I have started trying to utilise provocation as a way to promote critical thinking as well as leading into critical literacy. "Critical literacy is the term used to refer to a particular aspect of critical thinking. Critical literacy involves looking beyond the literal meaning of a text to determine what is present and what is missing, in order to analyse and evaluate the text's complete meaning and the author's intent". (https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/program-planning/cross-curricular-and-integrated-learning/critical-thinking-and-critical-literacy).
Throughout the term, I have made a concerted effort to incorporate more discussion time across all curriculum areas. For example, during maths we have been focusing on being active listeners and doers, using Talk Moves and giving and taking others' opinions. Reading time we are focused on reciprocal teaching and building thought-provoking, rich conversations.
For my Growth Cycle inquiry for 2024, I decided to revisit one I did previously. This is to incorporate extended discussions within reading through Reciprocal Teaching. My reasoning behind this is to accelerate students' overall comprehension of multimodal texts, therefore building students' communication skills. My focus is on developing their ability to explain and justify their thinking, elaborate on their ideas, and build richer communication skills and comprehension.
Target students
My target cohort is a small group of students who are at their expected level for reading. I chose these students as I feel they lack some of the communication skills required to progress more and that it is holding back their ability to confidently move ahead.
I also strongly believe these particular students will pick up the reciprocal teaching strategies quickly and we should soon see positive results. These students will then be able to become mentors within the class to help establish reciprocal teaching and extended discussions with their peers.
How will I document this journey?
Throughout this inquiry, I will utilise the use of IRIS to record reading sessions. The first recording will be a baseline. A video for me to reflect on and plan from and eventually compare back to when looking for signs of progress. I expect the first recording in particular to contain a lot of off-task conversations while students are learning their new roles.
I have created several resources to have in my teaching environment to support me on my quest to use more te reo māori. These rauemi (resources) are mainly posters with kupu and phrases that we use often in class. Some are questions, some are instructions and some are lists of common everyday kupu to incorporate more. I have found it very handy as a quick reference when my memory fails me, but also the students in my class refer to them as well.
According to Te ako i te reo Māori - Teaching and learning te reo Māori the characteristics of effective teaching and learning "Effective teachers of te reo Māori actively build strong relationships with students’ whānau and communities. They manage the classroom environment well and develop relevant and carefully sequenced learning tasks that provide multiple opportunities for learning and enable students to make links between their new learning of te reo Māori and their prior knowledge and experiences" (https://tereomaori.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-guidelines/Teaching-and-learning-te-reo-Maori).
This article also mentions that many of the tasks undertaken within the class are social. This has been a focus for me within my teaching practice, and specifically in my learning journey for incorporating more te reo Maori. What we are learning for te reo Maori we do in a social manner. There are a lot of conversations, role-play, and banter. I believe this has helped to engage students and to embed the learning that is taking place, not just for them, but for myself too. It has been instrumental in helping develop my confidence and understanding.
My goal is to build a culturally responsive classroom based on respect and connection. I am finding the best way for me to do this is to initiate more korero and establish classroom communication practices that include te reo Māori. One example of this is our morning routine. We do daily taumata. After taumata we do the role and each child is asked how they are feeling and then respond and ask another student the same question (in te reo māori). When we first started this routine it took a while. Students stumbled with the asking and answering. They were also clearly nervous. Now it has become second nature to them. They are starting to experiment by responding with new kupu, instead of the standard e pai ana ahau. This routing has been beneficial for me most of all. It has helped build my confidence and I can also see that the children appreciate my efforts as well.
Here is a list of things I have noticed when I use more te reo māori within the classroom.
