Week 1 Term 4 - English Department: Review of Term 3 + Plan for Term 4 - (October 17 - 21)

English Department: Review of Term 3

English Department 2022

Term 3 was another full term for the English Department. On the business side of things, we ventured into this term with a plan to:

• Junior School - Continue to prioritize and work through the Crafted Writing Program (Dr Jannie) + Reading Skills Program (Mr Milford) with our Year 9 + Year 10 English Classes.
• Senior School - Prepare for the Derived Grade Assessments (Week 7) and complete Internal Assessments.

We are happy that we were able to fulfill the goals that we set in place for Term 3. As a team, we were able to work towards each goal TOGETHER. I am incredibly grateful and proud of the team, in how they were able to meet every department goal and also continue to deliver a professional service to our students. As with every term, there are unexpected challenges that arise which at times, can call us away from work. I am so happy that the team was able to stand in the gap for those who were unwell or had personal matters that called them out of work. There is a togetherness in our department dynamic that I believe is an asset to how we operate (as a team and also with our students). I know that going into Term 4, we will continue to travel through the next 8 weeks together and meet our goals as a team.

We really enjoyed preparing for the Careers Pathway Evening + the Year 8 College Experience Week. A big thank you to Ms Kolo for organising and preparing our display for the Careers Pathway Evening. Thank you also to Ms George, Mr Spruyt and Ms Kolo for preparing and hosting the Year 8 students for the Year 8 College Experience week.

Term 3 also saw the end of an era, with Ms Amber George making the transition as Co-HOD of the English Department to full time Senior Leadership Team as Assistant Principal. I have had the privilege of working with Amber as Co-HOD of the English Department since 2019. The last three years have been an awesome learning and growing experience as I have learnt a lot from Amber and the leadership she has brought to the department. Thank you Amber for your commitment to excellence in English, preparing and organising ALL of our paperwork and department gifts :D. Most importantly thank you for your friendship and leadership for the department. We appreciate you and thank you for all that you have done for our team (and continue to do). Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pravina, Christine, Faiyaz, Anahina, Jeremy, Francis, Marc, Dr Jannie and Vivienne - thank you for all that you did in Term 3. Thank you for your hearts and commitment to the department, students and school. Thank you, thank you, thank you team! 

Junior English Term 3 Review

Term 3 saw the continuation of our Literacy experts working closely with our Year 9 and Year 10 English classes. Students across our Junior school cohort, spent time going through the Crafted Writing + Reading Program with Dr Jannie Van Hees and Mr Milford. Our Year 9 and Year 10 students worked on extended, short and visual text studies.

In particular, our Year 10 students have been working hard on their first lot of NCEA Level 1 Assessments that we offer in Year 10 - Personal Responses and the Connections Essay. The students have responded well to this and they are very keen and eager to bank some credits this year. We want to continue our partnership with Dr Jannie Van Hees and Mr Milford as we see this as a meaningful and powerful resource for our akonga.

We are also looking at introducing the English NPG (Numeracy Pedagogy Guidelines) to our Year 9 and Year 10 classes. Mrs Williams is our Department Representative for the Numeracy project and she has started to unpack what effective numeracy practice can look like in an English classroom. We are looking forward to exploring this with our junior students in Term 4. 

9TNi with Mr Milford - Term 3 Reading Program

Mrs Williams going through the Numeracy Pedagogy Guidelines for English (Literacy)

Senior English Term 3 Review

Derived Grade Assembly with our NCEA Level 1 Students (Term 3)

Our Year 11, 12 and 13 English students had a busy Term 3. We planned to focus on internal assessments (week 1 - 4), block out two weeks to prepare the students for the Derived Grade Assessment (week 5 - 6), sit the DGE and then continue working on completing their internal assessments (week 7 - 10). We wanted to create clear spaces for the students so that they understood what we were focusing on as a department. We set up special English assemblies leading up to the Derived Grade Assessment week, so we could explain what the students were revising for the exam and how to navigate the digital exam. Going forward, we will need to explain how to navigate the NZQA site to access the digital exam as there were a lot of students who did not know how to do this which caused some delays during the DGE. This was our first attempt with digital exams for DGE, so it was definitely a learning experience and we are aware of what we need to do to prepare our students better for the exam.

Below is data for the Derived Grade Exams. This is a breakdown of N, A, M, E for the three Derived Grade Exam Assessments that were offered to our Level 1, 2 + 3 English students.

English Department: Derived Grade Results Term 3

Below is the data for our Internal Assessments for 2022. This is a breakdown of our internal assessments for the year. We have seen positive shifts in Term 3 across all three year levels. Our aim is to continue to encourage our students to complete the internal assessments during the first part of Term 4.

Internal Assessment Results end of Term 3 (September 30 Week 10)

 

Junior English Term 4 Plan

Our focus for the Junior English program Term 3 is to continue our work with Marc and Dr Jannie (Literacy strategies). With the release of the new literacy standards in 2023, we are looking to use time in Term 3 to trial some mock literacy standard assessments with our Year 9 and Year 10 students. We also look forward to using the Manaiakalani Create tools in our planning for our Junior English programs. Below are some things we hope to do with our Junior cohort.

• Year 9 Crafted Writing Program + Junior School Reading Skills - Continue our work with Dr Jannie + Mr Milford
• End of Year Junior Exams - Prepare our students for the End of Year Junior Exams (Week 5) focusing on a response to a studied text (extended/short written OR visual text) essay.
• CATS (Common Assessment Tasks) - To be completed by the Week 7
• Year 10 - Continue working through the Level 1 Assessments - Personal Responses + Connections Essay - to be completed by Week 7Our Voices - Build a collection of work from our Year 9 and Year 10 students (written work) to put towards our Department book ‘Our Voices’.

Senior English Term 4 Plan

The focus for this term is to finish internal assessments with the students. We will also use time this term to prepare our students for the end of year NZQA external assessments.

*All Level 1 + Level 2 English Please note that Week 1 - Week 2 is reserved for finishing internal assessments. Week 3 - 4 is exam preparation. Week 5 is the NZQA External Assessment for L1 ENG + L2 ENG
*All Level 3 English Please note Week 1 - 3 is reserved for finishing internal assessments. Week 4 - 5 is exam preparation. Week 6 is the NZQA External Assessment for L3 ENG

Senior English Plan for Term 4

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.

• Professional Growth Cycle - Focus on Inquiry Goal 22 - we will meet this term to discuss what your plan is and what you have done so far.
• Literacy Strategies/Practice - Continue to share strategies with each other and learn more from our literacy experts - Marc Milford + Dr Jannie Van Hees.
• Workspace - Update sites + integrate workspace onto our sites for 2023.

 We are looking forward to finishing this year off on a good note! 

English Department @ the Careers Pathway Evening