This is the first time I have used a causal chain or backwards mapping frame. I used another colleague's one to help me follow the process. I was able to work out mine thinking about my students' learning and what I need to do achieve this. I think it will be quite helpful to remind me what to do so I keep the momentum up.
Teacher Only day for the Tamaki Cluster was held at Pt England School on Friday 2 June.
We begin with a prayer in Samoan as it was Samoan Language week.
Next we looked at our school's data on Ed Potential. Looking at the data showed that PES was doing well in reading compared to other schools. Writing at the Year 4 level had a steep climb from the previous year which was good. It seems a bit puzzling but on further reflection it could that with students regularly back at school after covid there could be a steep climb. These students would have been in Year1/2 when covid hit.
One of the graphs we were shown was the results of the observations around teaching reading. I found this the most interesting as it made me think about what I do. I think I am very good teaching decoding and comprehension. The higher thinking skills not so much. To be fair I have had students in the past couple of years who I have needed to teach these skills to. I decided my personal goal this year was to work on critical literacy.
I wrote these notes on the day:
Critical literacy themes - look at society eg. gender roles, culture, bias.
Shared vocabulary relating to critical literacy themes - metalanguage around the theme eg. dominant, inferior, judgemental, positive.
Different perspectives identified - readers being aware of social constructs represented by authors in texts, ie no text is neutral.
Using evidence from the text - refers to specific sections of the text.
Teaching authors' positioning of readers - explicit teaching of how texts represent particular views, voices and interests and silence others. Either consciously or unconsciously.
During the circle chat, I did pick up that there were videos on inferential skills on youtube which I thought would be good to use to help develop inference and also higher thinking skills.
Subitising is important for children’s mathematical development for many reasons:
Subitising is an alternative maths strategy that is more efficient when dealing with smaller numbers. It helps children to see how numbers are made up.
For example, you can make the number eight using many pairs: 1 + 7, 2 + 6, 3 + 5 and 4 + 4. By separating and combining numbers through subitising, children lay the foundations for addition and subtraction.
Children also learn an important mathematical law through subitising: it doesn’t matter in what order you add numbers together, as you always get the same answer! For example, 2 + 3 = 5 and 3 + 2 = 5.
I know from experience that students who cannot use their basic facts quickly do not move through Numeracy Stages. I also want my inquiry to give me more teaching strategies for this than I have used before.
Moving the basic fact strategy level should shift the levels across the board and to lift the students from below or well below. This inquiry may only be for 10 weeks.
Data Start Point
