It has been a really hard job trying to select my most needy students for my ALL writing group. There are numerous students who could do with an accelerated boost in writing however when I looked at the students most recent results, paired with what I have seen in their independent writing books, and conversations with my teacher aide, my group of 8 have been selected based on the most urgent needs.
Attached is the assessment data that I have used to base my selection on. There are three students who may end up floating in and out of the group as they achieve success. This is due to the fact that they have achieved higher results last year, however from what I am noticing in their independent writing, as well as recent testing, these three students have some areas of their writing that need immediate attention. Many of these needs are around the surface features which are now beginning to hinder the development of their ideas as well as the fluency of their writing.
The attached assessment data is for the entire Year 5 group of struggling writers. I have removed all the names and just left initals so individuals cannot be identified. The pink highlighted students are the students from my class who I have identified as having the greatest needs. These will be the 8 members of my Term 2 ALL group.
ALL selection data 2015
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
20 Top Tips for Boys Writing - Research
20 Top Tips for Boys Writing - Research
Building on the very successful "Me Read, No Way" document, the Province of Ontario released, "Me Read? And How!"
1. Boys who were allowed to choose writing topics showed increased motivation and engagement. Page 10
Building on the very successful "Me Read, No Way" document, the Province of Ontario released, "Me Read? And How!"
Provided for you below are some key strategies and ideas to assist our boy writers.
I've included page references for each strategy so you can read more about them in the full document.
I've included page references for each strategy so you can read more about them in the full document.
1. Boys who were allowed to choose writing topics showed increased motivation and engagement. Page 10
2. Boys are helped by experiencing examples of different text forms. This helped boys in non-fiction writing. Page 15
3. Boys planned their writing using graphic organizers both individually and in pairs. Page 17
4. When boys were given assignments with step-by-step instructions, clear expectations and a formula to follow, assignments were completed. Page 23
5. Boys saw the importance of an authentic audience and a real purpose when they produced a "Boys Writing for Boys!" newsletter. Page 23
6. Talk is an important scaffold for boys writing activities. Talk builds social interaction, and deepens understanding and is a precursor to writing. Pages 32 and 33.
7. Allow boys to share their thinking through talk prior to a written assignment. It will improve their ability to communicate. Page 34
8. Boys use of the debate to discuss authentic and relevant issues transferred into their non-fiction persuasive writing. Page 35
9. Boys welcome having male role models as writers. Page 39
10. Boys choice of topics for writing allows for ownership. Page 47
11. Schools can tap into the real-life connection by creating blogs for the students to use for class writing. Page 48.
12. Boys prefer to write about real-life and hands-on experiences. Page 49.
13. Boys' writing improved during activities that were highly motivating and grounded in the real world, coupled with direct instruction about the writing form and supported with the use of visuals such as anchor charts, word walls, and graphic organizers. Page 49.
14. Boys like to write about exaggerations, humour, silly writing, rap songs, procedural writing, short scenes. Page 51.
15. ICT in the form of computers, blogs, wikis and digital voice recorders have been used with boys to reinforce writing skills. Page 53.
16. Boys with special needs thrive when given the opportunity to work with assistive technologies: graphic organizers, dictation software. Write and edit in-class compositions electronically allowed them to receive immediate feedback. Page 53.
17. Teachers observed that when the number of paper and pencil tasks was decreased, students were more engaged during the writing activities. Page 55.
18. Boys who design and play video games develop sophisticated operational, cultural and critical literacy skills. Page 57.
19. Boys requested boy friendly topics, a clear outline of what is expected, a shorter writing process and fewer things to fix when they are finished. Page 66.
20. An emphasis on non-fiction writing (Reeves, 2000) Page 79.
Professional reading about 'how to overcome barriers for struggling writers'.
How to overcome barriers for struggling writers.
I have highlighted the key points from this reading.
I have highlighted the key points from this reading.
Teaching Inquiry: What approaches can I take to help struggling students overcome writing difficulties and enhance their motivation to write?
Today I narrowed down the focus for my teaching inquiry. Based on my data, my urgent focus needs to be around developing writing. In order to begin the inquiry into my teaching practice I needed to think about my inquiry question.
