MIT video presentation from my ENGAGE research in 2020

Final Inquiry reflection for 2020

Final testing results and Woolf Fisher data has come in for Reading and they are promising considering the tumultuous year the children have experienced being in lockdown several times in the space of one academic year. So; Priority Learner 1 has achieved Blue Level 9, Priority Learner 1 has achieved Blue Level 9 and Priority Learner 3 has moved to Red Level 5, and Priority Learner 4 has achieved Blue Level 9 which is also instructional level 10. I am pleased to see their progress over a short duration and feel that playing ENGAGE games has contributed to their social skills, self regulation skills, language accumulation and overall literacy skills in their Year 2 level of learning and development. I hope that these children continue learning over the summer holidays in preparation for Year 3 in 2021.

ENGAGE media coverage!

I was watching The Project on TV last week and you can imagine my surprise when I saw that Jessie Mulligan had covered a story about ENGAGE in NZ! He interviewed Professor Richard Poulton and founder Jimmy McLachlan and they both talked about the roots of this research beginning with the longitudinal study from Otago University and how 1000 New Zealand families have been tracked and interviewed over a 45 year period. The ENGAGE program has been rolled out in early childhood centres and is also being trialled in low decile schools. Jimmy professes that children who learn how to self regulate at a young age are better off than those who don't. Research shows a direct link to those adults who don't; become a burden to society as they often end up in prison, or having drug/alcohol abuse problems and experience family violence. A key finding from the results of the Dunedin study is that "Childhood self-control predicts physical health, financial success, and a lack of criminal behaviour among adults", (Moffitt & Caspi, 2013). One Pasifika mother of 6 children told the story of her youngest child being different from the others - always crying, having meltdowns and not having the language to express himself. His kindergarten teacher commented that playing the ENGAGE games with his peers helps him with his social and language skills. This positive intervention of focusing on self regulation skills has a lasting impact on all young learners who are involved in the program. Playing small and whole group interactive games such as those found in the early years is fun and engaging with other children. For example, "Simon says, Snap, Memory, ball and spoon race" as well as a combination of relaxation/yoga moves to help a child learn to calm down and re-set themselves if involved in confrontation or after an emotional outburst.

KPMG Hui

Our MIT 2020 group met today at KPMG and had time to discuss our reflections from the Wananga presentations. We also reflected on what we would have, could have and should have done if we had prior knowlegde about COVID taking effect this year. We learnt how to make a screen recording on our Google slideshows and then add this to our own record of learning and professional development. I feel inspired to continue the ENGAGE program in 2021 and encourage my junior teaching colleagues to participate with their own classes as I can now see the value and importnace that it holds.

PELP/ PLD workshop#3

I attended the final PELP workshop with other teaching professionals and we discussed the success of our whanau meetings at schools and early childhood centres which brought about an awareness of the dual language texts and how Pasifika languages are being acknowledged through MoE by bringing about a school to home connection in literacy and heart languages. I really enjoyed learning new hands on practical ways to include these resources in the classroom and introducing dual language texts in the classroom. I also learnt about lexical chunking and how to identify before and after vocabuary in a grid format. Here is an example of my playdough creations which represent heart language, a seed planted and a frangipani flower to recognise the significance of this flower in the Pacific islands.

Introducing PELP to our school community

I have been attending a PD workshop on the new PELP initiative developed by Dr Rae Si'ilata and her team to introduce dual language texts in 5 different Pasifika languages. These are Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island Maori, Nieuan and Tokelaun. They have stories that have meaningful connections for children from these different cultural and sometimes mixed heritages. PES hosted a whanau hui (Fono) which was warmly received by our parent community. Those who attended gave positive feedback about being informed about this new literacy and language focus.

Wananga 2020

On Thursday 22nd October I was privileged to be able to share my research and newly devised digital tool to a group of teaching professionals hosted by the Manaiakalani outreach program. I focused on ENGAGE which is a series of games played by young children to develop self regulation skills and increase language. I have designed a website: https://sites.google.com/ptengland.school.nz/goldengiftsin2020/home to explain how teachers can use these games in their classroom environment and the benefits it has. These videos were also shared on our Team 2 site during lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Please leave a comment after viewing my presentation. Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YJek2_n8oONHiJm18nnjC3NwrqNtuSwhrYOBHyIsGWw/edit#slide=id.ga4323cda3e_0_5 This has been a rewarding experience to watch the holistic growth and cognitive development of the Year 2 children that I teach.

