CoL Inquiry Thoughts for 2024

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2024 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise

Achievement Challenge 3 - Lift the achievement in reading for all students.

This was my inquiry focus for this year. I did a lot of learning, research and trialling before working with my inquiry group on the intervention. We focussed on a very particular piece of research to support, which was materials research. This meant that the actual intervention time was quite short. I would like to start next year using what I have learned this year straight away. I can then use this time to work with Marc more to learn more reading support methods. He has talked often this year about skimming and predicting. I want to know from him if this is something we can do with the research we have to do about artists and design eras.

I will be able to try. any new learning next year in two different curriculum areas - Design and Visual Communication and Visual Art.

In both areas, the students need to do a lot of reading about designers, artists and design eras. Their knowledge of these things is then used in their own work so a solid understanding is needed.


What learnings from the 2017 - 2023 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking.

While listening to Robyn Anderson talk about how she gifts words to her students and they have to use these words in contexts throughout the session, it got me thinking about the very specialised, subject specific words that the students come across in all their subjects at secondary school. I must be quite overwhelming at times when they are coming in to secondary school behind where they should be in terms of words that they know then to have all these really specialised words used in lessons all the time. This has got me wondering how I can think about this in DVC. I had started this year to pull out some of the words that were in a specific reading and we looked at them in advance but I see that i need to be much more purposeful in my use of technical jargon. One of the things that the HOD English said to me at the start of the year was to have a focus on subject specific "jargon"


How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa?

There is a Manaiakalani wide focus on literacy,  reading and writing so my inquiry focus would fit in well with this. Trying to have a more cross curricular approach will help the students learn how to apply approaches across all of their subjects and not just think that is an "English" thing.

Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?

The first thing that my Year 11 and Year 12 students do when they start DVC is a research project. They have to do a lot of reading. They are coming out of the junior school with lower than the national average PAT and asTTle scores so they are not in a position to cope with the demands of NCEA Level 1 then Level 2. The Manaiakalani research shows the increases that the students have made in Manaiakalani schools compared to non Manaiakalani schools but it is still hard for them. when they get to NCEA below where they should be.


How would you like to be supported in 2024 as you undertake this inquiry?

I would like to be able to work collaboratively with other teachers to create reading activities and could benefit more subjects areas. I am thinking this could be within Tamaki College and across different schools.

How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with their inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring?

This year, the CoL teachers at Tamaki College have been presenting our inquiry every term to the whole staff. During these sessions, we have been trying to get the staff to think about inquiry in a more open and unthreatening way.

All my planning work goes onto a public website and all my inquiry findings go onto a blog.

CoL Inquiry Thoughts for Next Year

What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2023 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise

 Achievement Challenge 3 - Lift the achievement in reading for all students.

 The projects that my senior students have to do involve a lot of literacy work. They don't realize this when they sign up for DVC as they think it is all about drawing. They have to write a lot of analysis of their own work and read a lot to do the required research. To be able to apply what they have learned in their reading to their own designs is where this falls down as we have not been reading for understanding.

As a department, we have started working with Marc Milford, our school literacy specialist, on reading strategies. I had started trying them out a couple of times in my Y9 class, to get them to read the recipe for the following lesson’s practical session. I would put the resources together on the class site and send it out to them to access before the lesson and they would come to the practical session not knowing what they were going to do as they had not read it. Since working with Marc, we have been using the single session on a Friday afternoon to do the reading exercise to prepare for the following week. I have been taking the method from the recipe and breaking it down into an information transfer table as Marc showed us. I have also tried this with my senior classes with one of the materials research activities that they had to do. I combined it with the work on SOLO taxonomy that I have been doing for a long time. 

 Blog post about Year 9 reading information transfer

Blog post about Year 11 and Y13 reading information transfer using SOLO

 

What learnings from the 2017 - 2022 CoL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking.

 Robyn Anderson’s Reading for Enjoyment this year was great. It took the emphasis off the reading and put the focus onto enjoying what they were doing. 