Originally I thought forming the question would be quite simple. My initial question was 'What can I do to improve the achievement levels of my struggling writers?' however on reflection, I found this was extremely broad and more about what I wanted to achieve at the end of my inquiry. So today during our staff meeting, I worked with a group of teachers who all wanted to work on improving the achievement levels of struggling writers. After a bit of discussion, I found I first of all need to work out what is causing my students to struggle with writing, then work on strategies/interventions/direct acts of teaching, etc which will help these students to overcome these identified barriers. A large proportion of my identified struggling writers are also boys, so a lot of my inquiry will probably involve focusing on finding out how boys learn best, and how I can motivate boys to write more quality pieces.
Keeping this is mind, I formed my new question which is:
'What approaches can I take to help struggling students overcome writing difficulties and enhance their motivation to write?
My initial thinking is that if I can help students overcome the challenges/barriers to learning such as handwriting, spelling, lack of ideas, topics, self belief, etc, then hopefully the students will become more motivated during writing, and become more willing to put their ideas on paper. If I can also identify what the barriers are, and the causes of these barriers, then maybe I will need to make some changes in teaching practices across all curriculum areas.
Originally I thought forming the question would be quite simple. My initial question was 'What can I do to improve the achievement levels of my struggling writers?' however on reflection, I found this was extremely broad and more about what I wanted to achieve at the end of my inquiry. So today during our staff meeting, I worked with a group of teachers who all wanted to work on improving the achievement levels of struggling writers. After a bit of discussion, I found I first of all need to work out what is causing my students to struggle with writing, then work on strategies/interventions/direct acts of teaching, etc which will help these students to overcome these identified barriers. A large proportion of my identified struggling writers are also boys, so a lot of my inquiry will probably involve focusing on finding out how boys learn best, and how I can motivate boys to write more quality pieces.
Keeping this is mind, I formed my new question which is:
'What approaches can I take to help struggling students overcome writing difficulties and enhance their motivation to write?
My initial thinking is that if I can help students overcome the challenges/barriers to learning such as handwriting, spelling, lack of ideas, topics, self belief, etc, then hopefully the students will become more motivated during writing, and become more willing to put their ideas on paper. If I can also identify what the barriers are, and the causes of these barriers, then maybe I will need to make some changes in teaching practices across all curriculum areas.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Getting ready for a new writing approach
I have had the go ahead to try a new approach to writing in order to raise the levels of my struggling writers. I am now a part of the ALL writing intervention team which will focus on an accelerated learning approach to increase the levels of identified struggling writers.
The program will begin in week 1, term 2. The first step is to identify my writing group. To do this I have looked at students data, writing books, and what I have already noticed during group writing sessions this term.
I have found the selection process very tricky as their are a number of students who are right on the edge of needing intervention. After numerous discussions with colleagues about group sizes, I have narrowed my selection to eight students. The recommended group size is 6, however as this is also an inquiry and my reasons for eight students is valid, I will trial a group of eight next term.
The next thing I needed to consider was my timetable and the number of groups I have within the class. The ALL group must work with the teacher for 40minutes a day. I currently have three writing groups and see each group and minimum of twice a week. It has been suggested that I could try having four writing groups which would mean I could only get to see my top group once a week. After much deliberation around the number of groups, rotations, timetable etc, I have decided to keep my writing program with three writing groups. I will see my ALL group everyday and still be able to work with the rest of the groups 2-3 times a week. My reasoning for this, is so I am not completely changing my entire program. This will hopefully allow me to see whether it is the new teaching approach that is improving students learning because I won't have multiple variables such as smaller groups, more rotations etc that could be contributing to the changes. If the timetable doesn't work, I will be able to make the necessary changes and maybe introduce 4 groups if needed.
The program will begin in week 1, term 2. The first step is to identify my writing group. To do this I have looked at students data, writing books, and what I have already noticed during group writing sessions this term.
I have found the selection process very tricky as their are a number of students who are right on the edge of needing intervention. After numerous discussions with colleagues about group sizes, I have narrowed my selection to eight students. The recommended group size is 6, however as this is also an inquiry and my reasons for eight students is valid, I will trial a group of eight next term.
