Why are our students not getting the support they need.

This year I have been working with the Team from the Welcome to School project to gather assessment information on the students they assessed two years ago.

Moira Nelson SLT has reassessed these students on their Core language skills including Receptive and Expressive language. Some students have made great progress, for example, a student moving from 1st percentile to the 63rd!!
However, she also found several students who are significantly below in Language.
We were interested to see if the students who were still significantly below have been identified by the school and receiving additional support from the Ministry or RTLB.

Very few of the students were receiving additional support from an outside agency and those that were seemed to have support mostly due to social and behavioural needs.

Why are our students not getting the support they need?

I have identified the following hypothesis

1.  When you have a large number of students in your classroom with language and learning delays you are less likely to identify the students that are significantly below.

2. There is no official MOE provided assessment or screening tool for teachers or Senco's to use to easily identify these students.

3. Most of our Manaiakalani schools do not have a designated Senco person who has the time and expertise to identify and assess these students. Our Sencos are often the Principals or Senior Management, who have this responsibility on top of an already extensive workload.
Schools in higher decile areas often have a designated teacher with responsibility for Special needs and release time to carry out this role.

This impacts on schools abilities to assess students and once identified have time to complete the required paperwork to request additional support needed from outside agencies.


In class support:
 I  had the opportunity to be part of an allocation meeting. Students receive points under different criteria. The first criteria is whether a student has had previous intervention or assessments etc from other agencies or professionals eg SLT, Paediatrician, Occupational therapist etc.
As we are all aware currently the easiest way to access these is private, a cost our families can not afford.  Some students had seen multiple professionals so gained several points towards receiving in-class support funding. In one case a student received 6 points before we looked at his academic results.
Students in our COL may have been academically lower than these students but did not gain enough points to receive funding.  This puts our students at a significant disadvantage.

RTlit

There are projects being run in the community by the RTlit that would benefit our students significantly. Currently, the allocation of these projects has gone to schools in higher decile areas within our immediate community.
Is this because they have Senco who can be released to find out about these projects, attend meetings in school time and assess the students and complete the applications before our COL schools have even heard about these projects?



I wonder if the new Learning Support Coordinators that have been promised for 2020 will be allocated to our schools?

Our students deserve better !

Catering for the many needs in your classroom.

All Teachers have a large range of student needs in their classrooms and this makes for an ever-increasing workload.
We need to start working smarter as we just don't have any more hours in the day.

I have talked to a few teachers about thinking of simple things we can put in place in our classroom to support a range of students.
For example, if you have a visual timetable or instructions available this will support your special needs learners, your students with English as a second language, students that just weren't listening to the teacher.


Universal design for learning   check out tki for more information

As every student learns differently, schools must create flexible, barrier-free learning environments if all students are to become successful, lifelong learners. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help schools and kura design learning environments that are flexible, and where there are no barriers in the way. It is a framework that enables equitable access and participation in education.

Asking for help!

A vital skill for our students  to learn is how and when to ask for help.

The best way to model this is to show them that even as teachers we need to find out answers to things we don’t know and ask for help too.

In order to improve our own knowledge we need to ask for help from others or learn where to find the answers.

Isn’t that one of the reasons our COL exist, to share and learn from each other.

When was the last time you asked for help or talked to your students about this very important skill?

Be a life long learner and ask for help!

Let's put the CREATE - in Learn Create Share

DID YOU KNOW?

Drawing activities allow students to explore color, line curvature, length and direction, how lines can be used to draw shapes and shapes can be combined in different ways to make patterns and represent people, animals and objects.

Drawing helps children to develop the  visual-spatial skills needed for mathematics. Pattern making is also an important aspect of developing mathematical ideas in young children.  

Fine motor activities and handwriting tasks

As a student performs handwriting exercises, you will begin to notice a difference in their  visual perception and fine motor development.

Additional benefits may include the following:

• You will be able to identify fine-motor problems                     
• You will improve tracking, retention and pencil grip                  
• You will help your child establish dominance
• You will improve their visual-motor skills, crossing the midline and hand-eye coordination
• You will provide more opportunities for sensory-motor development.

Music

Music engagement is an excellent way to encourage brain development in our students. Music has the ability to activate many different areas of the brain at once, such as areas associated with language, memory, hearing, and areas used to process sensory information. 

Music  is an excellent way to do educational activities in a fun and motivating way.

I have personally witnessed several times student who really talk or have communication challenges begin to sing.

Music can help stimulate your student’s brain in different ways, dance can help develop fine motor skills, and drama teaches emotions and problem-solving. 

Dance is important in education. The acts of imitation, repetition, coordination, and exploration of movement to the rhythm of the music will promote memory training and coordination.

