Saturday, November 17, 2018

Update and thanks




Achievement Challenge 5

Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts


My Inquiry


Will using fine-grained assessments improve teacher capacity for setting appropriate goals for students who fail to register on standardised tests?


This year :
I have had the opportunity to assess student with additional needs in several COL schools using a variety of assessment tools not normally used in mainstream classes.


A lot of our students with additional needs often dont measure on normal assessment tools eg Asttle, Running records


We need detailed information to identify our students needs and strengths.


This year I have found some interesting common themes across several student I have assessed


These common themes include:


Auditory sequential and visual sequential improved sequential memory can help improve your child’s reading skills.
Auditory sequential and visual sequential memory
skills are the ability to remember things seen and heard in sequence.

Visual Sequential Memory is the ability to remember visual details in the correct sequence.


Auditory memory involves being able to take in information that is presented orally, to process that information, store it in one's mind and then recall what one has heard. Involves the skills of attending, listening, processing, storing, and recalling.


Visual Tracking – The ability to look at something and follow it as it moves or the ability to track a line, such as in reading. Visual tracking issues may also cause difficulty in math. Students may have difficulty lining up numbers vertically or horizontally.


My observations

  • Teachers are working extremely hard out there ! 
  • More of the same “stuff” won’t work 
  • What's the goal - learning the student needs 
  • We need to be working smarter not harder – and the way to do that is to know what the strengthen and gaps are of our students and so we can support these. 



My inquiry continues ; to look at best practise to support these learners with their specific goals.


One of the aspects I believe will have a significant impact on these learners is to:


Learn - create  -share : The Create aspect needs to be more of a focus especially for our students with additional needs eg hands on manipulative materials, fine motor skills
And the ARTS curriculum is often where these students flourish. 




If I could encourage one additional skill for all our students

· Asking for help or admitting you don't know or don’t understand

- this is for our students and our teachers.


If we want to encourage our students to recognise when they don’t know something or they need to ask for help or know how to find the answer


– then as teachers we need to model the same thing – we as teachers can’t know everything!!
Also remember we are all life long learners so remember ask for help and support from our Colleagues 


I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers and Senior Management of the Manaiakalani school I have worked with and those who allowed me to assess their awesome students.

Thanks.

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