MIT research data

Today I asked each of my four priority learners which ENGAGE game they liked the best and why? These were there answers:

What surprised me the most was that the student who has the lowest literacy skills in the group had the most amount of comprehensive language accumulation in her reply statement!

Inquiry reflection for Term 3

These students have been participating in the ENGAGE program for the duration of this year with the exception of the lockdown period. I have observed the following shift in Reading from 3 out of 4 of my Priority Learners from the start of this year Term 1, 2020 until now. Term 1: Student H - Red 4 Student L - Magenta 1 Student P - Red 3 Student S - Red 4 Term 3: Student H - Yellow 7 Student L - Red 3 (significant absence from school) Student P - Yellow 7 Student S - Yellow 8

MIT Hui

Today our research group travelled into the Auckland CBD on different modes of transport and met at KPMG who hosted us for the day. This was the first face to face meeting we have had since our first summer hui. It has been a long time that we have been able to gather together because of being in lockdown due to COVID 19. So, the 10 of us gathered inside a conference room and had an opportunity to discuss each of our projects to date. What I enjoyed the most was listening to other teacher's progress and learning about their highlights of developing a digital tool. I was able to take on suggestions and feedback from my colleagues about what changes could be made to my website. I will have to put some time aside to plan for my research presentation for the Wananaga. I aim to get Student Voices as part of my ongoing research feedback and evaluation of the ENGAGE program.

Reflection on: Creativity Toolkit

This afternoon I attended an online toolkit with Amie Williams who is obviously passionate about the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy that exists within the Manaiakalani pedgagogy. She explained how teachers can "turbo charge" students engagement and interest in making their learning creative using a range of digital tools within the classroom. I particularly enjoyed learning about the MAPIC (Mulitmodal, Ampification, Personalisation, Interaction, Coherence) acronymn to include a range of ideas that can be trialled and used amongst children which helps to boost their confidence and introduce innovative ways of sharing their learning creatively. Children experiment with a combination of audio, visuals, blogposts, collaboration, sharing ideas, respecting cultural diversity and learning about each other which enhances their holistic development to support their own understanding and prior knowledge of a topic.

New Blogger Interface

I attended an online toolkit this afternoon to explain Blogger's recent updates and how to find and access new icon and tools found on a blogpage. It was helpful and informative. Basically the change in the new format is for people (including parents/ whanau) to be able to access a blogpost on their mobile phone more easily. It is now much easier to scroll down and look at an icon at a glance or read a new post with it being vertical, rather than horizontal. Thanks to Cam Cameron for sharing these useful tips and tricks. I will be sharing these ideas with my teaching colleagues when we return to school next week...

Letter to your teacher!

One of my Year 2 students wrote this letter to me. Although I haven't seen her on our Hangouts, she has been doing online learning at home with support from her family during this second lockdown. Hi Mrs Carter i miss you very much I hope we Come back to school. I‘m learning how to roller skate the first day I fell over but I tried again the next day. I had a good birthday I have a lot of presents And I had a chocolate cake.

Maths PD

My reflection on Amplifying basic facts: I attended an online toolkit with Donna Yates to learn more about teaching basic facts to my Year 2 learners. I learnt that research has proved that a "rote learning approach" of basic facts and times tables on its own does not work effectively without the use of materials. Follow the teaching method of: Strategies - Practice - Memory. Practising strategies also helps a child to reinforce the learning and understand the concept through memorising what has been taught. Remember that "fast recall" - eg.4 seconds, should only come after the child has an understanding of the operation and uses some strategies for performing it.

Update on my website!

ENGAGE support!

I was so thrilled to hear that our support staff at school are also being trained to use the ENGAGE program with the children they are allocated to support with their learning and behaviour in the classroom! Our Deputy Principal showed them my ENGAGE videos that I made during the lockdown and this helped them to visualise how to use the games with children and also to use the consistent language as well. I am in the process of updating my website as I have new videos and information to add to it now. Watch this space...

