what they will be taking into consideration this year. Looking closely at ERO's information for schools: Raising student achievement through targeted action proved useful for me to come back and reflect on how my practise changes and is refined for those students of whom I have identified as my target group. This directive also provided a good starting point for the inquiry process.
My students in my literacy class are at standard or above in reading. I selected students based on data which had showed those who had plateaued in their reading levels. To help identify areas to work on I used the school - wide adopted CAFE model. The Running records, and instruction reading provided me with an in-depth analysis of those who needed support in specific areas. See the below table for the needs and strategies and resources which would be imperative in raising achievement in the target students:
My writing target group was based from those below standard who were reluctant/struggling writers. Punctuation, planning and motivation were all big areas which needed addressing throughout the year. This identified group of writers led me to focus my teacher inquiry around writing.
The Inquiry Process
This is a useful inquiry model. Using this model provides me the opportunity to go back and ask the questions throughout the process. As this is my first teacher inquiry I have to actively set time aside and reflect on the questions that are in the cycle.
Target Students 2015 SO WHAT COMES TO MIND?
FOCUSING INQUIRY
Why my teacher inquiry is based around writing:
- Through analysing the data it was clear that some of our writers in the senior school were not reaching standard or/and falling behind.
- My own writing programme was in need of refinement and professional development.
- Many areas such as lack of motivation, planning, editing/re-crafting were a common need with many of my students.
TEACHING INQUIRY QUESTION
What specific strategies can I implement in my writing programme to help raise student achievement?
TEACHING AND LEARNING, AKO
Work on writing:
The students have worked up their mileage and are able to stay focused on a piece of writing for a set amount of time.
POINT I NOTICED During the time Ruru class trialed the Chrome books I found a greater motivation towards writing. The children were eager to use the technology in their writing which also sets them up well for the future. At this time they were able to sit on a beanbag and plug in headphones to cancel background noise.
Having the freedom to write alongside my structured writing programme has provided a great balance in our writing class.
STORYBIRD
This online programme was an excellent way to motivate the reluctant writers in my class. The fantastic illustrations provided a spark for creativity and a prompt for an exciting story to come. Storybird has many wonderful illustrations and styles for children to take and add their own story. I found that like using the chromebooks, the ICT element added plenty of motivation and the children were keen to share their mini books with the class.
POWER OF THREE:
A great tool shown by Liz Hansen (RTLIT) was using the 'Power of Three' Technique. This was a good way for the literacy group to understand how they can create more detail and interest to their writing by adding three powerful adjectives or WOW words in their sentences. For my target students this was a great asset as their sentences were often simple and cried out for more awareness of the reader.An example of one sentence by a target student started off with;
The children are in the waves.
Turned into...
The children are splashing excitedly in the enormous waves.
I now reference 'Power of Three' throughout my teaching of writing and use it as feed forward. The technique has also provided an opportunity for children to share some PO3s orally.
VCOP:
VCOP was introduced to us by Liz Hansen, it focuses on four main aspects of the writing process and gives the children the skills to improve their own writing through self assessment. VCOP has been a useful tool in my teaching of writing this year. As I have been taking the higher level in writing, I encourage my children to select aspects of writing from level 3-5. Yes, there is a need to still use features from level 1-2 especially in the Ambitious Vocabulary pyramid. However having the awareness to craft their writing based on higher levels directs their focus on the writing process.
VOCABULARY - This pyramid encourages my authors to find 'WOW' words and use them in their writing. It works across all genres, including recounts, explanations etc. The children have become very proactive by using thesaurus' to help find wow words they believe fit in the level 3-4s. Using a topic based Word Wall with this is a great way for the class to see that topic-specific words can be excellent WOW words.
CONNECTIVES - have been useful in my writing programme in encouraging my writers to alter their sentence lengths. It has helped them become aware of simple sentences and complex sentences. They are seeing that too much of the one type of sentence can make the reader less interested.
SENTENCE OPENERS - The class has identified different ways of opening their sentence. They are encouraged to use a range of openers to increase reader interest. I challenge my writers to choose some openers from the the lower three levels of the pyramids.
PUNCTUATION - All to often basic punctuation can be over-looked by my authors. This year I have encouraged them to use level 5 when they are editing and re-crafting their writing. Just having this on the wall and at their tables keeps punctuation to the forefront.
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| VCOP Pyramids are spread out amongst writing tables during our writing time. |
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| Having VCOP displayed on the wall makes it easier for me to refer to during instructional time and the class can refer to WOW words during reading and conversation. |
WORD WALLS:
- support the teaching of key words and subject-specific terminology.
