Student voice

 STUDENT VOICE

Students were asked to rate their attitude towards reading on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being  “I don't like reading and 10 being I really enjoy reading.

I thereafter asked for a reason for rating themselves in that way. 

How do you prefer to get more information on a specific topic?

• Text only

•  Text and images

•  Text, images and videos

•  Text, images, videos and speeches etc.

Student	Year level	Gender	Attitude towards reading on a scale of 1-10	Reason for their attitude rating	Response to type of mode they prefer.
TSAR	Y6	Male	1/10	I get bored looking at words. I like to read digital gaming books .	Text, images, videos and speeches etc. Only if the videos are not false.
WWD	Y5	Female	5	I can read most words, but I prefer to watch videos.	Text, images, videos and speeches etc.
RHL	Y5	Male	5/10	Sometimes I enjoy reading because I learn new words but sometimes I have difficulty pronouncing the words.	Text, images, videos and speeches etc.
FTK	Y5	Male	3/10	I don't like reading because there are too many words. I like maths and writing. Sometimes I cannot understand the words and sometimes I cannot pronounce the words.	Text, images, videos and speeches etc.
EA	Y5	Male	5/10	Sometimes when I read I get bored. I enjoy silent reading. I don't like reading to someone.	Text, images, videos and speeches etc.  It’s better than just text only.
NMM	Y5	Female	5	I don't like reading because most books are boring.	Prefer to have multi modes.
PSJ	Y6	male	7-8/10	I read every day, I prefer comics. I read 2 a day.	Prefer to have multi modes only if its true.

Plans for 2021 Inquiry

 1.What achievement challenge are you considering as an area of focus in 2021 and why? Include in your WHY both evidence and your own passion/expertise.

I want to begin by stating that 2020 has been a year of unprecedented disruptions which left students and teachers greatly affected and  I feel like justice was not done therefore I feel that I want to go back to my topic and spend another year working on the inquiry, ie how multimodal reading activities can lead to improved writing skills.

 Braunger and Lewis (1997, p. 24) state that “writing leads to improved reading achievement, reading leads to better writing performance and combined instruction leads to a higher level of thinking than when either process is taught”. 

2.What learnings from the 2017 - 2020 COL teacher inquiries have informed or inspired your thinking?

 My inquiry in 2019 focused on  vocabulary building through a spaced repetition programme to  get boys excited about writing and raise student achievement. I must admit that those powerful strategies that I was so passionate about has made a  huge difference in empowering boys,and will always be a part of my pedagogy.

Reading the success stories of other col teachers have also been inspirational in shaping my pedagogy.

3.How would your work support Manaiakalani pedagogy and  kaupapa?

My work would help to increase student engagement in order to facilitate learning, creating and sharing. I value the cultural background  the student comes into class with and by combining that with effective technology, we could bring about greater empowerment.

4.Which elements of the extensive Manaiakalani research findings inform or challenge you as you think about this?

Wolf Fisher research found the area for improvement was reading across the cluster, and I feel strongly that  the multi modal approach will help address this problem.

5. How would you like to be supported in 2021 as you undertake this inquiry?

I think the regular col meetups are great, but if more time could be allocated for group sharing, that would be very productive.

We would like the continued support of the management and BOT, as well as staff, where we have the opportunity to share our gems with staff,so that we can learn from each other.

How would you plan to support your colleagues in your school with THEIR inquiries and/or teaching in the area you are exploring? 

I plan to continue with collaborative PLD at our team and whole staff meetings, where we can share face to face the strategies that worked/ did not work and also offer help and guidance to colleagues.

Toolkits Online- Creating images with Google Draw

 

Thank you Kerry Boyde for that interesting toolkits session on Encouraging students to design their own images with Google Draw.   I did like the animation and then tried it out in class and my students really enjoyed creating their own images.

I felt this was awesome, how you can insert an image into Google Draw and then personalise it using the drawing tools. Have a look at this awesome original portrait created from the photo on the left using the curve  and scribble pen tool.

Check out Kerry's complete slide deck

Create Workshop

 

Thank you Dorothy for sharing how you could easily create an e book using Book Creator. This was a very useful activity for my students during lockdown.

Create Workshop- Using Infographics

The Create workshop gave Zhydah and myself an opportunity to share 

our knowledge of infographics. We shared ways of using infographics 

across the curriculum.

Kaupapa Maori Principles considered in implementing my change

KAUPAPA MāORI PRINCIPLES

Considering that my target student group comprises Maori and pacifica students,it would be important to get the blessing of my maori parents demonstrating Aroha ( love and respect) for their culture by following the Kaupapa Maori principles throughout the implementation of my changed pedagogy. This  would also stress the importance of kaupapa by working together with parents so that collectively we can raise student achievement.

The following principles have been selected from a list by Rangahau (1990) and I have deliberately decided to use a table to explain how these principles would guide my change. Furthermore, being a multimodal assignment topic, what better way than to use different modes of communication.

Kaupapa Maori Principles considered in implementing my change
Kaupapa  principle	What it means	How I would use the kaupapa principles to guide my implementation.	Possible obsticles
Tino Rangatiratanga	The Principle of Self-determination. Allowing Māori to control their own culture, aspirations and destiny.	Students take ownership of their learning
Ako Māori	The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy acknowledges teaching and learning practices that are inherent and unique to Māori, as well as practices that may not be traditionally derived but are preferred by Māori.	With consultation will come possible acceptance of the pedagogy
Kaupapa	The Principle of Collective Philosophy. Research seen as contributing to the overall vision	The formation of a partnership helps towards a collective vision and aspiration of maori.
Ata	The Principle of building and growing Respectful Relationships	By consulting maori, we demonstrate through aroha we can create improved relationships.
Whānau	The Principle of Extended Family Structure. obligations of the researcher to nurture and care for these relationships .	By working alongside maori Respecting and maintaining family values Maintaining privacy of data

Table 1

Stakeholder community

STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY

Having looked at several readings about  the effectiveness of multi modal texts, I am more than convinced that I owe it to my students to change my pedagogy accordingly. I would therefore consider myself the first stakeholder. Due to the very nature of the way we share our professional learning, I  would consider my colleague who teaches the same level as me(Y5/6) as an early adopter since we plan our lessons collaboratively. My input in planning  a multi modal programme will benefit my colleague greatly. My group of Maori and Pasifica students would be the beneficiary of this change and hopefully the remainder of the class would comprise the early adopters.

It is said that you cannot kindle a light in others unless you have the spark within yourself. I therefore plan to implement this new change, and convince other colleagues on the staff of its value. The BOT therefore would be a worthy stakeholder.

I am hopeful that once the data is available to gauge the effectiveness of my changed pedagogy, other colleagues will find it encouraging to follow in my footsteps, hence bringing about change to the rest of the school population(early majority).

Being part of the COL, I am required to undertake an inquiry into my teaching and blog the process regularly. I am excited to share my new learning on my blogs, so that the greater Manaiakalani COL  can benefit from my research findings about multi modality. The teachers in  this COL represents the late majority.