Deliberate, systematic and explicit of Teaching Phonetics

Are we being deliberate and explicit enough?

Jill Ritchie Literacy Consultant from Impact Learning Consulting presented an information session on Supporting Students with Dyslexia.

Many of the students I  have been out to observe or test in my Across schools role seems to have a deficit in their Phonetics knowledge.   This impacts their progress in Reading and writing.

Once again my research leads me to the knowledge that we must be deliberate, explicit teaching of Phonics and Phonemic awareness.

I am wondering is there needs to be a greater emphasis on Phonetics in our Junior classes and a programme designed for our older students that meets their needs and interests.

I am working on a programme with a fellow COL teacher. Stay tuned for further updates.

Snap shot - Learning data

Time to get a snapshot of where the target group of students I am supporting at Panmure Bridge are at the end of Term One.

I carried out the phonics assessment in the Criterion Assessment and Robyn Anderson has kindly shared her results from Term  One.

After looking at this data there is a need to continue with the  Phonics programme that Robyn has carefully crafted.  It is also interesting to note the other factors that are impacting on student progress including self-esteem, attitude. confidence and self-esteem.

Robyn is using the data to create a Needs focused 'Phonics programme" to cater for her year 7/8 students who still need to grasp a full understanding of phonics.

Robyn Anderson blogged about our meeting. Across school teacher support.

The New Learning Support Delivery Model

As you may be aware the Ministry of Education has developed a new way of delivering learning support. This Learning Support Delivery Model is being phased in across New Zealand with the
Ministry’s regional offices working with groups of early learning services, schools, providers
and communities to strengthen inclusion and modernise how learning support is delivered.
cluster. In response to the Learning Support Delivery model, we are working with the Ministry of Education Learning Support, Kahui Ako and Supporting Agencies to align current practices with the Disability and Learning Support
Action Plan.
https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/a-new-way-to-deliver-
learning-support/. 

They are working on Response to Intervention (RTI) is an evidence-based, multi-tiered approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behaviour needs. It is a framework
which can be tailored to suit each school. RTI can be used as a lens over a school’s special
needs register so that a school can feel confident that the right level and intensity of support
is provided to each student’s needs.

The aim of the RTI  is to allow schools to ensure that the level of support is appropriate to the needs of their students. It is supposed to provide confidence that the interventions being chosen are evidence-based, robust, effective and well matched to the student. Like the classroom, once good RTI systems are in place, this helps to prevent learning and behaviour challenges and also enhances
learning for all students within the learning community.

I am going to a workshop about the data base being set up by the RTLB cluster 8 in May and hope this provides me with further information to share. I am interested in the concept of gathering school-wide data and Across our Kahui Ako.

Stay tuned - the true information and the value for our student is yet to be seen.
I am hoping this will help me gather information for my inquiry about our student's and whether they are accessing the support they need.

Current assessments in Manaiakalani COL schools

To gain knowledge about what is currently happening in our Manaiakalani schools around assessment I  meet with  Roseanne Gibson the manager of   RTLB Cluster 8.
They have generously shared me into the RTLB Response to Intervention framework survey results. I appreciate RTLB Cluster 8 for their willingness to share this information with me.

Nine of the 13 schools in Manaiakalani Kahui Ako have completed the RTI survey with
their liaison RTLB to date. Eight of the nine responding schools were familiar with the
Response to Intervention Framework.



         

How learning progress is tracked in classrooms across Manaiakalani Kahui Ako  Schools Assessments: • Pre and post assessments • asTTle,(Reading, Writing, Maths), easTTle • IKAN, Gloss • PATs • Running records • Curriculum assessments • School based - base line testing -ongoing formative assessment in       classroom, summative as per cluster agreed protocols • Beginning, middle and end year assessments

       

Cumulative Records and Reports • E-Tap records • Student reports which go to parents • Parent/Teacher interviews • Online tracking shared across staff • School Talk (this is a a customised software package that teachers use for everything. Planning, assessment, uploading evidence against learning outcomes -students do this, timetables for the day, modelling books etc) Teacher Tracking: • OTI's by class teachers • Learning groups • Differentiating curriculum • Anecdotal notes

My goal now is to work with our Manaiakalani school and introduce them to a range of alternative assessments.

2019 INQUIRY

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 



Last year I had the opportunity to work within several Manaiakalani schools and with a range of students with additional needs. The common theme amongst the teachers I worked with was their ability to know exactly what their students knew so they could plan the next learning steps. If a child with literacy skills that were below a level they could test on a running record or AsTTle or PAT, teachers didn't know what to do next and these students were often recorded as a zero in the teacher records.

The concern with this is it gives us no information on exactly what the student does know and what skills they do have. If we don't have this information how can we plan the next steps and engaging explicit acts of teaching?

I found some common themes amongst the students I had the opportunity to assess:
Areas of concern or limited skills in the following areas:
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.

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.

My Inquiry half way checkpoint

As part of the Manaiakalani Hui I got to present where is am up to in my Inquiry.
I have been trialing a range of different assessments with student at Sommerville and in our COL schools.

Effective in teaching.

My latest professional reading has lead me to:

"What Really Works in Special and Inclusive Education : Using evidence-based teaching strategies. Using evidence-based teaching strategies. David Mitchell.

In the Introduction David Mitchell talks about the  UK evidence that  shows teachers who are effective in teaching disadvantaged learners demonstrate skills in a 'bundle' of strategies.