Letters in lockdown from one of my students!

 Dear Mrs Carter Hi how are you and family. Hope you are okay. Me and our family are all fine. May God protect us from corona virus.

Making Cannelloni with Mrs Carter!

Making sock face masks in lockdown!

 Ms Gaston and her daughter Aliana made their own face masks using recycled socks which is such a clever idea! I think that Aliana did really well using a big pair of scissors so carefully. If you make one at your house can you please share it with one of your teachers? Thank you from Mrs Carter.

Creating a website from scratch!

Here is a sneak peek of my ENGAGE GIFTS website that has been designed for other teachers to use as a digital tool to help them implement ENGAGE games in their own classrooms.

It has 7 teacher directed and 7 matching child centred "how - to" videos explaining the rules of the games and what language is used to support children's language development. The website has been created to highlight the value and importance of this program which is to enhance children's self management and cognitive skills in a social setting. Overall, this contributes to their cognitive development and language accumulation over a significant period of time such as one year of learning.

Rainbow Maths lesson Wk 11

Reaffirming my MIT challenge

I have booked in 2 MIT release days as I realised how fast the end of Term 2 was nearing! It has certainly been busy being back in the classroom teaching face to face. Once we moved to level 1, all of my 20 students had finally returned to school. Needless to say, writing reports has been a challenge considering the fact that we haven't seen some of our students for 7 weeks! I have been able to continue initiating ENGAGE games with our Year 2 children on a daily basis, which has been a bonus especially with the start of winter when there have been some rainy days. All the students are engaged and are obviously having fun. Their favourite game is pass the kiwi and another teacher has now stepped up to take one ENGAGE session per week as I was busy doing JAM tests... The overall goal of implementing ENGAGE games with my priority learners has continued to be successful, however I would like to go back to having a smaller group to work with on a regular basis rather than the whole class as I feel it is more effective. I will trial this in Term 3. Another reflection I have made is after creating a website for other teachers to use called ENGAGE gifts, I would like to add videos of me teaching the children, and the children interacting with each other so that a focus on language accumulation can be achieved.

I wish I had a pirate suit

Honours award...

We were so excited to learn that Mr Russell Burt (our school principal at Pt England school) has received an HNZM award! This is an acknowledgement from the Queen's Honour's list for 2020; for his services to primary school education. We are so very proud of him and he was honoured at a special whole school assembly.

Pass the kiwi!

After the return to school with the observance of 1 metre spacing it was important to keep the children engaged and active as they were seated at their tables for longer times than usual throughout the day. Here is a snippet of a game called "Pass the beanbag" which we adapted by using a soft toy kiwi!

ENGAGE games with Mrs Carter.

Team 2 Literacy recount of My favourite ENGAGE game! Today we played "Pass the beanbag" and we used Mrs Carter's soft toy kiwi to throw around to a friend. It was so much fun!

MIT Hui: Feedback on website design thinking

Today I was brave enough to share my prototype with my teaching colleagues from MIT:2020! They all made some worthwhile suggestions about my newly designed website to share online. This prompted me to think back to my original "Achievement Challenge" which was: Teachers need a digital tool for the ongoing collection, analysis and sharing of ENGAGE data. This research project has been designed to support other teachers who will be using the ENGAGE games in their classroom with students on a daily basis. So in my introduction I included parents, this has now been deleted as I need to solely focus on teachers. I had also included other videos of my story telling and creating science experiments (during the lockdown) which was off the topic and have since been removed. However, these are still available to view on the Team 2 site at PES. https://sites.google.com/s/1EUBYK8aQdRkpBXasd5QHqXVb1q2hb9Uk/p/1gvleo_u7KxkZkP-6hiWkKEXILMEqnV0k/edit I now aim to add new videos of children participating in the ENGAGE videos at school and include a tutorial video for teachers on how to use the data collection spreadsheet on a weekly basis. This will help teachers to identify next steps in regards to children's key competencies and self management skills within a school environment. I would also like to include some more relevant research to support the idea that children's well being and holistic/emotional development needs to be nurtured and encouraged in a social setting. You can view the comments made below that influenced my decision to change my prototype and refine it accordingly.

T2 Week 6: ENGAGE face to face!

