Day 5 Reading Practice Intensive

 Planning a Reading Programme

Day 4 Recap - It was so cool hearing about another participant's success with a child who doesn't usually speak.

Kelly reminded me about the drag and drop vocab task which I am keen to trial next week. 

Fiona Grant - Kaupapa and Shared pedagogy: Reading through class sites

Are learners looking at the site and seeing themselves in it and getting excited about engaging with it? Are whānau and ākonga able to locate the site in a clear and easy manner? Reminds me that I was going to make a video to share with whānau to show them how to access ours. 

Key points:

Organisation and navigation needs to be user friendly and clear. Rewindable instructional resources. I feel like I have slipped off with my site mahi, so it will be good to spend some time on this.

Key Features in Reading Site Design

Groups - Personalised, engages interest, multimodal and user friendly.

Instructions - Easy to navigate, current learning on top, historic learning is accessible, point and click instructions, teacher notes.

Learn Create Share - Learning intentions, texts, learning activities and reference material.

I like and probably need to have some site accessible stuff that ākonga can use independently and be showing cybersmart actions by being on task and engaged.

Check out the Manaiakalani Network Blogging. That has given me an idea to get ākonga to be looking at other blogs from around the motu for ideas. 

Muzify is worth having a look at. Ākonga can create a playlist related and suitable for the text they are reading. I think my ākonga would love this, especially the ones who came out with strong musical tendencies through the Multiple Intelligences test.

This looks great and I think I need to start creating and using sites for specific contexts. We are doing pūrakau later in the term, so this will be awesome. 

Designing a Reading Programme

High Quality Independent Activities

Ensure there is a link to learning intentions and working through the process within The Learning Pit. Tracking is important and keeping tabs on mahi completion. 

Backwards map from ambitious outcomes.

School Curriculum Tracking

Makes me wonder about our current coverage tracking. Always be thinking about our team, across terms and across years. Long term planning is crucial so we can plan and be well prepared with text sets etc.

What Does Integration Look Like at Your Place? Padlet (Not sure if that will work).

Check out Lopini the Legend novel. 

Teacher Timetabling

Literacy Planet - Something I need to look into.

An option for a timetable is to have 'opt-in' clinics. Conferencing is locked in and timetabled.

Do ākonga know what to get on and do when not conferencing or with a teacher?

Teacher Workbook - Checking In

I like the spreadsheet for hand it in tracking as I have found it tricky to keep up with ākonga work and if they have completed their independent tasks. 

Holey moley. This looks epic. Make a copy and have a play. This looks like it would save time so I am keen to have a go. I think I will start with the simple version and use it for Literacy and Cybersmart to start off with. That is a bit exciting and I am hoping to have a very simple one set up for next week's Literacy.

Learner Timetabling

Stocktake - Inventory and Tune Up of My Timetabling. This was a good exercise that I will come back to.

Approaches to Learner Timetables

We really want ākonga to know what they are meant to be doing so robust planning and set up is important. It allows for student agency and choice about what they are reading, allows for better management within the learning space, enables collaboration, fits in other important curriculum areas. 

FEOP - Finish Everything Off Properly - I am really keen on doing this as I'm sure ākonga have some unfinished tasks. It would seem like there is little value on it if I do nothing with it. The mahi tracker we looked at earlier will be great for this. 

Daily 5 - Includes read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, word work. This could be weaved through my programme. 

Extended and longer tasks can be introduced. I just need to ensure that I have time allocated for work on these. 

Remember choice, collaboration and empowerment. Consistency is key!!

Bang for Buck: Digital Reading Apps - Looking forward to this part.

A note for Apps - engagement, cost, screen time and fit for purpose. 

Let's explore!!! Epic, ReadWorks, Sunshine Online and Literacy Planet. These apps offer extension and purposeful reading mileage opportunities. (Sunshine online is free for Manaiakalani schools...what??)

Epic - I have been using this. Olympic related books were set for my groups while this was our focus. Has some good reading/writing links. Use the Create Assignment section. This was good to know because I have seen it, but didn't know what it was for.

ReadWorks - Totally new to me. (Cleaner as far as advertising goes, than ReadTheory). I like the article a day because it could 

This helps with being assessment ready. I think I will ditch the start I have made with ReadTheory.

Sunshine Online - I wanted to use this and have asked the staff member who has the school login details, but i was told that we don't have it for this year. I am happy to find out today that we can get it, so i will be jumping on to that. From today, I can see that the platform looks a bit different to when I used it a few years ago. That's some good news for the day.

Literacy Planet - New to me. 

If ākonga are levelled properly, Literacy Planet will create learning tasks for them. It can be tricky because the programme isn't Aotearoa New Zealand based. 

Analogue Independent Activities - Continue with these as they are important. (See the slide for examples for the areas below).

