2019 Teaching As Inquiry

As on this  article by the Primary Professional Development Service, we have introduced roles into all of our group tasks. There are a few things which have shifted in our classroom. The first has been a need for students to slow down and go deeper in their discussions, allowing them more time to react, respond and further question what they are studying at the time. Initially getting the students to offer their thoughts or explain their thinking involved far too much teacher input/questioning. Giving the other groups more wait time and guiding only when needed has paid off with all students happier to discuss and pull apart the texts. The second development has been a slow, but steady shift in collaboration between students. Guided Reading is now treated as group discussion and conferencing together to unpack the questions, text and tasks together. By sharing more of the decision making over how to "Create-Share" their work engagement has improved across the class. Attit

Name/Year Ethnicity READING WRITING MATHS Y5 - LP Tongan 8-8.5 2A Stage 5 Y5 - AS Filipino 9.5-10 1A Stage 5 Y5 - ETB Niue 8-8.5 1A Stage 5 Y6 - DS Indian 9.5-10 1A Stage 4-5 Y6 - BT Maori 8.5-9 2B Stage 4 Y6 - RC* Filipino Stage 3-4 *Note: This student arrived in NZ December 2018. He is new to our school as at T1.

I have noticed quite a shift in some areas for my class this term and some areas which I need to focus more energy on. The majority of the class are enthusiastic towards learning activities be it independent, in pairs or in groups. They enjoy getting the chance to voice their opinions on thing they can connect with, however, many of the students find it very difficult to make any connection to them, their world or even anything else they have read. Britton's famous quote "Reading floats on a sea of talk" initially inspired me to shift my focus during guided reading group sessions, but it is still highly likely that many of the students in my class won't find anything to connect to or with. They share their thoughts well, but they simply don't have any connection to what we are discussing. With this challenge in mind I am considering shifting the emphasis from merely comprehension and inference into critically discussing the texts and exploring how they make them

During the course of this term I have been noticing a few things about this class. They are very quick to adapt to a new teaching style, however, they are also finding working on collaborative situations difficult. This is due to the tendency to resort for them to make comments to each other which more often than not causes offence or embarrassment. At root level, these children have a very positive attitude towards learning which just needs some teaching directed towards encouraging the development of skills which promote positive collaboration. Some critical thinking skills will help them think outside their own bubble and work on fostering relationships with others rather than focus on self. From the beginning of the term they have embraced the different teaching style, however, they are yet to invest deeply in the various group activities they learn. The playground culture shows itself strongly within the classroom and students are often scared to take risks within Maths and Re