Week 5 Term 4 - Literacy Self-Review (November 15 - 19)

The first session on the self-review for Literacy for the Literacy Project Group was a great way to get the conversation started. Literacy is an important part of any child's learning. Literacy enables children, young adults and adults the ability to discover the world, new ideas and to express their own thoughts and opinions. The Albany Business Review supports this by saying that "Literacy is essential to developing a strong sense of well-being and citizenship. Children who have developed strong reading skills perform better in school and have a healthier self-image. They become lifelong learners and sought-after employees." The initial discussion around the self-review highlighted where we think we are at in terms of how we prioritize literacy in our curriculum and what our current structure is for literacy programs. Our most recent meeting this week was focused on taking the self-review further and exploring where we are at and where we hope to be. This discussion was an opportunity for the team to think about what is the good practice that we have in literacy? How can we make it better? What are the gaps and areas for opportunity that we should advantage of? What are our next steps or action plan for the new changes to literacy? I am going to review the self-review and what my overall takeaway was from the experience. 

SECOND PHASE

means the period from the end of the Transition Phase to the end of three

For this second phase of the self-review we looked at four key areas of the self-review rubric. These areas are: 

• Data Management + Use
• Kaiako Pedagogy
• Akonga Focus Action Plan
• Whanau/Iwi/Community Engagement

We wanted to explore (in depth) what we are currently doing for each area and then start the dreaming and hoping - what are our next steps for our action plan. 

Where are we at?

Self-Review - Where are we at?

It is good to talk about where we are at. It can be difficult to see and acknowledge the truth but it helps one understand the full picture and in hope, give a sense of purpose or drive for whatever the new direction is. Much like our first conversation, we used this opportunity to really unpack where we are at with the four areas. Personally I believe that that there is good practice and good intentions in all four areas from all subject learning groups school wide. I think that going forward, what we can do better is to prioritize not just the new changes to literacy but literacy as a whole in our teaching practice. Literacy is not just an English department focus, it is something that students are doing across the board. I believe that all teachers want to use data effectively, they want to really understand the new changes to the curriculum, they want to have personalized learning plans for their students, they want to engage with community and whanau on the level that has a positive impact on their student's learning. They want all of it. The last two years have been disruptive to say the least and the time constraints around NCEA do not help. Yes this does sound like an excuse, it is, but it is the reality. For me, this is where I am at with the four areas. 

What are our next steps?

Self-Review - What are our next steps?

This is where the conversation takes a different direction. We start talking about what we CAN do and what we hope to achieve. I like this part, I am a bit of a dreamer and it is always fun to talk about the possibilities. 

For Data Management + Use we understand that whilst we do collect and collate data, not all teachers are using it effectively. One possible next step that I found particularly exciting was the idea of getting a representative from each department to work with our literacy strategist (Mr. Milford) in being part of the process - crunching and understanding the data and then sharing this back to their respective learning areas. It is good PLD and it will really put on the ownership and responsibility of literacy to all teachers in all departments. 

Kaiako pedagogy was an interesting area to talk about because there variances across the school on where teacher's stand with literacy however one of the steps I suggested was taking our school goal number 3: 

Goal 3 Literacy and Numeracy

By the end of Year 10, 80% of students will be reading at or above the expected level

By the end of Year 10, 70% of students are writing at or above the expected Curriculum Level.

By the end of Year 10, 70% of students are achieving in Mathematics at or above the expected Curriculum Level.

That 90% of Year 11 students will achieve NCEA Literacy.

That 90% of Year 11 students will achieve NCEA Numeracy.

Taking this goal and give departments manageable chunks on what they can do to reach this goal. Better yet, what literacy strategies they can integrate and who they can work with to achieve these literacy goals. The hope is that this will give staff the confidence that they can drive great literacy practice in their classroom. I believe that confidence ( or lack thereof) is a barrier with how staff teach and foster literacy. Having a good understanding on what the goal and HOW they can achieve and WHAT they can do to get there will hopefully give them that extra boost. 

Akonga Focus Action Plan is all about student centered teaching and leadership. Again like the areas mentioned earlier, there is good practice happening in the school. The area for opportunity that I think should be prioritized is to give all learning areas sufficient time to really plan well and to look at who their students are and what they can to support them effectively. Time is precious, but I think that if we can buy some it can really help teachers understand who their learner is and tailor the program to their students. Giving teachers some great direction, guiding questions and tools can help shape great practice. 

Whanau/Iwi/Community Engagement is such an important of student's learning journey. Students can really flourish and thrive if they feel supported and understood not just from their teachers but also from their families. Dr Jannie suggested that a way to achieve this is to connect with whanau and see how we can help them support their students with reading and writing. Families want to help, they want to support their child and for some, they do not know how to. So making a deliberate effort to prioritize this is recommended move on our part. We do have some opportunities that we have taken advantage of already to start this process through the various parent initiative groups, mentor conferences and project based learning classes that work with communities and whanau. We would also like to use this as leverage. 

At this stage, the self-review is collection of the ideas from all team members. This has been shared with Julie Luxton who will collate the ideas and help form an action plan with us.