What are we learning?

One-word summary

OPTIMISM!

We try to rememberOur over-riding purpose in asking teachers to fill

out the case study form and other records is to stimulate rich conversations and thinking about the students

We would provide similar outlines for teachers to discuss and record what they are doing even if we never collected any of it

We want to change experiences for students – it’s about what happens in classrooms, not about building a data base

Qualitative data sourcesCase studies

Who are the students? What does our individual student data look like?

Record of questions and actions What are teachers investigating? What are they doing? What are they learning?

Reflections from facilitators and participants

What are we learning …

About the case study students?

About our groups?

About teachers’ questions?

About strategies and approaches teachers are trying?

About our data?

About what’s next?

The case study studentsNot a random sample – they do not represent

anyone except themselves

Our data reflect teachers’ perceptions – we only know what teachers chose to record.

The summary is based on my interpretation of teachers’ records.

This is neither more or less accurate than any other record – it just is.

Visualize …As I talk about the students, please record your

impressions and ideas in a visual format – sketch, web, doodle …

I’m not going to show you the “list” of characteristics until later, so that you can construct your own vision …

Strength and optimism450 of the luckiest students in BC

Incredibly diverse

Some people might be surprised to learn that most of them are holding on to their own sense of optimism. Their teachers see most of them as:motivated, hard workers – they want to learnsocial—they like being with their friends, they are often

described as “kind” and “caring”, and they are well-liked by others

Having a tonne of strengths and passions – they are often creative, physically gifted, artistic –

The flip sideVery few are characterized as “unmotivated” ,

having social problems

There were only a handful where teachers seemed unable to identify a strength or passion (and I’m sure, by now they can!)

Strength and optimismMany of these students really like books and

stories – those who are not able to read the books themselves, like to listen

And they want to be better readers

They are generally happy and have appealing personalities – teachers often describe them as “happy” “bubbly” “sweet” “funny”

There are, of course, a few who are visibly angry, unhappy, and sometimes “frightened” – but not many

Comprehension and oral language

In describing their literacy and other strengths, teachers often noted strong oral language and comprehension (often listening comprehension.)

BUT they were just as likely to identify these are areas of concern.

But …With all of these strengths, why are teachers

concerned?

In most cases, the students were identified as “struggling with reading” “reading below grade level” “pre-literate.” Not surprising – that’s what we asked for!

Looking further into how teachers described them, the most common description was that they lacked self-confidence, or, in many cases, had a lot of anxiety.

They were also often described as unable to self-regulate – unfocused …

And their reading?Where teachers offered more specific notes

about the ways in which students were “struggling”, they most often mentioned:comprehensiondecodingknowledge of letters and letter sounds (mostly K-1)

And, of course, we noticed the enormous overlap between self-regulation and use of reading strategies (for both comprehension and decoding)

CS4YRCS SD5-K-CS1 SD5CS1 SD6CS1 SD8CS1 SD10CS1 SD19CS1 SD20CS1 SD22CS1 SD27CS1 SD28CS1 SD33CS1 SD34CS1 SD35CS1 SD36CS1 SD36CS2 SD37CS1 SD37CS2 SD38CS1 SD39CS1 SD40CS1 SD41CS1 SD42CS1 SD43CS1 SD44CS1 SD45CS1 SD46CS1 SD47CS1 SD47CS2 SD48CS1 SD49CS1 SD50CS1 SD51CS1 SD52CS1 SD53CS1 SD53CS2 SD54CS1 SD54CS2

SD57CS1 SD58CS1 SD59CS1 SD60CS1 SD61CS1 SD62CS1 SD63CS1 SD63CS2 SD67CS1 SD68CS1 SD69CS1 SD69CS2 SD70CS1 SD71CS1 SD71CS2 SD72CS1 SD73CS1 SD74CS1 SD75CS1 SD78CS1 SD79CS1 SD81CS1 SD82CS1 SD83CS1 SD84CS1 SD85CS1 SD87CS1 SD91CS1 SD93CS1

SD37CS1 SD37CS1A.pdf SD37CS1B.pdf SD37CS1C.pdf SD37CS1D.pdf SD37CS1E.pdf SD37CS1F.pdf SD37CS1G.pdf SD37CS1H.pdf