Learning routines and memorising moves is a good mental exercise for your child. It’ll encourage them to use their mental strength without necessarily realising it. Dancing is a great way to help develop your child’s brain and ignite the spark of creativity 

Dancing, and other forms of art, can be used as tools of expressions and exploration for our students. They can use their creativity to think through misunderstanding, and communicate understanding effectively, even though they may not know how to use their words. 

Let's extend our students learning and CREATE.

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.

Early literacy.

Early literacy research states that:

• Early literacy development is a continuous developmental process that begins in the early years;


• Early literacy skills develop in real-life settings through positive interactions with literacy materials and other people.


Therefore a broad, deep and rich curriculum as advocated should ensure an environmentally rich literacy context, which gives children many opportunities for:


• Movement and developmentally appropriate experiences of both large and fine motor skills;


• Exploration of three dimensional props and books; 

• Real experiences of books, rhymes .

The development of early language and literacy begins in the first three years of life and is closely linked to a child's earliest experiences with books and stories. Young children come into contact with a range of materials including books, paper, and crayons. Together with the adults in their lives they are the important building blocks for language, reading and writing development. Current research demonstrates the critical role of these early experiences in shaping brain development.


For our students who have complications in the early years, whether that be medical issues, complex family dynamics or other situation that have limited the normal development of language we need to find ways to build on their language development. Opportunity is needed to build their developmental stages and experiences before we expect these learners to gain an understanding of formal literacy.


Views on learning literacy:


Learning to communicate and to read has changed dramatically and most recently due to digital technology. Vygotsky (1987) states that learning is a social phenomenon and emphasises that the learner must be involved in the whole activity as a meaningful context rather than discrete parts. This view supports the holistic approach to learning literacy based upon the fundamental assumption that reading and writing are learnt from whole to part (Goodman, 1986); (Goodman and Goodman, 1979). Learners should understand and experience the purposes and functions of language before learning to manipulate its constituent parts. Oral and written language have to be learned in meaningful and enjoyable circumstances, and thus children construct language as they use it. So in holistic approaches the child has the lead and the approaches vary between individuals in multiple contexts and via multiple interpretations. Harste et al., (1984), Cambourne and Turbill (1987) suggest that certain conditions support this approach with children, such as immersion in print, demonstration of how print and books are used, and encouraging children to explore through approximate and practical ways of using reading and writing meaningfully whilst giving supportive and instructive feedback.

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.

Behaviour and learning

Student’s behaviour can create barriers to learning and inhibit wellbeing for both the student and for those around them.

This is a growing concern of the teachers I visit. 

Behaviour is defined as the way one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others. It is often a response to a particular situation or stimulus.

Totally agree with this :

"If students are learning successfully, if they are feeling connected, if they know that people care, they are less likely to behave in ways that jeopardise their opportunities to be part of that".

Ngaire Ashmore, Principal, Tangaroa College

Check out the TKI site for supporting guidelines

Over the next few weeks I will be adding some strategies to help support our students to access their learning while managing themselves.

Often our students do not know what is 'good behaviour " we need to show them what we want.

Dear Teacher - Something to think about.

Teaching or testing ?

Teachers ask their students questions constantly BUT do we teach the answer first?
We are aware that our student are struggling with language acquisition , so do we spend enough time teaching the concepts and vocabulary.

Think about your class programme and the questions you are asking - have you given input first?
Are you aware there is a questioning hierarchy 

Here are some ideas from a recent training session with our speech language therapist at Sommerville Gail.

Levels of Questioning. Blank's Levels of Questioning.

The Six Levels of Questioning

My Inquiry - My story so far.

Alternative Assessments for Students with Additional needs.

As part of my on going Inquiry into appropriate assessment tools to use with students who have additional needs I have investigated the following tools.

Literacy	Maths
Narrative assessment Expanded English Framework (Fuel and Launch) -         Listening , reading,  viewing framework -         Speaking, writing, viewing framework Developmental Writing scale Developmental Spelling  Assessment	Narrative assessment Extended Number framework and matrix (Fuel and Launch) Bracken - School Readiness  (cost to purchase or may be available RTLB)

I have tried these assessments with a range of students at Sommerville special school and several students within the Manaiakalani schools.
These assessments have given more detailed assessment information for students who can not be assessed using standardised school assessments.

Narrative assessment, Expanded Framework and Bracken - school readiness are all recognised assessment with the Ministry of Education. These assessments cater for students with very complex learning needs.

The Developmental Writing scale and Developmental Spelling assessment were recommended by 
                                   

  

Dr Sally Clendon PhD Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill

Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy, Massey University NZ.

I have found that these assessments are very informative for establishing what the  student  can do  and what their next learning steps should be.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like some more information.

Raising Student Achievement Throught Targeted Action

How do I know that the programmes , professional development are making a difference?

When making changes within a school around curriculum development , assessment and student achievement I think we need to look at four important areas:

• What do our students need, what we doing for our students?
• What do our teachers need, what are we doing to help our teachers?
• How are we supporting our Whanau to be on this learning journey with us?
• What is our assessment data telling us?