- promote independence in reading and writing by building vocabulary.
- provide visual clues and reference for language learners.
- help students remember connections between words and concepts
I have encouraged the children to link word walls to WOW words we find in our AMBITIOUS VOCABULARY Pyramids. If we are writing an explanation, procedure, recount... We can refer to our word walls.
Research Tells Us ...
(Marzano, Robert J. pp 68 -69)
MAD LIBS:
I found that basic grammar awareness was lacking in many of my students. By the third term I decided that as part of a word work rotation it would be beneficial to incorporate Mad Libs to enhance grammar in a humorous way which was not only fun to share, but also an effective tool for increasing their grammatical knowledge.Again, this provided a great opportunity to experiment with the English language. I found that my ESOL student felt that he could easily take a risk by sharing with his buddy. Often he would rely on using the provided examples for each part of speech, but every now and then he would add his own adjective or noun in the right place which was just brilliant to see!
PLANNING FOR INDEPENDENT WRITING
I identified one of the common needs within my target group was to be able to plan their writing thoughtfully. Much of the group demonstrated the ability to plan by drawing pictures, but I wanted to take this further. For me the obvious choice was using brainstorms, this put words in the forefront of the children's' thinking that they could include in their writing. As brainstorms began to feature as second nature in our writing class I introduced the idea of senses and encouraged children to use these in their planning. This is a technique I have found successful in the past. The children would draw ears, eyes, tongue, nose and a hand. Next to these symbols they would add a range of words to describe the taste, sounds, smells etc of the topic.
Half way in to term two I introduced the burger model as seen in Sheena Cameron's The Writing Book. This planning resource was useful for when we were focusing on different genres. It provided a clear layout and structure for writing. It didn't take long for the students to see that writing, like a burger is held together by two buns The introduction and conclusion, and the middle parts are the meaty bits with condiments that include topic specific words etc.
I have been pleased with my writers as the planning development has encouraged more thoughtfulness by the students.
CRAFTING & EDITING:
It is important for me as the teacher to remind the students in my class to see the need for crafting and editing their work. I have used Sheena Camerons editing pencils to do this. Earlier on in the year I used to have students edit at the end of their drafts, now however, I encourage students to refer to the editing pencils in blocks/stages of their writing. For example after their introductions. Editing and Crafting is an importantant part of the writing process and I encourage my class to not only do this as Self check but also partner check.
— Donald Graves, A Fresh Look at Writing
Responding to Writing.
As part of feed forward, I have adopted the Sheena Cameron's Two Star and a wish system. I have found some useful features to this system including;
Focusing on positive aspects of every piece of writing, (Which links well to PB4L).
Having one Goal/Wish makes it achievable for the writer.
The person providing feed-forward has done more than just mark the writing
It is a nice easy, child friendly layout.
On reflection I would need to be more consistent implementing this within my writing class. I found that this method of responding to writing was often the first thing to get missed out of books due to other constraints.
"Genuine inquiry needs space to take risks, make mistakes and try again – and again." Timperley, Kaser, and Halbert, 2014
HAVING A PURPOSE, AUTHENTIC CONTEXT and AUDIENCE
"...If we simply raise a topic, and expect children to write about it, we will undoubtedly leave those learner-writers in hollows, with no real connection to the topic and unsure of what their readers will want to hear." Gail Loane
The fact of the matter is writers need readers. My children needed to know they will be writing for someone other than me. Providing a real audience for student writing has helped my students think about the purpose for their text. Having authentic contexts throughout my writing programme has created an increased motivation to write, revise and edit!
Some authentic contexts over the year included;
- Invitations for our School ANZAC parade
- Writing questions about WW1 following a presentation of war memorabilia
- Letters to Defence Force personnel requesting help with our remembrance gates
- Thank you letters to parents/staff who have helped provide rich meaningful activities
- Writing an interactive book for junior classes
- Writing questions to a rural school prior to a Skype Session
- Writing a personal experience based on a beach trip, camp, farm visit..
- Writing a recipe for cheese and milkshakes made at school
Having all of these authentic experiences has created a writer's purpose. The purpose is a reflection of what they expected to accomplish by writing the text, from letting a parent know that without them we couldn't go on camp to asking the military to help with our school's remembrance gates or expressing feelings on an experience.
“Writing in isolation without lively response is like singing in the shower or dancing in a coal mine: They are solitary activities devoid of feedback, appreciation, or reaction. They may be pleasurable diversions, but without some response from an audience, they do not get much better. Most writers, and particularly your students, need the reactions of other human beings both during and after they write” (Kirby and Crovitz, 2013, p. 167)
Celebrating our writing
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