Week 8 Term 4 - Teacher Practice: Inquiry 2023: Final Project - Yearbook (November 27 - December 1)

Teacher Inquiry 2023: Improving reading and writing engagement with my Year 9 students through creating mixed ability groups within my Year 9 class.

9TKl working on their final project

I have enjoyed the journey with my teacher inquiry for 2023. Initially I started out with wanting to engage students with reading and writing through grouping them in tailored learning groups. This went into full effect in Term 2 and Term 3. This term I have given the students the space to group themselves and as I expected, they are working in their friend groups. I have found that the initial plan to group them into their learning level groups was a good foundation for them to venture out and work in their own groups and with their friends. They have accumulated a good set of skills and work ethic that is strong enough for them to go out and work independently. I have really enjoyed documenting my inquiry and what I have been able to cover in my inquiry journey this year. 

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 02/04/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 06/05/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 21/05/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 12/06/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 26/06/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 24/07/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 07/08/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 14/08/23

Alby’s Blog Entry Post - 18/09/23

YEARBOOK

This term we are in the process of working (independently) on their final project - Yearbook. The students have completed all of their Common Assessment Tasks, reading/writing tests and exams. I wanted to end the year with a project where they can Reflect, Review, Evaluate and Celebrate their learning journey in English. Creating a yearbook - I believe - is an opportunity for the students to really look back and reflect and appreciate their work and the learning that they have experienced in English. There are different components in the Yearbook that I know would appeal to the students from writing to crafting a visual text - I know that this is the best way to close our learning for the year. 

For this project I wanted the students to work in two phases. Phase 1 - the creation process where they work through 7 tasks. Each task will enable the students to build and create the content for their Yearbook. Phase 2 is the final part of the creation process where the students take each phase and place into their final design of their yearbook. In this phase they will create their final design of their yearbook onto Google Slides or Book Creator (both apps which we have used throughout our inquiry). 

PHASE 1: 7 TASKS

Click on the link to access the Yearbook Project

Pepeha - Pepeha is a way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells people who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you. The student will create a pepeha as the opening for their Yearbook. There is a cool app that we used for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week (Term 3) here - Create Pepeha

Reflection Essay - In this task the students are asked to write an essay (250 - 350 words) where they reflect on the year 2023. They are given some prompts to help guide the written reflection.

 
Learning Journey - For this task the students reflect on their learning journey, documenting their results and writing and evaluation on their progress and what they thought they did well.

 
Showcasing your work - Here for this part of the yearbook the students will showcase your best work from English this year. They will choose ONE piece that they did well and explain what it is and why they enjoyed it.

 
Photo Collage - For this task the students will create a photo collage to include in their Yearbook.

Favorite Text - The students will choose ONE text that they enjoyed from our literature study this year and write a review on it.

 
Create a cover - For this final task, the students will create a cover for their yearbook.

PHASE 2: CREATING + DESIGNING THE YEARBOOK

For Phase 2, the students had the option of designing and crafting their text on Google Slides or Book Creator. All of them chose to design their Yearbook on Google Slide as it was easier for them to navigate. They had free range on what the design could look like. 

The students really enjoyed this project. This project was an opportunity for them to collate their best work, reflect on what they have done, and think about what they can improve on. Ultimately this project was an opportunity for them to create and produce a text that celebrates their work, their voice and enhances their mana. Here are some awesome examples of the Yearbook Project from my inquiry focus group - 9TKl. 

Cover

Pepeha

Reflection

Reflection 

Learning Journey

Showcasing my work

Photo Collage 

Week 7 Term 4 - English Department - TOD: Planning for 2024 (November 20 - November 24)

English Department @ TOD 17/11/23

At our most recent Teacher Only Day (Friday November 17 - Week 6 Term 4) we prepared and planned our Senior NCEA Level 1 English course, our literacy strategy for 2024 and we started to review and refine our Junior English program. I have really enjoyed documenting and reflecting on our journey in preparing for our new NCEA Level 1 English course (see my reflections below)

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 16/05/22

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 24/08/22

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 13/11/22

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 30/04/23

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 27/08/23

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 15/10/23

Alby's Blog Entry Post - 29/10/23

Since we have covered so much since May 2022, TOD was an opportunity for us to look and review where we are at and refine our next steps so that we are as ready as we can be for 2024. Our main focus for the TOD was to look at: 

1. Literacy Strategies 2024
2. Term 1 2024: Our Stories + Our Histories through poetry + AS 1.1: 91924
3. Term 2 2024: Their Stories + Their Histories through film + AS 1.2: 91925
4. Term 3 2024: Our Voices + AS 1.3: 91926
5. Junior English Program 2024

In this post I will reflect on how our department planning went, the highlights and the learnings. 

