2 - Hypothesising and Reflecting

 Looking at the two main areas of concern - maths and writing, I feel the area I should focus on this year is writing. Maths has a whole new set of pedagogy with Numicon coming into our school that we've been advised to "trust the process" with and that would be better to reflect on once we really get going.

The new curriculum for writing has been released and boy, is it a busy one! It covers:

• Speech and language using any method of communication a student uses (including AAC)
• Phonemic awareness
• Systematic synthetic phonics (decoding and spelling skills)
• Handwriting
• Vocabulary
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Fluency
• Text structure

Each of these areas a huge all by themselves. 

So why are the tamariki not doing so well in writing? Their reading is ok, but the ability to put things down on paper or on their devices is letting them down overall. Writing is the other side of the reading 'coin' and being able to express yourself clearly is one of the most exciting things people do in this world. 

The tamariki in my class were 5 and 6 years old when Covid hit. There was disruption in schooling with lock downs and failure for whatever reason to engage in learning at home. This also affected their social skills. Since then there has been a societal change in attitude to school attendance, and more kids staying home longer when they are ill. Did this affect their ongoing schooling? 

I also have a cohort of tamariki that have intellectual disabilities which seems to affect writing the most. They have an inability to write clearly (motor skills) and short working memories. They also tend to get distracted by things; one for example, won't write a word down until they know they have spelled it correctly so barely gets anything written down. All of these tamariki require constant supervision and help to write. 

One child is at the very start of his journey potentially using AAC. This is something separate I am learning about.

My question is:  

How can I strengthen writing outcomes for all learners by adapting my programme to meet a wide range of needs and align with the refreshed Literacy framework?

I need to make sure I am differentiating appropriately, that I know the new curriculum and plan accordingly. When I look at the students individually, there are a few things that have not been taught explicitly by myself or previous teachers on a regular or ongoing basis - we haven't needed to. What I have been covering daily is vocabulary, morphology, handwriting and text structures as we cover them. 

What do I need to do to differentiate well, cover the curriculum, and to daily complete more explicit teaching on syntax and text structure? 

When I reflect on writing, I have to be honest and say, it is not my favourite thing to teach. I have always found it easy and so struggle sometimes as to why the kids just can't do it well! I have focused previously on maths and reading, but writing has always taken somewhat of a back seat in comparison to my own education about the matter. I do PLD on it, then struggle to implement. This new curriculum has definitely given me the impetus to do better. How? That is the question. The curriculum is NOT that explicit!!!!

PGC 2023 - Hypothesising and Reflecting

So why and how?

The tamariki have had three years of Covid. Time away from school through lockdowns, teacher and student illnesses. During this period a lot of activities have also been curtailed. We completed no trips away, weekend activities were almost non-existent for long stretches of time. Interesting experiences with lots of vocabulary were few and far between. An increase in screen time for everyone as activities went online has meant less time with other people, more gaming time for kids and less interaction at home with their whānau. Note, this is not ALL whānau, many many parents made and still make, huge efforts to get their kids doing things outside, sports, hunting, fishing, trips to places and a lot more and have enriching discussions with their tamariki.

From observation it appears that parents across the world have become more protective of their children. They don't want to upset them and want to protect them from any adversity. This is not surprising due to the way the past few years have been. Children are now more anxious and their attendance has reduced as a group. Parents aren't willing to force their children to school when they aren't feeling safe even in their own homes. 

This is a big issue with multifaceted causes and it will be years before research can really figure it out, if ever. In the meantime, what do I do?

Action taken - General Cognitive Understanding

• Instructions given verbally, written, and recorded for those who need it.
• Checking in by having kids repeat what I instructed if needed.
• Opportunities given to be leaders in class to build skills.
• Working independently - short time periods at first, extending these times as they get better at it. They are not used to working independently well.
• Choices given - but limited at first. Then more and more offered as each child progresses. 
• Education on making decisions. How to make a good decision. 
• MANA value discussions every day.
• Rewards given to those who show they are working hard (trying). Rewards for those who come and ask for help. 
• When asking for help, working on exactly what help they need. They are not good at giving specifics and sit and wait for me to do it as their teacher. Working on getting them to explain exactly where they are stuck. The questions usually started when they were told to begin our activity. They oftentime haven't even got their pencils out when they say "they don't know what to do". They seem to know, but they can't identify their sticking point, apart from having to do the mahi!

