Whakawhanaungatanga and Homework Reflection
For our homework we were asked to implement a couple of create elements. I shared two examples of student work.
The first was from my Y12 English class, who are reading part of Homer’s The Odyssey. I introduced an overview of the plot by showing a three part cartoon version of the story, and then read a short plot summary. The students were then asked to create their own plot summary, using one of the following options:
- Draw a cartoon strip or series of illustrations of key events in the story.
- Record an audio or video file of you retelling the story for a friend. You can do this on your own or in pairs/groups.
- Write a poem or rap that summarises the story.
One group chose the audio file option and this was what they produced.
As I have been off work sick for a week and a half, my other share example is from earlier this term, which was from my Y11 English class, who were investigating the background to Shakespeare’s times. This was a sample blog post from one of the students.
Dorothy – Manaiakalani Kaupapa and Pedagogy: ‘Sharing’ in Reading
Sharing will happen if the teacher facilitates it! We must create the opportunities. The culture of sharing the texts we read requires connection and creativity. One of the key goals of the Manaiakalani programme is to raise achievement outcomes, and a key way of doing this is by working with learners to establish an authentic audience for their learning outcomes.
Collectively, as a community, we embrace blogging as the primary online space for our young people to share their learning. Young people across our network are sharing at the rate of nearly 12,000 posts a month on average.
Our Learn-Create-Share pedagogy is interconnected and cyclical. You could actually start the learning at the ‘Sharing’. The sharing itself is often a learning opportunity.
Dorothy shared some amazing student blogs, including one where a student had reviewed a book and the author had responded and commented on it from France. One example I liked the look of was Book Selfies.
A couple of useful links Dorothy shared were the Manaiakalani Blog feed page and also the Manaiakalani Lesson Bytes page where teachers share lesson resources. She also pointed out a new Google Docs playback feature that supports students in self-checking their writing by listening to texts read aloud, helping refine writing before posting. We were urged to create a coherent online presence for student learning, such as class websites or centralized pages to bring learning content together.
Kiri – Chalk and Talk – Participating in a Reading Community
Kiri introduced the concept of Reading Communities, emphasizing participation, visibility, feedback, collaboration, and family engagement as pillars to build these communities effectively. She pointed out that the new curriculum stresses engaging students in reading communities where they listen, read, and make text recommendations, thus supporting motivation and retention.
Digital affordances enable communities to extend beyond the school building to include online and family participation, exemplified by resources like the summer learning journey and chapter chats.
We became ‘Blog Detectives’ to gather insights about students as readers and learners using a Google Draw document template and some sample student blogs. It was definitely possible to get a good picture of the student from their blogposts. This exercise supports teachers’ understanding of individual readers’ interests, progress, and needs, to tailor instruction appropriately.
Janet – ‘Visible Reading’ and Learning
Janet discussed how student and class blogs make learning visible over time, documenting responses to texts, vocabulary development, and other learning activities which provide evidence of achievement and reflection. Blogging increases student engagement by encouraging ownership and higher order thinking.
Secondary classes can use class blogs for collaborative writing tasks and exam preparation, with examples from Bay of Islands College demonstrating teacher and peer feedback embedded within posts. Class blogs can include multimodal work such as videos with annotations, thus expanding modes of expression and learning.
Janet presented successful examples of blogging tasks, such as vocabulary follow-ups, response to texts, and reading for enjoyment challenges that integrate well into weekly or termly planning for learners.
Students are guided on quality control processes for their blog publishing, including buddy checks and teacher formative/summative feedback, emphasizing responsible sharing. Teachers need to balance spontaneity and quality in blogging, deciding on appropriate checks and workflows depending on age and context. Blogging provides a dynamic space for sharing and learning, crucial for engagement and progress.
At the end of this session, we went to breakout groups to discuss priorities in reading-related sharing, frequency of blogging, barriers, ambitious sharing outcomes, to be included in termly checklists.
Naomi – Feedback and Reflection
Teacher and other feedback helps students understand ‘Where am I now?’ in relation to the learning goal. Feedback must be aligned with learning intentions and success criteria, including the essential link between feedback, success criteria, and learning goals.
Naomi reminded us of different types of feedback: evaluative (summative), descriptive, and generative (feedforward), with emphasis on descriptive and generative feedback for effective learning. We were encouraged to use technology available (e.g. Mote voice recording) to give multimodal feedback (audio, screencast) – these are effective methods to engage students and manage teacher workload.