The next thing I needed to consider was my timetable and the number of groups I have within the class. The ALL group must work with the teacher for 40minutes a day. I currently have three writing groups and see each group and minimum of twice a week. It has been suggested that I could try having four writing groups which would mean I could only get to see my top group once a week. After much deliberation around the number of groups, rotations, timetable etc, I have decided to keep my writing program with three writing groups. I will see my ALL group everyday and still be able to work with the rest of the groups 2-3 times a week. My reasoning for this, is so I am not completely changing my entire program. This will hopefully allow me to see whether it is the new teaching approach that is improving students learning because I won't have multiple variables such as smaller groups, more rotations etc that could be contributing to the changes. If the timetable doesn't work, I will be able to make the necessary changes and maybe introduce 4 groups if needed.
Reflecting on practice: fence post questions.
Tony Burkin : PD 15-5-14
Reflecting on Practice:
3 Key fence post questions.
* Principles of Reflection
- What's happening?
- What's not happening?
- What can I do to influence what's not happening?
* Keep asking the same 3 questions so you can make connections and get a full understanding. Start to see patterns, changes, movements, problems etc.
Aim: try and make reflection and inquiry habitual practice. The more I reflect and ask questions, the more I will reflect and develop my teaching practice.
Professional development in Te Reo
This year I am going to challenge myself as a learner and embark on a journey where I become more fluent in Te Reo Maori. I am currently awaiting my pack to get started in a level 3 Te Reo course run by the Wananga. I am excited about doing this course, whilst feeling a bit nervous as to when I am going to fit all the study in as well as teaching full time and being a mum. But I guess that's why it's all apart of professional development. It will also be great being able to converse with my students more and share a greater knowledge of Maori language/ Te Reo in the class room.
- 07/02/2015
- 07/02/2015
New learning curve for me: First time teaching Year 5: 7-2-2015
New learning curve for me: First time teaching Year 5
7-2-2015
This year I am excited and nervous about becoming a Year 5 teacher for the first time. Whilst I know how to teach children in the upper end of the school, this year is going to be a new learning curve for me. I am currently trying to find the balance between what the students can currently do and my high expectations. I am finding that I am constantly reminding myself that the students are a whole year younger than my previous year group. I need to slow down my instructions, repeat myself more, and model my expectations more. Whilst it has been a terrific start to 2015 with an amazing bunch of students, I have already discovered that they need a lot more assistance when it comes to doing even the simplest of tasks (ruling up maths books, writing the date correctly, setting up books etc). Things that I took for granted because my previous Year 6 classes were good at these things. It is going to be an exciting year and I am really looking forward to watching all of my students develop and become inquiring, motivated learners
Friday, 27 March 2015
How can I improve the achievement of struggling writers?
Over the past few weeks it as become alarmingly apparent that more than a third of my class are well below in their writing. These writers are struggling in all areas of their writing and with only two years left of primary school, I need to do something to meet their needs and raise not only their confidence in writing but also their achievement. In our last team meeting, this problem was noted across all four year 5 classes. It was a very motivating meeting and I came away from it feeling positive that I could make a change with these writers and trial a new approach with them. The approach is going to be taking the key ideas from ALL that Leanne shared with us.
Before I began the new way of teaching these struggling writers, I identified who they were based on past assessments as well as what I had seen during writing over the past three weeks. I complied some simple questions that each student answered outside independently and my teacher aid recorded what they said. The students comments were very interesting. Below are the questions and their comments:
How do you feel about writing?
How would you like to learn/be taught writing? What would your ideal sessions be like?
We started off by watching several clips via the interactive whiteboard on how beavers build dams. We then orally discussed a few of the key points noted from the videos. I then gave the students a pile of sticky notes then in working with the people at their tables, the students had to list one point per sticky note which either described the beaver or a point about how they build their dam. These were all anonymous. Once the students had done this, they were asked to place their sticky on a chart: one was the introduction - define topic, what is being explained... the second chart was for the body of the explanation: how, cause and effect...
Once all the sticky notes were placed on a chart I read all the points out to the class. I continually gave the class praise for their thoughts and efforts to help build their confidence throughout this process. By reading the points out aloud, the class quickly were able to identify key points that had been missed out so they quickly wrote these down then added them to the charts.
The next step involved splitting the class into two groups. My teacher aide supported one group who were asked to group all the sticky notes with similar points together then place the groups into a logical, sequence on the chart. The other group worked with me. We divided our chart into three sections. We also grouped the sticky notes with similar points together then placed them in the section on the chart which represented either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd paragraph. Once this was done the students checked over the chart and ensured that the notes were correctly arranged in a logical sequence.
