Reflection on my 2nd Inquiry 2019

Reflection #2

For the last two terms my inquiry was on lifting the achievement of my learners’ reading behaviour.
I have tried many strategies and have monitored some of their effectiveness on my learners reading behaviours -
of course you can see that in some of my blog posts earlier.

What surprised me?

What really surprised me this time is about knowing my learners - how much that I need to know about
them. My learners come to school at different time and sometimes I forget to learn or get to know a child.
I got too focused sometimes with some old learners and forget my newest learner. 

One thing that surprised me was the difficulty of ensuring that there is a balance between using of receptive
and productive language. I did my best but I think this is something that I need to know of for next year.

What I found?

It was hard for me to monitor my target students reading behaviour for I get distracted sometimes with their
other learning needs. In the future I will try to prioritise my focus.

Vocabulary - the biggest problem that I found with these new learners. Most of them couldn’t sustain information
though I used TESSOL strategies that I used in the past and they were effective. For next year I am going to
work closer with my learners whanau in learning early words and using those early words in a way that learners
would remember for a while.

Working closer with my learners whanau and support them with some ways to help learners at home learn how to
focus and learn how to hold information in their head for a while. 

I have had a great year and I am looking forward to the new year.

Reflection on my first inquiry

Reflection #1

At the end of Term 2, I had to pass on all my target students to another class due to increase in my class roll.
So I did reflect on this a little bit but I would like to say that it was a bit sad to see these children left.
Obviously, this is what most new entrants class face when their class increases in number then they will have
to lose some children to another level.

What I found when I was inquiring into oral language for two terms is that it wasn’t long enough for me to
shape up some of the things that I have done (teaching practise). ‘Talking in the morning’, for example was a
good strategy and the children were beginning to talk more but I am not sure whether the next teacher would
do the same. I feel like that my learners were not strong enough to continue doing this on their own in a different
classroom environment.

However, I enjoyed working with Jannie at school about ‘dialogic conversation’. I started to implement in class
but not enough time to see my learners achievement. Dialogic conversation is something that I will continue to
do with my new target students and of course the whole class. 

With my new target students coming on board, I am going to continue doing the same thing that I have done
with my old target learners. This time I will make sure that we are doing it everyday so my learners have every
opportunity to practice and learn. For myself, I will continue to refine my practise and to see how else am I going
to make it visible for my learners and their whanau.