Teaching Inquiry Assessment 2

Teacher Inquiry Plan

...effective pedagogy requires that teachers inquire into the impact of
their teaching on their students. NZ Curriculum, P35
Teacher:
Year Level:

Me
Y10

Date:
20.4.16
Learning Area: English

Using the 'Teaching as Inquiry' process to inquire into the impact of teaching on
students. (NZ Curriculum, p.35)

Focussing Inquiry: (establishes a baseline and a direction). The teacher uses all available
information to determine what their students have already learned and what they need to
learn next.
What does the data indicate for this group of target students:
I have gathered data from two sources: AsTTle testing and academic interviews with
students.
At the start of the year, all Year 9 and 10 students completed AsTTle testing for reading and
writing. This testing provided information for the English department to continue to stream
students according to abilities as indicated through the testing. The overall rating for the
selected class in the AsTTle data was 3A. Students at Y10 level should be working at
around Level 5 of the NZ Curriculum. The AsTTle data suggests that the majority of the
students in the class are working at a standard below Level 5 of the NZ Curriculum.
I used the data from the AsTTle test to identify three target students who had scores
indicating they may need additional supports to achieve in English. Each of the students
selected had an overall rating of 3B.
Additionally, our school offers an academic mentoring program where teachers and
students collaborate to set academic goals and work together to find ways to achieve
those goals. During the academic mentoring sessions, the selected students indicated that
they wanted to work towards achieving their literacy standards when they sit NCEA Level 1
next year, and all three of the students indicated that they would like to continue to study
after graduating from high-school.

The following table shows where students are expected to be to achieve at the different
year levels across the curriculum:

NZ Curriculum Page 46

Student Profile:
Lote, M, Pasifika
Lote is Pasifika and is 14 years and 6 months old and is the eldest of 7 children. Lote is an
out of zone student, new to the school, this year. Lote was excluded from his previous
school because of his behaviour. Lote's parents are new immigrants to New Zealand and
Lote often has to 'translate' for his parents. When Lote leaves school, he would like to study
ministry in tertiary education and become a missionary.
Expectations:
This student's expected level of the Literacy
Learning Progressions is to be working at
Level 4:

decoding texts with such automaticity

that they do not need to decode all
words;

working out more complex, irregular,

and/or ambiguous words by using
strategies such as inferring the unknown
from the known;

recognising and understanding the

features and structures of a wide variety
of continuous and non-continuous text
types and text forms;

recognising and understanding a variety

of grammatical constructions and some
rhetorical patterns (e.g., cause and
effect; comparing and contrasting);

making links across a text by

recognising connectives or adverbial
clauses;

using their growing academic and

content-specific vocabulary to
understand texts;

interpreting metaphor, analogy, and

connotative language.

Where student currently sits:

Lote is currently sitting at 3B overall in the
AsTTle testing.
Lote's AsTTle scored:
2.3 for attitude
3B for surface level understanding
3P for deeper understanding
2A for processes and strategies
3A for ideas
Lote can:

automatically read all high-frequency

words;

articulate and using a variety of

decoding strategies appropriately when
they encounter unfamiliar words (e.g.,
by recognising syllables within words or
by applying their knowledge of regular
and irregular spelling patterns);

know the meanings of some common

prefixes (e.g., un-, re-, in-, dis-) and
suffixes (e.g., -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -ly, -er,
-less, -ful) and understand how they
affect the meanings of words;

know the synonyms for, and multiple

meanings of, many common words
(e.g., left, might, right, fine);

apply knowledge of word families,

collocations, and sentence or phrase
structures to find the meanings of
unknown words;

look for information in visual language

features (such as text boxes in nonfiction texts);

understanding the purpose of basic

punctuation.

To accelerate this student I need to

teach:

Identifying key ideas in a text to support understanding

Using contextual clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words

Continuing to develop an understanding of the English language and the nuances of

spoken and written speech
Lote can understand what he has read on both the surface and deeper level. He is also able
to develop ideas.
However, he lacks strategies and processes for engaging with the texts to be able to find
the required information essential to understanding.
Lote can read the words on the page, but not necessarily understand the multiple meaning
of those words. This leads to confusion around what is happening in the text