My reflection looks at the impact of being in lockdown for 7 weeks that has had on our students. The high level of engagement of learning from our Year 2 learners returning to school has been incredible. The children have increased their knowledge and understanding of story writing for meaning and this has included sight words as well as using correct punctuation. Some of the children were participating in an online daily journal during the lockdown period which I think has contributed to their overall literacy skills and comprehension of writing sentences. This rapid increase of language accumulation is significant due to the fact that only some of the children were continuing to read books such as (Sunshine online) from our Team 2 site that was less structured than core curriculum school subject areas such as Reading, Writing and Maths... My main focus throughout Week 6 was to carry out daily ENGAGE games with all of our Year 2 learners as a whole (approximately 40 children aged 6 - 7 years old). The session began with a simple relaxation breathing exercise (Pick a pretend flower from the garden and smell it with your nose, now breath in and out 3 times...). Then I introduced an ENGAGE game such as "Simon Says" and outlined the instructions before it started. All the children joined in enthusiastically and had lots of fun! They didn't mind missing out, or not being the winner and there were no issues of non-compliance. We didn't have any incidents of emotional outbursts or tantrums, and there were no behaviour challenges. These children have shown how resilient they are despite all of the upheaval and changing circumstances they have found themselves in due to COVID - 19. They have adapted well and coped with a change to their inside environment such as being seated in a new and different place and not physically touching anyone else! I feel that having this in place as a consistent approach became an expectation that the children became used to and therefore did not reject. After about 10 minutes the children were verbally disappointed to stop the games and continue with other learning in the day. I know that there have been other Junior teachers doing ENGAGE games with their Year 1 students in single cell classrooms, which I would like to collate data and reflections from as soon as possible. My only regret is that I completely forgot to ask another teacher to record this, which is what I aim to do in Week 7 (next week). Our children have shown so much resilience and adaptability of their environment, due to the fact that our Team 2 roll was only 50%, we decided to plan and teach collaboratively every day. Writing in the morning, followed by Reading and Maths after morning tea. The afternoon block was scheduled for Art/Science/PE sessions. My final thoughts are that children in "Our Space" have been happy, engaged in their learning and kept safe in their first week back at school.

Lockdown reflections after 7 weeks!

I have been teaching in an ILE for 3 years, so myself and three other teachers continued to plan collaboratively during the lockdown period. We redesigned our Google class site specifically so that it was less structured than the prescribed NZ Curriculum of Reading, Writing and Maths and included a more child -friendly, interactive approach. Our school value for this year is aptly named Hope, and the focus that has arisen out of the lockdown has been tremendous. The Inquiry focus for this term is Planet Earth. We chose to use the following areas to focus on; Literacy, Patterns and Shapes, The Living World and Creative Arts. Each teacher took the responsibility to plan and share a slideshow presentation that could be carried out over the course of one week. Each area had a range of activities and a Google Form to complete based on watching short videos, listening to visual storytelling, completing online tasks, test revision, science experiments and cooperative games. We also set up a daily journal with responses viewed by teachers to add to their individual blogs. As we already are a 1:1 digital based school, transferring the teaching and learning was easily adaptable to the 7 week timeframe. Children who were taking part in distance/home learning were using their own devices, or sharing siblings school Chromebooks that were distributed before the lockdown commenced. We also set up 2 Google Meets everyday for our children to participate in with their peers and teachers for half an hour duration. This has been a valuable opportunity to stay connected and ensure children's well being and emotional needs were met throughout this strange time in their young lives. The children delighted in sharing their home learning experiences, birthday celebrations, fitness and family activities such as cooking. I would say that approximately half of the children in our team have participated in online learning and have also completed their Home Learning packs from MoE. There are only 5 students from my class that I have not been able to account for their learning during the lockdown, despite numerous attempts to contact their parents and whanau throughout this extensive period. Three students from my class returned to "Bubble School" in Level 3 as their parents were deemed to be essential workers. One thing that I have observed overall is that children are far more capable of learning independently in their home environment. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they are less distracted by their peers? Some children have really thrived on the ideal to completing set tasks and gaining new knowledge in "unconventional" ways. It has been interesting to note the friendly competition and sense of comradeship amongst students, despite being separated for a significant time in their education. Finally, I would never have imagined this event to occur in my lifetime, the resilience that the students from our school have shown is incredible. The teaching staff are so proud of them and are so grateful to their parents for supporting them with Home Learning. This has been a huge learning curve for everyone involved, both mentally and emotionally and one that we will never forget.

