Inquiry Presentation to Staff 2018-9

29/06/19
I have updated this presentation to include changes and new information at this mid-point in the 2019 Inquiry Cycle.

2019 Inquiry Goals Based on ERO Recommendations

2019 Inquiry goals based on ERO recommendations

Classroom and Teacher Level

• How do you support priority learners in your classes?
• Where are the priority learners in your planning?
• How are you using student progress and achievement data to inform your inquiry?
• How do children set their goals and use self and peer assessment?

Huakina te Kūaha

DMIC

After a review staff meeting at the end of last term with Generosa Leach, our Mentor from the DMIC programme, I have spent time reviewing all the information I have to see how I can improve the development and achievement in mathematics of my students.  The video above has been very helpful to me and I intend to view it several times to help me to be clear on my planning and preparation of rich mathematical tasks.

I also viewed the videos on the Education Counts website
Developing Mthematical Inquiry Communities

MASAM Term 3

Whakatauki

Tūngia te ururoa kia tupu whakaritorito te tutū o te harakeke

Set the overgrown bush alight, and the new flax shoots will spring up

In order to change we may need to leave some ways behind in order to do things differently

This was the big idea that I came away with after attending our latest MASAM workshop.  The wero was placed before us and it's time our waka hit the water.  It was an inspiration to take part in the various workshops and to visit the host school's different programmes attached to the MASAM kaupapa.  

In reflection, I know I need to leave some past ideas behind and do more mahi to meet my own line of inquiry.

 

Whaea Brax

He mihi nui ki a koe - Whaea Brax.  Whaea Brax is teaching in our classroom for four weeks and then she returns for another two weeks later in the year.  She is a great role model for our tauira as she attended our school for her primary school education.  It is wonderful having her teach and be part of our whanau again.

Integrating Digital Technology in the Classroom

In my classroom, the students have access to two school ipads and my personal ipad.  They have been learning how to show their understanding across the curriculum using the app SeeSaw.  My son Patrick has been supporting me with this.  He has a degree in Computer Animation and is well versed in teaching digital technology.

My Inquiry Question

How can I provide Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga, and link contexts back to Aotearoa, in order to support an increase in engagement?

In Term 3, I will be trying to included a learning opportunity, provocation and/or independent activity that features Te Reo into every section of our class timetable.

The video shows students in my class working independently on literacy tasks. In the foreground, the students are matching words in Te Reo from their guided reader to their English translation.

MASAM Workshop Te Takanga o Te Wā

  In June I attended this workshop for the purpose of learning how to support Māori achieving as Māori through learning Māori history. My hope for Term 3 is, that while we are learning about volcanoes in the Auckland region, we will be able to go to the Māngere Mountain Education Centre to connect that geological knowledge to the historical importance of this Maunga Puhia - Te Pane o Mataoho (The Māori name for Māngere Mountain).

COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY AND EFFECTIVE TEACHING

OUR CODE, OUR STANDARDS

I am engaging in lifelong inquiry, learning and relevant professional development opportunities and applying new learning to my practice.

I attended my first Noho Marae for this year's Level 4 Te Reo Course.  I learnt structures and new vocabulary.  I listened to perspectives around tikanga and waiata that are healing.  I had fun learning mahi whai and will use this and the Matariki song in my unit planning for the second half of this term.

Kia Hihiko te Kaupapa - Incite the Passion for Learning and Knowledge

I was so impressed with this finely balanced yet sturdily constructed ramp left on display for me to see on my return from a day out of the classroom.  I had been pondering the question in our Staff Meeting Agenda - Is your Teaching Inquiry Goal robust?  The ramp is a wonderful metaphor for how I perceive learning in our room is changing, growing, innovating and challenging all of us together.

Local Stories with Pita Turei Wednesday 11 April

I attended this event with five students from Ruma Iwa.  The students and myself were held spellbound by the wonderful stories told to us by expert storyteller Matua Pita Turei.

This storytelling workshop leads nicely into my preparation for Matariki in Term 2.