LITERACY STRATEGIES 2024

The Literacy Specifics for 2024 is going to be a huge focus for not just our department but across all learning areas. The idea is that we choose 2-3 Literacy Specific Skills to focus on (across the school) in our Year 9 and Year 10 programs and use effective literacy strategies to help support them. This is to help prepare our students for the Literacy Co-Requisite assessment that will be offered to all of our Year 10 students. I have written a reflection on this and what we were able to do with the teachers in getting them to think about the new co-requisites for both literacy and numeracy. 

Alby's Entry Blog Post - 05/11/23

I have reflected on the trial group who sat the co-requisite and the work that we put in place to help prepare them. 

Alby's Entry Blog Post - 30/07/23

I reintroduced the Literacy Specifics to the team and asked them to reflect on the following questions. The idea behind this was to see what they want to prioritize with the Literacy Specifics and then incorporate this into our planning for our Junior English Program. I asked them to think about the following questions in groups and then provide feedback. 

Which literacy skills should we focus on in

Term 1:

Term 2:

Term 3:

Term 4:

Literacy Co-Requisite Test to take place:

May (Term 2)

September (Term 3)

What can we do to teach these literacy skills?

Here is the feedback from the team. 

What literacy skills should we focus on?

Term 1 -

• Identify main idea
• Distinguish relevant information from irrelevant information

Term 2 -

• Locate facts or information
• Organize information

Term 3 -

• Recognize features of language and structures
• Select appropriate vocabular

Term 4 -

• Summarize information
• Compare and contrast texts

What can we do to teach these literacy skills?

• Focus on reading text together or in groups
• Different types of texts and different types of reading
• End of the week: get them to summarize what they’ve read for the week
• Make a generalize comment about the topic
• How can we making reading fun? Provide shorter texts
• Pose questions: Why do you think the author does this? What do you think the author’s attitude is?
• Effective Literacy Practice
• Effective Literacy Strategies

TERM 1 2024: OUR STORIES + OUR HISTORY THROUGH POETRY + AS 1.1: 91924

The focus for Term 1 is 'Our Stories and Our Histories: Window' looking into the stories and experiences of people in our country. The primary text for Term 1 is Tusiata Avia's poetry collection 'The Savage Colonizer Book'. The learning intention is to understand how the context and language from the text interact and connect. The assessment that we are going to bring in to support the learning is 1.1. We have spent time going through this assessment and in our session from TOD, we looked specifically at ONE text from 'The Savage Colonizer Book' and what we can do with our students with the text. We also looked at the assessment 1.1 (a basic structure) and what the opportunities are with this assessment.

Our plan for Term 1 is to: 

1. Teach the context around each text that we are going to cover (x3 poems from 'The Savage Colonizer Book')
2. Teach the poem and look at the language that has been shaped within the context
3. Complete a language study for each text
4. Craft a research text (written or oral presentation) on ONE chosen text from the 3 texts that we studied in class that links to 1.1. 

 

TERM 2 2024: THEIR STORIES + THEIR HISTORIES THROUGH FILM + AS 1.2: 91925

The focus for Term 2 is 'Their Stories and Their Histories: Window' looking into the stories and experiences of people in our country. The primary text for Term 2 is the New Zealand film 'The Dark Horse'. The learning intention is understanding certain aspects of texts and why it is used to create meaning. The assessment that we are going to bring in to support the learning is 1.2. We also looked at the assessment 1.2 (a basic structure). 

Our plan for Term 2 is to: 

1. Focus on our primary text - The Dark Horse
2. Complete a film study looking at specific aspects of the text (film techniques) specifically techniques like characterization, symbolism, motif, dialogue and costume
3. Complete a Close Viewing assessment for the film which links to 1.2. 

