Week 1 Term 2 - English Department: Review of Term 1 + Plan for Term 2 (May 2 - 6)

Term 1 was an interesting, evolving, rewarding and challenging time for all of us. As COVID 19 spread in the community, we found ourselves either in isolation or working onsite. Hybrid learning became our ‘new normal’ and as a team we worked together in navigating our learners through a disrupted term. Amber and I cannot thank you enough for the flexibility, patience, commitment and heart that you poured into your teaching, our department and our akonga in Term 1. As a team we have committed to making sure that our communication is transparent so that we are not only on the same page but that we understand the shared vision and goal for our department. We have done this through:

• Committing to our weekly meetings (Thursday 8:30am)
• We have met outside of department meetings to review our NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 assessment schedule.
• We have started looking at our Literacy practices and what we can do to improve it.
• We have started to share literacy strategies with each other during our department meetings.
• We have attended different presentations that impact what we do in the classroom - Design for Learning (CORE Education), Education Perfect (Julian Proccacini), Te Reo PLD (La, Hr, Fn + Sp) + RISE Project.
• Our informal meetings that usually take place after school + the impromptu department shared lunch afternoons.
• We started our Professional Growth Cycle journey early in Term 1 to establish our personal goals for 2022.

English Department @ TOD Term 1, January 2022

Communication is key in any team environment. We hope to continue this going in Term 2, in that we believe this will strengthen what we do both collectively as a team and individually as professionals.  Despite the disruptions that we experienced in Term 1, we are confident in knowing that you provided a service (both online and onsite) that is motivating and inclusive of all our students especially to those who were impacted by COVID 19. Thank you team, we are truly humbled and grateful for what you have done and will continue to do going into Term 2. Here is a brief review of our Junior + Senior English Programs for Term 1 2022.

JUNIOR ENGLISH TERM 1 REVIEW: 

Reviewing our Junior English Program and what we have covered so far is important in that this helps us see where we are headed next. In Term 1 our Year 9 + 10 students were able to tick off our ‘beginning of the year ticket items’. Administering and managing these tests during a term where most of the students were working from home or who were absent from school due to COVID, was a challenge. Thank you to Ms Amber George, Mr Marc Milford + Mrs Mele Suipi Latu for guiding all of us through each task. The tests that the students were able to complete in Term 1 were:

• Asttle Writing
• PAT Reading Comprehension
• STAR Test

We were able to integrate our online tools that helped keep our students engaged from home and in the class. Online tools such as:

• Education Perfect
• MyON
• Workspace
• Google sites
• Kahoot

These are just some of the tools we used to aid our students, especially those who were unable to attend school. We know that there are many other tools that you have used in your teaching that have helped and we look forward to hearing all about this when you share them at our department meetings this term.

One of our goals for Term 1 was to focus on a literary text (1 per term) and across Year 9 and Year 10 - there have been a range of texts that you were able to cover with your students from extended texts The Wave (Todd Strasser), Boy (Roald Dahl) to the visual text The Freedom Writers (Richard LaGraveness) - exposure to good, solid and relevant literary texts is always at the forefront of our teaching and it is awesome that we have started this journey with our akonga. There was also some great work produced by our Year 9 and Year 10 students as a result of your planning and learning program such as creative writing, formal writing, analyzing the language of advertising, understanding film through close viewing with even some dabbling in writing poetry.

SENIOR ENGLISH TERM 1 REVIEW: 

The focus for our NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 students was getting through the Visual Text Study and to complete the accompanying assessment - Close Viewing (3 credits). We had to find innovative ways in making sure that we managed this assessment successfully considering the disruptions that happened throughout Term 1. We decided as a team that we would give the students an extension (considering that many of our senior students were unable to return to school due to COVID or work commitments) which meant that our program schedule would have to change. Students who were unable to complete assessment by the new deadline had the option to apply for the Missed Assessment Form (Form D) and undergo the process led by myself and Amber.

We decided to go down this route to ensure that both our teachers and students would not experience ‘assessment fatigue’ by stretching out the deadline (traditionally this has been our approach in the past). We wanted to close the loop (whilst still giving the students the opportunity to complete it if they were unable to) and ultimately move onto the next part of the program. Our students need to see themselves progressing and with that in mind, we are confident that this approach was successful.

Here is a breakdown of our achievement data (to date) for our NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 students for Term 1.

NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English Results Term 1 2022: Close Viewing Assessment

*This is subject to change Wk1 Term 2 - pending entries of assessment grades on KAMAR across Level 1, 2 + 3

TERM 2 PLAN: 

It is important for any team and organization to review and reflect on where they are at in order for them to understand where they want to go.

JUNIOR ENGLISH TERM 2 PLAN:

The focus for this term is to extend our literacy practices in our class for both Year 9 and Year 10. Below is a list of things that we are planning on doing across the department and there are also some recommendations on what we would like for you to consider in your planning for Year 9/10 English Term 2.

• Year 9 Literacy Booster Group - This is an initiative led by Dr Jannie who will work closely with our Year 9 students who we identified as needing literacy support. The Literacy Booster Group is a response to growing literacy needs that we can see from our Year 9 cohort. The group is made up of 12 students (2 from each class) - Dr Jannie will work with students starting from Week 3 - Week 9.
• Year 9 Crafted Writing Program - During Week 1 and Week 2 of Term 2, all teachers of Year 9 English will go through the Year 9 Crafted Writing Program (designed by Dr Jannie). Dr Jannie will work closely with us during this time.
• Literary Text Study - Focus on an extended text, short text and/or visual text to focus on with your Year 9 and Year 10 students for Term 2.
• Year 9 CATS - Please work on completing a Common Assessment Task with your Year 9 students - you can attach any of the CATS to your text studies.
• Year 10 CATS - It is recommended that you start (if you have not done so already) the Reading Responses and Connections CATS with your Year 10 students this term.

SENIOR ENGLISH TERM 2 PLAN:

The focus for this term is to get our students immersed in a literary text. The goal for our Level 1, 2 and 3 English students is that they will complete an extended text study and an assessment. There is a non-negotiable assessment assigned to each Year Level - this means that this is the assessment that they have to complete in Term 2. There are extra assessment options that we will offer once they have completed the Term 2 assessment.

NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English plan for Term 2

*Please note that Week 1 of Term 2 is reserved for completing the Derived Grade (film essay) for Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 students.

*The assessment schedule below will take place Week 2 onwards.

 
 

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT TERM 2 PLAN: 

Here is our plan for our department this term. Of courses things may change but here is what we are hoping to do with you this term. We will keep you updated if anything changes.

• School Goals - We will review the School Goals for 2022 in Week 3 of Term 2. We will look at Goal 1 and see what we can do to implement our action plan. See the English Department’s response to Tamaki College’s School Goals for 2022 here (this was discussed + reviewed during our planning week Term 4 2021)
• Professional Growth Cycle - We will organize a time to observe you this term :D
• Literacy Strategies/Practice - Continue to share strategies with each other and learn more from our literacy experts - Marc Milford + Dr Jannie Van Hees. PLD - If you come across any PLD sessions (either onsite/offsite/online) that you would like to attend, please email Amber so she can arrange this for you.