My Impact Story 2018

Evaluation & Sustainability - Term 3 2018

At the beginning of term 4, all my target students will move to Room 4. This has always been interesting for me, it happens every year and sometimes I feel that it's a bit unfair on both the child and myself.

However, these children will move and here is a brief evaluation of their final achievements. I am very proud to say that I am confident that these learners will cope and do well despite the changes.

First time - draw their story - cannot write

Using 'cut-up sentence' to write their story

          

Attempting to write - copying words that they know and recording sounds for the unknown words

 


Independent writing - using skills that they have learned (eg. copying words from the wall / alphabet cards & sounding out unknown words etc.)

 

 

What went well?

Well, for me I think TESSOL activities have helped a lot. But in order for such wonderful strategies to be successful and effective, I believe that teachers have to be really careful in scaffolding these strategies, and be very clear with the purpose of using them for.

At first, like most 5 yr old students my learners didn't know how to write, they were not able to talk properly, they were not always confident to talk/share/contribute to any discussions in class, not aware of what alpahabet letters and sounds were let alone their formations ... etc.

Before I started teaching, I was looking at all these gaps and the children's strengths. Know my Learner - this took a while - got to know the child and their whanau, got them to enjoy school and it's environment, and then introduced the academic part of their learning.

My next action was using the curriculum for backmapping. This was very useful because I got to see where the children should be achieving at the end of the year,  and worked backwards in details to set short term goals for their learning.

My questions were (strong feelings then) ;how am I going to make my learners:1. talk/share/contribute? - for I believe that once they're confident to talk, they're also confident to write.

2. write their talk/idea down?

3. enjoy writing (not to stop whenever they don’t know how to write a word)? - from previous experience - most children were discouraged at this age to write because they don't know how to form letters, high frequency words, and how to write words that they don't know.

4. add on details to their writing - to make their story more interesting, meaningful etc.

TESSOL acitivites used 

• Running dictation
• IOL - Intensive Oral Language
• Talk Moves - repeating, rephrasing, increase wait time
• Multi-level groupings
• Cut-up sentences
• Rub-dictation
• Dictation
• Shared writing - interactive writing - almost everyday
• Record their story on ipad - then listen to it and write it down on their book
• Phonological awareness - clapping of hands to hear the most dominant sound of an unknown words
• Word wall
• Word ring - for kids
• Word card / alphabet card

What did I learn as a teacher / what surprised me?

- importance of knowing your learner - identify both their learning needs and strengths.

- TESSOL strategies are fantastic - teachers need to know what the purpose of using these strategies - scaffold them wisely to achieve hunches.

- backmapping is amazing - helps teachers to increase content knowledge of any subject.

- being specific with learning outcome for each child at this level and age group is very important. 

- helping the child to feel successful (providing and gifting them with language, skills and strategies) is very vital for building confident and enthusiasm for their learning.

- not all strategies are going to be helpful to every learner - as a teacher be prepared to adapt other strategies and search for more 

Picture Sequencing - helps students to write more than one sentences!

After talking to Mary Wooton (Writing Facilitator) on her last visit, I had to change my focus for the next three weeks.

target students' strengths:
- able to write a story without stopping
- strong phonemic awareness - able to record lots of letters for an unknown word

target students' problems:
- story is just one long sentence with lots of 'and'
- not attempting to use full stops & capital letters (though they know/can identify them)

HUNCH
How am I going to support my students to write three or more sentences for their story, and use capital letters and full stops correctly at all times?

Mary Wooton suggested to teach my students to use picture sequencing. Draw pictures for every idea in their story then write a sentence for each picture/idea.

Why Picture Sequencing?

Pictue Sequencing is a skill that we use when we break down an event into simple steps and put these steps in order. My students need this sequencing skill to sort out their ideas about something that happened in the past in a logical manner. They also need this skill to help them write short meaning sentences rather than a one long run sentence for their story.

Teaching and Learning (Pedagogical / Ako)

Step 1 - Children to share their story with a friend / class / group

Step 2 - Count how many events happened in their story

Step 3 - Draw pictures of each event

Step 4 - Arrange pictures in the order of their story as it happened

Step 5 - write a sentence or two for each picture.

Indicators of Progress

Write more than one sentences for their story.

Use capital letters and full stops correctly.


