Setting the Scene

 Back to Basics and Back into... Can I continue my inquiry online?   NO! Process drama requires focus, in the moment feelings / expressions and timely discussion and debate. Online learning can be a disruptive slow process where the high trust model within a classroom is swept away and replaced with siblings and others holding you to account for your movements, actions and voice. In short, a difficult task for any teenager!  Fortunately, during our time at school I had made audio recordings of certain parts of our whole class reading while using process drama...specifically 'Hot Seating.' This is where a character or group of characters (playing in role) are questioned or interviewed. This process is not only excellent for developing confidence in oracy but also for examining inferential comprehension as the hot seater needs to fill in the gaps and those questioning need to change their stance or opinion as new facts and information are revealed and further developed...

Who would have thought the expectation for a book review could be breached and creativity blossom. Asinate and Giselle went over and beyond the expectation of their book review to create a poem about Auggie, a young man with Treacher Collins Syndrome, from the book/movie 'Wonder.'  Todays lesson for me... never under estimate the power of compassion to drive creativity in our youth! So, I need to reconsider my Book Review expectations... the learners teaching the old learner! 

Can development of my students Inferential and Evaluative comprehension skills by integrating Process Drama into the Reading Program improve their Critical Literacy and consequentially their Reading Age? The key question for my Inquiry! For the design and development of a program in response to this question I knew I needed to include both fiction and non fiction, books, articles, short movies/animations... any kind of media I could find that was appropriate and also engaging. Text that could be developed further and had strong themes running through them.  The text/media also needs to support the insertion of process drama throughout creating a link that flows appropriately building understanding of the character, plot and differing perspectives. Alternatively, for non fiction, using dramatic inquiry based tools such as 'Mantle of the Expert.'  Implementation of my change in practise will be noted within each presentation where the text/media will be available alongside the l...

Why was a bag left up in the cemetery and more to the point, what does the letter found inside mean? Who wrote the it and are they ok? Just a few things that passed through the minds of Room 8 yesterday as part of a Unit from Mitey called  Emily's Back Pack  based on understanding Identity and why people leave in difficult situations.  Running Away Vs Running To. Room 8 had a great time wondering why the bag was left in the cemetery. They diagnosed the letter left in the bag even researching online who the people may be that the writer was referring to. The bag was searched and the contents revealed... a change of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, empty lunchbox and a bracelet. After much discussion and surmising, groups were formed just at the tables they were sitting... so as not to make it seemed staged. The groups were asked to fill in a four square using the headings:  Know, Think, Feel and Wonder What do you know so far, What are you thinking, What did you...

Te Rito Toi is about to update their Site.  I was fortunate enough to be invited by Carol Mutch to be part of the discussion for the section  'Advice for Principals and Teachers'  post Covid. It was enlightening to be a part of the conversation looking at the what we learnt through these times as a school, how our teaching may have changed, how we supported our children to make sense and noting changes in whanau relationships. Finally, what our recommendations were for the future. The Te Rito Toi got a huge tick... we look forward to the exciting changes coming in July!  Watch this space!

  Relevant Aspects of My Current Reading Program Looking at my current practice, under a Reading lens... I have 4 groups with reading ages ranging from 9-13+ years. Each group has an assigned levelled Journal / reader which is accompanied by Slides made specifically for that text. The Slides include a variety of comprehension questions, word work, research areas and a create aspect where information and understanding is artistically expressed ready to be Blogged. During the week I see each group at least twice at an instructional level, not including on the spot discussion and check-ins. The main component of instruction is comprehension and understanding of the text. Interspersed with Group Reading there is usually a Newspaper article from current events that we break down as a whole class. This includes: unpacking any technical language, discussion points and answering a variety of question types. This is also linked, in discussion, to how it relates to each student and their pri...

This past Tuesday roles were reversed... the youngsters were teaching the oldies!  St Patrick's students lead staff from other Manaiakalani schools through an animated video using process drama.  The themes found within the video were Difference, Fear, Hope and Love. Through many different drama conventions, cut throughout the video, staff were able to explore and experience character development gaining a glimpse of how vocab and inference could be developed... not to mention empathy, compassion and understanding. Our wonderful students clearly articulated and shared their understanding representing St Patrick's and their whanau with pride!  We all hope the 'oldies' were inspired and took away an understanding that learning can be fun!

  You have to 'love' a challenge! There is nothing better, as an educator, than to have to think beyond the usual... beyond the norm, to not only engage and invigorate the learner, but more importantly the practitioner!    My challenge... How to better support my students to read between the lines not only for the purpose of 'Inference' but also 'Evaluation' where they are able extrapolate even more information not found in the text? This moves us into the area of Critical Literacy where deeper meanings are uncovered in relation to personal situations and context and may also challenge the assumptions of the author.  Investigation and breaking down of the Probe tests indicated both Inference and Evaluation required further support. This was also indicated in the PAT Reading Comprehension where Local and Global inference were noted as areas requiring further development.  This baseline data will be reviewed at the end of the year using both the Probe and also PAT...

Preliminary Findings:  Week 6 of Term 1 we began our school wide testing. For this Inquiry I will be mainly focussing on Reading. The PAT Reading scores were pleasantly surprising leaving me feeling somewhat encouraged that I was on the right track. However, Probe testing illuminated more areas of concern and need for focus.  Although both PAT and Probe results had shown improvement there is still work to do to continue to push those who are 'Below' up and continue the trajectory of my 'At's and Above's.'  My two 'Well Below' students are my greatest concern. These are the students reading at 8.5-9yrs of age.                             From my testing to date, including anecdotal notes from discussion and questioning, my Preliminary Findings  show all students show strengths in their ability to read with fluency, expression and decoding unfamiliar words with ease. However, areas of concern, l...

Coming into a CoL position in Term 2 leaves you feeling a little behind the 8 ball. Fortuitously, I did have a fascination, a question... so to speak, which I wanted to investigate further. Why is my use of 'Process Drama' not showing a perceived shift in Reading similar to that in Writing when studies have shown increases in 'Literacy' across the board? My question has collided this year with our in-school Professional Growth Cycle and also the Manaiakalani Cluster wide Inquiry into Reading. Although we can see shift both in school and throughout the Cluster the rate is slowing over time, particularly in Yrs 7-10.  Is there something I am omitting during my teaching of process drama or is the data collection not illuminating the full story? Are we assessing Reading Age through the lens of prescribed testing method which doesn't take into consideration transference of inference or comprehension beyond the testing platform... which may not reflect the students presen...

St Patrick's, as a whole school, have been involved in Everyday Theatre and School Drama for the past two years, Te Rito Toi after both lockdowns in 2020 and this year, we are fortunate enough to be a part of a pilot with Mitey through the Sir John Kirwan foundation. We became involved in School Drama in an effort to improve not only student relationships but also raise our literacy achievement following studies through the University of Sydney in conjunction with the Sydney Theatre Company where over a 7week period they noted a significant increase in student literacy.  Te Rito Toi was a natural follow on for us returning to school after both lockdowns. Developed by Peter O’Connor, the site was built in an effort to help teachers work with children when they first return to school following major traumatic or life changing events. Fitting for post lockdown children where building relationships was the key to becoming learning ready.   And Mitey, which is part of the S...