Appropriate Text Selection

 I think an important focus for me from today's learning, is the importance of sourcing a wide range of texts from visual, non fiction, fiction, poetry etc to entice our learners into wanting to read more. We need to provide the 'hook' that will create lifelong readers.

I was thrilled to see so many new Reading Apps on one slide. Thank you, Dorothy.

Your comments, Naomi about children being able to recognise themselves in texts, resonates with me. I often ask myself whether the texts available are relevant and could build self esteem and confidence because the content is 'relatable.' I will spend some time researching more from Rudine Sims Bishop as I enjoy her analogy of "Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Doors" encouraging children to look in, see a reflection and be able to move in and out of different world views. It is so important to be culturally aware and responsive when sourcing books for learners.

I really enjoyed the practical breakout task we did using student reading data to find reading material that would appeal to different students. It was great looking on Journal Surf for reading material that would encourage engagement and development of Tier 2 and 3 Vocabulary. To think students need to 'aquire a knowledge of 700 words per year' to be considered 'literate' shows how important these words are in the classroom.

 

It was good to be reminded of the importance of reading to children, reading with children and children reading independently and with a buddy. We take it for granted that we are doing these as a matter of course, but it's good to stop and check that all four modes are getting equal time during the school week.

I am looking forward to finding a text for a group of students to first, learn how to make a screencast of and then the reflection we have afterwards. So much learning to be had here.

Thank you for the informative day, Naomi, Dorothy and Georgie.

Day 2 Formal and Informal Assessments

   Today's session resonated with me as it gets down to the nitty gritty of assessment and how it can inform us of specific next steps and a way forward to implement progress for each child. We target interventions that are required at a specific time in the child's development. We also use a range of formal and informal assessments to make more reliable judgements on children's progress and achievement. 

It was heartening to have the importance and relevance of Reading Mileage reinforced, as I agree it should be embedded at a young age, if developing life long readers is one of our professional goals. This is when the teacher can pin point student's present reading interests from the Reader Profiles to steer the child/children to more books of the same ilk. At the same time this gives children freedom of choice to step up and become responsible for their own reading progress by reading the types of books they love in their own time. Pearl of wisdom: "There is a high relationship between Reading in our own time and our academic achievement."

Becoming familiar with Te Mataiaho, English (0 - 6) was made a little clearer and easier with our session on using assessment to inform our teaching. 

                        Using assessment to inform teaching

The Teacher Workbook is a marvellous resource to have at our fingertips. I really enjoyed this part. A deep analysis of the PAT Tests (and where to locat all the info!!!) can inform the teacher of student strengths and also 'next steps' in learning. It is an empowering tool for teachers to use when preparing Task Boards or subsequent reading activities for learners. Knowing the areas where they require development, understanding and practice, allow for targeted learning tasks to be created. 

The last session for the day involved the essential use and rewriting of Learning Intentions so that students understand what they are learning. It was a good reminder of the imprtance of choosing the correct words - being explicit. This example below shows how the LI's need to be simple yet specific, especially when taken from the curriculum:

 Comprehension | Vocabulary | Phase 2 | Year 5

“infer from context clues and use an increasing knowledge of morphology to independently determine the meaning of words with more than one affix (e.g., ‘exportable’ is made up of ‘ex’ (out of) , ‘port’ (to carry), and ‘able’, turning it into an adjective describing an item that can be carried out of a place).”

WALT

• Determine what words mean using context clues and our knowledge of morphology;

• Use a range of prefixes and suffixes (affixes) to understand the meaning of a word.

 Finally, Success Criteria 'describe how students will go about chieving a learning intention or how that will know they have learnt it.' They make VISIBLE what learners will be able to do to achieve their learning. 

Looking forward to creating a Taskboard for my students to engage with during Reading.