Week 7 Term 4 - What is the purpose? Literacy Plan 2022 (November 29 - December 3)

PURPOSE: the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.

Last week, I had a bit of a moment where I had to stop and really think 'what is the purpose of the literacy plan?' The way literacy is currently structured into our school culture is quite messy and with all the discussions going on with the self-review and planning for the new Literacy program, I became slightly overwhelmed with all of it. I had to stop and understand why we are doing this and who this for, then map it out from there. For me, I need to know and understand the 'why' before I can figure the 'what', 'who', 'how' and 'when'. 

The focus for this literacy program is: 

Prepare students for the new literacy requirements. Support students to achieve the new literacy standards. Support teachers to understand and integrate effective literacy strategies into their teaching. Improve literacy provision across the school.

Focus group: 2022 Year 9 Cohort (possibly Year 10 cohort)

With the new changes coming through for NCEA scheduled for 2023, I have learnt very quickly that managing change is important. Especially when you are rolling out a new initiative, the buy-in and approval from your key stakeholders is important. Managing the change is important in order for this literacy plan to be effective and to have an impact. Ultimately we want literacy to be embedded into the school culture, it should be a natural part of our school learning system and not a 'tick the box' thing that we have to do. 

Understanding and knowing what the purpose is, from the get-go will help drive this change. So where to from here? Well the plan is still in the final draft stages and I have spent this talking to Mrs Pamaka and Julie Luxton, asking for their feedback on what has been planned so far. I taken the big ideas from our earlier group discussions (around the self-review) and I have tried to condense it into a goal that all departments can adapt and integrate into their learning area planning. 

Revised Literacy Plan (draft) Week 7 Term 4

I am reminding myself that this is a work in progress and that we do not have to have all the answers now. It is a journey and one that I am keen to get started with the English Department. I am excited to get feedback from the Literacy Project Team to see what their thoughts are on this. Hopefully we can finalize the plan in Week 8 and present it in early 2022.