Parents Make the Difference - Nourishing Literacy Development through Shared Book Reading

Paula Eskett has recently joined our team at CORE education and she is supporting us with access to resources we NEED in our roles.  

I am very grateful for this and have decided to share my thoughts on books here in my blog!

Parents Make the Difference - Nourishing Literacy Development through Shared Book Reading by Susan Voorhees

The dedication on this book "Dedicated to my mother - my first teacher" is a fabulous start to a great read! It is an easy read and the truth of the matter is, I completed the 111 page read in one sitting on a glorious sunny day out on my seat on the back lawn. 

What a title for a first chapter. Increasing we are working alongside educators who are battling with new entrants arriving at school with oral language challenges, little conversation language experience or little exposure to written language. Learning words does not happen by MAGIC! Voorhees sites Brian Cambourne's conditions he believed were crucial for learning:

1. Immersion
2. Demonstration
3. Expectation
4. Responsibility
5. Use
6. Approximation
7. Response

Exploring the gradual shift of responsibility for learning to read from parent to child, involves all of these conditions.  This caused me to reflect on the reading experiences with my own two children. Reading was a daily event, one which to this day, I mourn the end of.  It was a pleasurable, relaxed, fun, family time - the perfect ending to a day.

The practicality of the diagram on page 8 makes it well worthwhile exploring, as you discover the shift of responsibility from ‘all parent’ to ‘all child’.

Chapter two is the most wonderful analogy of learning to read being as natural as learning to ride a bike, we learn by doing.  By being read to and experiencing reading, learners naturally move to readers.

Proficient reading relies on us decoding as well as comprehending.  Proficient readers decode automatically to allow a focus on comprehending.  As I was thinking about this a reader I worked with years ago springs to mind.  This reader had not automated the decoding part so was always challenged with comprehension.  Their lack of reading exposure and background knowledge also continued to challenge. 

Reflecting now, I wish I had exposed this reader to continual reading, being read to and with.  Maybe if we had focused on the reading to and with, more than the reading by, we could have made greater impact.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  How do you bridge the gap with readers who are still decoding at year 6 and beyond???

I was delighted to read that it is advisable to read favourite stories over and over again.  One of my earliest memories is sitting with Mum and my little sister reading a little golden book compendium, as Sue learned to memorise every word… Fly, fly, fly, like a bird in the sky; swish, swish, swish, like a little fish.  How strong this experience must have been, that I can recall the words and the illustrations some 40 years on.  I can so clearly remember Mum reading and allowing Sue and I to finish each line and each page…

Spending time reading books that your little reader enjoys is crucial.  I can remember night after night reading books that I did not particularly enjoy, but my sun absolutely loved the non-fiction stories and the sound books, where he would follow along with the words and know by the image which sound button to push.  On reflection this would have been very powerful scaffolding for him.  As I was a parent before I was a teacher much of the way I parented was from my heart rather than my head.  I often say I believe I was a better parent before I went through college.  I may have been inclined to do things ‘by the book’ if I had trained as an educator before parenting? 

Chapter five unravels my thoughts about parenting first as I whole-heartedly admit that I missed many opportunities with shared reading.

Voorhees p43. Prep, engage, conclude would have added so much to my reading routine, as it would to some class sessions.

Prep: before reading

Preview the cover and or the book

Activate and build background knowledge

Predict what will be read

Set a purpose

Engage: during reading

Confirm and make new predictions

Relate new ideas to known

Connect letters/sounds/words to context and illustrations

Monitor understanding

Conclude: after reading

Discuss your child’s personal reaction

Write a joint reader’s response

Identify what was done well

Enjoy the moment

I think enjoying the moment is so important.  I do not believe that we should ever do all of these with ever book or it could be a complete turn-off.  I do feel they are a worthwhile framework to have in your mind as your determine how to best meet the needs of your learners while engaging with reading.

A thoroughly worthwhile read for parents and educators alike.  I wonder if there is an opportunity to share this book at antenatal classes.  Do antenatal classes even focus on anything other than the birth?  I seem to remember that was the main focus.  How powerful it would be if new parents had the opportunity to read this text and realize the sheer magnitude of their role as their child’s first teacher…

In closing… I dedicate this blog post to my wonderful mother, my first teacher, my inspiration!  Thank you for every moment you read to us, for sharing your love of learning through your career as a teacher, for inspiring my into the teaching profession and for continuing to inspire me with your wonderment and awe of new ways of learning and teaching.  Thank you Mum!!!

