Week 5 Term 1: English Department: Structured Literacy Part 3 (Feb 24 - Feb 28)

In my earlier posts, I have focused on the Structured Literacy approach that the English Department are undertaking in Term 1. I have outline what our focus is and the strategies that we have learnt through our catch up to code sessions with Dr Jannie and the Science and Social Science Departments. Please see my reflection here:

Alby's Blog Post Entry - 17/02/25

Alby's Blog Post Entry - 10/02/25

Dr Jannie leading our 3rd session for Structured Literacy

This week we had our third session and we went through two structured literacy tasks that we could do with our junior classes. In this post I am going to reflect on the tasks  (3 tasks) and my take away from it. The focus for the third session was WORD MEANINGS and CONTEXT USE. Both WORD MEANINGS and CONTEXT USE are a powerhouse for vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. 

WORD MEANING

The three learning outcomes when focusing on WORD MEANINGS are: 

• Say ready (can I say it?)
• Read ready (Can I read it?)
• Write ready (Can I write it?)

Vocabulary fluency is the foundation to comprehension. If we cannot pronounce the word, we cannot say them and we cannot find out what they mean. We grow vocabulary when we expose students to more print. The task for WORD MEANING helps to expose students to words via print and enables them to say it, read it and write it. 

TASK 1: WORD MEANING 1

In this task, the teacher will provide a list of words (ideally sample words from the primary text studied in class). The students will go through the list of words and they will see if they can: 

• Identify the syllables in the word
• Learn how to pronounce the word
• Explain what the word means in their own words (before looking it up in the dictionary)

Structured Literacy PLD

In our PLD, we gave the task a go and we looked at three words (Heterogeneous, Brigade and Aspiration). We learnt that our role as teachers in this task is that we have to scaffold the discussion when doing feedback with the students making sure that they know: 

What is a Clear meaning for the word 

What is a Precise meaning for the word

What is a Concise meaning for the word

My take away from TASK 1 was: 

• It is a great opportunity for students to look at the words in different ways - writing/reading/speaking
• It is a great opportunity for students and teachers to look at contexts that we understand the word in our own knowledge. When you’re working on your own then partnering up - you are involved in the process
• Not looking the word up first helps the students to understand the word meaning better.
• Here is a word, see what you know and see if you can explain it to yourself and your partner.
• We as teachers can affirm student’s findings and then ask them to look at dictionary meanings to confirm their findings.

TASK 2: WORD MEANING 2

Task 3

• In this task the students will work in groups of 4 or 5. 
• They are given an envelope with a short text and x4 words (cut out from the text). The objective is to read the text, learn the word (pronunciation) assigned to them and teach others in the group. 
• They will read the text then give out the assigned words after the reading. 
• Once they get their assigned word they need to - Identify the syllable/pronunciation stress and explanation
• What are the four words, can you now remember the explanation?
• Everyone shares the word (teaching the syllable), how to pronounce it and then explain what they think it is. 

Group work for Task 2

My take away from TASK 2 was:

• We will need to model this task to the students so that they can understand the process and their role in it.
• The text we provide needs to be texts that we have already spent time unpacking with the students so that they understand the context of the words that they are coming across during the reading.
• Why is this uptake potential? There is a lot of sharing, everyone is responsible for their word

TASK 3: WORD MEANING 3 + CONTEXT USE

Task 2

Word meanings and explanations

• Read the words in the list - pronouncing each correctly
• Read the meanings below (list of words)
• Match each meaning with the word it explains
• Use each word in a sample sentence or context
• Students will read out the definition first then match the definition with a word from the word list. They can work on this in groups or in pairs then feedback to the class. 

My take away from TASK 3 was:

• If students identify it is much more powerful
• It is important that we help students with Step 1: Work out the meaning together - they are much more involved in the process and they are not just looking for definitions in the dictionary. It is involved and interactive. 
• It is important that we help students with Step 2: Record and recall to consolidate uptake and learning
• It is important that we help students with Step 3: Identify and learn word families

Week 4 Term 1: English Department: Structured Literacy Part 2 (Feb 17 - Feb 21)

 In Week 3 Term 1 I posted about how we are starting our Structured Literacy journey with the English, Social Science and Science Department. Led by our Literacy expert, Dr Jannie, we were introduced to a session on catching up on the structured literacy code and understanding what syllabification is. You can read my previous here - Alby's Blog Post Entry (10/02/25). 

We had some reflection questions to recap on our previous PLD session. 

What is a syllable? 

The sound of the word. Vowel and consonant sounds that make up the sound of the word. It gives the beat in the word.

Group of letters

Representing a beat of sound

Containing at least ONE vowel

What is a multisyllabic word? 

More than one syllable - vowels and consonants. Words that have multiple syllables.

Why give multisyllabic word(s) attention? 

Most words are multisyllabic, this helps to increase fluency for students. If our learners have a big mental repertoire and capability with vocabulary it will help enrich their literacy.

Cross curricular team work @ Structured Literacy PLD

In Week 2 Term 1, we spent time going through an activity that we could do with our Year 9 and Year 10 classes. The activity aligns with our Structured Literacy approach and in Week 2 Term 1, the teachers across the English, Social Science and Science Departments had the opportunity to give it a go with Dr Jannie. 

