RPI Day 8 - CREATE

Today was a great day filled with CREATE opportunities and rich pedagogy.

We explored a range of AI tools to support creativity in today’s world and had some great discussions about how we can help our students be more creative using both digital and hands-on approaches. Next on my reading list: Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning: https://www.digitallearninginstitute.com/blog/mayers-principles-multimedia-learning

We also talked about how creativity isn’t just about tools. It includes important ‘soft’ skills like empathy, curiosity, resilience and problem-solving. These skills are just as important as being able to use digital apps, platforms or design something new.

Throughout the day, we looked at what helps creativity grow in the classroom and what sometimes gets in the way. A key reminder was that when we make space for creating, we are not just delivering content. We are helping our students become confident, curious learners who always think about and reflect on their learning. We talked about the importance of having regular short ‘create’ activities alongside longer, planned projects. These short creative tasks should be part of our everyday reading lessons. They help students stay engaged and support deeper understanding.

Teachers can decide how much freedom to give in these tasks:

• Tighter tasks can use templates, stencils, or graphic organisers to give structure
• Looser tasks are more open-ended and student-led. Adding a short reflection or prompt can help students make connections and explain their thinking.

Then we looked at how longer Create projects give students time to explore ideas in more depth, especially when they are based on rich, meaningful texts. These projects often connect across different learning areas and give teachers the chance to focus on teaching important skills like analysis, interpretation and design, so students are not just taking in information, but thinking about it, working with it, and making it their own.

We got to try this ourselves by making a one-shot film:) I really enjoyed the challenge. My biggest barrier was time. I had lots of ideas, but it took a while to film and process the video. When I finally watched it, I thought I was really expressive in promoting the book:)

I used to do various short and long CREATE in Reading activities with students, and today reminded me how effective they always are! They spark creativity, boost engagement, and help bring reading to life in a fun and meaningful way.

Reflecting on today, I’m reminded that creativity doesn’t just happen on its own. It needs planning, space, support and purpose! Whether it’s a short create task or a longer project, what matters is that students are making something to apply their learning and show their understanding. The key is consistency! When we regularly offer these create opportunities, students grow their skills and confidence over time.

 

RPI Day 4 - Small Group Reading Instruction

Today we had a great day diving deeper into Guided Reading and Comprehension:

• Need-based grouping for explicit processing and strategic reading support

• Discussions to extend and deepen understanding

• Clear, explicit teaching points to target instruction

• Independent response-to-text tasks to consolidate learning

Today’s content was a good reminder that small group reading is just one piece of the puzzle, but it is a VERY IMPORTANT piece. We also need to plan for reading to our learners, shared reading, and independent reading. Small groups are a great instructional opportunitiy for focused teaching (definitely not 'round robin' reading!), but not everything has to happen there.

I couldn’t agree more about not overloading a guided session. It made me reflect on how, early in my teaching career, I tried to 'accelerate' learning by planning and giving too much — most likely just confusing my learners :) It's more efficient and practical to focus on one or two key teaching points (but do them really well and in depth) and save the rest for another time, like shared reading. It’s also important to keep the joy of reading alive while helping learners grow.

The framework for a guided (small group) instructional session is a quick 20-minute session where we introduce the text, might listen to learners read, have a conversation about the text to begin with, but really focus on a couple of key teaching points max. Afterwards, students work independently on teacher-planned follow-up tasks, including vocab work, comprehension, any other form of “response to texts’ and learners reflection.

Digital Modelling book - great way to plan, deliver and monitor group reading (one of possible formats)

Guided reading cycle:

Introducing Text and Purposes:
Background knowledge - focus on relevant, and necessary information for comprehending the text.
Plan how will you develop this knowledge - vocabulary, video, some reading before the guided group session, explaining, integrated with other subjects 

I found the following activity very useful because analysing student-teacher interactions made me reflect on what I can do during small group sessions.

Recast (research term) is similar to revoicing in Talk Moves, where the teacher elevates vocabulary, reinforcing and feeding new words and ideas.