Reflecting on reflecting... #28daysofwriting Day 7

Recently I read and commented on Nathaniel's post -
http://teachupsidedown.narelo.com/looking-in-the-mirror/ 

My comment on his post got me thinking and got me digging into the stats on my site and I was surprised to see my most visited post ever is this one from the 20th of September 2011.  

http://annekcam.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/reflecting-on-e-learning-theories-and.html

With over 1100 views I determined it was well worth a re-read. WOW - it sure was worth it!  This was nearing the end of my Study year thanks to TeachNZ and I was completing my Master's of Educational Leadership as well as papers in e-learning.  I was preparing for a return to class to 'live' the theoretical journey I had been on.  

I am extremely grateful for a number of things right now:

• Uber grateful to Dave Young who supported me on the journey to blogging, which affords the real privilege of locating yourself back in time and re-living, re-visiting and reflecting on experiences;
• Incredibly grateful to my Mum who inspired me to a journey in the education field;
• So appreciative of my family who support me and inspire me daily;
• So grateful to Keith Vial who was my Year 8 teacher who opened the world for me and made me realise that teachers can empower learners to 'reach for the stars';
• So appreciative of all the students I studied with, who enriched my lives back then and continue to do so with our regular catchups;
• Grateful for all the educators who share their journey and inspire their learners;
• So incredibly in awe of all my CORE colleagues who support, encourage and challenge me constantly;
• Grateful for technology that allows us to connect and network and share our reflections across time and space and benefit from the reflections of others;
• Appreciative of all the educators and learners I have the privilege of working with - you enrich my life daily!

Through reflection and experience we can take surface knowledge all the way through to deep and significant learning.  

A win to the waves...

Sun glistening off the water,

Bronzed bodies gathered in groups…

Waves crashing, churning, encroaching…

Calling, calling, calling to me

Excitedly striding into the ocean,

Negotiating ruts, channels carved out by the waves,

Warm, swirling water, inviting.

Calling, calling, calling to me

Crash upon crash as the waves descend on me

As interminably as the pull of the moon on the tide,

Sand loaded, powerful and undulating

Calling, calling, calling to me

Brutal, ruthless and oscillating,

Churning, unyielding and fierce,

Like a rag doll, tossed and tumbled

Calling, calling, calling to me

Upended, twisted and battered

Pummeling head first again and again

Ferocious, unceasing, endlessly pounding

Calling, calling, calling to me

Gasping and gagging, sneezing and snuffling,

Incessantly challenged and spurned,

Beaten, exhausted, shattered
Releasing, releasing, releasing me….

Today's #28daysofwriting is my first attempt at a poetic piece in a very long time.  I would love some feedback and feedforward to ensure that as I persevere with this genre, I am acting on sound advice... Thanks in antcipation.

Can you feel the hammering I took?

What words add to the scene?

What detract from the scene?

TTT hui - 2015 Kia eke taumata - session two

Dr Hiria S. McRae, Te Kura Maori

Nga Pumanawa e Waru: A Te Arawa approach to examining Maori student access

A way of developing a relationship:

• Identify a positive role model within your whakapapa
• Share their achievements and attributes
• How do you manifest those?
• How have they influenced your achievements?

Identifying of eight characteristics

1. Positive sense of Maori Identity - ability to sustain relationships.
2. Diligence and commitment
3. Relationship
4. Innovation and creativity
5. Look after their well being
6. Scholars 
7. Possess humility
8. Understand core Maori values

Mana Whanau - Successful Maori students occupy a central position of importance within their whanau.

Mana Motuhake - A positive sense of Maori identity is crucial if Maori students are expected to express their mana tangata.

Bi-education - Maori students must acquire the skills to navigate in two worlds.

What does it mean for us to ensure we are providing environments where these characteristics are acknowledged, valued and celebrated.

Blended learning

Our next session was a privilege to spend time with Greg and Tessa exploring Learning with Digital Technologies and the e-Learning Planning Framework.  

As we journeyed, we shared our journeys and ways of working. We celebrated what we are currently doing well and challenged ourselves to set a goal as a takeaway!