Student Profile:
Aroha, F, Maori
Aroha is Maori, aged 13 years and 11 months. She is the only child at home and has been
whangaied out to her maternal grandparents. Aroha comes from the South Island and
moved to Auckland with her grandparents at the start of this year. Aroha misses her
whanau from 'down South' and does not often get to speak with them or visit. Aroha is an
elective mute.
Expectations:
This student's expected level of the Literacy
Learning Progressions is to be working at
Level 4:

decoding texts with such automaticity

that they do not need to decode all
words;

working out more complex, irregular,

and/or ambiguous words by using
strategies such as inferring the unknown
from the known;

recognising and understanding the

features and structures of a wide variety
of continuous and non-continuous text
types and text forms;

recognising and understanding a variety

of grammatical constructions and some
rhetorical patterns (e.g., cause and
effect; comparing and contrasting);

making links across a text by

recognising connectives or adverbial
clauses;

using their growing academic and

content-specific vocabulary to
understand texts;

interpreting metaphor, analogy, and

connotative language.

Where student currently sits:

Aroha is currently sitting at 3B overall in the
AsTTle testing.
Aroha scored:
2.5 for attitude
3B for surface level understanding
3Bfor deeper understanding
3A for processes and strategies
2A for ideas
Aroha can:

automatically read all high-frequency

words;

articulate and using a variety of

decoding strategies appropriately when
they encounter unfamiliar words (e.g.,
by recognising syllables within words or
by applying their knowledge of regular
and irregular spelling patterns);

know the meanings of some common

prefixes (e.g., un-, re-, in-, dis-) and
suffixes (e.g., -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -ly, -er,
-less, -ful) and understand how they
affect the meanings of words;

know the synonyms for, and multiple

meanings of, many common words
(e.g., left, might, right, fine);

apply knowledge of word families,

collocations, and sentence or phrase
structures to find the meanings of
unknown words;

look for information in visual language

features (such as text boxes in nonfiction texts);

understanding the purpose of basic

punctuation.

To accelerate this student I need to

teach:

Using contextual clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words

Continuing to develop an understanding of the English language and the nuances of

spoken and written speech

Checking for understanding and comprehension at the end of the passage / paragraph

Identifying key ideas in a text to support understanding

Student Profile:
Mele, F, Pasifika
Mele is Pasifika. She is 14 years and 2 months old. Mele is the youngest in her family,
though there are younger children (her nieces and nephews) at home. Mele came to New
Zealand from Samoa one year ago. At home, the family only speaks Samoan. Mele's
parents and older siblings are supportive of her and encourage her to do well at school so
she can have a bright future.
Expectations:
This student's expected level of the Literacy
Learning Progressions is to be working at
Level 4:

decoding texts with such automaticity

that they do not need to decode all
words;

working out more complex, irregular,

and/or ambiguous words by using
strategies such as inferring the unknown
from the known;

recognising and understanding the

features and structures of a wide variety
of continuous and non-continuous text
types and text forms;

recognising and understanding a variety

of grammatical constructions and some
rhetorical patterns (e.g., cause and
effect; comparing and contrasting);

making links across a text by

recognising connectives or adverbial
clauses;

using their growing academic and

content-specific vocabulary to
understand texts;

interpreting metaphor, analogy, and

connotative language.

Where student currently sits:

Mele is currently sitting at 3B overall in the
AsTTle testing.
Mele scored:
2.8 for attitude
3Bfor deeper understanding
3b for processes and strategies
2A for ideas
Mele can:

automatically read all high-frequency

words;

articulate and using a variety of

decoding strategies appropriately when
they encounter unfamiliar words (e.g.,
by recognising syllables within words or
by applying their knowledge of regular
and irregular spelling patterns);

know the meanings of some common

prefixes (e.g., un-, re-, in-, dis-) and
suffixes (e.g., -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -ly, -er,
-less, -ful) and understand how they
affect the meanings of words;

know the synonyms for, and multiple

meanings of, many common words
(e.g., left, might, right, fine);

apply knowledge of word families,

collocations, and sentence or phrase
structures to find the meanings of
unknown words;

look for information in visual language

features (such as text boxes in nonfiction texts);

understanding the purpose of basic

punctuation.

To accelerate this student I need to

teach:

Using contextual clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words

Continuing to develop an understanding of the English language and the nuances of

spoken and written speech

Checking for understanding and comprehension at the end of the passage / paragraph

Identifying key ideas in a text to support understanding

How will I monitor student progress?

