Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Teaching Inquiry
Teacher Inquiry Plan
...effective pedagogy requires that teachers inquire into the impact of their teaching on
their students. NZ Curriculum, P35
Teacher/Team:
Year Level.
Date:
NZC p.35
Focusing Inquiry (establishes a baseline and a direction). The teacher uses all available information to determine what their
students have already learned and what they need to learn next.
Teaching Inquiry
The teacher uses evidence from research and from their own past practice and that of colleagues to plan teaching and learning
opportunities aimed at achieving the outcomes prioritised in the focusing inquiry.
Learning Inquiry
The teacher investigates the success of the teaching in terms of the prioritised outcomes, using a range of assessment
approaches.
(This occurs...) while learning activities are in progress and also as longer-term sequences or units of work come to an end.
(Teachers...) then analyse and interpret the information to consider what they should do next.
Using the Teaching as Inquiry process to inquire into the impact of teaching on students.
NZ Curriculum p.35.
Teacher/Group/Syndicate:
Room
Date:
Focusing Inquiry (establishes a baseline and a direction). The teacher uses all available information to determine what their
students have already learned and what they need to learn next.
What does the data indicate for this group of target students.
This group of year 10 students has completed an English E-asTTle test to determine strengths and weaknesses in literacy. The three
students I have identified as at risk and in need of some support strategies are Kai, Lote, and Aroha. These students, along with Mele
have an overall level of 3A on the E-asTTle results. I have left Mele off the priority list mainly due to her attitude score which is higher
than the other students on the list. To me this could indicate that she will have a better attitude towards the learning activities and
therefore a better level of engagement. I will focus my efforts on improving the literacy skills of Kai, Lote, and Aroha for this Teaching
Inquiry.
Student 1 Profile
Kai is a keen surfer. He enters national scholastic contests and often does well. He is polite and respectful but struggles to pay
attention and focus in class. Kai would like to be a professional surfer and tends to focus all of his energy towards this endeavor. He
trains during lunchtime, eats well and is involved in afterhours coaching and sports development. Kai says he does not enjoy reading
or writing and is not interested in these areas as he does not see how this will help him with his future or career. Kai is male, Maori
and from the Ngatiwai Iwi.
Student 1
Student 2 Profile
Loti is a male Pacific Islands student. He is a very talented guitar player. Loti is always polite and very respectful in class. He tries
very hard but is lacking in confidence and does not believe he can achieve to a high level in school. Loti is a bit shy and has trouble
ask for help. If difficulties arise he will often stop working. Loti is unsure of what he would like to do as a career. His main interests are
guitar and gaming.
Student 2
Student 3 Profile
Aroha is a female Maori student. She enjoys netball and art and would like to work as a graphic designer or in TV. Aroha is a nice
student but does not see the importance of reading and writing in her life and will often ask why are we doing this or say this is
boring. Aroha was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was younger and has been through a rough battle with chemo Therapy. She
is in remission and has a positive outlook.
Student 3
Teaching Inquiry
The teacher uses evidence from research and from their own past practice and that of colleagues to plan teaching and learning
opportunities aimed at achieving the outcomes prioritised in the focusing inquiry.
For Kai, these are my areas to focus on: (Common to all are green, common to two are red, individual are
blue)
More regular opportunities to practice reading for comprehension
More effective strategies for interpreting text
An appreciation of the importance of reading and writing in his future life
Find resources and texts that this student may find relevant and enjoyable for him
For Loti, these are my areas to focus on:
More regular opportunities to practice reading for comprehension
More effective strategies for interpreting text
Opportunities to work in pairs or groups
Check on his progress regularly during each lesson individually
Find resources and texts that this student may find relevant and enjoyable for him
For Aroha, these are my areas to focus on:
More regular opportunities to practice reading for comprehension
More effective strategies for interpreting text
An appreciation of the importance of reading and writing in her future life
Find resources and texts that this student may find relevant and enjoyable for her
Opportunities to work in pairs or groups
Check on her progress regularly during each lesson
I will be teaching a statistics unit with these students with focus on these literacy strategies.
Each lesson students will be given exemplars of the literacy rules in statistics questions they will need to
highlight any key words or phrases from the exemplars. This will be done individually then in pairs to find or
clarify any missing ones. In pairs or small groups students will need to practice writing a statistical question
for a chosen topic or context this will start with a mind map including group, population, direction and
variable.
At the start of the unit I will get students to write down three topics or hobbies they enjoy and I will use
some of these to find statistics we can write questions about or do analysis with.
The analysis part also has a lot of specific vocabulary the students need to know well. Students will have
regular practice to read an exemplar of an analysis and highlight any difficult words or specific vocabulary
they are unsure of On the whole it is better if students learn to read on and focus on the overall meaning of the
text before working on vocabulary. Clarification of unfamiliar words should therefore happen after reading the text
as a whole Francesca Pouwer http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Teacher-needs/Pedagogy/ESOL-
teaching-strategies/Oral-language/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Vocabulary/Clarifying-unfamiliarwords.
From this and including some of my choice I will make a list of key words and make an activity where they
have to match the words with their meanings which are jumbled up. This will be done in pairs. Students will
then need to these words in their analysis using contexts relevant to them.
Students will use insight or NZgrapher to practice turning statistical information into graphs. From this they
can practice writing good questions, analysis, and conclusions. Guided writing will be used throughout eg
templates with gaps to fill in or anagrams. Guided writing is an effective way of modelling the structure and
language of a range of text types. It also supports students to sequence and structure their ideas to meet the
purpose of the writing task. Differentiated support can easily be provided by giving more or fewer
prompts/starters. As students become familiar with the form, less support can be given.
http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Teacher-needs/Pedagogy/ESOL-teaching-strategies/Writing/Guidedwriting
In Pairs students will write and read each others questions and analysis on a regular basis.
They will critique their own and their partners work, looking for population, groups, variables,
direction, as well as vocabulary and structure.
(Literacy in English gives students access to the understanding, knowledge, and skills they
need to participate fully in the social, cultural, political and economic life of New Zealand and
the wider world. NZ Curriculum p18).
For Aroha, examples will be provided of inspirational Graphic artists and the typography they
use in their designs she will be given the opportunity to see and read interviews with these
artists with the intention of showing the importance of good reading and writing skills in
graphic design and the many applications from proof reading for mistakes to design flow with
text, to writing a cv and portfolio to apply for future jobs.
For Kai, examples of pro surfers having to give interviews and speeches to large audiences,
magazines, tv cameras. Also the need to be able to read and understand books on
performance, diet, mental training, physical training for peak performance and recovery.
(Students learn most effectively when they understand what they are learning. Why they are
learning it, and how they will be able to use their new learning. NZ Curriculum p34).
Loti and Aroha will be individually checked up on each lesson to see progress, check on
understanding and enjoyment level of the tasks and to set goals for future lessons and
activities.
Students will have the opportunity to do a group statistical inquiry into a context of their
choice (groups of three or four). They can choose the context and must use some literacy
strategies such as mind-mapping and highlighting to find key information and to come up
with ideas. They will need to present their findings in a google slides power-point and use
either NZ grapher or inzight to show their data as dot plots and box/whisker graphs. They
can use the writing templates to form their question and analysis. They should also discuss
any areas they believe they are weak in and need to work on for the assessment. Class will
critique the presentations on post-it notes which can be grouped on the board (must include
a positive and an area that can be improved on).
(Students learn most effectively when they develop the ability to stand back from the
information or ideas that they have engaged with and think about these objectively. NZ
Curriculum p34).
Learning Inquiry.
Investigating the success of the teaching in terms of the outcomes, using a range of assessment approaches.