I am responsible for Literacy and Numeracy across Sommerville Special School, including arranging professional development and gathering school wide data.

I wanted to review  what actions we are taking and who was responsible for what areas. This has proved to be very insightful and allowed my to review and plan for the future. 

Whanua involvement in the learning journey.

Sommerville school held an EXPO on Saturday 28th October , where we offered our families an opportunity to come along to school for an information day.

We had community organisations  run information sessions on relevant topics for our families included : Medical concerns, behaviour management , special needs funding etc.

We provided supervision and entertainment for their child ,while families/adults attended the information sessions. This was the fabulous idea of our Principal Diane Hankins. Our families are already asking about next year's Expo and offering ideas and suggestions for what they would like more information on.

I ran an hours session on how families can support the learning of their children at home.

My focus was to show families how they can get involved in fun, engaging ways that are enjoyable for everyone - adult and child.

Here is an example of some of the slides I presented.
Our parents are very keen to be involved in their child's learning, we just need to show them some ways of making it appropriate for their child in their home environment.

Manaiakalani Outreach Wananga Sharing time

Spreading the Word

Today I had the opportunity to attend part of the 2nd annual Wananga with our Manaiakalani Principals, Outreach Principals, Researchers and School Leaders.
It is so exciting to hear the successes and pedagogy of Manaiakalani Glen Innes are going to be duplicated in even more areas of NZ.

I had the opportunity to share my Inquiry :

Questions

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

As we head into testing and data collecting time - it's a good time to reflect on the information our assessments give us. A fail or not achieved results tells us what they can't do , we need to know what they can do to help plan our next teaching steps and to have baseline data.

We need to be able to identify the fine grained progress of all our students even ones with complex learning needs.

Lets celebrate progress no matter how small! Every step is a move in the right direction!

Supporting our Colleagues - Sharing

What am I learning ?

We have been focusing on how we can share our Learning Intentions with our students.
Students with special learning needs often need visual representation to help them remember their goals and targets or the strategies they need to learning.
Check out some of the examples from my fabulous colleagues at Sommerville.

Language is a vital part of communication

How can we support oral learning and development:

ERO publishes evaluation reports - there report on language say:

  giving greater attention to oral language learning of new entrants within a rich curriculum
  developing formal expectations for monitoring oral language progress or development across               Years 1 to 3 and beyond, across all key learning areas
 taking a formalised approach to identifying students’ oral language strengths (including       capabilities in languages other than English), needs and concerns, rather than relying on           informal observation and ‘gut feeling’
 systematically planning for interventions, where particular concerns or needs for oral language learning and development are identified
  teachers building on the advantage linguistically diverse learners bring to language learning
 building and strengthening teacher capability to support oral language teaching and learning.



What can we be doing in our classrooms daily to support our students? 

Leading Change - What are our priorities?

I had the opportunity to listen to Bek Galloway present on "Leading my team".
Bex talked about having a clear vision and purpose then everything you do should then work towards that goal.

She has a great visual that resonates with me.  
I think all teachers need to take stock of our class programmes and visions to ensure we are doing what we need to do.

As term four begins and we are all reflecting we need to think about our students needs.

What parts of my programme , plans do we need to Start, Stop, Limit and Continue for my vision to be a priority.

I think as a teacher all the demands placed on us sometimes distract us from our key task - Educating our students to the best  of our ability to ensure they achieve the most they possibly can !

The right assessment for the right purpose.

In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students.

Educators should use a diverse array of assessment tools ,and methods to measure/assess our students. Assessments have different functions - assessments are typically designed to measure specific elements of learning—e.g., the level of knowledge a student already has about the concept or skill the teacher is planning to teach , or what they have learnt from recent learning opportunities.  Ideally, assessments  are used to identify individual student weaknesses and strengths so that educators can provide the most appropriate educational programmes. 

Are we using the right assessments to give us the most relevant information on our students to help us provide the most appropriate educational programmes? 

Do our students know what we want them to do, and how to do it ?

Are we  doing too much testing and not  enough teaching?

Everytime we ask a student a questions it is a form of testing, unless we have already given lots of input first.

The Next Generation

Tony Ryan Educational consultant spoke at the APPA conference about the future of the next generation.
What skills will we need?

 

Are we preparing our students for the future? What can we do as educators ?

There seems to be a common  theme from several presenters today  around the importance of the

  Key Competencies.

How do we increase the inclusion of the important competencies in our daily class programmes.

Tony Ryan also talked about the vital skill for our future being  Oracy.

This is a major concern considering the low levels of our students oral language skills.

Tony suggested we teach our students about how to self-talk, the beginning of thinking our thoughts through and problem solving.

Thanks Tony lots to consider.