Week 8 Term 1 - Adjusting the Approach (Mar 21 - 25)

 At the beginning of the year, the English Department had a plan in place for our NCEA students. We wanted to ensure that we were all on the same page - literally team teaching the same text and assessment for the first part of Term 1. Our goal (which still remains) was to ensure that our students were able to bank some early credits through our visual text study focusing on the Close Viewing Assessment. Across all three year levels (NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 English) our students spent the first three and half weeks fully immersed in our visual text study. Our Level 1 students delved into Tim Burton's 1990's classic 'Edward Scissorhands', our Level 2 students got familiar with the local director, James Napier Robertson's 'The Dark Horse' and our Level 3 students dug deep into 2013's Martin Scorsese's hit 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. 

Our intention was to get through the study of the visual text and start the assessment by Week 4 and Week 5. However as soon as community transmission of COVID 19 impacted our school whanau, our plan came to a halt. From Week 5 to Week 7, our dedicated English Department have been working overtime to try and get our students back into the routine of school on top of catching up with their Close Viewing Assessment. The initial due date for the Close Viewing Assessment was March 18 (Week 7). We knew that the return on this assessment would be low due to so many of students who have been absent due to COVID 19. We wanted to push through any way to see how many students completed the assessments. We met on Monday March 21 (Week 8) to discuss the Close Viewing Assessment. In our discussion, we spoke about the students who completed the assessment and those who did not submit. We also discussed how we needed to adjust our approach, taking into consideration the disruption that our students have experienced this term. Here are some of our findings from the meeting. 

NCEA Level 1 English 2022: Overview of the L1 Close Viewing Assessment. 

Our NCEA Level 1 students (for the most part) have responded well to the Close Viewing Assessment. Considering the disruptions to their learning, the English Department have managed to guide some of their students through the assessment (in a new Hybrid Learning structure). There is still a significant number of students who have not completed the assessment which of course, is a cause for concern.

NCEA Level 2 English 2022: Overview of the L2 Close Viewing Assessment. 

Much like the NCEA Level 1 students, our NCEA Level 2 students have had made some good progress with the Close Viewing Assessment. The students who have managed to finish the assessment were present in both online learning (week 3 and week 4), there was some type of communication throughout the last three weeks and they were present for learning onsite. The students who have not submitted the work is due largely to the fact that they have not been able to engage with their work due to COVID 19 or they are working. We have had some new students join our classes during the course of Week 3 and Week 4, which in itself poses some issues as the students have not been able to get online. 

NCEA Level 3 English 2022: Overview of the L3 Close Viewing Assessment. 

Our Level 3 engagement with the Close Viewing Assessment has been disappointing and concerning to say the least. The return with assessment has been poor with only 4 students out of 79 completing the assessment, we can see that there is an opportunity here. An opportunity where can either continue with our program and fail the students who did not submit. Or we can adjust our program to try and work with those who need it, in the hope that they will submit their work. 

ADJUSTING THE APPROACH: If you adjust something, you change it to make it suitable for a new purpose or situation

We wanted to ensure that all of our students had the opportunity to achieve credits this term. As this term is 11 weeks long, we know that we have the luxury of time to wriggle things around in our program to afford this opportunity. We have decided to give our students an extension of two weeks (Week 8 + Week 9) to complete the Close Viewing Assessment. The team have been encouraged to speak to the students about WHAT the decision and WHY we have decided to go forward with this. We have also asked the team to make sure that they communicate this both in person and via email so that the students have no excuse and that they are updated. Once we reach the end of Week 9, the hope is that the students are ready to complete and submit the assessment. If they do not meet the deadline, then this will be classed as a Not Achieved grade. The hope, however, is that our students will use this time wisely and make the most of the extension. Our plan for Week 8 + Week 9 has been shared to our students via email.

Our plan for Week 8 + Week 9

Our team have been working with our students (both online and onsite) and this has been quite intense. The feedback, one-on-one sessions, after school classes (onsite) and Google Meets (after 3:00pm) have all taken place. I do not see this changing over the next two weeks. I am also not surprised at how well we have adjusted to this new type of learning and teaching. We have no choice but too, we cannot complain or try and stick to the status quo because that is what we expect. Teaching in a COVID landscape is difficult and challenging, it is a landscape that is forever evolving. One positive takeaway from our discussion was this sense of togetherness. Although we may have felt disappointed or frustrated with the poor return of assessments, we knew that we could adjust our approach together as a team. It is vital that the team are on the same page, that we acknowledge what went wrong but ultimately that we agree on how we can move forward - together. It is important that our pedagogy evolves as well, as we need to meet the needs of our students. I anticipate for a better return in student completion of the assessment by the end of Week 9. I am hopeful!