Reflection

• Each term the tamariki have gotten better at working independently.
• They can all work for about 30 minutes independently after I give instructions.
• They feel better at asking questions of me.
• Their questions about the work are more precise and targeted. I am not taking "I need help" at face value but questioning why? On what? What is hard? Can someone help you that isn't me? etc. It seems to be working well.
• Still working on making choices - finding the information first before you make a choice. Trying to ensure they all have one choice that they find interesting/like the method of creating etc to increase engagement

Action taken - Knowledge Building & Vocabulary

• For two terms, and now the third, we are working with our Inquiries with reading as well as dedicated inquiry time. Not only are we reading and researching our in inquiry area, but covering knowledge related to that inquiry, whether it is based on questions the tamariki have or not. T-Shaped literacy is behind every choice also. Multi-modal options are being offered so that every tamaiti is able to access the learning and show me how much they know even if they can't read or write well.
• Daily Warm ups - every morning we hit random topics on a slide show. Things that are related to maths vocab, daily words, general knowledge, inquiry topic words, ANYTHING that increases their general knowledge. Sometimes we get waylaid with discussions and the kids ask questions about things that really interest them which is awesome.
• It has resulted in more questions. I am trying to teach them to ask better questions by modelling great questions and asking them good questions. Trying to get them to think better! With limited experiences and knowledge, it is hard for them to wonder a lot. They don't seem at times to have any wonderings at all, but these sessions have opened up a lot of good questions and answers. It's fun and the kids like doing it.
• ReadWorks - a reading comprehension online programme. This involves 5 mins of reading preassigned, levelled reading passages about non-fiction themes I choose. They have to read them, (or listen if they aren't reading at all, or poorly) and then write down two or three things they want to remember into their online "book of knowledge". I am considering having them write it down using handwriting too, but won't change that until 2024. Research shows that handwriting information gets it stuck in our brains better than typing. These small tidbits of knowledge they find interesting is also often a springboard for discussion about the topic. For those that can't type their answers, I quiz them on what they listened or read about verbally to ensure they understand what they read. I try to align these readings with the inquiry we are doing, but it isn't always possible, so random items can pop up, but that all adds to their general knowledge.
• TIP Charts. I have loved these since I saw them on a PLD in either 2018 or 2019. I update them each inquiry to cover words we may come across. The vocabulary is gone through thoroughly so when they see it in their readings, it isn't new to them. Well, that is the hope!
• Base & Root words work. I began teaching morphemes. Each day we focussed on one morpheme and then used those words all week. For example dec = 10, TW = two etc. The kids LOVED this. They could understand what some words meant when they knew what part of the word meant. They had to think hard and use their ability to find clues like word detectives. This enabled them to make connections to multiple words with that morpheme and decipher what they MEANT. Not just how to say them. I can decode te reo Māori kupu and pronounce them ok, but I do not know what they mean. If I can decipher some of the part of a word though, it usually gets me on the right track. This is the same for English too. 

Reflection

• I won't see any benefits from this until we do the final assessments of the year. 
• I see a change in their thinking with the increase in vocabulary
• The research says to start knowledge building earlier rather than later. I can't fill in all the information that these tamariki have not yet been exposed to, but I can only do my best.
• I feel that later teachers may benefit more from their increased general knowledge than I will.
• Their reading assessments will only be better if I have covered off a topic that is in the assessments. Chances of that, slim! It isn't that I want to give them the answers, but I want them to understand what key words mean so they can understand the reading and interpret the questions and answer them correctly. If they don't know what some of the key words mean, they are stuck. That isn't done by decoding the word, but whether they know the meaning of it. 

