High Expectation Teaching - A Reflection on Flexible Groupings, Literacy

"within-class ability grouping has several disadvantages related to the differentiation of learning opportunities, potential for negative effects on student self-esteem for both high and low achievers, and the creation of a hierarchy in which students perceive those in higher-ability groups as being more valued by the teacher. ( Rubie-Davies, 2015, p133)"

One of the learning highlights for me this year has been having the privilege of attending The University of Auckland's Leaders Influencing Teachers' High Expectations (LITHE) course lead by Christine Rubie-Davies.

The above quote from Rubie-Davies book Becoming a High Expectation Teacher-Raising the Bar, struck such a chord with me. Maybe, this is because I am someone that went through an ability streamed high school in a low ability grouping, a have felt first hand the effects of this.

This course challenged my beliefs and practices in a profound way. It made me look at my own expectations of students, especially those that you are not always aware of, and question why I teach the way I do.

A question that was raised was why we use the ability 'reading group teaching' that is entrenched in New Zealand Junior classrooms. Teachers take groups of students based on the level they reading at on the colour wheel, their groups are displayed for classroom management purposes, students read books at that level and are taught the skills related to working at that level. Although some students shift groups as they progress (or drop behind), the groupings are fairly fixed year to year. This is something us Junior teachers have taken pride in for decades. However, is this working for all our students, especially the context of our Manaiakalani Schools? Is there a better way?

So, I took a risk.

I had stopped displaying lists of reading groups years ago, however still grouped according to colour wheel levels.

Last Term this ended. I knew at what level my students were working at but didn't group them accordingly. I used this knowledge to deliver direct acts of teaching for the individual within a mixed ability grouping session.

• We dove deeper into the comprehension of the text, exposing lower level readers to comprehension strategies that could have possibly only have been taught to higher ability groups.
• Used elements of the text to explicitly teach skills and knowledge, through teachable moments, to those students with lower reading levels e.g. phonics, chunking. 
• I reinforced decoding strategies that all students need reminding of like rereading the sentence.
• Made sure the use of mixed media provided on the class site, and classroom activities supported all students to access and make meaning of the text e.g. audio available, shared reading with the big book, language experience activities related to the text, vocabulary work, explain everything supporting activities that were suitable for targeting individual learning needs.
• Students had a choice about texts they wanted to read, which group they wanted to work in.
• Whole class teaching was used as well as workshops and guided reading sessions.

The observations I made in class were:

• The increase in motivation.
• Students choosing to read more difficult texts.
• Lots of talk, students helping each other, and discussions about their learning.
• A transfer of communication skills and explanation of thinking from DIMC to Literacy.
• A love of working independently, and excitement about accessing the class site for resources.

But did this reflect the end of Term data?

So what this data shows is, yes for students that were below or just below the expected level. For these students,  'what I had been doing up until this point wasn't working for them.' Therefore I am really pleased with this result in having changed practice my practice.

However, it was interesting that my students at Purple and Gold Level had plateaued. To some degree, this often happens at gold level after rapidly picking up decoding strategies, and then focusing on the deeper comprehension strategies. I am not settling for this though and plan to focus on accelerating their learning this Term by integrating Inquiry throughout Literacy.

Also, the data of those students that finished reading recovery, students with additional needs, and those that have truancy issues, indicated that more specific instruction needs to be done for these learners. These students have become my focus group for Term 4.

Overall, I am more than pleased with the shifts in data for the majority of my students as well as the observations and classroom culture I am seeing. I will keep on using the LITHE model, however, I will also focus on an ALL programme for those students that are well below the expected level. Also, it is important that those students that are above the expected level are extended.

References:

Rubie-Davies, C. (2015) Becoming A High Expectation Teacher, Raising The Bar. Routledge, Oxon.

The Frustration of Learning to Fish

Life Is About Learning

As a single girl who gets frustrated with not yet having learned some skills related to 'traditional male activities', and with a slightly stubborn side to her nature, the idea of teaching myself how to fish both terrified and challenged me.

Initially aiming big, in order to be able to fish, I envisioned myself buying a boat and teaching myself how to drive it, however thankfully I decided that buying a fishing kayak may be a better place to start.

Next came buying the fishing gear. Walking into the hunting and fishing shop was like walking into unknown territory..... it became very apparent that I (excuse the pun) was a fish out of water and I didn't know the first thing about fishing.

I asked for advice on what to buy, and how to care for the gear. I was very kindly told to wash it down after every use and to bring it in to be serviced once a year.

It took 3 months to get the courage to go out..... I managed to catch and kill my first fish. It was trial and error, I learned to tie knots via YouTube clips whilst floating on my kayak.... just in time learning.
You tube in fact taught me everything.

 I loved it...

Winter came and I diligently took my reel in to be serviced.

The men pulled it apart and said "This has been submerged, everyone knows salt water is going to corrode your gear."
.... of course it had,... I had rolled the kayak a couple of times coming into the beach... cleaned it after and thought it was all good....
The reel was stuffed, and my frustration was huge.... why hadn't I had this vital piece of information when I brought it... I felt daft for not knowing. It was an expensive lesson to learn but a mistake I won't make again.

All I could think of was the fact that life is about learning.... this is the challenge that children face every day with their learning. Why did I continue to perceive with fishing? Because of the thrill of success, for the feeling of catching the fish, of learning to tie a knot and it holding.

We need to help students gain the information and skill they need for success and support them to keep going when mistakes are made and they feel like giving up, to help them learn from mistakes... but celebrating success is so very important as that is what will keep driving them forward.

....and now I think nothing of paddling my kayak out into the water and pulling up a few snapper.....even the big ones.