It got me thinking that if I made the focus of the reading activities a more supported one, then they would get more out of it as it will be fulfilling a purpose and helping their project. I have been guilty of thinking I was being helpful by giving them links of where to do the research and readings but not supporting them in getting the most out of what was there.

 

How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and  kaupapa?

 There is a Manaiakalani wide focus on literacy and especially reading at the moment so I think that it will fit in well, with a slightly different emphasis on reading for research purposes.

Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?

 The fact that the students are coming out of Year 10 with a lower than average PAT reading score than the mean / norm for the country does not set them up well for attempting everything that NCEA throws at them. My students coming into Y11 next year will be below where they need to be in terms of their reading ability and understanding so everything that I give them to do in regards to research will be extra demanding for them. The first thing that my Y11 students do is a research standard where there is a lot of reading of information found about a chosen designer. I give them links to read through but this research has made me realize that is not enough support. They will need me to structure how they are reading this information so their understanding of what they are reading grows.

 

How would you like to be supported in 2023 as you undertake this inquiry?

 I always get a huge amount when I visit the classrooms of other teachers in Tamaki College and the classrooms of other schools in the CoL. Watching how literacy elements are approached by specialist teachers, both in the TC English department and intermediate schools. I have visited Robyn Anderson in the past when she was specifically doing literacy elements with her class.

Here are all the blog posts that involve Robyn's class.

The support that I would like would be the ability to visit a wider range of schools and age groups as they go about reading activities.

 

How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with THEIR inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring?

 All of my inquiry work always goes onto my blog so it is available for anyone to read and access all my resources. We are doing literacy / reading work within the department so my experiments and findings will be shared weekly in the department meetings. Sharing to all staff via emails of blog posts and presentations will be done throughout the year.

Acknowledging that while literacy is not the main focus of the subject it is an integral part of reaching those higher achievement levels. We all need to work together to help the students to realise that literacy / reading / writing is in every aspect of school / work / life.

Evaluation of the Intervention

Have you used quantitative data?

1. Reporting on Student Progress

Importance of comparisons

Just saying they have made progress because they have a higher test score or jumped xxx
levels is not enough.

Need to compare to something more than just pre and post test data.

Are the learners in your target group making progress in comparison to... Norm, Data from last year,
other comparative learners in school/cluster?

_______________________________________________________________

This is not an easy thing to report on. The actual results at the end of the project etc are not that
great.
This is the analysis of the internals
This is the analysis of the externals

When comparing what the students in my group did over their other subjects, the externals was a
sticking point for all but one of them,
About half of them achieved most of their internal standards.

Internal results analysis blog post
External results analysis blog post

_______________________________________________________________

A numerical way of presenting data (If you have used quantitative data)  plus
a writing frame to record on your blog

2. Evaluating shifts in teaching

If you did something different, we can learn just as much from inquiries that don’t work.

Have you used Qualitative Data?

Instead of numbers, as above, use rich descriptions, quotes and examples 

Examples from Hana that will be helpful - read the speaker notes on each slide

Don’t forget to ask your learners what made the difference.


_______________________________________________________________


I gave the students a Growth mindset questionnaire at the start of the year and again at the end.
Unfortunately, as the end of the year is a bit of a mad rush to get work completed and sent away
for marking, I did not give them the second one till after they had left. I have a response from one
student.

Growth mindset questionnaire
Start of year response
End of year response

Things to do better next time is to make sure I give these kind of activities to them in a timely manner and give them class time to complete them. Expecting students to log on to their emails after they have left school and respond to them was not acceptable.

I also gave my students a feedback form at the end of the course. Again, I gave it too late and I only received one reply.

Year 13 Feedback

What I learn here is that I need to make it much more explicit as to why we are doing what we are doing and what my inquiry is about.


My Bursts and Bubbles speaking frame

Bursts and Bubbles 2019 - Ideas I would like to Steal

We have just had our final CoL presentation for the year, Bursts and Bubbles, where all of the CoL teachers sum up what they have been doing this year in their inquiries. My talking frame for this is here. (it was actually a bit shorter on the day to make sure it fit into 3 minutes!)




