RPI 9: Sharing

 Connecting with Whānau

My main take away from today is that connecting with school whānau is so important. We have been recently discussing our lack of whānau engagement with reading at home as a staff and need to come up with some creative ways to increase this. It has got me thinking about the types of school-wide challenges we can put together to get our whānau to engage in their child's learning more. I'll be keeping an eye on the activities people have shared in the slides we collaborated on today. 

Blogging

Blogging has been a bit of a mission so far this year. Mainly due to access barriers to the new edublogs accounts needing to be created and a lack of timetabling/chromebooks skills. I feel that now my students are at a point where they have a lot more digital skills to create and use google apps more confidently and so are more ready to blog. We are going to increase our blogging about learning by making sure it is timetabled and incentivised. This is also another way we can increase whanāu engagement. 

Reading Survey

I have found the beginning and end reading survey to be very valuable. I have just started to analyse and have seen very mixed results with some attitudes slightly dropping and some rising. Some students have offered feedback in the 'want my teacher to know' section which is great food for thought. I had a lot away when students completed the second survey so I'll make sure to collect from those who were absent so I can get a clearer picture. I will also have a conversation with students whose results surprised me so I can get more information from them. What a great tool for reflection and future planning! I'm keen to do another one at the end of Term 4 to compare. 

The RPI Overall

I have learnt SO much throughout the RPI. I think the resources and structure to the course are excellent and of high quality. I have found the days quite overwhelming and fast paced at times but I understand that it is because there is so much to cover. I know I will continue to use the resources and content from this course to help curate my reading programme over the coming years. I will promote and share with the staff to benefit our school as a whole. 


Comments

  1. NaomiSeptember 17, 2023 at 10:56 PM

    Kia ora Dani

    Congratulations on completing the Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive 2023 and for graduating the programme! It has been a substantial commitment across three terms and a huge achievement.

    It’s great to read that some of your takeaways from Day 9 will include more purposeful planning of blogging - including rewindable, generative feedback - and opportunities to connect with whānau through the wider reader challenges. It’s good to hear you are over the messiness of changing to Edublogs. I wonder what your learners or parents and caregivers may suggest about these opportunities to be involved in the reading for enjoyment challenges and in offering variety, for example, beyond interviewing family members about their favourite books? I also really look forward to hearing how your actions and inquiry into the findings of the follow up Reading-Profile Survey inform your next steps to increase reading for enjoyment. Particularly where, as you say, you have some mixed results.

    All the very best for the rest of the year and some fabulous non-contact time over the break.

    Nga mihi
    Naomi R.
    Literacy Facilitator - Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive

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