TERM 3 2024: OUR VOICES + AS 1.3: 91926

We spent some time going through the Term 3 program - 'Our Voices' - the main focus for this is the external which will take place at the end of Term 3. Our English NIF (NCEA Implementation Facilitator - Alex Moffat -Wood) joined us and went through the assessment with us. The students will write one piece of writing (either fiction or nonfiction) they also have to write a statement of intent, brainstorm to be included. 

We will get the writing prompts at the beginning of Term 3 and the students will work on the assessment half way through the term. It is important to note that throughout the year, we will provide opportunities for the students to write (for enjoyment and to prepare for 1.3) so that they can decide on a style of writing that they want to focus on for the external. The prompts come with a visual and a list of options that the students can write from. 

Our plan for Term 3 is to: 

1. Provide opportunities for the students to write in different text types throughout the year (non fiction, fiction, argumentative, blog writing etc)
2. Go through the prompts with the students and give them an opportunity to plan for each prompt. 
3. Block out a part of the term so that the students can focus on crafting their text (maybe from Week 5 onwards). 

JUNIOR ENGLISH PROGRAM 2024

We will be redesigning our Junior English program to align with our new NCEA Level 1 English program. The program will feature an intensive approach to our new literacy specifics and we will also mirror the same type of assessments that we offer in Level 1 English for our Year 9 and Year 10 English students. 

I really enjoyed our time together. It is always good to come together and get on the same page. Especially at a time where there is a lot of change, it is imperative that we understand what the goal is and how we are going to get there. I understand that it is important to have room to learn and grow (and fail). I am looking forward to putting all of our preparation and planning into action next year. 

Week 6 Term 4 - Totara House - Thanksgiving (November 13 - November 17)

Totara House Thanksgiving Assembly 2023 (Term 4)

Term 4 is the final term of the year. This term both teachers and students are trying to finish their learning programs, get through the last lot of credits and prepare for the end of year exams. It is a crazy and challenging time for everyone. It is time where we are all trying to close the loop and make sure that our loose ends with our work are all completed before the school holidays. It is important that in the craziness and chaos, that we find the time to stop and reflect. 

In this reflection, I am going to share how I spent the last full house assembly with Totara House for 2023. In our last assembly (held in Week 5) we reflected on 2023. We acknowledged those who have contributed, served and led our house through the year. We celebrated what we have done together as a House and we honored our students who have come to the end of their College journey. We acknowledged those who are going to carry us into 2024. Today is all about THANKSGIVING. A traditional holiday celebration in the United States of America where they celebrate the harvest and the blessings of the past year. 

Totara House Leaders @ Thanksgiving Assembly

Our annual 'Thanksgiving' assembly is held in November every year. It is a time for us to celebrate the year that was, reflect on what we have learnt and remember those who have gone. I wrote a reflection on the Totara House thanksgiving assembly that was held in 2022. Please see: 

Alby's Blog Post Entry - 20/11/22

‘Integrity’, ‘Leadership’ and ‘Gratitude’ are the Totara House values for 2023. As a whanau, Totara House has used the House Assemblies and events to unpack and explore our House values. It has been a learning journey for the House leaders, to step outside of their comfort zone and connect with the young people. They have done an exceptional job and I am very proud of them. 

Some of the Totara House Mentorship Team 2023

I am honored to work alongside the Totara House Mentorship team (Ms Kolo, Mrs Rani, Mr Niko, Mrs Ahokovi, Ms Paketama, Mr Koch, Ms Tuitupou, Ms Ferguson and Mr Singh). I thank you all for your commitment to the house, their mentor classes and our values. I am forever grateful to work alongside a great team of mentor teachers.

Totara House Leadership Team 2023

I am grateful to have worked and journeyed with the Totara House Student Leadership team for 2023. Kosini Mapapalangi, Danny Sefilino, Anika Crichton Ward, Alo Ki Hingano, Christian Kava, Saimone Misinale and Mario Vakauta - thank you for your love, commitment and service. You have all done an incredible job in leading our house. You have all worked together to make sure that our students feel safe, that they feel a sense of belonging and that they matter. You have been called to serve outside of your comfort zone. I am so proud and grateful for your leadership and service to Totara House. I am going to miss you all. 