At Sommerville Special School we talk about having "lots of tools in our tool box". Students with additional needs are still unique individuals with their own complex learning needs. While there is a lot more research around on best teaching practice for students with specific identified disabilities, each student is still individual learner.

The strategies mentioned in this book  include:

• Excellent organisational skills.
• Positive classroom climate.
• Personalised their teaching.
• Use of dialogic teaching and learning.

The effectiveness of your teaching is judged by:

• the value you add to your learners' store of information, concepts, skills and values:
• the degree of independence your learners are able to exercise in managing their own learning now and in the future;
• the extent to which you develop a sense of well-being in learners.

The Power of Key Competencies

What skills do our students need to be capable confident members of society?

Sometimes I think we get so tied up in student achievement and measuring their progress we run out of time for some very important skills and learning opportunities.

As a successful learner we need skills to relate or others and manage our own behaviours - The Key Competencies are a vital part of our NZ Curriculum. They should be incorporated into every aspect of our class programme.

Developing Language Skills in our students.

All the research tells us our students are arriving at school with low oral language skills. The oral language children have when they start school directly impacts on their ability to think and to learn. Alison Burge presented findings from the "Welcome to school project" in Tamaki schools showing 53% of New Entrants assessed had significant concerns in Communication.

All students who enter the school environment need to learn about a variety of conventions and routines of talking and listening in a context that is unfamiliar to most of them. Students’ oral language improves through practice, that is, when students talk regularly for different purposes and with different partners.  (Ministry of Education. (2009). Learning Through Talk: Oral Language in Years 1 to 3. Wellington)


At Sommerville we extremely fortunate to employ our own Speech language therapists who work directly with students and provide on going Professional development to our staff.
Francesca Bierens SLT has shared her Verbal language development Summary for how language is developed and the progress

 'Assisting Students with Language Delays in the Classroom  - A Practical Language Programme'

                                Published:  In 2015 by Speechmark Publishing Ltd, London, UK,

I have attached Oral language resources from Francesca that are worth a read.

Oral language development and abilities have significant impact on our students ability to access the curriculum in all areas.

Scaffolding the learning.

This week I had the opportunity to visit Khismira Lal at Pt England School.
I was particularly interested in how Khismira offers additional support to her students, especially when they are working independently or in small groups without the teacher.

It was incredible to see the extensive planning and preparation that goes into Khismira's reading programme. I was very impressed with the thought gone into scaffolding the learning for her students when using the Ipad app Explain Everything.

I particular like the idea of adding sound bites to help the students with instructions.
Fabulous Idea !

What a great way of teaching Concepts about print.  I am keen to try this with some students next term.

Thanks Khismira - highly recommend spending some time in her classroom.

My Inquiry .. My scanning .. My hunch

Scanning

I have been visiting classrooms and talking to teachers and reviewing current assessment practices in the mainstream classes from new entrants to year 7 and Sommerville Special school classes year 1 - year 11. There are several incidences of students who struggle with reading who fail the current assessments and do not meet National Standards.  The difficulty being faced by some teachers is that the currently used assessments gauge the students as having failed and give no indication of next steps and current skills. Teachers are left with limited information and are therefore continuing with more of the same strategies that have been unsuccessful.

Hunch

By using a range of assessments that focus on fine grained steps and achievements in reading, teachers will be able to use the information to create appropriate programs and goals for students who are currently failing in their reading. If teachers use this information well then reading levels should improve for those students.

Questions

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

Risk taker - trying something new!

After listening to Graeme Aitken at the Manaiakalani leaders PLG I have been reflecting on my willingness to take action and try something new based on my hunch and research.

Teachers need to work through their teaching inquiry and develop some hunches, gain some new knowledge, but most importantly be willing to take action.
What new learning or teaching strategy have you tried or implemented? Have you taken any action this year ?

My Inquiry

'The New Zealand Curriculum describes the Teaching as Inquiry cycle and the idea of purposeful assessment (page 39). Assessment is one of the tools that inquiring teachers use to improve their students’ learning and their own teaching.'

'Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES] emphasises the importance of focusing on student outcomes and using both research evidence and assessment information to improve teaching and learning.'

While undertaking my initial scanning and evidence gathering, it has reinforced my strong belief in the extreme importance of having the correct assessment resources, tools and data. The current mainstream resources give us lots of information about what our students ''can not do or 'have not achieved'
.
Our job as teachers is to gather evidence-based informative and summative information on our students. Then use this information to plan comprehensively and implement programmes to meet individual students needs.

'The learning inquiry takes place both during and after teaching as teachers monitor their students’ progress towards the identified outcomes and reflect on what this tells them. Teachers use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in their own practice.' http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz

I look forward to sharing some of these appropriate assessments for diverse learners with schools in our Manaiakalani community. I have decided to set up a separate page for assessment for learners with complex needs and another one for strategies for students who have specific needs. 

Literacy - A comprehensive approach to Literacy for Student with complex needs

Dr Sally Clendon ran professional development today for our new teachers. -    BIG challenge - share three years of PD in one day!

Great to reinforce the importance of knowing our students well and engaging our learners.
We need a well-balanced comprehensive approach when teaching our students Literacy skills and strategies.

How do we ensure that our teaching is at the right level for our complex students?
Are our students cognitively engaged in an appropriate learning task?
How do our students demonstrate their learning and understanding?

Always so much to think about after a day with Sally !!