While other CoL teachers were presenting, I was making some doodle notes of any ideas that caught my eye that I thought that I could "steal" and use.

NCEA DVC Results comparisons

Last year, I did a results comparison of my Year 11 class over the last few years. I just did this class as it was my inquiry group last year. Blog post here.

I have decided this year to do a similar thing to track all year groups.
Link to spreadsheet here

I have been trying to see patterns. I have failed at that to be honest.
At Level 2 and 3 the conceptual design standard continues to be poorly attempted. This is on my list to improve next year and I have already made a start on that by redoing the Level 2 planning and have sent it off to be moderated by another Technology teacher.
It is always GREAT to get another set of eyes on my planning as I am the only DVC teacher at Tamaki. When I get feedback that gives input and suggestions about what to add to improve the planning or pointing out tings that I have overlooked, I LOVE it. I always try to treat this planning moderation process as sneaky PD as I learn loads from it. (thanks Terry!) Getting the work externally moderated by NZQA is a whole other story though.
I am so disappointed with the effort overall in the Level 1 course. So much unfinished work. There is a lot in Level 2 as well and it is because of this I have finally got my head around using Workspaces as a means to keep on top of things better next year. My workspaces journey is on this label on my blog.

Things that I am taking forward next year from previous inquiry work.

1. Use of SOLO structure to support written elements of the design projects
2. The literacy structure for analysis writing.
3. The mindset work to improve confidence.
4. Clear layout of my class site to support project flow.
5. Rewindable learning elements so students can always look back on what they and the class have done.
6. Go back to using Google Plus communities (now that Google has decided not to bin it for education) so that students can see each others work and the work of past students. I only used it for my Year 13 class this year as I didn't start it with the other classes due to not knowing if it was going to go.

I find it fascinating that the things I really think will improve outcomes for my students are not related to drawing!

Manaiakalani Hui 2017 - CoL Presentation

Today was the annual Manaiakalani Hui.
Part of this was the was inquiry presentations from the CoL teachers. We has set up together under our Achievement Challenge banners and the visitors to the hui had to come round with their Bingo cards to ask about one of the Manaiakalani labels from the inquiry structure. After getting information about one of the labels, they got a stamp on their card.
I was with my colleagues under the banner for Achievement Challenge 1 - Raise Māori student achievement through the development of cultural visibility and responsive practices across the pathway as measured against National Standards and agreed targets for reading Years 1-10 and NCEA years 11-13.


Here is the presentation that I had running that gives a general overview of what I have been doing, but most of my time was spent with people looking at my blog, in particular at posts related to the label they were wanting information about.
Most of the chat today was about my recent blog posts about how my inquiry has changed to include literacy and vocabulary. There was also a lot of interest shown in how I am using SOLO, the resources I have made and especially the visual self assessment structures that I have put together with the SOLO activities.
Thanks to +Fiona Grant for the above photo

Student Voice - End of Term 2

As it is the end of term 2, it is a good time to get some student voice so there is time to act on any problems before the start of term 3.
I have been reading  "Making Thinking Visible : How to Promote Engagement, Understanding and Independence for All Learners" - Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church and Karin Morrison. Link here to Kindle edition

There is a lot of discussion in the book about letting the students ask the questions rather than answering them.

"when students ask authentic questions, we know they are focussed on the learning and not just the completion of assignments"


"asking authentic questions - that is, questions to which the teacher does not already know the answer or to which there are not predetermined answers - is extremely powerful in creating a classroom culture that feels intellectually engaging"

I have not finished reading this book yet but this part about getting the students to be in charge of the questions is a really interesting one and something that I want to look into further next term as part of expanding the students level of thinking.

As a starting point for this, I thought it would be fun to flip the way I got feedback from the students this term. I have decided to get them to ask the questions.  Seeing as we have not done it this way before, I have not expected a huge amount from them and only want 3 questions based on the following things :-

• Think of one question you can ask about the projects that you have been doing so far this year.
• Think of one question you can ask about how the information is given to you about what you have to do when you come in the classroom.
• Think of one question you can ask about the atmosphere in the classroom.

