the names and assessment sheets have been removed from this sheet )

	Site Links	Assessment	AS91342	Assessment	AS91356	Assessment	AS91341	Totals
1		NA
2	Site Link	M		A		A		15
3	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent		3
4	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent	Ent	3
5	Site Link	M		M		A	Ent	15
6	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent		3
7	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent		3
8	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent		3
9	Site Link	A		A		A	Ent	15
10	Site Link	M		A		A	Ent	15
11	Site Link	A		Ent		Ent	Ent	3
12	Site Link	M		A		A	Ent	15
13	Site Link	A						3
14	Site Link	A						3
15		NA
16				A		A	Ent	12
			Lamp		Lamp		Shipping Container
			6		6		6