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.