This is all we had time for today. After we had finished I asked the students to give either positive or negative feedback about today's planning session and also what they think we should do for the next step in planning. The positive response was fantastic. The students loved working together and learning from each other. They found this way of planning really helpful and were able to identify a lot more ideas they could use as opposed to them working alone. Students hope to continue planning together by filling in an example of the graphic organiser together before they go off to complete it by themselves.
It was great to see students feeling motivated about their writing and to have many of my identified struggling writers giving feedback about todays session.
Before I began the new way of teaching these struggling writers, I identified who they were based on past assessments as well as what I had seen during writing over the past three weeks. I complied some simple questions that each student answered outside independently and my teacher aid recorded what they said. The students comments were very interesting. Below are the questions and their comments:
How do you feel about writing?
- "I feel okay. I like describing things"
- "Sometimes I like it depending on what I'm writing"
- "Happy when I get to write about what I'm interested in"
- "I find it boring. I just want it finished"
- "I like writing, it makes me happy"
- "I like writing because I get to use my imagination"
- "I feel awesome. I get to write new stories"
- "I feel happy because I like to write stories"
- "I feel negative because when I rub out words I lose track and forget all my ideas"
- "Annoys me when I write something good and the teacher rubs it out"
- "Easier because the teacher helps when I'm stuck"
- "I feel worried that it's not perfectly correct"
- "I don't like my work being rubbed out. It makes me feel mad"
- "I feel it's easier to write in pencil because you can rub out your mistakes"
- "Feel pretty good, it's easier using a pencil and I know where to put my fingers. Easier because the teacher shows me what to do"
- "I feel annoyed. I like how I do my work. Too much of the teacher telling me what to"
- "Working on my own is hard because I have to think"
- "I feel nervous and when I cross a word out it looks bad. I don't like to make mistakes"
- "Easier because even though I make a mistake I can still track the story"
- "Writing in pen is better because your work is not rubbed out"
- "I try harder and want to get things right because I'm working by myself"
- "Harder because I want it to be perfect but the teacher can see all my mistakes"
- "It feels easier"
- "Harder because you have to correct everything yourself and its not as neat and tidy. It's better to keep your mistakes because you learn from them"
How would you like to learn/be taught writing? What would your ideal sessions be like?
- "No rubbing work out. Work on a paragraph then get it checked by the teacher not every session"
- "Always write in pen so I can see all my work"
- "The teacher writing example plans and sentences and then we can go and do the work on our own"
- "Writing about what I'm into"
- "Do what they want to write. To be funny and entertaining like Mrs O'Callaghan"
- "Before we start writing go through examples first so we can go and do the work ourselves".
We started off by watching several clips via the interactive whiteboard on how beavers build dams. We then orally discussed a few of the key points noted from the videos. I then gave the students a pile of sticky notes then in working with the people at their tables, the students had to list one point per sticky note which either described the beaver or a point about how they build their dam. These were all anonymous. Once the students had done this, they were asked to place their sticky on a chart: one was the introduction - define topic, what is being explained... the second chart was for the body of the explanation: how, cause and effect...
Once all the sticky notes were placed on a chart I read all the points out to the class. I continually gave the class praise for their thoughts and efforts to help build their confidence throughout this process. By reading the points out aloud, the class quickly were able to identify key points that had been missed out so they quickly wrote these down then added them to the charts.
The next step involved splitting the class into two groups. My teacher aide supported one group who were asked to group all the sticky notes with similar points together then place the groups into a logical, sequence on the chart. The other group worked with me. We divided our chart into three sections. We also grouped the sticky notes with similar points together then placed them in the section on the chart which represented either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd paragraph. Once this was done the students checked over the chart and ensured that the notes were correctly arranged in a logical sequence.
This is all we had time for today. After we had finished I asked the students to give either positive or negative feedback about today's planning session and also what they think we should do for the next step in planning. The positive response was fantastic. The students loved working together and learning from each other. They found this way of planning really helpful and were able to identify a lot more ideas they could use as opposed to them working alone. Students hope to continue planning together by filling in an example of the graphic organiser together before they go off to complete it by themselves.
It was great to see students feeling motivated about their writing and to have many of my identified struggling writers giving feedback about todays session.
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