Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive - Vocabulary and Decoding - Day 6

This is a day I have been looking forward to!  I love vocabulary. Words word words!! Etymology is fascinating, root words and morphemes. Just awesome.

It was interesting to see research that shows how far behind some tamariki are with the numbers of words they have been exposed to and how it affects them.  Learning about the digital tools we can add to our kete in class to help our students was excellent. 

The biggest takeaway was that I was doing some things right. I teach morphemes explicitly and vocabulary daily. There are a lot more I can be doing and the best part of this course is that it isn't just theory and you're left to figure out how that needs to be made into practical lessons, they GIVE you the lessons you could use (as suits your tamariki). 

I look back at my university training and whilst interesting, valid and essential for background knowledge, it did lack in practical day to day "how does this work in a classroom of tamariki" preparation. I have had an amazing team around me, my mentor teacher was the best and her advice was outstanding. My colleagues have been (and still are) incredible too in helping with day to day questions and pushing me to be better all the time, sharing resources and ideas. This course however, has so many research backed "solutions" that are helping us all on this PLD to take us to the next level.

I don't do a particularly good job at pre-reading activities. This is something I will be working on. I do it in Guided reading though to pre-empt any issues with understanding the text. I have a wall with morphemes on it, I am going to upgrade this to a full word wall with relevant words both myself and the tamariki have "discovered"! 

The importance of vocabulary cannot be understated. The 80% impact is something I have previously discussed in my blog - 2023 PGC - Noticing & Reflecting   Natalie Wexler, author of "The Knowledge Gap" and co-author of "The Writing Revolution" has looked at research around knowledge (content and topic) being taught in schools which boils down to vocabulary ultimately and using it. Those with better background knowledge on topics who are poor readers can do better than those kids with great reading skills but little background knowledge on a subject - despite being better readers. If you don't know anything about the terms used in cricket (googly, wide, wicket, silly mid off) you may not comprehend a passage about a game even if you are a genius. Words matter. Knowledge matters.

I am now more confident to choose the words that tamariki may have issues with - could they survive reading this text if they don't know what these words mean???  I am excited to implement this in class. I wish we had the kids for 10 hours a day I'm that excited. With no disruptions!  Ha!! But at least now the time I do reading with them I will be doing my very best with research behind me to support what I am doing.

Timetabling Reading

As part of the Reading Practice Intensive course we are working on timetabling of our reading sessions. Previously I disclosed that I had been doing far too many group sessions with every single group every day. Now I have backed off and am trying to work on fewer sessions while still seeing my lower kids every day. It turns out that backing things off is not as easy as it sounded!

From my perspective it has been easier, but from the perspective of the tamariki, it has thrown them through a loop. I had to back off from some of the sessions to enable the change in "feel" in the classroom to settle the tamariki. It was an odd situation. You'd think less time with the teacher would work out better, but no. They found it hard to spend more time doing their mahi or independent tasks. I realised I had created sessions that they needed my help with (or they perceived they did) and having to do more of it without checking in with me was too hard.

We are getting there though. The last thing I need or want is tamariki that depend on me or any adult for approval before they can do the next task.

Regarding the independent tasks; I was already using all but literacy planet as part of the options for independent work. I also use spelling shed with lessons each week they take themselves through. I will be introducing Literacy Planet after I have settled into the teacher groups better and "set them free" with their mahi.

All part of the learning process - particularly with these kids who tend to expect work to be super easy and that if it requires even a moment's thinking, that Whaene Vicki will do it for them or write it for them!

I do reading the same time every morning - it works well and I don't have any ins and outs that affect that time slot. I am looking to rejig this in term two to have some days at different times to see how that works out and to change the daily timetable a bit. I am loathe to do this in the final weeks of term as it will unsettle the routine we have got into.