Mentoring New Teachers

In Term 3 Marc (Literacy Leader) and I decided to put in place a Literacy Action Plan for the school. It was obvious from the asTTle and PAT results and the excel spreadsheets on NCEA data/credits that many students were not achieving. An analysis of  NCEA results and NZQA Assessment Reports on each subject that a colleague and I had done in 2008 had proved that literacy - vocabulary, reading, writing, was a factor for students not achieving the NCEA standards across all subjects. I repeated this for 2016 here: NCEA Examiners'comments relating to Literacy Maths 2016 Level 1 some of the technical statistical words relating to interpretation of time series graphs were not fully understood. Candidates also need to ensure that the specific directions in the question are actually addressed, such as: compare, describe, justify, give statistical evidence, comment on showing numerical working. Level 2 The vocabulary of algebra needs to be understood so that candidat...

A colleague & I did some research some years back by analysing examiners' comments on NCEA subjects.  We focussed on why students fail in NCEA? and How students get to Excellence in NCEA. We had a hunch that failure was to do with literacy - subject vocabulary, subject reading materials and subject writing requirements. We also had a hunch that from our experiences with classroom teaching, NCEA marking and working with teachers, that students attain Excellence or Scholarship through demonstrating the quality of their thinking and especially using the Extended Abstract category of the SOLO taxonomy. Analysis of the examiners' reports proved that our hunches were correct. 2016 examiner's reports can be seen here . The examiners descriptively list what students commonly did to be awarded Achieved, Not Achieved, Merit and Excellence. These lists are very helpful, especially for Beginning Teachers and the findings within the lists concur with our hunches of 8 years ago....

John Hattie, currently co-chairing a Science of Learning Centre ,  stated in an interview that " we need to bring back ‘learning’ as our focus (more than ‘teaching)’.  What does it mean to learn, which learning strategies are optimal (when, how, and where), how do we assess and evaluate how a student learns (wow, we have so many measures of achievement but how many measures of learning do we have!), and how do new advances in the science of learning help make the difference." Yesterday 2 engineering students from University of Auckland spent the day showing students how to work with robots - how to code them, how to test the code on the maze, and how to improve the code so the robot could get through the maze. I observed them working with a Year 10 class. Knowing nothing about using robots in education, I was astonished to see what a difference it made to the students' learning. Instead of working on individual devices they naturally collaborated in groups and when the...

At a recent meeting with PCTs there seemed to be some confusion around evidence for appraisal and evidence for certification. Appraisal Appraisals are about   " improving teacher capability and student outcomes " (ERO). That is why the teacher's goals are linked to the vision and goals of the strategic plan of the school. Often there will be a school goal, a department goal and a personal goal. The appraisal process is  focused on valued outcomes for students, from goal-setting, evidence gathering and analysis, observations and professional discussions to the annual report (ERO). Attention can de directed to priority students and evidence from teachers' inquiries can form the basis of an appraisal discussion. So teachers choose their own goals within the guidelines & parameters set by the school. Originally this process did not include the Registered Teacher Criteria but the Practising Teacher Criteria are now being used in appraisal. There has been confus...

At our PCT meeting yesterday the PCTs shared which students they were focussing on for their inquiry into lifting individual student achievement - a focus for the Professional Learning groups (PLuGS) and what they thought needed to be addressed for these students. The needs discussed were motivation x 3, non completion, disengaged, easily distracted. I decided to do some reading around motivation with Pasifika Learners. ERO in its 2012 report " Improving Education Outcomes for Pasifika Learner s "  saw the key elements as: Identity, Language & Culture - different needs for different learners Assessment information - understanding and using data to make a difference An effective connection between home and school A curriculum that has meaning for students and connects with their wider lives The last bullet point refers to using a culturally  responsive pedagogy.  (see video) What is a culturally responsive pedagogy? It is about knowing your Pasifika stu...

Mele Suipi Latu, a teacher on the staff at Tamaki College, ran a session for us on Tongan values, ways of being and how these are sometimes in conflict with what we expect of them in school. She reminded us that students come to school already shaped with a whole world view consisting of beliefs, customs, practices, and expectations. The 4 Tongan values: Respect Relationships - family, church, country, villages Humility - Lototo - drop what you want and go with expectations. Everyone knows their place. Commitment - you do it until it hurts. Commit to whatever course you are doing. Students develop a subculture when they leave home - a second culture. There can be a clash between the subculture of school & home. At home they learn to do what they are told and to respect their elders; at school they are taught to question. Mele suggests that the teacher puts up their expectations from the first lesson but should never disown the students from their culture. There can be...