2022 - Professional Growth Cycle - Dysgraphia Inquiry - Hypothesising & Reflecting

The first step is to see if my hypothesis of dysgraphia is correct, if I'm on the right track etc. The issue is I am unable to get a formal diagnoses of dysgraphia without my tamariki being able to access sessions with an educational psychologist on a private basis or being referred with months (potentially) years of waiting on a public list to get a diagnoses.

My kids cannot wait that long NOR should they have to, but that is another issue for another day. In the meantime there are several online "tests" and I have approached the RTLB for her assistance. She has recommended several written tests as well which all could indicate that the child might  have dysgraphia.

I filled in an online questionnaire: https://www.lexercise.com/tests/dysgraphia-test

and also got my tamariki to fill out a handwritten set of exercises. All tested as having a high probability of dysgraphia. These came from the RTLB for me to use. As this is my only option to "diagnose" them, I am working on the assumption they have dysgraphia at some, if not different levels. 

I then enrolled and paid for an online seminar from Tammy McMillan, https://www.shareshapeandshine.org/  Based in Australia. This seminar discussed what dysgraphia is, how to identify it, and most importantly, what to do about it in the classroom.

The biggest takeaway from this seminar was that I needed to let go of the expectations that I could teach them to write and then everything would be ok. These kids can learn to write, but in fact, is it necessary? Is the stress that is induced in the children, and myself, necessary to go through when there are accommodations that I could use?

These boys all have reasonable reading skills. They are at Gold level. How can I know that of my boy with mutism? Because he can type answers to questions that are basic but understandable and which show me he can read. He cannot however make simple inferences but works more at a fact and literal level. This is probably a symptom of his autism diagnoses and he may pick this up as he gets older, but right now this is something I not concerned with.

What have I changed in the classroom?

• I have stopped requiring them from answering in writing, they can choose to talk to me about their understanding of something, or draw a picture or record something.
• I am working more one on one with them (when I can) to check their understanding more frequently during a lesson.
• I am offering more drag and drop options for these three so they don't have to type their answers, they can choose an answer and drag it to where it should be.
• I am continuing with handwriting lessons that I just let them join in at the moment to encourage hand strength. I will be correcting them on formation, but not pushing them to be perfect.
• I have purchases grips for pencils and pens to see if that helps with grip as they are all poor tool handlers. They tend to hover over the page and to hold the pencil quite high without their hands touching the paper sometimes. This is particularly true with my autistic boy which may be a sensory thing, I do not know. Again, if it helps it helps!
• Writing - these kids have great stories to tell, but they are currently unable to do anything but verbalise them. They are unable to access assessments such as asttle or other writing assessments.
• The kids have been introduced to speech to text (well, two of them!) and they are able to write short sentences with them. Whilst this helps somewhat, the lack of ability to focus and stay on task means they still get very little work done without someone over their shoulder keeping them going. This is very difficult with others in the class. It also needs to be done in a quiet environment which is all good as we have quiet break out rooms. However, this means leaving them alone to do their work which they are not capable of doing for any length of time. A catch 22. Especially when the mute boy won't do anything while I am with him, but can't do it on his own without me!
• Being able to let go of the THEY MUST WRITE OR THEY AREN'T ACHIEVING paradigm I was desperately hanging on to is a big relief. These kids can achieve without being able to physically write.

I believe this has changed my relationship with these boys, learning is more enjoyable from both sides of the teacher's table.

I will be constantly monitoring their progress and their abilities to ensure that I am meeting their needs and if something changes with their writing, that's great! We will celebrate it, but their worth as a writer won't hinge on this occurring.

It also has made me more aware of issues that children may face that I am not able to fix. I think as a teacher you believe you can do anything and it can be disheartening to see children not progress as you expect. But with a bit of jinking and jiving, an accommodation here or there, and alternative assessment options show that they are indeed progressing and are learning, just not as I may have formerly wanted or expected them to do. This is still valid.