My Space and My Place

levels. Dr. Jannie Van Hees

At the beginning of the year, when we first started discussing what the CoL focus would be for 2018, and with me already a year into my CoL inquiry, I was unsure as to how to connect "Language in Abundance"with my existing inquiry findings.   Not because what I was inquiring into was irrelevant to the concept of "Language in Abundance", but because my inquiry was and is focused around a framework; so essentially, a collective range of individual components and processes to enable accelerated achievement to take place.

My approach to addressing literacy for students within my inquiry process, focused more on the literacy associated with visibility and clarity of learning information for the students, as opposed to the literacy strategies for students.  This is reiterated in some of the Manaiakalani Inquiries presentation materials delivered by Rebecca Jesson, as shown in the image below "Are the instructions/ways to participate clear?"

Visibility and Clarity of Instructions

Some of the research materials that I'd been looking at with regards to visibility and clarity of learning information includes the following:

• Instructions https://goo.gl/bqk4Ap
• How to Write Clear Instructions https://goo.gl/StVytd
• Making Learning Visible https://goo.gl/TjXUP5

In terms of 'Instructions', useful take-outs from this resource link includes the purpose of instructions, as well as the features of instructions:


In terms of writing clear instructions, this research link focussed on three key areas:

1. Understanding the Task
2. Writing Your Instructions
3. Testing Your Instructions

This year I have been extensively trialing the use of Workspaces to communicate learning information to students, as well as collate evidence of student learning in order to provide students with both formative and summative feedback on learning tasks.  The trialing of the Workspaces is in comparison to the sole use of learning instructions that are embedded, linked and accessible to students via my Subject Google Site.

My next steps for further investigating the Literacy Lens of my Inquiry, is to identify the pros and cons of the use of Workspaces v my Subject Google Site, in terms of which resource (if either) is more effective in enabling visibility and clarity of instructions for students.

2017 Parent Survey

Recently I had discussions with some Tamaki College Parents at the Subject Pathways Evening and Student Parent Conference Days, about accessing their child's learning online.  The following photos are of one of our parents, Melisa Vili, in conversation with me about VTaL Visible Teaching and Learning.

Survey Findings

Next Steps

I came across Mr Simon Swinton (new to teaching and to Tamaki College), teaching his Senior Maths class in T2.  As he was winding down the lesson, he was discussing student progress with a group of young men from his class using the VTaL tracking sheets and class task lists.



Here's what Ben Pulupaki had to say about the feedback:

The following is a snapshot of the notes relating to my inquiry process.  In order to make sense of the inquiry, it is important to know what the challenges are, and the desired outcome from the inquiry.

Achievement Challenge 1

Raise Māori student achievement through the development of cultural visibility and responsive practices across the pathway as measured against National Standards and agreed targets for reading Years 1-10 and NCEA years 11-13.

The Challenge for Learners

The Holy Grail

The Inquiry

+Sione Havea shares what VTaL looks like from a students' perspective with visitors from Whakatane High School; including the use of Google sites, Google Calendars with Hyperlinked Learning Activities and an Overview of the Year.

What this demonstrates is an example of how DigTech students are familiar with the model of Visible Teaching and Learning using the DigiTech with Ms Anderson subject site.  Investigations need to take place across other learning areas to see how students are accessing the learning in other subjects.