Totara Leadership team '23 @ Y13 Graduation

13TFn @ Year 13 Graduation Term 4 2023 with their mentor Ms Ferguson

As 2023 comes to a close, I want to wish all of the Year 13 students in 13TFn in Totara House the very best for the next step in your journey. Thank you for your contribution, your heart and your commitment to our school over the last 5 years. 1 Corinthians 16:14 says “Let everything you do be done in love ” and I encourage you to do exactly that. Whatever you choose to do after school - whether you are working, supporting your family, travel or study - do it with love.

Week 5 Term 4 - Staff PLD - Literacy Slam Session (November 6 - November 10)

As we prepare for the new NCEA Level 1 curriculum refresh we are also making sure that we understand the new literacy and numeracy co-requisites. I wrote a reflection on this in Term 3 and the journey that we have taken in trialing the new literacy standard with a select group of Year 10 students. Please see the entry below.  

 Alby's Entry Blog Post - 30/07/23

Since this post, the select group of students have met every Monday focusing on the literacy skill set (which I will go through in the post) and we have also had a go at the literacy assessment from the September 2022 and June 2023 pilot. It has been a good time to go through the assessment with the students and to get familiar with the skill set that is needed in order to get through the assessment. 

At our most recent PLD session, the HOLA of Mathematics and myself (HOLA English) introduced the new Numeracy and Literacy standards to our colleagues. The purpose of our presentation was to bring all the learning areas together and to show them what they can do in their learning area to support the new numeracy and literacy requirements. Traditionally, numeracy and literacy has fallen into the Mathematics and English spaces. The new curriculum refresh encourages all learning areas that they have a meaningful role to play in the numeracy and literacy teaching and learning for all students. In this reflection I will outline how the PLD session went and what we covered. 

WHAKATAUKI

Literacy and Numeracy whakatauki

We opened with the whakatauki for both literacy (English) and numeracy (Mathematics). The whakatauki is important as it gives the heart, the essence and the vision behind the kaupapa. The whakatauki for both literacy and numeracy encourages both teachers and students to embrace 'language' in all of its beauty and form and to also focus on key learning and concepts. 

KEY SKILLS IN NUMERACY AND LITERACY

Effective practices to support literacy in numeracy

Literacy skill breakdown

Focusing on the key numeracy and literacy skills helped to highlight what the key learning is for our students. The numeracy co-requisite assessment is heavily assessed through literacy (the readings and questions) have a strong literacy component. The literacy co-requisite of course has a very strong literacy element to it. It is clear from both assessments that the students need to have a strong skill set in order to achieve both assessments. We went through the skill set for both numeracy and literacy and we made it clear that the skillset highlighted from the pilot are skill sets that we are already doing in our learning area. Our job is to make sure that we are doing it well in their respective learning area so that it supports the literacy and numeracy intensives that are covered in Mathematics and English. 

GIVING THE ASSESSMENT A GO!

Tamaki College staff giving the numeracy + literacy assessment a go

Once we went through the skill breakdown, we gave everyone an opportunity to give the assessment (for both numeracy and literacy) a go. In their respective learning areas, we spent 30 minutes working on ONE question from the numeracy and literacy assessment. They really enjoyed this part of the presentation and it was a good experience for us as teachers to see what our students will be assessed on regarding literacy and numeracy in the new curriculum refresh. It was evident from the feedback that the staff knew that the both assessments are literacy heavy. 

REFLECTION

Staff feedback/reflection

We closed the session with some reflection questions for each learning area to reflect on. We asked the learning areas the following questions. 

1. Which of the skills are you currently using in your learning area that support your akonga with their numeracy and literacy?
2. What can you do to support your current numeracy and literacy practice in your learning area?
3. What are some other skills that you can integrate into your learning area?

We wanted the learning areas to feel empowered about what they are doing already when it comes to effective literacy practice. We know that there is effective literacy practice going, it is just a matter of honing in on it and doing it well. We also wanted our colleagues to look at the literacy skills needed for both numeracy and literacy and prioritize them in their planning for 2024 (specifically for their Year 9 and Year 10 English programs). We are excited to continue working with our colleagues next year and for them to share their effective literacy practice.