Tiaki-James Pokere - Reflection, thoughts, inquiry, collaboration and more

Through the rich seem reading, I identified that I wanted to explore peer tutoring. The purpose behind this is the hope to motivate students to be more invested in their learning to achieve their learning outcomes. Through discovering my new inquiry, my team leader and I looked at how this would link to improving outcomes for my target students (Year 8 Māori boys) in Literacy, how we could achieve this  and the purpose as to why this focus is important and beneficial to the learner.  The purpose (Why) The develop accountability and engagement.  How  am I going to achieve this?  Modelling peer tutoring strategies Unpacking terms of what makes a successful peer tutor, using the T.I.P Chart.  Providing meaningful feedback/feedforward.  What am I doing (Teacher Inquiry)?  Inquiry Question - How will peer tutoring motivate students to be more interested in their learning to achieve their learning outcomes with regards to l...

This afternoon both classroom syndicate teams combined, collaborating together and moderating writing samples by students from each of the eight classrooms (High, middle and low writers). In pairs using the Reading and Writing standards, school writing progressions, and the E-asttle rubrics enabled us to discuss what students were achieving, what they needed to achieve and what they were close to achieving within that specific year level. Through moderation and discussions with other teaching staff it was alarming how we have many students achieving well below expectation right from year 1 through to year 8.  Moderation is important to help improve teacher judgement and decisions made about about the learner across all areas of learning. It enables us to think about the need for consistency of judgements made by and between teachers.    My thoughts/questions The number of students achieving below/well below the standard.  What can we do as a scho...

Over the past 4 weeks Room 10 students have been taking part in a range of activities supported by Sport Taranaki. The activities run have encouraged all learners to work collaboratively, risk taking and developing strategies to better improve outcomes for teams and making adaption to the different activities that encourages different skills and thinking. The last session allowed for my P.E. Minister to run an activity that encouraged and involved team work, collaboration, communication and adaptations made to the game. This student did extremely well as it is extremely difficult to speak and deliver in front of their peers. The game was bullrush, again we noticed there were a few students who were working for themselves as opposed to using their team members. Through reflection with my P.E. Minister we discussed what went well and where to next. Game - Dodge Ball Adaptations  Elimination.  Paper, scissors, rock with opposing team to get back into the game. Crawling...

It has been seven weeks since my ALL Writing group started. It is amazing how fast time has gone. As I reflect back my target students have been provided with many learning opportunities to help them understand the purposes as to why we write and how they can be successful. Today, students completed their second checkpoint and It was very pleasing to see and listen to the learners sharing their successes since their first check point in week 4. Successes - Checkpoint 1 (Week 4)     Target Students Zed                                         Kind of understand how to shape texts for different audiences.  Like writing more than I did before this intervention.  T.I.P. Charts helps me discover the meaning of a word.  Use of the learner tracker (Helps me know what I have done so far.  Aroha Finding out why we write. We write to express feelin...

Our school goal is based around what are we doing to better improve māori achievement within our school? Our Assistant Principal at the start of the year has analysed our school writing data and OTJ's identifying yr 8 Māori students who are below in writing. Through this analysis three Māori students were seen to be below in writing. Based around this data, our school has been given funding to run a 15 week acceleration programme in our classes. Through discussions with the Assistant Principal, I created a mixed group (Learning levels, below, well below and both yr 7 & 8's) of Māori students. This programme started week 9 of Term 1 and is now in its 6th week.  Our Learning Journey As a group, my ALL students have come a long way. The first lesson started with why we write (Purposes). First thoughts were -  Good Employment Get a job For my job Because I have to From here I got students to research reasons around why we wri...

As a staff we were presented with the opportunity to carry out and lead our own market space based on Chapter 2 of the Rich Seam reading, 'The New Pedagogies - Learning Partnerships'. From this reading I took an interest in Peer Tutoring and thought about how this could be incorporated in my classroom learning environment. Throughout term 1, I had been using a buddy system where students would use their buddy to support them if they got stuck. However, students were picked randomly. This term I have matched more capable students up with those who aren't as confident with inquiry, using the tracker and identifying reading and writing goals. Students use a checklist to guide through the steps to set one another up for success.  Questions:  How do I ensure that I my more capable students are able to meet with someone who is at the same level?  Ideas: Those students who are mentoring could work as a network and use one another when they are wanting work checked, o...

As part of our call back day for Term 2, we worked in teams to gain further understanding of our current teaching practise and where we are heading as a school. The senior leadership team provided each team with a list of words that they had heard from teachers across the school in Term 1. This was an opportunity to identify and explain our understanding around why we do the things we do.

Below is a reflection based around a reading I had read as part of my Inquiry into student voice. One aim that I want to implement into Term 2 is students sharing their expertise, opinions and ideas through running workshops. I know that this was successful last year 2016 Term 4 where students were experts in different areas.

Below is a honeycomb showing what I aim to focus my teacher inquiry on for 2017. I have decided to carry this on as I feel my students haven't quite achieved the goals I have hoped for around student voice.  The next step for this part of my teacher inquiry is to focus on student voice when identifying their next learning steps or goals (Using the reading and writing progressions). Students will also use pre maths tests to identify their workshops own which they will attend. 

Last week Manukorihi Intermediate took part in our bi-annual noho Marae stay. This year as a staff we discussed how we could make the learning more authentic and ensuring that the activities/workshops were deep learning. Through numerous staff meetings we discussed deep learning activities such as; Hangi (Prep, during, after) Kitchen/Dining - Students learning about the kitchen (prep, cleaning up, setting up the dinning tables).  Harakeke - Learning to weave konae Mau Rakau ICT - Re-telling the story about Whaitara  Waka Ama - Understanding the importance of wake Ama to Maori and the different commands.  Maori games - Students to partake in and learn traditional Māori games.    Waitara Awa Hikoi - Visiting significant sites along our river in Waitara.  Traditional Carving To ensure these activities were successful we required the support of our local community. This was vital to ensure all learners were provided with the appropriate teaching a...