Gathering Evidence That Students Are Engaged in the Learning

We have begun to include the GECKO Learning Way in our lesson structures.  I am wanting to scaffold the students' ability to explain and speak to these success criteria, as they are very broad statements.  I am thinking that by tracking how the students answer these questions I can get an idea about how engaging the lesson was for them and feed forward from their feedback!

I am going to use SOLO Taxonomy as a tool to help each student begin to be able to explain where they are on the GECKO Learning Way (shown above).

SOLO is a model of learning.
Structure of
Observed
Learning
Outcomes

Te Reo Course Begins

My lessons to learn Te Reo have begun for this year.  During the first half of the year the lessons will be 50% English and 50% Māori.  Then by the end of the year, we will be learning by total immersion in Te Reo.  

Te Reo is a big part of my teacher inquiry this year.  My challenge is to bring Te Reo into the classroom in a way that raises engagement in learning for my ākonga.  

The whakataukī which I keep at the forefront of my learning and teaching at the moment is

'Whāia te iti kahurangi

Ki te tūohu koe

Me he maunga teitei'

To remind me to persevere and keep striving forward despite heavy challenges.

2018 Teacher Inquiry

Tūī feeding on Harakeke nectar 
(Photo by Sid Mosdell)

As part of the MASAM (Māori Achieving Success As Māori) professional learning group, I will link my teacher inquiry to the Kaupapa Māori outlined by Dr Te Taka Keegan

Kia hiki te wairua
Kia hihiko te kaupapa
Kia hora to aroha

I will learn to put into practice these three Māori philosophies to 
Lift the spirits to gain confidence
Incite the passion for learning and knowledge
Supporting the willingness to take risks through a caring attitude 
To provide opportunities for the tamariki in my care this year to achieve well at school.

My teacher inquiry question at this point in time is -

How can I provide Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga, and link contexts back to Aotearoa, in order to support an increase in engagement?

I used the ideas on Spirals of Inquiry - How to Find Your Focus to help me formulate this question.

MASAM Workshop 1st March

I attended the MASAM (Māori Achieving Success as Māori) workshop today as part of my professional development.  The focus was 'Getting to Know Your Students'.  We viewed Tame Iti's thought provoking TedTalk and joined in a variety of activities that we could use with our students this term.

Many thanks to the organisers for an informative and helpful day.  We are in the 'scanning' phase of our MASAM inquiry.

New Learning Environment

This year I get to teach and learn alongside my students in a new, modern and I hope innovative learning environment.  Many thanks to Sepora, the Management Team and the Board of Trustees for providing the new furniture and repaint of the classroom walls.  The classroom feels fresh and spacious.

This leads me to write about how I am beginning to understand and incorporate Universal Design for Learning into my classroom practice.  Changes to timetabling and the inclusion of play-based learning every Monday morning gives me the opportunity to listen to my students' interests and weave them into the lesson planning for the rest of the week.  I also take note of student feedback to make improvements that remove barriers from the students ability to work on their learning.

Having the ability to re-configure the layout of the classroom to quickly meet the needs of large group work and then again to create quiet spaces for small groups and pairs of children working together is really great.

New Learning and Planning Website

Our Kowhai Toru Class Website is up and running.  I have just a few more improvements, to the way it looks, to complete in the coming days.  Sepora says, 'Kia Ora Jeanine, The site rationale is sound, effective and efficient.'   It feels good to have a place where I can easily access the information concerning learning and teaching in my classroom.

Teacher Only Days Attended During the School Holidays

Dr Te Taka Keegan's keynote speech was the highlight for me of the three days of professional development that I attended during the school holiday break.

I would like to incorporate into my pedagogy my take on his three principles which he explains in this video.

Āku Mahi Whakaako

1. Kia hiki te wairua
2. Kia hihiko te kaupapa
3. Kia hora te aroha

What is Paint.NET?

'Paint.NET is image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows.  It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools'.
Best of all it's freeware.

Happy New Year!

I hope you are all having a great holiday break.  This week I have been working at home on our new class website and blogs.  I have been learning how to use Paint.net software to create images for my website.  I am looking forward to when the website goes live!