Practice literacy strategies:
I will continue to develop literacy strategies and offer opportunities to develop those
literacy strategies
Observations:
I will observe the students working in other classes with a high level of literacy (eg social
studies and science). I will focus on how well they interact with the written component of
the work and whether they are able to use their literacy strategies in other subjects. I will
also continue to observe within my own english lessons.
One-on-one discussions:
In my interactions with the students during class tuition time, I can check what strategies
the students are using to gather information about which strategies are most useful for
students and offer alternate strategies which may also be useful for learners.
Teaching Inquiry: The teacher uses evidence from research and from their own past
practice and that of colleagues to plan teaching and learning opportunities aimed at
achieving the outcomes prioritised in the focussing inquiry.
Based on the learning needs of these students, select one area of learning common to all
these students:
Processes and strategies:
Integrate sources of information, processes, and strategies confidently to identify, form,
and express ideas.
Indicators:

selects and reads texts for enjoyment and personal fulfilment

recognises and understands the connections between oral, written, and visual
language

integrates sources of information and prior knowledge confidently to make sense of

increasingly varied and complex texts

selects and uses appropriate processing and comprehension strategies with increasing
understanding and confidence

thinks critically about texts with increasing understanding and confidence

monitors, self-evaluates, describes progress, and articulates learning with confidence.

(NZC Level 4, Listening, Reading and viewing)
Describe the learning required:

Decoding texts

Working out unfamiliar words

Using vocabulary with confidence

Checking understanding
Describe how you will teach this group:
The three students will be taught with the rest of the class.

Do-Now activities to include vocabulary to be used during the lesson

Series of lessons to develop finding they main / key idea in a passage

Reading strategies for metacognition:

o Before reading: Activate prior knowledge, preview statement / key idea
o During reading: Comprehension monitoring
o After reading: Summarising in own words; clarifying questions

Short passages with three level guides: These can be based around the text currently
being studied in class, or based on short-short stories eg Patricia Grace's "Butterflies"
text

Cloze activities: This would tie in with vocabulary building while offering the
opportunity for students to use context clues to work out which word is most
appropriate in the sentence / passage

Graphic organisers: Help readers identify concepts in relation to key aspects of text

Peer based learning opportunities

Use of subtitles on any visual media being used in class. This would allow students to
see and hear vocabulary used in context. Develops phonemic awareness of words.

Using a range of relevant texts ie New Zealand texts or Pasifika texts and allowing
students to use their cultural understandings to engage in the texts
Using "reluctant reader" texts ie texts that have been specifically designed for lower
ability readers but are still engaging and at a relevant cognitive level

What pedagogical practices will you develop as you engage in the tasks that you
plan?
Students will be able to engage with a range of texts in a variety of different ways offering
multiple opportunities to engage in the learning.
Creating a supportive learning environment: Through the use of culturally appropriate
text(s); peer based learning opportunities; shorter passages; text choice
Facilitating shared learning: Through peer based learning opportunities; reading strategies
Making connection with prior learning: Reading strategies; three level guides; peer based
learning opportunities; cultural relevancy
Providing sufficient opportunities to learn: Range of different learning opportunities
including: cloze; three level guide etc
What informs my choice to work this way with students?
Vygotsky views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and
strategies. By allowing students to enter relationally into Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD), the learner is able to take responsibility for his or her learning by
assessing for themselves what they are capable of doing and what they need assistance
with.
For young adults, peer interactions are becoming more meaningful and important. Allowing
for learning to take place within this space means the learner is more engaged with the
learning opportunities. Honoring the young person as an individual by offering
opportunities to engage with peers means the student is also engaged with the learning if
they stay on task! Also honoring the young person's place in the world through
acknowledging their culture allows for student self discovery and development of their
individual personality. Additionally, allowing the young person to work with others helps to
develop relational skills.
What does the research say, or what is promoted by teaching experts?
"Literacy learners need to learn to make meaning of texts. This learning includes the use of
background knowledge (including knowledge relating to their culture, language and
identity), vocabulary knowledge, knowledge of how language is structured, knowledge
about literacy, and strategies to get or convey meaning." (The Literacy Language Learning
Progressions, P4)
"Effective comprehension strategy instruction can be accomplished through cooperative
learning, which involves students working together as partners or in small groups on
clearly defined tasks. Cooperative learning instruction has been used successfully to teach
comprehension strategies. Students work together to understand texts, helping each other
learn and apply comprehension strategies. Teachers help students learn to work in groups.
Teachers also provide modelling of the comprehension strategies." (Adler, 2015)
References:
Adler, C. (2015). Classroom Strategies. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension
Crown. (2010). The Literacy Learning Progressions (New Zealand, The Ministry of
Education). Wellington, NZ: Learning Media Limited
Crown. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum (New Zealand, The Ministry of Education).
Wellington, NZ: Learning Media Limited.