Teaching as Inquiry
What is happening and why?
After scanning my students for what their needs were I found out that I needed to facilitate Literacy learning in a group of Ell students.
They are just below the expected level in all 3 main curriculum strands and so I needed to find out what it was that they were struggling with. By looking at the assessment data that I have gathered it confiremed they are all still just under, but that the effort put in is not the problem. I though perhaps for one of them it may have been lazyness- in the last few weeks though I had changed a few things to make them a bit clearer and made instructions more explicit for everyone in class. This has changed the attitude of some of my students. They are now excited to do things and help others- although this is a positive, it debunks my theory for those couple of students.
I know the work is al their level as I can see them do it with a little explanation. But they are struggling to get things complete. To help focus my inquiry I decided student voice was next to get a clearer picture of where they were struggling.
They collectively said:
-asking others was hard because they needed to know what to do globally- it wasn't just one step that was the problem,
-this meant that other students seemed reluctant to help as well,
they didn't have the vocabulary to ask for help effectivly,
-I talked too quickly for them to pick up all the instrctions
-If they see what it is they need to do when I am explaining it (explicitly talk to the model, not just refer to it) then they can remember what to do more easily.
-they do get excited when they know what to do and can go away and get it done,
So, developing my hunch...
Using this information, it is clear to me that I can focus my inquiry of ELL strategies to help students understand more vocabulary around classroom instructions and topic/content. This will mean the load of decoding what I am saying will be far easier when giving instructions on a new topic. It will make it easier for students to ask for help if they have the instruction words in their vocabulary and we will have a common language in the classroom if I we are all focusing on the same words.
I also need to think about how to better use visuals to assist my students to link the models to their tasks- as well use a clear model more often- not just for writing.
Next steps: Do some learning about ELL strategies and modelling across the curricculum to enure I can implement these steps effectively.
After scanning my students for what their needs were I found out that I needed to facilitate Literacy learning in a group of Ell students.
They are just below the expected level in all 3 main curriculum strands and so I needed to find out what it was that they were struggling with. By looking at the assessment data that I have gathered it confiremed they are all still just under, but that the effort put in is not the problem. I though perhaps for one of them it may have been lazyness- in the last few weeks though I had changed a few things to make them a bit clearer and made instructions more explicit for everyone in class. This has changed the attitude of some of my students. They are now excited to do things and help others- although this is a positive, it debunks my theory for those couple of students.
I know the work is al their level as I can see them do it with a little explanation. But they are struggling to get things complete. To help focus my inquiry I decided student voice was next to get a clearer picture of where they were struggling.
They collectively said:
-asking others was hard because they needed to know what to do globally- it wasn't just one step that was the problem,
-this meant that other students seemed reluctant to help as well,
they didn't have the vocabulary to ask for help effectivly,
-I talked too quickly for them to pick up all the instrctions
-If they see what it is they need to do when I am explaining it (explicitly talk to the model, not just refer to it) then they can remember what to do more easily.
-they do get excited when they know what to do and can go away and get it done,
So, developing my hunch...
Using this information, it is clear to me that I can focus my inquiry of ELL strategies to help students understand more vocabulary around classroom instructions and topic/content. This will mean the load of decoding what I am saying will be far easier when giving instructions on a new topic. It will make it easier for students to ask for help if they have the instruction words in their vocabulary and we will have a common language in the classroom if I we are all focusing on the same words.
I also need to think about how to better use visuals to assist my students to link the models to their tasks- as well use a clear model more often- not just for writing.
Next steps: Do some learning about ELL strategies and modelling across the curricculum to enure I can implement these steps effectively.
Hi Sally, I am very excited that you will be trying out the ELL strategies. I think you will notice a huge difference in their writing, as well as the rest of your class. Please keep us updated, can't wait to hear which strategies you've tried and what the results were.
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