These were the instructions at the top of the form....

Hello.... On this form I want you to read the focus and then think of one question that you want to ask about each of the three sections. I will not be giving you boxes to tick for this as I want you to really think of a question. Please think hard and try not to leave blank or put "i don't know".... thank you.

Here are some of the things they came up with ...

• Think of one question you can ask about the projects that you have been doing so far this year.

Will these techniques I've learnt help me in Year 12 VIS?
Will these shelter projects be useful for future reference?

These answers interest me a lot as they show that the students are thinking about the future and if what I getting them to do is going to be of any use. I need to to try and build into the planning overall, some kind of 3 year course flow so they can see where the skills take them from Level 1 through to Level 3 and then onto courses and jobs to do with design. I know I like to know the point of what it is that I am expected to do so it is the same for the students.

Is art deco reaching the high standard of where i want it to be
Have I done enough
Am I still on track?
I don't necessarily have to know how my speaker works right? like, the wires and stuff.

These questions make it clear that they are worrying about what they are dong and if it is enough or correct. I need to make more reference of the standard breakdowns (example here)

• Think of one question you can ask about how the information is given to you about what you have to do when you come in the classroom.

Is art deco still achieving at the high point?
Why online?
Sometimes I need extra help when i don't fully understand the task we are given
more fun drawing stuff?
Is there other ways to give us information without using google plus?
can we see visual instructions?

It is interesting that they want their instructions in different and visual ways. This appeals to me and will definitely look into doing this more.  I am wondering if the question about "why online?" has come from a student who has come from outside of our cluster of schools as we have been working this way for quite a number of years now and they are used to getting their instructions and information that way.

• Think of one question you can ask about the atmosphere in the classroom.

Is the atmosphere still going or going to stop
Why are the year 12's so loud?
The Atmosphere is fine and fun but productive working space
what do you mean by atmosphere?
Do you like the atmosphere? If not, what can we do to improve it.
why are there more boys than girls?

The boy / girl ratio in the class is often something I wonder about.  My class always seems to have more boys in it than girls.

I am happy that they think they can still work while having fun.

I do worry about the Year 11 students in with the Year 12 and how it is affecting their work rate, and it is interesting that has come up with the "why are the year 12's so loud?" question. 

This has been an interesting way to get feedback as I have more of an insight into how the students are thinking. It was our first time trying this, so I am aware that some of the feedback is not questions or is not very in depth, but I think it is an interesting start and I will definitely be building more of this student questioning into the lessons.

Inquiry Update - End of Term 2

It is the end of Term 2 so it is time to assess where my inquiry is in relation to the Manaiakalani Inquiry Structure.
I have been linking the blog posts that I have done against each element of the structure to see where I am across the big picture. I have been doing this as I have been going along onto a Google Doc so it has been always up to date.