Three types of descriptive feedback were introduced: reminder, scaffold, and example, each with varying levels of teacher support and expectations. We then practiced giving feedback using these three types and shared examples in the meeting chat.
Feedback should be clear about who is giving it (e.g. peer, teacher, AI assisted), and collective feedback can be noted in class records to avoid repetition.
Naomi showed us some AI tools such as Brisk, Gemini, and ChatGPT for providing feedback; recognizing the benefits and limitations related to context, task specificity, and teacher oversight. We discussed ethical considerations regarding transparency in AI use for feedback and marking, including challenges with parental involvement and maintaining academic integrity, and the need to protect student identities and data. Naomi discussed possible impacts of AI feedback on student engagement, and motivation to read human-provided feedback.
We were given some resources and toolkits for responsible AI use in education, including protocols for student and teacher use. Naomi advised caution, due to variability in AI-generated feedback quality – the bottom line is that we must always read the student work and then read and edit any AI generated feedback to make sure it is appropriate, student-friendly and not too overwhelming.
Naomi highlighted the current regulatory and policy context, e.g., Ministry of Education advisories against AI for marking, at the same time as NZQA is using AI to mark NCEA assessments. The situation is extremely ‘fluid’ at present.
Kiri – Collaboration and Connection
Kiri talked about the importance of establishing a trusting classroom environment to foster collaboration, backed by research showing significant positive effect sizes on achievement. Various collaborative literacy activities were discussed, such as paired reading, blog commenting, co-creating responses, and sharing text interests.
The emphasis is on authentic audience for student work, seen through blog readership across multiple countries. We explored strategies for setting students up for success in collaboration, including clear commenting guidelines focusing on positive, thoughtful, and feedforward comments. We looked at some examples from participants on collaborative literacy tasks and vocabulary activities implemented in their classrooms. We then did a reflection on how 23 can facilitate collaboration within own classes.
Janet – Sharing in Reading with Whanau and the Community
Janet recapped the importance of involving whānau in learning, particularly through accessible and meaningful activities, despite common barriers such as busy families or perceived role boundaries between school and home.
She showed us various examples of initiatives to engage whānau, including school events, reading apps like Libby and Big Library Read, and mobile library services in remote areas.
We were encouraged to create home-based learning tasks that invite family participation, such as interviews with family members tied to classroom topics. I created the following activity for my Y10 Humanities class:
We talked about the importance of ensuring permissions and cyber safety when sharing student work involving whānau. The emphasis is on leveraging whānau knowledge to enrich learning and strengthen community connections.
Naomi – Strategy Builders
Naomi shared some digital “Strategy Builder” kete containing literacy strategies, graphic organizers, and teaching resources. Reading kete. Vocabulary kete. Lani shared this amazing resource.
Naomi encouraged us to create accessible spaces on class websites or shared drives for students to access graphic organizers. We were reminded that it is important to model the use of graphic organizers before independent student use. Graphic organizer needs will vary between primary and humanities, which will need both fiction and non-fiction models, and other secondary subjects, e.g. Science, PE, which will probably only use non-fiction models.
Kiri – Bringing it all together
Kiri reminded us of our huge 9 day intensive journey!
Firstly, the overview of the Reading Pillars of Practice:
And secondly, what we covered on all of the 9 days of the course:
Janet Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive – Evaluation
In Janet’s session we completed an end of course self-evaluation against the reading pillars of practice. This was interesting, because I think I might have rated myself a lot lower than I did at the start of the course, since I have a better understanding of the questions and the practice now than I did at the start of the course.
Naomi – Deep Dive – Evaluation of the Reading Practice Intensive Course
Finally, in Naomi’s session we completed an evaluation of the RPI course itself, giving feedback on how it has gone for us. We then completed our final blogposts and received our certificates and digital badges.
Reflection
I have found the RPI to be very useful professional development. It has been challenging, because it has required changes in my planning and practice, but it has also been quite inspirational at times. I have access now to a huge amount of resources and tools which I will be able to apply in my teaching across Y10-13.
We now need to have conversations within our Humanities Faculty about the application of the RPI principles and how to implement these in a way which is manageable and sustainable.
Huge thanks to Naomi, Kiri, Janet and Dorothy for sharing their skills, expertise, and enthusiasm!
