Pod+12

= Teacher Inquiry - March 2011 =

**Name:** Jan Olney

**Appraisal group:** Teachers: Jan Olney Mary Leydon, Katy Howett, Caryn Magrath Students: All Year 4 children achieving at 1a writing level at beginning of year. Their expected level by the end of the year is 2a.

** Area of Professional Inquiry :** Written Language

**Specific Inquiry:** How to raise achievement with a group of targeted children who are underachieving.

**Agreed actions for development:** For teacher - To take 2 mini lessons (with explicit teaching) per week with target group to see if this raises their achievement as opposed to being involved in whole class learning. Research, observations, professional dialogue, experts (Raewyn Sills). For children – mini lessons with targeted teaching, explicit sharing of learning intentions, focussed feedback on learning intentions and success criteria, ownership of learning and responsibilities.

**Timeline:** Term 1 – data gathering and analysis Term 2 – research, begin mini lessons x2 each week, watch others Term 3 – as per Term 2 Term 4 – data gathering and comparisons
 * Research and record __ALL__ information in a reflective journal.**

**Monthly reflections on actions/results:** May - Started off well with individuals. Found it easier to move around the targeted group individually or in pairs depending on what the focus was. This was because the noise background dialogue disturbed the rest of the class! 5 new children enrolled in the class which meant slowing down to cater for them. These are all at totally different levels - from other countries, home schooled etc. Targeted group knew what they were working on and carried on. T is much more confident with planning before starting writing. J is using various charts to support his sentence beginnings. **Professional development undertaken: (include readings, visits, discussions, courses)** Week 3/4 - At our syndicate meeting we spoke and discussed targeted teaching strategies with Raewyn Sills for Week 5. - During syndicate meeting we discussed ideas for explicit teaching in small groups - interactive writing, shared writing and learning intentions. We have a day with Raewyn planned for 29 June. **Areas arising for further development:**

**Summary of progress and achievement:**