My goal is to have my journey, my registered teacher (facilitator) criteria, shared and evidence rich!  Using my blog to tag my criteria and exemplify aspects of my journey.

Inclusive practices - Confident educators; confident parents, families, whanau and communities and confident learners.  

Asking ourselves about our capacity to influence is a privilege and we must have this as a focus. 

Our goal must be full engagement of all, to be learning and achieving.  

• Full participation of all learners, 
• Engaged and achieving - present, participating and learning, 
• Collective responsibility, ownership knowledge  and accountability.

Culture provides us with the blueprint - how we view the world is put there by our culture.  

What is it going to take... What do we need to do to enable this child to be successful, this learning to happen.  

Developing our own lens for inclusive practices.  

Knowing what to expect and knowing what to look for.

Asking the question - would this be okay if this child didn't have special education/additional learning needs?

Building our own team and personal bank of questions...

What makes great teaching? Reading reflection #28daysofwriting Day 4

What makes great teaching?

Review of the underpinning research

Robert Coe, Cesare Aloisi, Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major

October 2014

I thoroughly recommend this read! I stumbled upon it in my facebook feed in the NZ Teachers (Primary) group.  Reading it on the back of a day of PLD at our Te Toi Tupu hui, adds a new lens and focus.  I found it to be a very easy read, with a stunning summary.  I am viewing it with a facilitator lens, continually asking myself how I can best facilitate/coach/mentor in my schools this year. 

I am including snippets of the reading, but really do implore you to have a read for yourself, as I have a facilitator lens, and may not present in a view that suits you, the reader.

“A framework for professional learning

This review set out to address three apparently simple questions:

 What makes ’great teaching’?

 What kinds of frameworks or tools could help us to capture it?

 How could this promote better learning?”

“What makes ’great teaching’?”

The six components of great teaching:

1. (Pedagogical) content knowledge (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes)

2. Quality of instruction (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes)

3. Classroom climate (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes)

4. Classroom management (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes)

5. Teacher beliefs (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes)

6. Professional behaviours (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes)

How do these transpose for the six components of great facilitation? 

“What kinds of frameworks or tools could help us to capture great teaching?”

Assessing teacher quality through multiple measures

Six approaches to teacher assessment

            1. classroom observations by peers, principals or external evaluators

2. ‘value-added’ models (assessing gains in student achievement)

3. student ratings

4. principal (or headteacher) judgement

5. teacher self-reports

6. analysis of classroom artefacts and teacher portfolios

Classroom observations

Measuring student gains

Student ratings

How do I take these findings and interpret and implement them for my facilitative role?

“How could this promote better learning?”

“Six principles of teacher feedback

Sustained professional learning is most likely to result when:

1. the focus is kept clearly on improving student outcomes;

2. feedback is related to clear, specific and challenging goals for the recipient;

3. attention is on the learning rather than to the person or to comparisons with others;

4. teachers are encouraged to be continual independent learners;

5. feedback is mediated by a mentor in an environment of trust and support;

6. an environment of professional learning and support is promoted by the school’s leadership.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As we have journeyed over the past few days of PLD, the challenge is making the connections and strengthening our focus on the ‘black box’ the area between our support and student outcomes. 

It has been a privilege to work through a process of thinking, wondering, dreaming, defining, how we can best work in the ‘space’ within the ‘black box’.

What’s inside the black box

Our ideas to date include:

·      Our way of working model

·      UDL

·      T@I

·      Mentoring

Our way of working model has been a team effort to really focus our way of supporting clusters of schools to promote best outcomes for all our learners.

A Universal Design for Learning (UDL) umbrella, overlaying everything we do.  Unpacking this to share what this will look like, feel like and be, for before our sessions, during our sessions and after our sessions, has been a powerful learning journey for our team. 

Teaching as Inquiry T@I is our vehicle for our contract.  Sharing of our T@Is across schools, clusters and beyond, allows for networking and collaboration to best meet needs and support journeys. 

Mentoring our e-leaders to grow capacity and capability within and across schools in an exciting opportunity

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

Rosenshine (2010, 2012) ten principles are:

1. Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning


2. Present new material in small steps, with student practice after each step


3. Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students


4. Provide models for problem solving and worked examples

5. Guide student practice

6. Check for student understanding

7. Obtain a high success rate 


8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks 


9. Require and monitor independent practice 


10. Engage students in weekly and monthly review 


Fixing versus Firing is a very interesting concept looking at the merit and place of formative and summative assessment.

