Week 1 Term 2 - English Department: Term 1 Review + Plan for Term 2 (April 24 - April 28)

Term 1 was a busy, full on, challenging and rewarding time for the English Department. I would firstly like to thank the team for their work, commitment, support and awhi that they have shown to our akonga in Term 1. The work and time that you have invested into your akonga and into your teaching has set the tone for 2023. I am very grateful and humbled to work alongside you, thank you!

Term 1 was another full term. With the implementation of Hybrid Learning on Mondays, we knew that we had a short window to get through the learning program with our Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 English students. We enjoyed our Staff PLD sessions on Monday, we particularly enjoyed our time with Dr Rae Si’ilata and listening to our COL teachers. We were not able to meet as regularly as we would have liked but managed to find time during Hybrid Learning on Monday, to meet and check in with each other. I would like to acknowledge Ms Anahina Latu for her leadership this term especially when I was away, she stepped in and took care of the department. I would also like to acknowledge Ms Amber George, Mr Marc Milford, Ms Vivienne Jenson-Jones and Dr Jannie for their work and support for the English Department this term.

This term we were able to achieve the following things:

1) Complete our teacher inquiry, goal setting and plan for our Professional Growth Cycle - it is always exciting to see what each department member’s inquiry is going to be for the year. I am excited to journey with the team through their individual inquiries and goals for 2023.

2) Establish + implement our Junior and Senior English Program - We have collaborated and agreed on a program for both our Junior and Senior English students. We have implemented the program and so far so good. We have also implemented our plan for our Term 2 which we will put into gear after the school holidays.

3) Asttle Writing + PAT Reading Junior English - We completed our Asttle Writing and PAT Reading tests with our students. There are a few students who did not complete the Asttle Writing, we are hoping to see that number decrease with follow up/catch up sessions with Mr Milford.

4) Close Viewing Assessment (NCEA Level 1, 2 + 3 English) - We are almost at the end of completing our first internal assessment with our Level 1, 2 and 3 students. We have a few students across our senior school cohort who have completed the assessment successfully.

5) External Moderation 2022 - We were really pleased with the results from the external moderation for our assessments (91478 - Connections - Level 3 + 91480 - Close Viewing - Level 3). Our external moderation was successful and this highlights to us that our marking, critique and moderation process is on par nationally. Well done team!

We will now review our Term 1 Junior and Senior English program.

JUNIOR ENGLISH TERM 1 REVIEW: 

Term 1 Junior English Program

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

• Roald Dahl’s - Boy (Year 9 English)
• Andy Mulligan’s - Trash (Year 10 English)

Following the novel study, our students worked on our CAT (Common Assessment Task) Formal Writing. The formal writing tasks varied - from response to text type essays to text review essays. The students were engaged with the formal 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 2.

Below are some examples of the formal writing from our akonga. Their understanding of the text and their opinion on how they felt about the text are things that we really appreciate in their writing.

Student exemplar 1 - Formal Writing Tamaki College Term 1 

Student exemplar 2 - Formal Writing Tamaki College Term 1

SENIOR ENGLISH TERM 1 REVIEW: 

Senior English Program Term 1

Our focus for Term 1 for our NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 students was the visual text study accompanied by the Close Viewing Assessment. For our NCEA Level 1 students, the visual text study we focused on was Tim Burton’s ‘Edward Scissorhands’, NCEA Level 2 the visual text we studied was James Napier Robertson ‘The Dark Horse’ and for our NCEA Level 3 student’s we looked at Ron Howard’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’. 

The focus assessment for our Level 1, 2 and 3 students for Term 1 was Close Viewing. We knew that we had a short time frame to get through the assessment especially with Hybrid Learning impacting our face to face time with our students. We found the Wednesday timetable (7 periods) useful for us and our Year 11 students as we see them three times on a Wednesday. We made sure to maximize our time with our Year 11 students on Wednesdays. 

Given the interruptions to Term 1 and all the demands that our Year 11, 12 and 13 students have with extra curricular activities (school closure due to the flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle, Polyfest etc) we knew that we had to change the goal post for our internal assessments. We set out for Week 10 to close the loop on our internal assessments. We have now agreed on moving the deadline to the end of Week 1 Term 2, to give our senior students time during the holidays to complete their assessments. S

• NCEA Level 1 Close Viewing Results - 24 completed/passed as of April 6 2023.
• NCEA Level 2 Close Viewing Results - 27 completed/passed as of April 6 2023.
• NCEA Level 3 Close Viewing Results - 3 completed/passed as of April 6 2023.

We are aware that this term had its fair share of interruptions. We are aware of the gap that these interruptions have created and we know what we need to do to plug that gap. We have moved our goal post to the end of Week 1 Term 2 - for our students to complete their term 1 assessment. We are hopeful that the extra time during the holidays will give our students the best opportunity to complete their assessments.

Student exemplar 1 - NCEA Level 1 English Close Viewing Term 1

Student exemplar 2 - NCEA Level 3 English Close Viewing Term 2

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GOALS TERM 2

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.

Literacy Strategies - We spent a significant amount of time throughout 2022 working on delivering effective literacy strategies to our Year 9 and Year 10 students. We hope to continue this partnership with Dr Jannie and Mr Milford, hopefully venture out on our own and share what we have learned to our junior students.

Unpacking new Literacy Standards/NCEA changes - We have started to unpack the new NCEA Level 1 internal assessments. We hope to continue looking at the new literacy standards and hopefully do a trial run with our Year 10 students this year. I would like to see us unpack and start planning 2024 for our NCEA Level 1 program as the changes will impact our Level 1 English program. The hope is to start this journey when we have our TOD in Week 2.

The outline of our TOD for Wk2 T2. 

Closing the gap with internal assessments - We have made a good start with our senior akonga. We want to continue to get our students over the line with their internal assessments. We know that a lot of our content needs to be driven this term and we are hopeful that we will be able to get our students through their internal assessments.    

We know that our goals will change as we go throughout the term. For now, our focus is to develop and implement our literacy strategies for our Year 9 and Year 10 students. We also want to continue in developing our plan for the new NCEA Level 1 changes which will be fully implemented next year. 

JUNIOR + SENIOR ENGLISH PROGRAM TERM 2: 

The Junior English Program for Term 2 is centered around a short text study (short stories, poems, songs, sonnets). The common assessment task that will accompany the short text study is creative writing and create a visual text. We also have our mid year junior exams that will take place at the end of the term. 

Junior English Program Term 2

The Senior English program for Term 2 is centered around the extended text study. We will reading the text from Week 2 - Week 5 across our Level 1 - Level 3 classes. The assessments associated to the extended text study are our major written assessments (Creative Writing, Formal Writing, Connections Report and Reading Responses). We want to ensure that our students complete the extended text study and assessments by the end of Week 10. 

Senior English Program Term 2