Manaiakalani CoL: Teaching as Inquiry Framework
Learn Focusing Inquiry - “What is important (and therefore worth spending time on) given where my students are at?” | Gather evidence | Student achievement data eg. standardised tests, OTJs, internals and externals Anecdotal evidence eg. observations, formative assessment tasks, student voice, parent voice, previous teachers, surveys, learning walks and reciprocal visits | NCEA Data (Overall Data 2016) NCEA Data (Individual Standards 2016) |
Scan | Wider perspective on learning not just aspects that are easily measured eg considering perspectives of our young people and their whānau. How engaged are they with learning? Can they describe what they are learning and why it is important? (AfL) Links to Key Competencies | Identify staff that are using Visible Teaching and Learning in their teaching programs. Baseline (Google Sites, Calendars, Year Level tabs, Teaching programs via sites) Identify subjects that students say that use Visible Teaching and Learning in the learning program. | |
Identify Trends | Looking at all the evidence, thinking hard about its “shape”. Noticing where there are cohort trends that extend out beyond the class, to the team or department, maybe even for this school across schools in the CoL Clearly identifying the common learning challenges or problems. Looking for and identifying strategies that are known to have the greatest impact on on this/these challenges | Undertake Subject Site Audit Term 3 Conduct Staff Survey 2 in Term 3 | |
Hypothesise | Analysis and interpretation often take place in the mind of the teacher, who then uses the insights gained to shape their actions as they continue to work with their students. These theories for improvement should connect with the inquiries related to the Achievement Challenge of the Department/Team, the School and the CoL. | Hypothesis – Staff who show an increased shift in the use of Visible Teaching and Learning in teaching programs, especially VTaL that communicates learning instructions, student tracking and rewindable learning and student reflection, there is likely to be an increased shift in achievement. | |
Research | “This involves asking questions about how well current strategies are working and whether others might be more successful. Teachers search their own and their colleagues’ past practice for strategies that may be more effective, and they also look in the research literature to see what has worked in other contexts.” | ||
Reflect | “Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry |
Create Teaching Inquiry - “What strategies (evidence-based) are most likely to help my students learn?” | Make a plan | What can I already do and what do I need help with? Who are the learners? Group/class What are the goals for my practice and student achievement? Set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for my students. | Identify the current use of Visible Teaching and Learning by teaching staff. Develop resources (templates, exemplars etc) and processes (workflow, exemplars etc) for teaching staff to utilise in their teaching and learning programs. Identify and communicate professional development opportunities for staff to use. |
Try new things | It is a constant state of action, monitoring, reflection, and adjustment - and then more action. Failure may occur. Feedback from learners - how will I engage them with new learning? Do they know we’re trying something new? | Staff Share Best Practice to VTaL G+ from Staff Survey 2 Links | |
Innovate | Are we capitalising on the affordances of the technology to support the Five Affordances of Learn Create Share (Engagement, Teaching Conversations, Visibility, Cognitive Challenge, Scaffolding) identified by the WFRC | DigiTech with Ms Anderson Subject Site (Modelling VTaL and Learn Create Share) VTaL Google+ Community VTaL Google Site VTaL Starter Kit | |
Implement | Just do it! | DigiTech with Ms Anderson Subject Site (Modelling VTaL and Learn Create Share) VTaL Google+ Community VTaL Google Site VTaL Starter Kit | |
Reflect | “Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry | Shifts - Student Achievement 2016, 2017, 2018 Shifts - Teacher Practice Google Sites Shifts - Teacher Practice Survey Results Shifts - Student Access (Student Voice) Shifts - Parent Access (Parent Voice) |
Share Learning Inquiry - “What has happened as a result of the changes in teaching, and what are the implications for future teaching? ...We need people to provide us with different perspectives and to share their ideas, knowledge, and experiences.” | Publish | What happened as a result of the changes? Share evidence (artefacts of student learning, DLOs) and effective strategies. | SLT Re-share Baseline Expectations of Google Sites to Staff (Sep 2017) Staff Share Link to Subject Sites into VTaL G+ Community : Staff Peer Review Sites in Comments |
Co-teach | What if my plans didn’t work? Are there different approaches?Who can help me? Peer observations, video analysis of my practice. | ||
Model / Guide | How can my findings and experiences support my peers? How is this shared? | DigiTech with Ms Anderson Subject Site My Space and My Place Blog | |
Feedback / Feedforward | What are my next steps? How will I sustain effective practice? Learner feedback? New goals? | 2017 Staff Survey Term 1 2017 Staff Survey Term 3 2017 Parent Survey 1 Student Voice | |
Reflect | “Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry |
Thanks to Anjila Dixon for starting us on this co-construction
Thanks to Karen Ferguson for the graphic design.
