Week 1 Term 3 - English Department: Term 2 Review + Plan for Term 3 (July 17 - July 21)

Term 2 was a challenging term to say the least. As a department and as a school, we were teaching in a time where PPTA Strike Action was taking place and our students were in and out of school. Despite all the challenges that we faced, we finished the term well. I would like to thank the entire English Department team - Ms Anahina Latu, Mrs Pravina Harde, Mrs Christine Williams, Mr Faiyaz Hoosein, Mr Jeremy Spruyt, Ms Francis Kolo, Mr Marc Milford, Mrs Viviene Jenson-Jones and Dr Jannie Van Hees - thank you for your time, hearts, commitment and service to the English Department and to your students. My job is made so much easier because of you. Thank you all!

Here are some highlights for the English Department Term 2.

• English Department Monday morning (Term 2) - We have enjoyed our Monday morning meetings during Hybrid learning. It is a time for us to come together and to regroup. It has been helpful for us to get on to the same page, to learn from each other and share in each other’s journey throughout the term.

• Teacher Only Day (Week 6 Term 2 - June 2 2023) - The Manaiakalani Cluster Teacher Only day took place at the end of Week 6 Term 2. The primary focus of the TOD was 'CREATE' specifically 'Creativity Empowers Learning' - For Manaiakalani Create/Hanga is built on engagement and empowerment. How are we harnessing Create to motivate our learners to ENGAGE with reading to learn and learning to read?

• Teacher Only Day (Week 2 Term 2 - May 1 2023)  For our most recent TOD, we used this time to focus on the changes to NCEA Level 1 English program and to continue our discussion around the new achievement standards. We spent time revisiting the new achievement standards that we covered in 2022 and also explored the new external assessments that are on offer. We were able to do this as well as flesh out a draft plan for our new NCEA Level 1 English program 2024. We used TOD to feedback about the external assessments. Much like what we covered last year, the department looked at the same five areas when unpacking the assessment -

1. What is the assessment?
2. Keywords and concepts from the assessment
3. Opportunities
4. Potential barriers
5. Next steps

The department was broken up into two groups - each group looking at the new achievement standards (1.3 and 1.4).

We will now review our Term 2 Junior and Senior English program.

JUNIOR ENGLISH PROGRAM TERM 2 REVIEW: 

Junior English Program Term 2

Our focus for Year 9 and Year 10 English was Short Text. We spent the term going through our first text study for 2023. Some of the texts that were covered this term were:

• Jillian Sullivan - Dear Ex Dad (Year 9 English)
• Alicia Keys - P.O.W (Year 9 English)
• Witi Ihimaera - Big Brother Little Sister (Year 9 + Year 10 English)
• Andy Mulligan’s - Trash (Year 10 English)

Following the short text study, our students worked on our CAT (Common Assessment Task) Creative Writing. The students were engaged with the Creative Writing CAT and we are pleased with the results. We are hoping to close the loop with students who were not able to complete it during the first week of Term 3.

Below are some examples of the creative writing from our akonga. Their understanding on how to craft a creative text and how they used their narrative voice was impressive.

Student exemplar 1 - Creative Writing Tamaki College Term 2

Student exemplar 2 - Creative Writing Tamaki College Term 2

 

SENIOR ENGLISH PROGRAM TERM 2 REVIEW

Senior English Program Term 2

The focus for Term 2 for our NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 students was the Extended Text Study. For NCEA Level 1 English we focused on John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, for NCEA Level 2 English we focused on Doris Lessings ‘The Grass is Singing’ and for NCEA Level 3 English we focused on Tim O’brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’.

The focus assessment for our NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 students for Term 2 was our written assessments. Our NCEA Level 1 English students worked through the Creative Writing Assessment and Create a Visual Text Assessment. Our NCEA Level 2 English students worked on the Connections Report Assessment and Personal Response Assessment. Our NCEA Level 3 English students worked through the Connections Report Assessment.

NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English Data Week 1 Term 2

NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English Data Week 9 Term 2

It has been a challenge to try and get through our extended text study and assessment given the interruptions that we faced this term. But we are grateful for the shifts that we have seen with our student achievement data. We collectively agreed that we will continue to allow our students to work through any unfinished internal assessments in Term 3 as time in Term 2 has not allowed them to finish the work.

We understand and acknowledge that there are so many things going on with our senior students. Some are working, attendance is an issue and motivating students through this has become a challenge. In saying this, we are hopeful and determined to see it through with our students. We are going to continue working through the internal assessments as a focus for Term 3 as well as preparing our students for derived grade exams.

We look forward to working with our NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 English students.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GOALS TERM 3

As a department, we like to discuss what our priorities and goals are. Sometimes our priorities change as we journey through the term but we try to stick to our goals as best as we can. Below are some of the goals that we would like to work towards in Term 2. 

• Finish Internal Assessments - We want to prioritize Term 3 to helping our students finish their internal assessments for NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English. That means that for the majority of Term 3, our students will be working through starting and completing the final lot of internal assessments. We have all covered our text studies so we want to use the time to help our students get over the line. We will also make time in Week 6, 7 + 8 to go through Derived Grade Exam preparation.

• Unit Plan + Design our Level 1 English Program 2024 - We have started to unpack the new NCEA Level 1 internal and external assessments. We have a draft plan on what we want the program to look like. We want to use time (hopefully during Hybrid Learning Day) to plan our units for the New NCEA Level 1 program. The collaboration and planning has already started and we have documented this in our English Department: NCEA 2024 Assessments folder. We hope to finalize our program by the end of Term 3.

• Year 10 Literacy Assessment - The new literacy assessment will be assessed in Term 4. There are 17 - 21 students who have been selected from Year 10 to sit the trial assessment. We hope to work with these students during Hybrid Learning on Monday to teach them the literacy skills that they need for the assessment.

JUNIOR + SENIOR ENGLISH PROGRAM TERM 3

Junior English Program Term 3

The focus for our Junior English Program is our Visual Text Study (Film Study). We hope to complete the supporting CATS for the Visual Text Study - Close Viewing and Speech. We look forward to exploring visual language techniques with our students this term. 

Senior English Program Term 3

The focus for our Level 1, 2 and 3 students is to complete the internal assessments by the end of the term. We also want to make sure that our students are prepared for their derived grade exams which take place in Week 10. 

Term 3 is always a busy term and there is a lot of things that we need to complete with our senior students. I am confident in the team and I know that they are going to support our students in making sure that they cross the line. I am grateful for the team that I work alongside. All the best to all of my colleagues and students going into Term 3.