Hattie & Timperley argue that effective feedback answers three questions (‘Where am I going?’, ‘How am I going?’ and ‘Where to next?’) and operates at four levels: the task (‘How well tasks are understood/performed’); process (‘the main process needed to understand/perform the task’); self-regulation; and self level (‘Personalevaluations and affect […] about the learner’). p 39

Principals can help by ‘developing a vision of how teaching might impact on student outcomes, managing the professional learning environment, promoting a culture of learning within the school, and developing the leadership of others in relation to curriculum or pedagogy.’ p40

As facilitators, we are charged with supporting principals to develop this vision for our clusters, whereby we are all journeying for the good of all our learners. 

Summary from Timperly 2008, to enhance teaching, professional learning:

 Must focus on and be measured against student outcomes;

 Encourage ‘self-regulation’ among teachers who need to embrace the

experience as independent learners and sustain the techniques;

 Require some input from school leaders;

 Involve, ideally, collaboration with peers;

 Be a genuine challenge.

A thoroughly enjoyable read that I commend to you all!

30 years…. #28daysofwriting day 3

The 2^nd of February is a very special day.  It marks our 30^th wedding anniversary.  30 years since we celebrated our marriage at St Mary’s Church in Mosgiel, 2 - 2 - 1985, on a cool breezy summer day.  I thought it might be quite exciting to record my memories from the day and reflect on the journey. 

My first memory is of waking very early and racing into Dunedin with Claire, my best friend, and Sue my little sister.  Olive did all our hair, then we headed back out to my childhood home in Allanton for Maree to do our makeup.  I remember the hum of activity in and around the house with relatives arriving from everywhere and Mum having oh so many last minute chores, picking up the flowers, picking up the wedding cake, collecting people from the airport and generally overseeing the hub-bub.  I remember Stuart arriving and the wonderful photos with Mum and Dad out in the garden then oh so soon it was time to get in the cars and head to the church.  I remember arriving at the church surprised to see a wedding group just coming out of the church, so time for a quick drive around.  I remember with great sadness that Mum wasn’t with us in the car.  Mum, who had been so busy and so much a part of all the organising and the day was left to travel over to Mosgiel ferrying relatives.  Mums really do have a challenging role sometimes.  I remember getting out of the car and walking up the aisle, and being completely overwhelmed with a feeling of awe – that everyone was there to celebrate our day.  I remember my first glimpse of Grant and wondered if he felt as nervous as I did.  I remember holding Grant’s hand and trying to sing, but not being able to find the words.  I remember our vows and the MAGIC of the feeling of commitment. I oh so clearly remember feeling like it was so incredibly grown up.  The exchange of rings felt so special. Signing the register gave us a chance to turn and see all our friends and family again, what an overwhelming feeling.  Then, as if in a blur, we were walking down the aisle as husband and wife.  At the door of the church we were greeted by a nasty wind and not many photos could be taken there or at the gardens as planned.  We were very fortunate to be able to go to Aunty Margaret and Uncle Frank’s and have our photos taken inside. The rest of the night disappeared in a blur of family, friends, food, dancing, drinking, celebrating.  What a truly MAGICAL day.   

10950 days later, we are celebrating our 30^th anniversary.  How lucky, how special, how MAGIC, how privileged I feel.  The road has not always been perfectly smooth, there have been challenges aplenty, but we have faced them together and are stronger because of them.  We have celebrated the MAGIC of two wonderful children, Katie and Jason and have walked alongside them as they have grown into the amazing adults they are.  We have welcomed their partners Sean and Gabi into our lives and feel incredibly privileged to spend time with our lovely family. We lost Dad 18 years ago and miss him greatly.  We are very privileged to still have Mum as a HUGE part of our lives. 

This week we head to Mooloolaba for a relaxing break at the beach.  I am really looking forward to spending time with Grant away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.  What fun, what adventures, and what an awesome 30 years it has been.  Thank you Grant for your tolerance, your patience, your commitment and understanding.  Thank you for the journey! It is an absolute pleasure and privilege to be travelling through life with you!