Read Like Writers Write Like Readers Part 1

Having reading and writing completely separate, means we will miss opportunities to strengthen skills in both areas. They need to be holding hands. 

Writing links can be something about a character or writing about one aspect of what we have read. 

How can we leverage what we are reading to do some writing?

Ingredients turned into a piece of writing. For this task, we were taken through some scaffolds with creating a scene for the beginning of a piece of writing. This is mine:

The white sand was soft and warm under my feet as i made my way to my favourite spot under a coconut tree. My belly was full after a delicious buffet lunch of sapasui and sweet island fruits. The gentle lapping of the waves and the distant voices in an language that isn't my own, soothed me as I lay my snorkel gear at the foot of my lounger. 

One more week to relax and then I would be back to the giant to-do list and the voices of children filling my classroom. I took a deep, refreshing breath and smiled, glad for the decision to come to this stunning and peaceful place. 

As I dropped my lavalava and sunglasses on my lounger and stretched my  snorkel mask over my head, anticipating the wonders I was about to see, I wondered again, what would happen if I just stayed here.

Skill Builder - Inferring

Provide explicit description, modelling, scaffolding, increase in independence and encouragement to apply learning. 

There is an inference rubric which will be useful for my groups at the moment. 

We looked at the picture below and had a go at making inferences. Key part is looking at the clues. 

The Developing Inference - Sentence Stems slide is cool for getting ākonga to think about giving reasons for our inferences.

To Do: Read Teaching Inference by Dr Robert J. Marzano.

We don't make enough use of the texts that we use. We do want ākonga to copy styles of writers. Growing appreciation for the craft of writing, can be developed through using the works of others. Pay close attention to the features of the writing.

The White Tailed Spider is a good model for how to write a report. 

Read Like Writers Write Like Readers Part 2

How do we get ākonga to 'copy' styles? 

In our breakout groups, we looked for texts that have certain types of beginnings that we can use to use reading to write. 

We can also look at effective endings. 

Exploring a Taskboard

I love these tasks that have the images and then a task for ākonga to do. They are questions that would provoke thinking and sharing of opinions. I can see how these would be great to use during extended learning discussions. 

I need to bring back the book share that we did a couple of weeks ago. I got ākonga to volunteer to share and promote whatever book they were reading. I was blown away by the explanations and interest level of everyone. I witnessed one boy asking another if he could read the book that was shared, after him. One girl talked about the author and how the book related to issues in her life. I need to make this a regular part of our week, I think. 

I have a few things to focus on for the next few weeks and still quite a bit of refining to do to elevate my Literacy programme. The past couple of weeks have been great for me as far as implementing and making changes to what we do in class goes. I'm very excited about the next phase.

Response to Text

 Creating a response to Text Learning Task

As part of the learning in the RPI, we have explored and started creating Responses to Text. For my first one, I used the template that was shared and adjusted it to suit the text and ākonga that I work with. 

This is my first one for the text Ngatu.

Guided Reading Practice Adjustments

 Adjusting My Guided Reading Practice

Using the Framework for Guided Reading (The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum), I made a couple of adjustments to my Guided Reading sessions. 

Introduction to Text - Enable students to hear and sometimes say new language structures. 

Prior to reading with me, I got ākonga to listen to and read a long with three different texts that they accessed through their group task boards on our hub site. Once they had done this, they selected one to work with for the week. The texts were all Tongan Language based texts. (I usually do language weeks for more than one week). 

The text contained different Tongan words and names. The language structures I was focusing on were phonology and context. I was also looking at Tongan words and how these would be pronounced, using our prior knowledge of Pacific language vowel sounds. 

Ākonga got to listen by the audio on their taskboard, hearing each other read and us going over the sounds and settings of the text. 

Discussing the Text - Help students learn to discuss the meaning of the text together. 

My co-teacher had given me a set of cards for extending learning discussions which I managed to use with one group so far. These had different roles with a list of possible sentence and question starters. 

Once we had reminded ourselves about the Ground Rules for Talk, I posed a provocation based on the text, The Sons of Ma'afu. The statement was, that stories should only be told if they are based on real people and observed events. 

Ākonga had some thinking time and we started with the initiator posing a question. At first, it was interesting to see that responses initially had ākonga looking at me. I redirected them and said for them to discuss with each other, rather than me. 

I had no idea about how they would go, but they really liked it and started to get into the swing of things. This particular group were all keen to use the discussion cards again, so we will.

When our session was done, we went through the Ground Rules For Talk Reflection Chart to look at how we did as a group. 

One thing I loved about this discussion, was when one student gave her opinion and related things to her own culture and the importance of stories. Soon after, another student started by saying, 'I agree with what Melissa said because...'. She went on to share about the connections between their two cultures. I loved it and am excited about this element being brought into my reading programme. 

