Graphing the data

 I have begun to graph data on children's self confidence. 

Feeling Listened To:

There was a slight increase in number of children who responded positively (4 or 5 - green) when asked about their friends listening to them compared to their classmates. This suggests that there are some children who are more confident with those they have a closer relationship with. Interestingly, this trend was even stronger when asked about their teachers listening to them. So more children felt more listened to by their teachers than their friends. 

The last graph is an interesting one. 5/14 children were quite low in confidence when it came to feeling listened to by others. This could have a major impact on these children and their confidence in speaking if they are not feeling listened to. How can I use the various jobs within the school news to act on this finding?

Talking about Learning

The same trend of a group of children lacking in confidence continues into this section but only with a small number of children. There is however, quite a large group of children who are "sitting on the fence" suggesting they aren't confidence but aren't totally overwhelmed by the idea of speaking out. This is a great finding for my inquiry as children sitting at the orange zone would be a great group to target for increasing confidence by presenting on the news. 

Speaking & Presenting

When responding to standing up and talking in front of others, the number of children in the "red zone" increases.

Speaking my Thinking

On the whole, these children don't have a problem with vocabulary - most children feel quite confident that they have the words they need to be able to explain themselves.

Listening to others

All children in this group feel confident that they are good at listening to others. This is a really clear find which confirms that these children don't have an input challenge but an output challenge, with speaking and presenting.

Preliminary Data

 I have begun gathering some preliminary data for my target group of children. These children were selected due to being at the 'reading to learn' phase of their reading development. I have selected children whose reading ages are at 9 years and above as these children will be required to read from a script which changes on a daily basis.

Using my knowledge of these children as well as asking for teacher recommendations, I have selected a group of children who are noted as lacking some confidence or oral language capabilities, despite their confidence in reading and writing. These children are also children who show potential in developing their confidence. This information was found through anecdotal notes from previous teachers, conversations with teachers as well as my own knowledge of these children.

I asked these children to fill in a questionnaire about their own confidence and communication abilities.

I colour coordinated responses from this survey to create a picture of self confidence.

Example 1:

Response 1 = Red

Response 2 = Red

Response 3 = Orange

Response 4 = Green

Response 5 = Green

Example 2:

Response 1 = Green

Response 2 = Green

Response 3 = Orange

Response 4 = Red

Response 5 = Red

From this survey, I have created a target group of students. Students in the target group are children who scored orange and red across a number of their responses.

Their responses sat alongside the responses of a group of children who demonstrate strong confidence, oral language and communication. These children will not be in my target group as they always have strong self confidence. This will be some of my baseline data which will be compared at the end of the year.

Once I have found all children in my target group, I will use a standardised self efficacy test to which will be used to compare the responses of individuals in this target from the beginning to the end of the year.

Creating a self assessment tool

Today I have begun creating a self assessment tool to gather evidence from the perspective of my target group of children. I have broken the assessment tool into confidence, communication and oral language. I will assess the children on this this term and will then reassess them at the end of the year.

Te Ahu o te Reo Māori with Takatū

I am SO excited to be participating in Te Ahu o te Reo Māori this year! I had the introductory zoom session on Sunday morning and was buzzing about the course at the end of it.

The course with Takatū is broken up into 7 levels. I am going to be entering into the course at the Tumu level. I really liked this illustration which explains the levels and the philosophy behind the course. 

Data Collection

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my data collection will be focussed on confidence, communication and oral language. So how will I assess these three elements to create a profile of learners?

PAT Vocabulary Test: This will give me an idea of the children who need support in developing their vocabulary knowledge. 

Observation: I have emailed the team 4 teachers to ask them to observe and recommend children who could benefit from being a videographer, photographer, presenter or editor for the news to support development of confidence, communication or oral language.

Reading Age: The idea is that the children who are presenters for the news should be reading at 10 years or above. This is because the news requires children to read from a script fluently.

Student Voice: Asking the child about their confidence, communication and oral language and about the their speaking and confidence at home.

Whanau input: Gathering data through conversations with parents about their child and their confidence, communiation and oral language at home.

PENN episodes: Comparison of children in term 1 compared to term 4, presenting on the news. How have they improved? This could be measured using a rubric.

Examples of children creating the content to develop confidence, communication and oral language.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had some awesome examples where children have used film/videography as a medium for their learning.

These first two examples were learning experiences led by our Sport Coordinator, Sally Va'afusuaga. Sally worked with our 2022 House Captains to create these movies for the school. These are clear examples of film being used for the teaching and developing of confidence, communication and oral language. 

The first movie was also edited by Finau and Jade, two Year 8 House Captains.

This next example was created when our year 5s & 6s had their fun day in place of the usual year 5&6 camp. I had some time where I took two keen year 4 children out to try out the video cameras. This is an example of developing confidence but also communication as the children had to ask questions to learn more about using the cameras.

These are just three examples where tauira are being given opportunities to use film as a medium for learning, developing confidence, communication and oral language. 

How can I develop more confidence through PENN and how can I encourage more of this sort of learning to be happening through the classroom?2

Example of using movie as a medium to create meaningful learning experiences for children

At the beginning of the year, I sent an email out to our teachers at Pt England School. A large element of the Pt England Network News is sharing learning from across the school. During lockdown last year, it was challenging to expect each teacher in the school to do this. I would sift through the children's blogs to find great learning examples and share these daily on the news. Now we are back at school, it is important that I place that responsibility back onto the teachers so that each class and the tauira in that class have their learning showcased in some way. 

Here is the email I sent out to the teachers to encourage this:

In the email, I created a list of suggestions to teachers to support them in making movies which are meaningful for our tauira. 

Last week, I came across a wonderful example of a teacher who used these suggestions to make an awesome movie! Heidi Davis is a third year teacher who teaches year 2 and 3 children. Heidi looked over the list I had sent and wanted to use her term 1 PENN movie to create a meaningful learning experience which would challenge and excite her learners.

In her movie, she had one of her year 3 children read the script. You can hear the confidence, fluency and clarity as he reads. What a fantastic, engaging, REAL learning experience for this child! Other children showcased their learning through the term. Heidi included her children and they were highly aware of the purpose as they created the movie together. Heidi said that the children were so excited to see the finished product! The anticipation of waiting now until it shows on PENN is engaging and will create a fantastic intrinsic reward for the children too! 

Here is Heidi's movie:

This is such a great example of what I hope to see more of through my inquiry this year. I want to see more movie making happening across the school which engages children, creates real learning experiences and gives children a purpose in their learning. I want to be able to watch movies like Heidi's class movie and be able to see the learning that the children have had through the experience of making the movies.

Having taught in the classroom, I do understand and appreciate the time that is required to do this well. Therefore, part of my role will be to support teachers in making this happen.