Watch this video - Some people use picture sequencing for many different reasons. It is up to you how you want to use it and why do you want to use it. Enjoy watching this video.

Presentation at the HUI 2018

Check Point #1 - Choral Reading - increase self confidence in reading, and improve understanding and comprehension

What exactly happened in class with my students?
Students were:
- reading one to one word
- their comprehension / understanding of the text they read was very minimal / limited
- most are not able to transfer their knowledge - able to read words as they appear on their own but not able to identify them as they appear in texts.

How did I do Choral Reading in class?
- small group everyday for about 10 minutes before guided reading
- teacher reads the text first - chn points their finger on words while teacher reads
- teacher and chn read together 
- discuss the meaning of the book by referring back to what they read

Critique (Pros & Con)
- avoid giving the child a sentence or passage to read out loud on his own without having a practice before because it might put him off 
- provide another voice reading the same text - helps children to confirm the pronounciation of words and experienced listening to a different voice and a different pace of reading

Final Thought
- Chroal reading gives an opportunity to practice and receive support before reading on their own
- Students improve the ability to read sight-words
- Teacher provides a model as children listne

Next Steps
Do choral reading with other groups, too. 

Choral Reading - Increase students' self-confidence, and fluency in reading

Focusing Inquiry - TERM 3

To accelerate students achievement in Reading!

TESSOL strategies are effective in scaffolding students to think, speak and read independently.  

Which strategies are effective to scaffold students to use visuals, structure, and meaning information to read with fluency, respond, and think critically with confidence?

After analysing the data (above) and using anecdotal notes from last term - this is what I have noticed.

My students' problems:
- fluency in reading
- comprehension - understanding & interpretation of what they read


My students' strengths:
- decoding as they read
- love reading
- recognising known words


I know that it is not unusual for an ESOL student to read a book beautifully and not being able to answer a couple of comprehension questions correctly, but I want them to be better in both.

Therefore, in the next three weeks I am going to use CHORAL READING to support students to improve reading with fluency, and build self-confidence.

Why doing Choral Reading?
Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel sel-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.

Gives an opportunity to practice and receive support before reading on their own

Provides a model for fluent reading as students listen

Improve the ability to read sight-words

And I am pretty sure that it will help students once they are confident, to answer and interpret questions correctly as well.

Here is a video of how Choral Reading is done in a classroom.

Teaching & Learning (Pedagogical/Ako)

Choose a book that works well for reading aloud as a group (not too long, and is at independent reading level for most students)

Each child has a book

Teacher reads or models fluent reading first - students to follow using their finger or eyes to point at words

Everyone reads together in unison after the teacher

Quick FRONT-LOADING at the beginning if the title is unfamiliar to the students

Indicators of Progress

Increase students' self-confidence in reading

Increase students' motivation to read

Increase students' fluency in reading

Improve understanding and comprehension

Evaluation & Sustainability - Term 2 2018

How will you sustain the habits that are promoting success
for your students in Term 2?

Sentence Frame - Continue to use this twice a week. I believe that
maybe twice a week is enough because my students need to
have an opportunity to create their own story using their own words.
This is going to be interesting, but I would like to give them an
opportunity to take risks as well.

Phonemic Awareness - I love this strategy. My students love this, too.
Children's writing show that they love writing because they are able
to write down something for their ideas. Clapping of hands is a very
good tool to use especially for the little ones - its interacting and fun.

Cut-Up Sentence - For all my new entrants, this is how I teach them
how to write a sentence. It teaches them the directionality, the punctuation,
the capital letters, holding an idea in the head for a while before recording,
and other things. I feel like that I don't need to teach those goals individually
because it is covered by cut-up sentence.

Rub Off Dictation - Helps chn to hold information in their head for
a while before recording it down. I do this every day and it will continue
just like that in Term 3.

What did you learn as a teacher / what surprised you? (Term 2)

I knew that TESSOL strategies help but doing/using them in class
really made me see how chn enjoy having fun in their learning. All
of the above strategies have contributed a lot to chn's great
improvement in their writing.

How will you transfer your new learning to other students
/ curriculum areas? (in Term 3)

I use Sentence-Frame in Maths - it helps chn in learning new language
in Maths.
eg. Sione is taller than .....

