Teacher Only Day can either be a hit or a miss. Typically there is an onslaught of information that is shared and by the end of the day one could be left feeling overwhelmed and/or satisfied. At our recent TOD, middle leaders were given the task to take the shared presentation and discuss it with their respective departments. The shared presentation for the Accord Teacher Only Day covered the following areas:
Changes to Literacy + NCEA
Local Curriculum
UDL - Universal Design for Learning
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| Accord Teacher Only Day Presentation - May 16 2022 (click on image to access the presentation) |
Middle leaders were given the choice to choose which areas (or area) that they wanted to focus on with their team. I decided to focus on the Changes to Literacy/NCEA and Local Curriculum. For obvious reasons, in that literacy is the core of what we teach in the English curriculum and a collective desire to understand what local curriculum is in the context of Universal Design for Learning. I was a little overwhelmed with the presentation so I decided to take what I thought would add value or ignite rich discussion to the department. It was important to me for the department to talk about the focus points and questions rather than sit through a presentation. I wanted them to take something away from the TOD and my hope was that the group activities and whole group discussions would be the catalyst for this. This post is outline our discussions around the changes to NCEA and Literacy - we spent most of the day talking through this and there was a lot of good and rich feedback that came from our discussions.
CHANGES TO NCEA
Significant changes to NCEA are going to be in full effect from 2023. These changes will impact both akonga and kaiako and it is important that kaiako understand what these changes are and what are the implications. We started with reviewing the changes to Literacy and NCEA - as it was a big focus to cover and I wanted to ensure that we understood the changes and discussed how we feel about it. For this section, the department was divided into two groups - Group A focused on reviewing the changes to NCEA and understanding the new literacy standards. Here is what Group A shared with the department.
- Ākonga must pass either a Te Reo Matatini standard or these two Literacy standards: US32403: Read written texts to understand ideas and information and US32405: Write texts to communicate ideas and information.
- The literacy and numeracy standards assessed are not included as part of the 60 credits of the NCEA Qualification.
- Reduce qualification from 80 credits to 60 credits.
- Big Ideas for English Literacy Standards
- Read to understand, read critically and for different purposes
- Write meaningful texts for different purposes and audiences,
- Use appropriate conventions and grammar in writing texts
- Endorsements req. 14 credits w at least 1 ext standard passed
- Lit & num achievable from Yr 9
- There is exciting scope for programming Yrs 9 & 10 towards ‘falling in love with texts’ - developing lifelong readers and writing - an intergenerational enabler. (Families that read - modeled and together, grow children that read.)
- Reducing teacher and student workload. Students should not be assessed twice on the same learning outcome, and teachers should not have to mark work towards the same learning outcome twice, with the notable exception of resubmissions.
- Critical literacy is a BIG responsibility and role for us to open the eyes and minds of our ākonga.
- A big picture view is that we grow the complex text capabilities of our ākonga - everyday texts - digital platform texts + media texts, etc.
- The NCEA Change Programme is a work programme led by the Ministry of Education to deliver the package of seven changes aimed at strengthening NCEA.
- Equal status for mātauranga Māori in NCEA – develop new ways to recognise mātauranga Māori, build teacher capability, and improve resourcing and support for Māori learners and te ao Māori pathways.
- Strengthen literacy and numeracy requirements and assessments – ensure students with an NCEA have functional literacy and numeracy skills that will ready them to transition into tertiary education or the workplace.
- Fewer, larger standards – new achievement standards and resources will be developed to replace existing standards and ensure the qualification achieved credentials the most significant learning in a learning area or subject.
- Simplify NCEA's structure – credits can no longer be carried over to the next level and resubmissions will only be allowed where they take students from a ‘Not Achieved’ grade to an ‘Achieved’ grade. Sixty credits are required to pass each NCEA level.
- Clearer pathways to further education or work – develop a Vocational Entrance Award to clearly signal when a student is ready to transition into higher level vocational education and strengthen vocational pathways through NCEA.
- Keep NCEA Level 1 optional – ensure Level 1 provides students with the broad, foundational knowledge needed to support specialization at Levels 2 and 3.
- Students are able to start the Literacy and Numeracy standards at Year 9, and can complete it over the period of their time at school. However, students cannot receive their NCEA Qualification without achieving the Literacy and Numeracy credits.
Overall we are feeling somewhat optimistic about the changes to NCEA. There is an opportunity here to teach to 'learn' rather than teach to 'assess'. The current system is built in a way where the priority is the assessment and the number of credits and for many of the department members, we understand and appreciate the machine work of NCEA. However the opportunity to have less assessments means that we have more time to dig deep into texts, explore texts, student interests and have rich discussions. It was good to start with this review of NCEA as it is a big change and it is important that we know what it is.
CHANGES TO LITERACY
How we teach, deliver and measure literacy will shift from 2023. This shift is one that will have a huge impact on our department as we see the teaching and nurturing of 'literacy' as something that we drive. Group B looked at three areas for 'Change to Literacy' which were - what are the changes to Literacy? What are the big ideas in the Literacy Learning Matrix? What are the effective Literacy practices? These focus questions are there to help us understand the changes that are going to happen and in a way, help us to reflect on how we see ourselves as teachers with the changes that going to take place.