In the activity we had to: 

• Write down words that the were read out. We had to write down what we hear (the words read out were made up words) 
• The teacher then shared the words in a work sheet and we had to see if our words matched the words on the work sheet 
• From here we had to work out the syllables and use/to indicate where we think the syllable is.
• Label each syllable - S = stressed U = Unstressed

Activity for Structured Literacy

Pros of the Do Now

• Get the students to know that ONE sound can be written in various ways - look at the different patterns in words but the same sound is important. One syllable can have different spelling but it is still one syllable and one sound.
• Look up syllables to refresh your memory
• Look for VOWEL sound and consonant as well.
• When helping students to syllabify words - they will look for vowels and consonant sounds.
• Stress helps students to sound out and know the word(s).
• Don’t make assumptions that students can read and unpack words accordingly so doing activities like this is important. 
• Context matters - words in isolation may not be a good idea. Reading words in the full text

I am looking forward to trying this one of my senior classes this term. 

Week 3 Term 1: English Department: Structured Literacy Part 1 (Feb 10 - Feb 14)

 For the English Department, one of the school goals that we are focused on this year is: 

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.

Specifically focusing on Literacy. One of the ways that we would like to support this school goal is prioritizing Structured Literacy in our Year 9 and Year 10 English classes. As a cross curricular collaboration with the Social Science and Science Departments, we are undertaking a specific Structured Literacy strategy with across all of the English, Social Science and Science Year 9 and Year 10 classes. Led by our Literacy expert, Dr Jannie Van Hees, we will be looking at a structured literacy strategy and implementing it in our junior classes. The focus for this term is syllabification. 

Structured literacy in New Zealand focuses systematic instruction of reading and writing, focusing on:

Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary fluency
Comprehension
Teachers use a multi-sensory, direct approach, breaking down language components into manageable units.
Structured literacy supports a solid foundation for literacy development, aiming to ensure all students achieve proficiency and confidence in reading and writing across all educational levels.

English, Social Science and Science Department - Structured Literacy PLD

At Tamaki College, the Structured Literacy strategy will be centered around the learning areas driving two parts that essentially work well together. 

Letter knowledge + Word/s and Phonemes (the sound of words) - English Department

Sentence + Text Fluency. Graphemes (sound as they are written) - Social Science and Science Department. 

Collectively we cover - 

• Syllabification - syllabification and multi-syllable words
• Fluent - word group reading
• Vocabulary meanings - explain ready
• Word + Word Group - Sentence, fluence - flow and rhythm
• Phonology - sounds of the language, the sound of words
• Orthography - the look of words
• Morphology - the meaning of words

The next steps from here is that we are having two sessions with Dr Jannie to get ourselves on the same page with the strategy and understanding how we can implement the do now activity in our lessons. We have currently completed one out of two sessions. I look forward to reflecting on what I learnt from this PLD. 

Week 2 Term 1: English Department: Focus and Goals for 2025 (Feb 03 - Feb 07)

English Department @ Careers Expo 2024

It is important for any team and organization to review where they are at and where they want to go. I hope to use the school goals for 2025 as a focus point for our department going into the new year. I know that from here, our own department goals will spill out from here. Two goals that we did set on achieving in 2024 was developing a new curriculum for our NCEA Level 1 English program (to align with Te Mataiaho: The New Curriculum Refresh) which we have done and also developing our English Department publication of student work ‘Our Voices’ which we were also able to tick off. We hope to continue to work through these two new initiatives and give it the space, support and time it needs to flourish and grow.

Going into 2025 I would like the Department to focus on TWO on the School Goals. 

Goal 1 Māori Achievement

To raise Māori student achievement and cultural visibility.

That 85% of Māori students will achieve NCEA Level 2.

English Department @ Year 8 College Experience Day 2024

We will focus on tracking our Māori student achievement data for NCEA Level 2 English. We will look at both achievement and non achievement and identify what the key drivers are for achievement/non achievement. I hope that we can work closely with the Māori students in NCEA Level 2 English to see what is working and what we can do to better support them. 

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.

Structured Literacy PLD with Dr Jannie

We will focus specifically on Literacy. Our priority will be focusing on the Structured Literacy program that we working on with our Literacy Expert (Dr Jannie) in conjunction with the Social Science and Science Department. We will also look at literacy and reading skill strategies and implementing this in our curriculum throughout Term 1, 2 and 3 with the support of our Literacy Coordinator (Mr Milford). The hope is that this will support and strengthen the literacy across our Year 9 and Year 10 English cohort. 

We will also continue to evolve and design our curriculum that fits our students. As mentioned in my earlier post from Term 4 2024 - "WHO we teach determines WHAT we teach" (Claudia Rozas - UoA). We want to ensure that our curriculum not only reflects the curriculum refresh but also the society, community and students that we work with. We are constantly growing and redesigning our curriculum to cater and serve our akonga, Te Mataiaho and our school's vision. Please see our Department landing site page for our curriculum for 2025 and our teacher sites here - Tamaki College English Department Sites.