Clapping to hear dominant sounds in an unknown word helps chn to
be confident in their own writing.

Welcome Back Everyone! - Term 3 !

Welcome back to school - Term 3!

Room 1 had a very positive Term 2 and we are looking forward to continuing our exciting new learning in Term 3.

Focusing Inquiry for Term 3 ...

Acceleration! How am I going to accelerate students' achievement? 
- Analyse and look at the assessment data results from last term
- Select target students
- Research for strategies & teaching practices

After analysing the assessment data, I realised that my new focus will be on Reading. Maths and Writing were good, but Reading was a bit low so it needs acceleration - I need to focus on the learning progress of students who are struggling academically or who have fallen behind in Reading. 

I now have new target students for term 3, and I am looking forward to all the challenges ahead.

Descriptive words - students' writing will be more interesting and full of details...

I believe that with movement, students learn faster and remember things easier than trying to learn without. For example, clapping of hands is a movement that helps students to remember and identify the sounds of unknown words easily.....WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Clapping of hands is now a strategy that students in my class use to record sounds of new words that they cannot spell.

Not everyone know how to do this but most students are doing it and others are copying what others are doing. This will continue to be a focus for all students to use and I will make sure that it will be reminded and used.

However, I want my students to improve the quality of their writing now that they can write without stopping. Most students' sentences are basic and in the next three weeks, I will be focusing on this hunch:

Will emphasizing on descriptive words when reading a story; and encouraging an attitude of playfulness and sense of fun around new topics help students gain mastery over aspects of using descriptive words in their writing?

What are my deliberate actions? How am I going to do this...

Read a book 5 times a day repeatedly - look at each character and discuss some words from the book that describe the particular character

(develop students’ ability to describe something using their own words)

Create a word wall particularly with adjectives along with pictures

5 - 10 mins before writing - learn through play - do hands on activities (eg. winter - we may have to walk around outside - identify descriptive words - use sensory.)

Model writing a shared story - emphasize on using descriptive words (use 'sentence frame' to help students with creation of their story)

Follow this routine; - shared writing - guided writing - independent writing

What I’m looking for that shows I’m making a difference to student progress....

Increase students' word and vocabulary recognition

Students’ writing will be more interesting and full of details

Encourages students to use new vocabulary words

Increase students’ ability to clarify their understanding of new topics

Check Point #2 - After 3 weeks of using 'clapping hands - phonemic awareness' to help my students write their story without stopping!

What exactly happened in class with my students?

Students stopped whenever they can’t spell an unknown word. They talked during discussions time with the help of the sentence frame but in terms of writing, it was really hard to keep them motivated once they got stuck with a word that they don’t know its spelling.

How did I do it in class?

For 15 minutes every morning, we read a rhyming poem/story, and sang songs. We used some words from our poem to demonstrate clapping hands and record sounds at the same time (on the board). Practice doing that for a while with a small group or the whole class, and allow children to help each other through playing and exploring with peers.

Critique (Pros & Con)

- some students pronounce words differently / wrongly  eg. very as fery, think as fing, with as wif etc and so they record it wrongly (Teachers need to be aware of this and praise the child for the effort)

- however, clapping hands enable students to hear sounds

- clapping is fun and children are engaging because it’s like playing

- it was hard for new entrants because they need to know the associate sounds for each letter first (However, I believe that it is fun for them to try and learn from their peers - they don't have to know all sounds and letter names before doing this)

Final Thought

I think overall, clapping of hands to hear sounds help students write their story independently without stopping.

• PV, JJ, PL (3 students) - I need to think of ways to motivate them to be able to do this independently. They can do it with others but lack of courage to transfer what they know and do it when they write independently.
• Need to make children clap and say the unknown words slowly in order for them to hear sounds.. I have noticed that some students are hearing & recording lots of sounds because they are saying words slowly.

• I also believe that with movement, students learn faster and remember things easier than trying to learn without. For example, clapping of hands is a movement that helps students to remember and identify the sounds of unknown words easily.....WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Next Step:

Next learning goal - adding descriptive words to make their story sounds interesting, and give more details to their story.

Share students problems and successes with parents in a way that it helps students and parents to practice doing the same at home.

Cut Up Sentences - for all new entrants!