Observing students while they read is crucial for informing your teaching and guiding their next steps. I really like the idea of using fluency rubrics and was excited to listen to and analyse the students' reading.

Discussion

Discussion is now explicit in Te Mataiaho - Oral language Strand (Communicating ideas and information)

It’s useful to keep the PAT question types in mind — we need to include them in our programme so students can feel confident, but also challenge them to think more deeply about the text and the topic.

Literal (Retrieval) *concrete evidence (one sentence)

Vocabulary *Synonyms, antonyms & visualisation

Reorganisation (Complex Inference) *combine evidence (more than one place or order)

Inference (Local Inference) *deducing & interpret  implied meanings

Evaluation (Interpret & Integrate) *making judgements

Opinion (Critique & Evaluate) *perspective/conclusion based on the above

Letting students drive conversations, teacher is monitoring and there to prompt if really needed but let them talk - remember that some conversations won’t happen naturally, so it's important to scaffold, set ground rules for talk, and provide clear purposes and content. It all ties back to the teacher’s planning and delivery.

Teaching points need to be clear, based on the curriculum, and informed by what you know about your learners. Focus on making strong purposeful teaching points and designing a meaningful response to the text.

Final thoughts:
Today’s session really helped me step back and think more carefully about how I’ve been shaping my small group reading sessions. It reminded me how important it is to keep guided reading focused, to create space for real, student-driven conversations about texts, and to keep the joy of reading alive for every learner. I’m excited to take away some practical, deliberate steps that could make a real difference for my students over time.

The framework we explored today offered clear, practical ways to refine teacher practice - from planning and delivery through to student reflection and the non-negotiables for effective small group teaching and response to text. It reinforced the importance of planning and delivery with greater purpose, clarity and consistency. I'm confident teachers will appreciate the practical approach and shared resources that help design rich reading experiences truly focused on student growth. I honestly wish I'd had this PLD back when I had my own class! 

Enhancing Teacher Practice and Accelerating Student Learning in Mathematics (TAI 2022 presentation at Burst & Bubbles)

My 2022 inquiry started at the end of last year when I noticed more discrepancies in Maths achievement data in different classes compared to Reading and Writing results. What could I do to reduce variability in teaching maths and accelerate student learning? I came up with my inquiry question: “Will developing teacher collaboration improve teacher practice, increase student engagement and raise achievement in mathematics” 

During the profiling phase, I used student voice from different classes, formative and summative assessments, lesson observations and had professional conversations with teachers. I noticed that many teachers felt more comfortable teaching literacy than Mathematics.  I wanted to effectively support teachers to build their confidence in maths. I was hoping to employ teacher collaboration to design and deliver an effective maths programme across our year 3-4 classes.

Interestingly, team teaching during hybrid learning at the beginning of the year helped with my inquiry as provided multiple opportunities for my team to collaborate. We improved our professional relationships by developing team trust, establishing shared values and goals and setting up high expectations within our team.  Having open conversations about teaching maths helped me identify areas for improvement. We worked together to unpack the principles of effective pedagogy in Mathematics, develop solid subject knowledge and effectively use manipulatives, visuals and technology. 

Last year, my inquiry was about the implementation of High leverage practices in mathematics and I managed to accelerate my students’ learning despite the lockdowns. I was excited to share my expertise and passion for teaching maths with my team. I’ve been helping my colleagues with understanding various assessments, analysing maths data and using it for planning, selecting the best resources to teach different concepts, observing, giving feedback,  and modelling maths lessons. Collectively, we designed a new team planning format to make sure that students in our classes were getting the same high-quality consistent programme delivered every day. Eventually, my team developed a habit of ongoing collective reflections on our practice constantly refining our programme and problem-solving. 

As a result of my team's commitment and productive collaboration, our students have been empowered through a structured, accessible and rewindable maths programme. We all noticed a great shift in student engagement and teacher confidence. Our students love maths and this resulted in their good progress which is evident from our assessment data.