- There are 2 literacy standards: US32403: Read written texts to understand ideas and information AND US32405: Write texts to communicate ideas and information.
- Standards have been reduced to 4 standards
- Two internals and two externals, 5 credits each
- Example of Standard
- 20 credits across all subjects, 60 altogether
- To pass an NCEA qualification, Learners have to pass a Te Reo Matatini Standard or two Literacy standards, one reading and one writing
- Achievement Criteria has changed
- No more NA, A, M or E. Changed to Below the Standard, At the Standard and Above the Standard
- We should design a resource based on Example of Standard and trial it in Term 3 or Term 4 with Y10.
Reading
- Learners make sense of texts
- Learners read critically
- Learners read for different purposes
- Learners write meaningful texts for different purposes and audiences
- Learners use written language conventions appropriately to support communication
- Promote a positive attitude to literacy
- Provide many opportunities for ākonga to read and write
- Connect reading and writing
Model five key reading strategies1:
activating background knowledge
questioning
Analyzing text structure
creating mental images
Summarizing.
- Support ākonga to read critically across texts
- Help ākonga build vocabulary knowledge
- Scaffold writing by focusing on text structure
- Scaffold writing by focusing on language
- Use a writer’s checklist
- Give feedback on writing
- We do this already, but in our own way
REVIEW OF LITERACY PRACTICE
Here is our review of our literacy practices. The focus questions were derived from the presentation and we spent the time to talk through each question, the response from the department was great and I hope to do more of this as we progress into the term.
- Learners make sense of texts
- Close analysis of scenes and written texts; discussion of word connotations, ideas...etc
- Learners read critically
- Attempts on our part to encourage the students to read critically (in preparation for externals)
- Part of our teaching
- @ a junior level - it is about looking at possibilities in a text
- Rich conversations can help students read/understand/interpret texts critically
- Vary the texts to capture students - newsfeed - talk about it. (Reading the news - print, audio, social media)
- How do we give voice to all the voices in the classroom? Provide a place for the students to voice their thoughts - either in a whole class discussion, small group discussions, one-on-one discussions
- Learners read for different purposes
- Level 1, 2 3 English extended text study - translates to Formal Writing, Derived Grade Assessment, Personal Responses, Connections
Writing
What can we do now/implement that will support the big ideas in the literacy learning matrix ?- Learners write meaningful texts for different purposes and audiences
- Formal Writing (across all year levels)
- Asttle Writing
- Creative Writing
- Personal Responses
- Connections (Level 1, 2 + 3)
- Writing Portfolio (Level 2 + Level 3)
- Learners use written language conventions appropriately to support communication
- Publish work - Tamaki College Student Voice
- Jeremy Spruyt to create an English Department Writers Site (student who has made the most progress etc) as a hub and then print it out.
- Celebrating writing & making it visible around the school - eg. 10RLa’s poem with Jeremy.
- Our students are conditioned - they are always asking if ‘credits’ are attached - we need to shift the mindset
- Tapasa Etc talks about see our students holistically + Manaiakalani talks about students as a data point
- In our journey - we are always talking about ‘learning’ focused culture (our desire for it) We want our students to love texts for texts and not for assessments
- Our student voice collection of writing is our attempt/effort to work towards a curriculum/learning focus
English teachers are responsible for literacy TO All teachers are responsible for literacy
- We don’t know what the other subject areas are doing with literacy. We know what we are doing.
- We shouldn’t expect literacy experts to have linguistic expertise
- Subject areas outside of English want to help their students with literacy but they are wanting to know what works in the English Dept.
- Literacy Project (needs to roll out this Term with St, Vn H, Md)
- We are looking forward to the ‘foundational’ way of assessment. Taking away the complexities in content and focus on foundational knowledge in literacy across texts.
- Every teacher needs to understand what NCEA Literacy + Numeracy might look like in their subject area
- Every teacher needs to be a teacher of literacy and numeracy in their subject: every teacher needs to know what they can do to support literacy + numeracy
- Even small shifts in practice can make a big difference
- Good practice for embedding literacy + numeracy can be planned or spontaneous
Activity: Take these six strategies (adding more if you can) and use them as the basis of a discussion. Rank them in terms of which could be implemented most easily. Identify the next step needed to implement each strategy within your school and draft an action plan.
- Recognise + develop an ACTION PLAN
- Student goal setting guide: Reading
- There needs to be descriptors on what the data implicates to teachers
- Take away one position and create a cross curriculum literacy specialist group
- Too many barriers with this principle. They/We share diagnostic information about each of the students.
English Department: Next steps:
- We could send out a survey to the Year 8 students to get more formative information from the teachers.
- Varied class activities - Google Classroom
- Interview student/families - to get to know the student/families and to see if they are fit for the school
- Subject areas to work with Marc to understand the data
The take away from our review of the changes to Literacy and NCEA is that we are ready for the change. We are excited about the opportunities that this change brings - an opportunity to focus on what we teach rather than what we assess. The real inspiration and excitement happened when we were talking about how we could implement the big ideas from the literacy learning matrix into our program this year. The student magazine/website idea where we collate our student voice through their writing (whether it is an essay or their experiences or creative writing) is exciting for us. We are looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
In my next post, I will discuss the findings from our discussions around 'local curriculum'.
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