I have been a Reading Recovery teacher for some times and what really amazed me was the using of cut-up-sentence. The sequencing of words to create a meaningful thought along with searching for visual information, I thought was very powerful and a very simple activity to be used in class. 

According to Reading Recovery teachers, cut-up-sentence is also use to teach phrasing and fluency. And I think this is perfect for our ESOL students because it helps them to practice saying foreign language multiple times. 

HUNCH
Will using of cut-up-sentence (with ipads) everyday increase new learners' confidence to create a meaningful story, and help with phrasing and fluency of their reading?

How am I going to do this?
In a small group of 5 during writing I will ask each child to compose a story (one or two sentences) then I will assist the child if needed to complete the story.

I will then write the sentence on a piece of paper while the child watches.

Next, I would cut the sentence up (word by word) while the child watches.

Then I will scramble the words, and the child reassembles the sentence.

Give the child his book to stick his work in and draw pictures. Remind the child to keep reading his work or maybe rewrite his story down (this might help increases his vocabulary knowledge).

These are short video clips of what I have done in class last week. The sentence that they are reassembling is a short shared story that we have created. I thought if I would start off with using their shared story would be a good practice.

The person above is very confident with reassembling his story. (The story was rubbed off from the board)

The child above was also confident in doing so. But as you can hear, they need lots of this in order to improve phrasing and fluency in reading.

Because they are in a group of three, they can easily be helping each other as you can see in this video.

Phonemic Awareness - helps students to write their story without stopping.

After 3 weeks of using 'sentence frame' I found this problem; my students would stop in the middle of their sentence if they do not know how to write an unknown word. They would stop and would never continue.

My hunch therefore for the next three weeks is:

Support students to hear and record sounds using jingles and rhymes for 20 minutes every day, and clap hands during writing to hear and record sounds. Will this help my students to write confidently without stopping?

I need to give my students some strategies to help them to keep on writing even if they don't know how to spell a word.

Students need to have develped phonemic awareness and to understand that there is a relationship between spoken sounds and the letters that represent them. They also need to learn and know all letters with their associate sounds. I hope that this would help them to record letters for the sounds they hear of any unknown words.

What I have plan to do is to use clapping as a strategy for my students to use and practice a lot to help them fluent with their writing. I am also using 'quick60 program' which is a program that also supports the same thing.

Here is a video of how quick60 works and that's what I have been doing. I hope this would help teachers out there who have the same kind of inquiry as I do.

Use this LINK to read more about Phonemic Awareness if you want more. 

Check Point #1: After 3 weeks of using 'sentence frame' to help my students improve their paritcipation in writing.

What exactly happened in class with my students?

During oral discussions with students about a particular topic or whatever, I provided a sentence frame for them to use as a starter. Often students talk but not in a sentence, it would be in one word or couple of words and that's all. Using 'sentence frame' was to help my students to talk more and increase confidence to write more as well.

How did I do it in class?

As I mentioned above, I provided the chn with a sentence frame most of the time during whole class/group discussions. I wrote the sentence frame on a piece of paper and read it to the chn and then we read it together. I gave them an example before I let them start talking.

1. Talk with a pair (Teacher listens to each pair - sometimes add on or prompt for more info)
2. Everyone shares back their story - sometimes I make them share what their partner has said. (using the sentence frame provided of course)
3. Get their book and start writing down their ideas after forming their own sentence.

                                                      

Critique (Pros & Con)

- it was really helpful especially with scaffolding oral language and writing skills.

- anyone in class benefited from using of sentence frame (ESOL or not)

- I think, sentence frame could be used at any time such as in Maths - for learning new mathematical language to explain thinking. (I will be using sentence frame in Maths and other areas, too) - will talk about that later.

- definitely increased students talk, participation, and confidence (independent writers)

- only one con that I think of now - ie. sentence frame could limit the ability of a child to be creative and write what they want to. (One boy in my class can talk without sentence frames but he often wants to copy others in class.)

Final Thought
I think overall, sentence frame really helped my students to be creative and enable them to add more information to their story. I think my students were grateful to have sentence frames as a guide to help them get started with their talk and writing.

Next Step:

support students to hear and record sounds by clapping hands, and using jingles and rhymes for 20 minutes every day. I have noticed that most students stopped writing when come across a word that they don't know. Their confidence to hear and record sounds is very limited.