Setting the Scene

Tools, Measures and Approaches to Profile Student Learning Student voice has been the most powerful tool for me knowing where my students are with regards to their Critical Literacy.                                                                                                                                                                              Using Voice Memos to record student voice allows me to capture and compare discussion and extended interrogative skills over a period of time. It's a very clear way to analyse not only extension of speech but also the depth of vocabulary being used. And... the class love being recorded! Win win situation.  I started the year recording a session with the class to ensure I have a baseline for comparison. Recording will continue at least twice a term throughout the year. Anecdotal notes follow on from voice recording. Voice recording during process drama also allows me to look more at body movement with the understanding that there

Let's redo last year and roll it into this year. Unfinished inquiries with questions still unanswered. ' That Old Chestnut ' of Inferential and Evaluative comprehension still lurks as an under current with  Critical Literacy being the golden egg.  Critical Literacy,  where students question and examine ideas requiring synthesis, analysis, interpretation and evaluation uncovering a deeper meaning and even potentially challenging the assumptions of the author (Lankshear, 1994).   This year, as last year, I am going to use Process Drama (PD) to continue improving Reading results in my Yr 7 & 8 class. However, I am kick starting with a focus on using PD to improve and refine Sharing, discussion and Interrogation. As with most research you make new discoveries that challenge your initial thoughts. Following last years audio recordings of Hot Seating students it was made apparent that there was a huge growth in their ability to extend lines of questioning and examination

The year has started with its usual craziness under Covid.  What began with a full class abruptly dwindled down to 5 only to fluctuate over the past 6 weeks. What I have noticed, with the comings and goings, my new Yr 7 students and two new Yr 8 students fall short with their ability to verbally share, discuss and interrogate.  A new class with different expectations is formidable for both student and teacher... righ t? But these are skills that need to be nurtured and built from a students first day at school, aged 5... better yet from day dot!  There needs to be an enthusiastic anticipation that what you bring to school is important... let's hear it! Sharing, discussing and interrogating  is not about being right, wrong or judged but about having a platform to dispense personal realities and to grow a deep understanding of differing views from those around you.  Once this is established inference and evaluative comprehension should have an easier pathway to navigate. Surely? Th