Focusing in on my Hunch!

So my hunch is that the boys struggle for ideas or with developing ideas. They also struggle with organisation and sentence structure but... confidence is going to be really important for the boys to be motivated to want to get better and engage with writing. So due to the boys talking about ideas in writing, I have decide that this will be my focus.

Some thinking and discussions I had with a colleague (Erin Drayson) led me to realising the following.

Ideas - By developing complex and elaborated ideas the students will need to create complex and compound sentences, use precise vocabulary, organise their ideas into paragraphs which are all area’s of improvement identified in e-asttle and other writing observations.

The Boys! What makes them tick? - Focusing & Developing a Hunch

So since identifying my target students, I have been watching, listening and questioning them to find out as much as I can about them and their learning habits in class.

After our recent PLG session where we identified possible focuses I was able to sit them down and asked them some more focused questions as a group. We sat in a breakout room and we all chilled out sitting on bean bags, desks, stools or standing. Relaxed was the name of the game!

Recording #1

Recording #2

The main points that I took out from this session and these recordings are:

• The boys don't mind writing, in fact most of them really like it when they get to write about the things they like writing about - rugby and other sports, gaming, wrestling, recounts of experiences
• They all said that they struggle for ideas, or they have too many ideas and just struggle to know which idea to pick to write about.
• They get confused by all of the 'big words' that teachers use. 'I mean, what are paragraphs, I've got no idea' one said. This got them all going.
• They don't like writing for ages, however, they all complained that they never have enough time to finish their work!
• They all said they either struggle to get started, get stuck in the middle or struggle to write a whole piece. I GET STUCK!
• The lists of vocabulary (Child = "what is vocabulary?" Me =  "fancy word for words." Students = "Oh!") really help them all with what to include and how to make their writing sound good. Success in their mind seems to be that they have used 'wow words.'
• They hate sitting on the mat for ages.
• They don't really like sharing their writing, as they see other students writing from those who are good writers, and this makes them feel stink!
• Mum and Dad read their writing and say it is great, however they can tell from the look on their face that they don't think this. Or mum and dad don't read my writing.

After talking to them it seems to me that it mostly comes down to engagement in real purposes and a lack of ideas or an understanding of how to expand on their ideas. I think this is where I will make the most impact for now. DEVELOPING IDEAS!

Focusing my scanning - Scanning #2

17.03.13

Focusing - What will have the biggest Impact?  Make a copy and share with your PLG coach. - Chris

List three possible focus areas that arise from your scanning. For each of the four key criteria – manageability, impact, commitment and link to evidence – Make notes on the areas below.

• Manageability - Think about your context, capacities, strengths and areas of challenge to determine how manageable each area is and how it links to school priorities.

• Commitment / Buy In - Think about the evidence you have gathered. Is this something that connects with what the students have said they need to learn or other student voice you have gathered?
• Impact - Think about what you know from research, and draw on others in the room, to determine how much Impact you might get with change in each area. Or is it trivial? It needs to make a difference.

What did the discussion bring up that needs to be thought about or addressed? Has another area emerged? Could two be combined in a clearer focus?

Possible focus	Manageability	Commitment / Buy In	What impact will you have.	What evidence will you use to show that you have made enough of a difference?
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Key prior knowledge is provided ahead of time, enabling students to connect to new information	Developing learner assets- and helping the students to make the links between what they learnt today and yesterday. (is it important to make this visual) Developing the vocab before introduced to others. Linking writing to reading - models	I need more evidence: I need to question around these ALL areas to develop deeper understanding of the kids perspective. Learning pathways developed and shared with the kids. (impact is low for this)	This will make an impact as it means students will have increased understanding and confidence when heading away to  write independently. We saw a significant impact when introducing this at the end of last year.	Student feedback: Initial baseline info collected Week 7, first checkpoint end of Week 8. Create a quick feedback tool eg; points scale to use to gauge understanding of student feelings towards lessons (length, understanding & relevance) Regular checking E-asttle scores of an independent pieces. Based on the ALL process.
RELEVANCE: Treats relevance as critical component to student motivation and memory.	Helping develop understanding of a genuine purpose & audience Fun!	I need more evidence: I need to question around these ALL areas to develop deeper understanding of the kids perspective.	This has a massive impact on boys especially, as when a genuine purpose is used students don’t see the task as writing, they see it as doing what I need to do to achieve my purpose.	Student feedback: Initial baseline info collected Week 7, first checkpoint end of Week 8. Create a quick feedback tool eg; points scale to use to gauge understanding of student feelings towards lessons (length, understanding & relevance)
Pacing and direction:	Having a goal = Success Criteria. Keep lessons to 10 minutes - one focus skill - then onto practice or applying for remainder. Helping students to make connections.	Student feedback from last year was all about being on the mat for too long. I need to question around these ALL areas to develop deeper understanding of the kids perspective.	Sitting on the mat turns kids off. Watching a movie of a child during learning 10 minutes was when he started wriggling and getting distracted. What was taught afterwards was forgotten.	Student feedback: Initial baseline info collected Week 7, first checkpoint end of Week 8. Create a quick feedback tool eg; points scale to use to gauge understanding of student feelings towards lessons (length, understanding & relevance)

Scanning 2017

In collaboration with my team, we identified the following information about our writers based on November 2016 assessment information. The year 6 students identified as a noticeable difference between boys and girls at risk, with the year 5 students also showing a slightly higher number of boys to girls at risk.