How can our Community of Learning leverage the collaboration to extend and enhance the school/kura-based learning programmes, teacher practice and student learning? |
“....how to recognise and spread sophisticated pedagogical practice across (our) communities so that students learn in better and more powerful ways...”
4. Undertaking collaborative inquiries Systematic collaborative inquiry is required to determine the impact of community-wide activities on student learning. The knowledge gained can be used to review and renew the strategic priorities of Community. The actual nature of the inquiries undertaken by each community will be context dependent but they will all be designed to address identified student learning needs and provide formative feedback that contributes to the strategic priorities of the community, particularly the achievement challenges. Information aggregated from community inquiries can help leaders notice and respond to variance, bright spots, hard spots, pockets of excellence, and the range of practice across their communities. |
Aggregating and Sharing our Inquiries
Public aggregation occurs here
CoL Teachers’ description here
http://www.manaiakalani.org/our-schools/col/col-teachers-within-schools
End of Term 1 stocktake
(Our inquiries) also provide a context for reflecting on and responding to questions such as:
• How good are our learning experiences?
• How ambitious are our teaching practices?
The six parts of the spiral of inquiry:
Scanning
What’s going on for learners? More emphasis is placed on teacher observations of students, in all circumstances. There are some difficult questions to ask, such as: Is it alright for some learners to experience challenging and engaging learning in one classroom while in the room next door the students are not? Scanning is not done overnight, can last two months, and may turn up surprises.
Focusing
Where will concentrating our energies make the most difference? Focusing well will lead to informed actions, and usually means selecting no more than one or two areas so that the inquiry is "focused and deep". The authors point out that a common focus generates the momentum to transform schools.
Developing a hunch
How are we contributing to the situation? "Hunch" is an important word – hunches may not be totally accurate, but it is essential to get them all on the table because they guide the focusing. Sometimes they might be well-established routines of the school or the classroom, and be relevant to your own school. Hunches need testing.
New learning
How and where will we learn more about what we do? Teacher learning must be connected to identified learner needs. External expertise is important here and the school must make clear to externals what makes a difference to learners. We all need to know why new ways of doing things are better than what we did before.
Taking action
What can we do differently to make enough of a difference? "Genuine inquiry needs space to take risks, make mistakes, and try again – and again". Changing things can also feel risky for some learners who then resist change, and in turn bring concerned parents. We need to build understanding for all, right from the outset.
Checking
Have we made enough of a difference? Checking doesn’t have to be formal, or at a set time. It can go on throughout the spiral. The importance of trust should be a recurring theme throughout the cycle, and it certainly is true of checking.
Reflection is about confronting one’s own practice whether in Inquiry or PBM or planning and the correlation between teaching and learning - I teach but do you learn? If not what do I as a teacher need to do? What values, beliefs, biases have impacted or affected the decisions I make and the actions I take in what I do next with and for my learners? Who do I talk to? What do I need? How do i challenge taken for granted assumptions about what I as a teacher do in my class? Where do my ideas come from? What has influenced my thinking about my practices? Why do I do what I do???
Thoughts from Lenva - Suggest add ‘Take Action’ into Share. Feel there should be something here that indicates changes made to practice, but not sure if ‘take action’ is the right term.
Also need a ‘What next’ statement in Share.
Under Learn - What about ‘Identify learner needs’
Thoughts from Anne - Reflection is about confronting one’s own practice whether in Inquiry or PBM or planning and the correlation between teaching and learning - I teach but do you learn? If not what do I as a teacher need to do? What values, beliefs, biases have impacted or affected the decisions I make and the actions I take in what I do next? Who do I talk to? What do I need?
Thoughts from Fiona: What do we understand as reflection in the context of Teaching as Inquiry? (Monitor/Evaluate/Review)
“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry
“They seek evidence that their selected strategies really have worked for other students, and they set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for their own students.” (TaI)
Identifying and gathering info about the impact of what I have changed in my practice e.g. What evidence do I have that these strategies have been effective (may include artefacts of student learning - DLOs - as well as teacher practice)
This TaI graphic from TMoA always resonated...not sure if it is still available via TKI. Karen’s use of LCS and colours below look great…. Could we build on the ‘cycle’?
Karen Ferguson has been working on a graphic design for us....