MIT at KPMG Session One

After looking at my MIT moonshot and questioning my thinking I have decided to change my inquiry.

Working with Justine (a Corporate Citizen at KPMG) and thinking what is my actual problem?

I discovered that my actual problem is low student achievement- I then thought what is going to

be the best solution to my problem. After thinking about all the possible solutions we arrived at

the conclusion that focusing on CRITICAL THINKING within reading (I decided to choose reading

instead of the STEM as my students have two curriculum levels to 'catch up' too. We talked about

reading underpinning most curriculum areas at level 3 as students need to be able to access other

parts of the curriculum through reading. This seemed the most logical place to start if I focus on

critical thinking in reading it will 'spill' into my other curriculum areas too.

Problem: Students are not working at Level 3 of the New Zealand Curriculum

Possible Solution/ Focus: Students need to be able to think critically, a framework will help them do this

and will give them a consistent structure to respond to texts in a critical manner.

Possible Tool: Critical thinking framework for READING. Including all the comprehension strategies that

will allow students to think critically about the text. Students will use the framework to self-assess AND

peer assess.

What will help me develop my tool? Bloom's taxonomy, NZC, Literacy learning progressions, Duffy sheet,

Sheena cameron reading comprehension strategies.

Digital Technologies that will help me?

Site page with links to each comprehension strategy. How to? With a lesson example or teacher model? Videos?

Glossary:

Framework- a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text.

Critical Thinking- the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.

Problem Solving- the process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues.

Straight out of the curriculum

"During these two years, students continue to develop their accuracy and fluency as readers of a variety of texts.

They increase their level of control and independence in selecting strategies for using texts to support their

learning. By the end of year 6, students are required to read longer texts more quickly and to select appropriate

strategies for different reading purposes more effectively than students in year 5.

When students at this level read, respond to, and think critically about texts, they will :

-Understand how they select from and use their repertoire of comprehension strategies, which include: making

connections between their prior knowledge and the concrete examples in a text in order to understand abstract

ideas in the text.

-Locating and summarising ideas (e.g., by skimming or scanning, by identifying key words, topic sentences,

and key questions, or by using subheadings).

- Drawing on several related items of information in order to infer ideas and information that are not directly

stated in the text.

-Evaluating and integrating ideas and information across a small range of texts;

M.I.T Inquiry Term 1

After our M.I.T Hui, I re-looked at my student data and gathered more information. The new data that I gathered was interesting and has made me rethink my inquiry focus. My focus was originally on engagement and critical thinking. My student voice data showed that my students are engaged in the learning and motivated. This has been a shift from the end of last year. So in the first 7 weeks this term I have already engaged this group of learners (Which is sometimes half the challenge). So I can now focus on the critical thinking and problem-solving. Possible next focus steps: 

- Universal design for learning 

- Blooms taxonomy 

- Learner-based discussions with a focus on deeper level questioning. 

-Rewindable learning

-Reflection on practice

-My knowledge of STEM needs to be upskilled.

-How I can integrate STEM throughout the day?

-Rich tasks- STEM- prompts problem-solving

The STEM element of my inquiry has had a strong science focus this term. Students are enjoying the science experiences and have started asking questionings on their own. The next step will be thinking deeply about these questions and then find the answers. I want the students to drive their own learning and inquiries so they can become lifelong learners. 

Below is data gathered in Week 5-6 of Term 1 2018 

	PAT Maths 2017	PAT reading Comp	Asttle Writing
R	8 / 41 Staine 2	10 / 35 Staine 3	1A
T	11 / 41Staine 3	11 / 35 Staine 3	1A
E	12 / 41 / Staine 3	12 / 35 Staine 3	2B

Manaiakalani- Google Classon Air - Reflection

Over the last two weeks, I have filmed two lessons for Manaiakalani- Google Classon Air. The experience has been challenging and enjoyable. It is still a challenge to get the footage and the sound during the lesson and to capture those 'ahh huh' moments. It is a great learning experience to watch back the footage and episodes for myself from a teacher perspective- I often think- I should've asked it differently, I should've made a connection there etc. We also watch back the videos as a class and look at ways we can improve. My inquiry goal is looking at critical thinking and problem solving and how to enhance this through questioning. 

So what? 

After reading 'Content-Area Conversations: How to Plan Discussion-Based Lessons for Diverse Language Learners by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Carol Rothenberg. I have gathered some next steps that will help me promote more discussion based lessons. The key things that I noticed missing from my science lesson is that the discussions and questions are surface level discussions, and although I have improved with my questioning around noticing I still want to get my students thinking at a deeper level and I am wanting my students to be able to compare and contrast ideas, ask questions, and describe phenomena in science. (This will then benefit other curriculum areas). 

The reading highlighted the need for different types of talk and discussion and how to prompt students to do so. Below is a language learning poster. I am going to use this to base my questioning and the language I want to students to use. I will put it up in the class and refer to it often when modeling my own language in science. 

Figure 5.1. Language of Learning Poster Language objective	What is it?	What does it sound like?
To instruct	Giving directions	"The first step is …" "Next …" "The last part is …"
To inquire	Asking questions	Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? "What do you think?"
To test	Deciding if something makes sense	"I still have a question about …" "What I learned is …"
To describe	Telling about something	Use descriptive words and details
To compare and contrast	Showing how two things are alike and different	"Here is something they both have in common …" "These are different from each other because …"
To explain	Giving examples	"This is an example of …" "This is important because …"
To analyze	Discussing the parts of a bigger idea	"The parts of this include …" "We can make a diagram of this."
To hypothesize	Making a prediction based on what is known	"I can predict that …" "I believe that _________ will happen because …" "What might happen if …?"
To deduce	Drawing a conclusion or arriving at an answer	"The answer is because …"
To evaluate	Judging something	"I agree with this because …" "I disagree because …" "I recommend that …" "A better solution would be …" "The factors that are most important are …"