Literacy – Writing GroupsR.T.Cs 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

The R.T.Cs I Believe Interconnect through the

Writing Group Sessions I take daily

R.T.C 4

•Actively participate in professional development and learning. This supports the basis of ‘Teaching as Inquiry’

Expected Evidence To Support This:

•I am able to reflect upon my professional learning which informs my teaching

•I have evidence of personal and collective professional development

•I participate in learning communities like VLN and access PD materials online (eg NZ Maths, TKI)

R.T.C 6

•Recognise and cater for individual student’s needs and abilities

•Use the curriculum documents and progressions to monitor learning progress and identify learning needs of all students in the class

Expected Evidence To Support This:

•I am able to show evidence of differentiated learning in my planning

•The work of my students (eg exercise books) shows evidence that I am planning an effective programme that is clearly linked to the curriculum

R.T.C 7•Adapt the teaching to meet the needs of the students

Expected Evidence To Support This:

•I provide suitable connected content and context in the delivery of programmes•Goal Setting•I reinforce ‘I Care’ messages in class•I include student ‘self reflection’ and ‘review’ in everyday classroom practice•I have a positive class climate•My students are engaged in learning and show a high level of task commitment•My learners are encouraged and supported to take risks

R.T.C 8

•Use the D.A.Ts and Learning to develop student voice in the classroom

•Integrate the Key Competencies into planning

Expected Evidence To Support This:•Prior learning is considered in order to plan and provide authentic learning experiences

•The Key Competencies are evident in unit planning and promoted through work habits, behaviour and interaction

•I use the environment to manage the learning process, providing programmes which include a range of activities looking for new strategies, being flexible and trying new things

Evidence Collected to Show Learning and Progressions to Support these R.T.Cs

Curriculum Documents

After one year at school, children are expected to meet the standard of writing outlined in the diagram.

So how am I working towards ensuring my children not only met these standards, they do it well!

How do I ensure my ‘Target Children’ meet this standard within the specified year if they find aspects of learning, retaining and using information difficult?

The Writing ProgressionsMaking the writing progressions accessible and understandable for these children. Our wall display went from this... ...to this.

The writing levels were cluttered and all displayed on one wall (up high too).

All the writing levels are now down low, reading from left to right. These are referred to often.

Week 5 - Writing GroupThese are the skills I wanted to practise:

•Knowing ‘the story’ – what are the words I need for the story? Plan for the teacher

•Identify the words I need, find them from my word list and write them down accurately

•Re-read the words I have to make sure they make sense ‘together’

Even though these were the skills I was focusing on, I saw other things happening as well!

I began collecting observational data after I felt myself and my class, had a ‘reasonably good working

relationship’.

I felt I had enough information about my children to start ‘in-depth working’ with them and

the writing progressions.

I am wearing a silly hat to remind other children (not in this group) not to disturb this writing group or myself unless it is very important!

What Did I Notice in Such a Short Space of Time?

•My focus was predominantly drawn to one child during the writing session

•I tried to engage with the other children but the ‘first’ child would interrupt and I would re-focus back on this child

•The child closest to the camera was losing focus

•I was not fully encouraging ‘all’ children to practise ‘focus skills’ mentioned previously

•I was not managing time effectively to provide an engaging, appropriate and effective teaching / learning sessions with these children

Examples of Work from Students’ Exercise Books - Student 1 (J-LM-H)

J-LM-H - 03.02.15Unassisted

J-LM-H - 02.03.15Teacher Assisted

J-LM-H - 30.03.15Unassisted

Is not yet making links between words/letters on her card to words/letters she needs to write her stories but is beginning to.

Examples of Work from Students’ Exercise Books - Student 2 (JH)

JH - 02.02.15 UnassistedJH - 10.03.15 Unassisted

JH - 24.03.15 Teacher Assisted

Is beginning to make links between words he needs-words he finds from his cards.

Examples of Work from Students’ Exercise Books - Student 3 (TH)

02.03.1503.02.15 30.03.15 Some T assistance

Is beginning to make links between words he needs-words he can find from his writing card but still has guidance.

How Did I Improve Over the Next Few Weeks?

I recorded myself during ‘teaching writing sessions’ over the next few weeks. I reviewed these to see if my ‘conscious awareness’ of my previous session had seeped into following sessions and made any difference in:

● How I managed time between the children I chose to work with

● How I focused on specific skills and effectively relayed these to the children

● What difference did I make over the next few weeks and could I prove it?

Week 9, Term 1!Another Writing Group (with two of my Target Children). Some improvements still to go! The original time session for this writing group was 10 minutes but some parts have been omitted, but it can still be seen how the writing session appeared to flow but the boy is still left a little too long to wait.

Reflections...As mentioned before, I still require ‘more improvement’ in terms of:

● Time management of small groups of children (using time more effectively to benefit the children I work with)

● Reducing ‘wait time’ to have Teacher attention/feedback● Where is the ‘Feedback’ and ‘Feed-Forward’ I believe I am doing? (there is quite a

bit of interaction occurring during the session but not FB or FF)

I have noticed these positive activities occurring:● Students are beginning to make links between the words they say, hear, can find

and record. Children are beginning to identify the words they need without T prompting but are still at an early stage of writing a simple sentence

● Students are taking pride in sharing their stories with the class and receiving ‘feedback’ from their peers

● Students are beginning to read their stories and the stories belonging to others around the room! These were just decoration at the beginning of the year but more often are children walking around the room by themselves or with a buddy to read student-created stories and charts

● Children are eager to write!

So what next?● Early in Term 1, I had submitted a request to have support from our RTLit teacher in

terms of creating a more ‘robust, effective’ literacy programme (reading and writing)

● Continue to read and put into practice, skills, strategies and knowledge from the following resources:➔ Learning Through Talk - Oral Language in Years 1 to 3➔ Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1-4

● Refine my ‘Effective Teaching Practice’ through continually reviewing and critiquing my teaching practice

● Continue to seek advice from Literary Support Staff (ie Reading Recovery, RTLit, Senior Teacher)

● Continue to check education portals such as T.K.I, for updated information regarding literacy expectations and progressions

So what next?I will continue to record myself with the same groups of children to make comparisons over time:

● Is time management effective and has wait time been reduced or ‘more effectively applied’?

● Are my questions and prompting appropriate/effective?

● Have I given students effective ‘Feedback’ and ‘Feed-Forward’ comments for their ‘next steps’ learning?

● Do they understand FB (what they have done well) and FF (what they need to work on to improve or develop)

● Have there been in notable improvements (measurable) in the students’ story writing and writing skills? What couldn’t they do well before and how are they doing now?

● What ways am I measuring students’ success?

● How long will I take to measure development and success?

Watch this space!