	Inquiry Item	Explanation	Evidence
Learn Focusing Inquiry - “What is important (and therefore worth spending time on) given where my students are at?”	Gather evidence	Student achievement data eg. standardised tests, OTJs, internals and externals Anecdotal evidence eg. observations, formative assessment tasks, student voice,  parent voice, previous teachers, surveys,  learning walks and reciprocal visits	Student Input into planning Post 1   Post 2 NCEA Results Analysis for 2016 2016 inquiry focus for Year 12 students (change committee) Student voice about how they like their lesson instructions Planning to include Kia Eke Panuku Know your learners Nothing is ever all good news.... Talking Self Assessment Updates to Year 11 Priority Students Student feedback on making own resources What happens when students choose their own projects?
	Scan	Wider perspective on learning not just aspects that are easily measured eg considering perspectives of our young people and their whānau. How engaged are they with learning? Can they describe what they are learning and why it is important?  (AfL) Links to Key Competencies	Nothing is ever all good news.... Talking Self Assessment Student feedback on making own resources Making rewindable resources with the students
	Identify Trends	Looking at all the evidence, thinking hard about its “shape”. Noticing where there are cohort trends that extend out beyond the class, to the team or department, maybe even for this school across schools in the CoL Clearly identifying the common learning challenges or problems. Looking for and identifying strategies that are known to have the greatest impact on on this/these challenges	Student voice from the first Year 12 standard - how is it going Standard breakdown for the first Year 12 project Personal Goal setting sheet for 2017 2016 inquiry focus for Year 12 students (change committee) Woolf Fisher Research Feedback Talking Self Assessment CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry Updates to Year 11 Priority Students
	Hypothesise	Analysis and interpretation often take place in the mind of the teacher, who then uses the insights gained to shape their actions as they continue to work with their students. These theories for improvement should connect with the inquiries related to the Achievement Challenge of the Department/Team, the School and the CoL.	My inquiry outline CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry
	Research	“This involves asking questions about how well current strategies are working and whether others might be more successful. Teachers search their own and their colleagues’ past practice for strategies that may be more effective, and they also look in the research literature to see what has worked in other contexts.”	Using learning from past inquiries Reading - Analysis of asynchronous online discussion using the SOLO Taxonomy Woolf Fisher Research Feedback Teacher only day - 27th March 2017 Reading - First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy Talking Self Assessment CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry Dr Graeme Aitken presentation
	Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	Using learning from past inquiries Inquiry posts on my blog Is there enough instructions and support Nothing is ever all good news.... CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry
Create Teaching Inquiry - “What strategies (evidence-based) are most likely to help my students learn?”	Make a plan	What can I already do and  what do I need help with? Who are the learners? Group/class What are the goals for my practice and student achievement? Set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for my students.	Personal Goal setting sheet for 2017 Organising NCEA classes for the year Credit totals and Termly Standard Protocol Reading - First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry Updates to Year 11 Priority Students Using SOLO to structure Final Evaluation Questions
	Try new things	It is a constant state of action, monitoring, reflection, and adjustment - and then more action. Failure may occur. Feedback from learners - how will I engage them with new learning? Do they know we’re trying something new?	Student voice from the first Year 12 standard - how is it going Student voice about how they like their lesson instructions Visible Teaching and Learning - Using Calendars CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry Making rewindable resources with the students What did I learn from my Year 12 class? What happens when students choose their own projects? Design Development Analysis
	Innovate	Are we capitalising on the affordances of the technology to support the Five Affordances of Learn Create Share (Engagement, Teaching Conversations, Visibility, Cognitive Challenge, Scaffolding) identified by the WFRC	Blog posts about using SOLO Taxonomy Google Plus Communities Year 10  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3 Class OnAir Posts Using SOLO to structure Final Evaluation Questions Design Development Analysis
	Implement	Just do it!	Updates to Year 11 Priority Students
	Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	Main Blog - links to topics across the top Is there enough instructions and support What did I learn from my Year 12 class?
Share Learning Inquiry - “What has happened as a result of the changes in teaching, and what are the implications for future teaching? ...We need people to provide us with different perspectives and to share their ideas, knowledge, and experiences.”	Publish	What happened as a result of the changes? Share evidence (artefacts of student learning, DLOs) and effective strategies.	Main Blog - links to topics across the top Google Plus Communities Year 10  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3 Making rewindable resources with the students Planning for Learn, Create, Share
	Co-teach	What if my plans didn’t work? Are there different approaches?Who can help me? Peer observations, video analysis of my practice.	Class OnAir Posts
	Model / Guide	How can my findings and experiences support my peers? How is this shared?	Main Blog - links to topics across the top Staff presentation about blogging Toolkit - Blogging for Teacher Inquiry Presentation at Manaiakalani open Day Ed Tech Auckland - Presentation on Higher Order Thinking Skills Toolkit - Higher order thinking using SOLO Taxonomy and Google Drawings Planning for Learn, Create, Share Teaching as Inquiry - A short Introduction
	Feedback / Feedforward	What are my next steps? How will I sustain effective practice? Learner feedback? New goals?	CoL Meeting Term 2 - Focusing Inquiry and Teaching Inquiry What did I learn from my Year 12 class?
	Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	Main Blog - links to topics across the top