Kāhui Ako ki Orewa

Rāmere, te 6 o Whiringa-ā-rangi

Tuhituhi -Writing

It’s that time of year again when teachers are writing their summative assessments and end of year reports. Here are some links to sites that may be of use when writing comments to parents.

TKI- Assessment Online– follow the link here to read more on reporting in plain language to parents for writing.

Follow the link here to the LPF website. Annotated examples in each of the writing aspects can be useful for developing your report comments. The Orewa Kahui Matrix in writing could also be useful as a reporting tool.

A report comment bank (general areas) on the TES- NZ website can be downloaded by following the link here. These comments can be used as a good base in all areas of the curriculum.

Te reo Māori for report comments

In addition, we thought that it would be a perfect time to include some ways that te ao Māori could be included and normalised in this area of our practice.

The first simple and highly effective way is to add a very short phrase at the end of your general comment. We have a whole bank of phrases that you can choose from on this Māori phrase comment doc.

A few examples:

The second way could be to include areas of involvement in te ao Māori such as Matariki/Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori activities, kapa haka or te reo Māori in the classroom. Even the smallest addition can show the whānau of our students that we value te reo Māori. Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui!

Learner Support: Disengaged Students

We had a group of Year 11 students that had totally switched off from their learning because the task seemed too daunting for them. The teacher had tried numerous ways to get the students to engage in the task and to convince them that the task was achievable by emailing parents for support and removing them from the class to work but this had a negative impact on the students and they became very distant and subdued.

We decided to give the students positive reinforcement by having one-on-one tutorials twice a week and setting small tasks for them to achieve before the next tutorial. We sat with each student and explained the task and the steps that they needed to take to achieve it, breaking these steps down even further. We then met with them at the end of the week and checked that they had achieved their targets, which they did.

The students appreciated the time spent on them and said that they now understood what was being asked of them and how to get there.

We moderated the submissions this week and were very pleased that by carrying out this method of teaching that around 95% of the students will pass this standard giving them 6 credits that they would not possibly have achieved if we had not changed our methodology.

Curriculum Integration: Writing 

Linda has been meeting with a core group of Orewa College in-school leaders to look at aligning the writing offered across curriculum areas, firstly across years 9 to 10, and lately across 7 to 10. We’ve worked through the writing LPFs and the rubric set up by the Kāhui ako  teachers. Then we looked at PaCT as a tracking tool. This prompted us to start to look at our own marking rubrics for writing in English, Technology, Science, Social Studies, Business and Visual Art, and how we could find common ground. As we have journeyed along, we have included more staff, from senior managers and heads of department, to years 7 and 8 homeroom teachers. The last session was particularly rewarding as we had this diverse group attempt some moderation. We are happy to report that we had great fun doing it. We will share our model with the in-school leaders and perhaps it is something to trial in your own school.

Digital Curriculum Group: Resources

We are happy to share this one page summary to help teachers with their DC planning: Link to help sheet here. This spreadsheet should be of benefit to you by giving you an overview of the digital curriculum, with NZC levels, progress outcomes and links to lesson ideas. In addition, here is a blank planning sheet. to record your lesson planning.

Professional Reading

We have had a number of requests for the publication that Hana O’Regan referred to in her PLD earlier this year. Here is a link to He awa ara rau: A journey of many paths.

Kāhui Ako Meeting Dates for term 4

22 October: Meeting at Orewa College all ISLs

29 October: Maths/ Digital Curriculum Group PD Day

5 November: Meeting at Orewa College all ISLs

19 November: Meeting at Orewa College all ISLs

23 November: Writing Group PD Day

26 November: Final