My next step is to work out, how I am going to fit Structured Literacy and other Literacy components into our timetable and ensuring that I have adequate coverage. 

Te Kura Tapa Whā

 Te Kura Tapa Whā

Embedding an Indigenous model of wellbeing into the learning environment

Delving into Te Whare Tapa Whā. 

WHENUA:

Background, foundations, te taiao, what you take with you.

WAIRUA:

Feeling, vibe, beliefs, vallues, vibe, faith, religion, uniqueness, soul, balance, mauri, self-care, identity, wai/rua, connection between generations, whakapapa, inner being, old soul, tipuna, goosebumps, style

WHĀNAU:

Socila skills, groups you belong to, relationships, connections/people, shared values and expereinces, teachers, offer you something and are needed, role models. 

TINANA:

Body, exercise, health, kai, sick, sleep, responses, digestion, hygiene, brain, tā moko, safety, dress/clothes, 

HINENGARO:

Urges, sanity, mental health, learning, thoughts, experiences, trauma, self-talk, self regulation, emotions, responses, attitudes, security, attachment, sense of belonging, qualities and personality traits, mindset, achievement, work ethic, motivation, engagement, praise

Self Reflection:

Tinana - My Physical Needs

I need to exercise. My diet could also do with some improvement. Need to get back to floating. My sleep has always been an issue, but I think it's getting better and I'm taking sleeping pills less. 

Hinengaro - My Mental and Emotional Needs

For my mental wellbeing, I need to feel like I am organised and well planned. I also like to be on top of marking. I feel like I need to have some time in te taiao and near water. 

Wairua - My Spiritual Needs

I think I could do with some resetting. I have been thinking about doing some regular mindfulness, a gratitude journal, reading and writing. I have some great books to read.

Getting back into my Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori class has been fantastic for me. I had a year of not being able to do it, but am now back and feel like it fills my wairua. 

Whānau - My Social/Relationship Needs

I think I need to make more time with whānau and friends. I tend to make school a priority and can go for ages without seeing people. I need to get better at popping around and staying connected. 

Different Models:

 

My Optimal Learning Environment

This is a good activity to do with ākonga. 

Tinana - Clean, clear and organised space. Water. Movement.

Hinengaro - Clear head, well planned and organised, calm, quiet

Wairua - Waiata, mindfulness, music, nice smells

Whānau - Connected, communication, check ins, positive relationships, laughter

What do I need as a learner?

My kaiako cares, 

Runga - What comes from the school, up and out into our community. How do we communicate? How do we celebrate? How do we transition ākonga to the next place on their pathway.

Raro - What our kura is grounded to. Defines what our school is. What are our social norms? Expectations and school culture. 

Roto - What is happening inside our classrooms. What are the physical spaces like? 

Waho - Everything outside. Physical environment. Tuakana/teina. Do we all look after to school grounds. Signage and what you see in the school environment.

Where are we doing a lot and where can we strengthen? 

Te Kura Tapa Whā Strategic Planning

Now what?

Our cultural narrative being shared and brought to new people. 

How do we bring this back to our kura? How will be share the learning from today?

The waho area of our kura to be more visible in culture.

Look into 685.

RPI - Guided Reading

 Day 4 - Guided Reading

Very soon after I had signed in to our Google Meet, I had a small, but very big distraction. The whole hub became distracted because this little rodent was brazen and unafraid. I used the word brazen a few times as a bit of vocabulary development for the kids. 

Guided Reading Framework: 

Ideas from breakout room sharing about how things have been going -

• Buddy reading being recorded

Always refer to the Pillars of Practice.

In guided reading, we want to be focusing on comprehension and vocabulary. 

Guided reading needs to be uninterrupted. 

The kids this year are pretty good at not interrupting when I'm with a group which is great. There are the odd interruptions, but it's mostly pretty good.

Those with higher needs are seen more often. In our hub, our ākonga who are struggling the most, have teacher time and also a significant amount of support from our teacher aides.

Have maybe two teaching points. Reinforced through modelling, follow-up activities, shared reading etc.

Observing the reading. Have a look at Structure of a Guided Reading Lesson. 

Add Storyline Online to my taskboard.

Introducing texts and purposes:

Observations. I could record ākonga read the unseen text, do guided reading and record again and compare. 

Plan for some support, but also leave some problem solving to do.

These are some of the things you can do. Do what is manageable and do these over time, not all at once. 

Make vocabulary visible:

Have a look through Building Background Knowledge slide and the videos on it.

I like how the teacher in the Black Bears clip, used word cards to delve into the vocabulary. Personal experiences such as, 'Let's try it'.

Prior knowledge might be irrelevant or inaccurate.

Background is A on the screenshot.

In guided reading, you could get ākonga to view visuals and clips to provide background knowledge before coming to the instructional session. I like this.