Year 6 Data

 

Year 5 Data

We looked at the individuals and how they fitted in our Ako groups (there are two Ako groups in the senior school, each with 76 students). In Ako Kea, 22 students were identified as being either at risk or in need of monitoring as they have only just achieved the standard. Of this group we identified 8 year 5 boys. Two are below writer and the remaining six are just meeting the standard.

We decided that being male, surely I was best suited to accelerating these boys learning in literacy.

2017 - Analysing the data

Scanning:
At our first TOD we looked at schoolwide data for writing, reading and maths.  With my colleagues we identified trends and focus areas for us as a school to concentrate on in 2017. Boys stood out as a group of our learners that are not performing as well as our girls and there is some disparity between the groups.

Next Steps:
Next steps are to attend a PL session with Anne Grady to learn about boys and how they learn. As a senior team we will identify our teams target students and formulate a plan of attack for decreasing the disparity between these two groups.

Boys and Writing PL January 2017

Today we had PL with Anne Grady. This had a focus on boys learning, specifically writing. We also unpacked our school data and formed a plan or to do list of how we will move our students learning in one or two aspects of writing.

My big take aways from this PD are:

• Be courageous enough to challenge/change my beliefs about my teaching practices, students learning styles and interests, how I will implement these changed beliefs.
• Boys are different and need to be thought of carefully in planning (already do this but need to break it down even more) for learning.
• Doing, moving, making, manipulating
• Clear identification of student strengths - goals - how to move from point A to B

My struggles/worries/challenges in early 2017

• I don't know what a good model is or where to find one? What will I do about this?
• Talk to colleagues
• Read and classify as I do this
• I get overwhelmed by quantity of things to teach in writing. 
• Break it down
• Simplify
• Do one or two things well
• How to lead our team and keep things simple when there is some much to do!
• Talk regularly to Vicky & Jo
• Improve my planning and diary maintenance
• How do we utilise three teachers to accelerate learning in our ILE
• How do I coach / mentor my team?
• What is the right balance between telling and letting the students come up with how
• Is my feedback effective? Does it help?

How will this impact on my teaching:

The following are notes relating to our Professional Learning with Anne Grady (January 2017)

2017 Writing beliefs - Teacher Only Day Professional Learning

Reflecting on 2016

Using a model which allows exploring what the writer has done.

There has to be an audience for the writing

Authentic purpose - know the audience, purpose

Success criteria - clear and constructed with the students when appropriate, sometimes it will be teacher written

Keeping it simple, achievable learning intentions/success criteria

Holding the learning intention for a longer time

Knowing the learner and what works for them

Some early writers with a sentence frame can develop their writing

The purpose will determine the genre not fitting the writing to a timetabled genre teaching time

It takes courage to be a writer trying new things, taking risks, having a go

Teacher feedback/responses to the writer is important and needs care not to stop the writer to be a risk taker

Teacher as a writer, allowing the students to see the blocks, difficulties through think alouds.

Writing occurs daily - may not be a completed piece of writing.

Link between reading and writing - using the model in reading, links to concept.

Knowing the students - relationships and their identities

Writing is a tool for thinking

Writing has a complex relationship to talk

‘We can’t give children rich lives but we can give them the lens to appreciate the richness which is already there’ Lucy Calkins

Can we have courage without beliefs?

Or do we need courage to change/develop our beliefs?20

Graham Shaw - TEDxHull

Why people believe they can’t draw

-and how to prove they can

How many beliefs and limiting thoughts do we can around with us everyday?

Who are the people that are influencing you?

Share these with others.  Developing your own beliefs.

Reading Research - Boys

What do we already know about the ‘Boys’ at David Street School?

What do you know about their learning styles?

What do we know about their culture and identity?

What do we know about their language?

What do we know about preschool opportunities?

What do we know about attitudes?

The ladder of Inference - Chris Argyis

The way we often reach decisions.  Observations and lead to assumptions.

Pool of data

Professional Readings Activity:

Using a selected professional reading about boys.

Prepare a slide or a chart to bullet key messages from the reading to share with the groups.

WALT:

‘Sift’ key messages from the text

Success Criteria:

Identify key words

Explore a key phrase with a partner

Make connections (to David Street School)

Re-write information in our own words

Evaluate information by adding -agree or disagree to researcher statements

 

Valuing Cultures

I had the privilege of attending the recent Piako Cultural Festival where students from local schools celebrate the/their Maori culture through kapahaka. It was a great reminder of how powerful it is for Maori students to celebrate their culture and feel pride for who they are.

As a part of the build up, I was asked to join the boys for their practices for behavioral reasons. What hit home very quickly for me at these practices was the importance to these boys to have me (a male and their teacher) there to support them and most of all value their culture and what they were learning and sharing. To see the boys who are disengaged and feel out of place at times in class, instead thriving, motivated and striving to give it their all was just amazing.

It's not always easy to get outside of your comfort zone and place yourself in someone else's culture as you feel like you will make a mistake, or you don't belong, but this is far from the truth. So, I am reminded of the importance I must place on valuing my Maori students by attending these practices and events and making the effort to really show them that I care and am interested in who they are and their culture by participating as well.

My goal for next year is to learn the haka with the boys.