SD37CS2 SD37CS2A SD37CS2B SD37CS2C SD37CS2D SD37CS2E SD37CS2F SD37CS2G SD37CS2H

Another sample

How many of each?Currently, 459 – expect about 10-12 more

K = 53 Gr. 2 = 138

Gr. 1 =154 Gr. 3 = 90

‘Other’ = 24

M=268 F= 189

Aboriginal = 128 ELL/ESL/ESD = 72

Inquiry Questions: Counting …

From 42 districts

Approximately 250 questions

Sometimes one question among several people

Sometimes one question for each participant

Many questions deal with more than one aspect (e.g., self-regulation and comprehension)

What are teachers asking about?

Look at two aspects: what is the intervention/change in teaching practice (the independent variable)

What is the anticipated result or change in the students’ literacy (the dependent variable)

To date, I have coded for the IV – what are teachers trying or changing?

In terms of the students, a scan indicates that teachers are most concerned about improving comprehension, engagement and confidence – but also many focusing on decoding/accuracy, oral language (especially K)

What practices are teachers changing and

exploring?Developing self-regulation

Developing comprehension strategies/approaches

Developing social-emotional skills

Developing decoding strategies/skills

Direct teaching

Developing oral skills

Increasing/changing “talk” in the classroom

More changing practicesIncreasing choice

“Personalizing” learning

Changing/increasing conferencing

Working on joy and passion

Peer support

Parent support

And many more!

Question SamplerIndividual

Read the list, looking forQuestion that you would like to working onQuestion that surprises youQuestion that would be relatively easy for you to

offer adviceA personal favourite—you would like to meet and talk

to this teacher …

Meet in group of three – aim for diversityShare some of your choices and reactions (not all)Choose one question: what advice would give?

SRL-Samples How can we help anxious students to develop coping strategies that

alleviate pre-existing anxiety toward reading so that they can be calm, focused and alert?

If I model self-regulation strategies while reading will students begin to use them on their own?

If I use self-regulation techniques will the students be able to engage in what is happening in their thinking in order to deepen their questions and connections with their peers?

What techniques can we use in the classroom to help students to self regulate their behaviour before, during, after reading?

How does involving students in setting small, measurable and specific reading goals affect their skills and confidence?

How do we help students develop the confidence and strategies that will enable them to struggle through the difficult parts to build their literacy skills?

SE-samples If I explicitly teach social-emotional strategies focused

on building a safe classroom community, in what ways will students become more engaged confident readers?”

If we explicitly teach the concept of learning as a journey, in what ways does this increase students’ confidence and engagement during the reading process? And in what ways does this lower anxiety for our most vulnerable and anxious readers?

What happens to students’ motivation and engagement when I implement t1-1 reading conferences

Comprehension: Samples How will the explicit teaching of monitoring comprehension

strategies and decoding skills impact the student’s comprehension of text?

How will explicitly modeling and teaching connections improve reading and engagement with print?

How will asking questions during reading, help with student engagement and comprehension?

Will using a variety of graphic organizers help students recall main ideas and supporting details/summarizing in a variety of texts?

In what ways will students access reading and writing strategies and work independently once explicitly taught to do so?

ChoiceHow does interest-based choice affect

engagement and recall in reading? Will their engagement and recall increase?  

If we provide daily opportunities for students to talk about the books they have chosen, in what ways will they becomes more engaged, motivated readers?

New ways of working How will having at least one positive daily interaction with

an adult impact student social emotional development?

What happens when I provide one to one reading check-ins on a daily basis?

What differences will I notice in my teaching of reading when I let go of judgments and embrace the joy of learning?

Will strategies developed by a collaborative, reflexive classroom team increase students' reading success?

What differences do I notice in students' engaged sustained reading if I facilitate interest based inquiry projects?

And more …In what ways can we incorporate students’ interest

in Aboriginal culture into literacy instruction to promote engagement?

 How can I use talk structures to guide rich discussions that create increased engagement and oral language skills?

If students read to an engaged, attentive listener for 10 minutes on a daily basis and discuss concrete connections to own experiences and/or other stories with the listener, will reading fluency and comprehension improve?

OPTIMISM!