 Transcript Activity. For this, we looked at a reading lesson transcript and matched these components to state what was happening in each interaction.

Prompts for background knowledge	Prompts for text information (purpose or ideas)	Prompts for vocabulary knowledge
Shares background knowledge	Shares text information (purpose or ideas)	Shares vocabulary knowledge
Affirms background knowledge	Affirms text information (purpose or ideas)	Affirms vocabulary knowledge

Observing for Responsive Teaching with Kiri Kirkpatrick:

From Year 4, most ākonga are reading silently. Observation is not possible unless students read aloud. Recordings of students raeding is great. You can watch later so class time is utilised. 

Avoid checking in on comprehension during reading as flow may be interrupted.

Listening to Reading Sheet: Use this to take notes of informal observations. Could use a blank running record sheet for monitoring and observing reading behaviours. Can be done in different ways. Post-it notes, paper or digital, as long as information is recorded somewhere.

Watched a video using a Listening to Reading sheet.

Need to get Sunshine Classics so we can use the recordings of read alouds. 

Adobe Express suite for recording, cancels out background noise. Keep an eye out for the toolkit that is coming up about this.

Guided Reading (& Comprehension) Fluency:

Research shows that students routinely reading aloud and rating their fluency, has an impact on reading fluency. (I missed something here about when not to do this). 

Fluency Scale: Looks at pace, smoothness, phrasing and expression and volume. I love this rubric. I'm going to introduce a student version in my next week of reading groups. This would be awesome to have in a student Google Slide with a recording of them and the text they are reading. A screencast of them going through the rubric and verbalising their self-assessment might be cool too. These could be shared with whānau through Hero. 

We watched a lesson being modelled of a discussion and self-assessment of fluency. Ākonga self-reflect and explain why they gave themselves a score. There is a teacher version of the rubric and a student one. 

Good idea - Record and self-assess digitally.

Have a look at Rob Weisman's Boredometer via Class on Air.

We had a go at using the Listening to Reading sheet and listened to our clips. The background noise in Charlotte's was a bit distracting.

I think this will be so beneficial for the kids. When I was listening to and watching the recordings of my learners, I felt like I needed to be recording my observations somewhere and just jotted a few notes on my weekly plan. This scale will be more purposeful and relevant for students. It would be good for them to know what is being assessed and what column #4 skills look and sound like.

Setting a Basis for Discussion:

Ensure that ākonga know that we are having a learning conversation, review ground rules for talk and roles.  

Plan to include a variety of question types. (Screenshot)

Rather than having a chain of questions, aim to promote and build conversation. We would want learners to drive the conversation. A provocation can elicit an emotional response and greater engagement in the discussion. 

I have not yet started using a digital modelling book, so it was good to see an example of one. This would be one of my next steps. Modelling might be visible on the class site, so I could do it that way. 

The teaching Points Comprehension slide would be useful in group sessions.

Teach.   Prompt.   Reinforce.

Weaving Tukutuku Teaching Points

Inferring - The author doesn't tell us where this article is based. What can we infer about where this might be? How do we know?

Making Connections - toetoe - Go and have a look at the toetoe we have at school.

Synthesising - 

Predicting -

Analysing -

Critiquing - 

I struggled with this and am wondering if it was the text I chose. I will keep working on it for our tukutuku learning. 

Activating Prior Knowledge - Talk with ākonga and be clear about what strategy we are working on. 

Struggling readers find it difficult to make relevant connections.

Good readers connect with the text. 

Anticipation guides, KWL Charts, background Knowledge Builders, Further Reading. 

I hadn't really thought about the difference between background and prior knowledge before today. This clarity helps me to be more deliberate and clear with the kids about the difference.

Independent Practice: Come safer observing, discussion and teaching. Consolidation isn't new learning. 

One idea for follow up is a Comprehension Response to Text. Graphic organisers that require retelling. 

A good idea is to have a range of graphic organisers on the learning site. I'm going to do this.

Non-negotiables - Vocabulary development and understanding. Having non-negotiables that relate directly to the learning intentions is a must. I need to be clear with students about what the non-negotiable tasks are.

Kahoot! I got third. I made a couple of silly mistakes and my connection froze for a bit, but kei te pai. I love Kahoot! for how learning can be clarified and we learn from the mistakes we make during it. I have ākonga asking to do our Te Reo Māori basics one again. We have done it twice and I think kids want to see progress. I love it.

Mahi Kāika:

Reflect on the elements of the Guided Reading Process.

Coaching Meeting: Discuss above reflection.

Two elements - Make practice adjustements and record some evidence of this. 

Observation Notes: For at least one learner.

Coaching Meeting: Follow up on the changes I have made. Use the template for this.

This was another great session with practical ideas that I can use in my literacy programme.