Visual storytelling about Floating!

Floating and Sinking

Getting creative at home!

Catherine and her big sister Finau have been busy playing their own ENGAGE game at home called "Cops and Robbers" which is very similar to "The Giant's Treasure" ENGAGE game. This is a great way to stay active and keep fit during the lockdown...

Joining in daily Google Meets with Team 2!

It has been awesome watching the students confidence grow learning how to be Cybersmart online whilst enjoying each other's company and staying connected during the lockdown. Its hard to believe that 6 weeks has passed already! This snapshot is taken from the Blue Bubble to teachers and children's homes.

Making frozen iceblocks!

Someone else's words of wisdom about Hope...

My faith leads me to Hope...

Taken from the Bible found in the Old Testament: Psalm 62:5-8 "Yes my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress. I shall not be shaken. My salvation and my honour depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge." Hebrews 6:19 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." It is these messages of hope that can help us through these strange times of being in lockdown and help us to move forward each day.

Respect for each other in Level 3!

We have two children in Rm 24 who come from the Burmese culture and they speak different languages at home. So when I greet Myu San and Nadi I say "Minglabar" to them which means "may this day be filled with blessings". I think that this is such an appropriate greeting for this period of lockdown that we find ourselves in. Our school value is all about Hope and I hope that we can all continue to be kind and look after each other at home. So keep helping out with jobs around the house, clean your bedroom, do some baking or cooking and don't forget to do some Home learning each day and join in a Hangout with your teachers and friends! Take care and stay safe in your Bubbles. I do miss you all dearly. Arohanui from Mrs Carter.

Visual Storytelling with Mrs Carter!

Making a tornado!

We will remember them...

My family and I woke up early and joined in the "Stand for Dawn" service, next to our letterbox as we listened to the "Last Post" being played on the bugle on Radio NZ. I remembered my grandfather who served in WW2 as an Infantry officer from 1939 - 1946. I was lucky enough to visit Gallipoli in Turkey in 2000 amongst thousands of other New Zealanders and Australians and take part in the Dawn service at Chunuk Bair. I also got to meet Prime Minister at the time Helen Clark on that occasion. They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn; At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them.

Participation and feedback of an ENGAGE game!

Hey Miss Carter. Its me Finau and Catherine and I played your engage called Jack in the box. You told us to sit on the ground and start forming yourself into a little box. After that you told us to pop out. Catherine just started laughing and I was like what so funny and she said she laughed because of how you were jumping and how she was jumping.I think that was the best game for Catherine. What was your favourite engage game? Take care From Finau.

Participation feedback of ENGAGE during the lockdown!

Hi Miss Carter, its me Finau and just want to say what an amazing idea to do yoga during the lockdown. Me and my sister Catherine checked it out and we saw you doing yoga. We loved all the poses you did. My favourite yoga pose was V shape one and Catherine loved the Lion pose. What was your favourite pose? Stay safe in your bubble, From Finau.

Making a lava lamp for our Year 2 learners!

I made this using ingredients found in my house...I hope you have fun trying this during lockdown?

MIT research connections

So I had the privilege to meet with Jimmy McLauchlan via a Zoom call last week and wanted to share our meaningful korero around the value of the ENGAGE program that he has been involved with over the past 5 years of research. Since implementing the ENGAGE program over a 7 week period, prior to lockdown I have found that the children's engagement, interest and participation has definitely increased. I explained to Jimmy that I regularly use relaxation breathing techniques with my students as it helps them to calm down and refocus before structured learning takes place throughout the day. I try to use at least one game on a busy day and up to 30 mins of games in total which is the recommendation in order for this program to be effective. I often find that the students need to have a game to participate in during "transition times" throughout the day as well as when they get hungry before scheduled meal breaks such as morning tea and lunchtime. We discussed how much teachers are finding the games useful and how their students are responding to them throughout the day as they do require some preparation. I also shared my Google survey that I have created and am looking forward to reviewing the results. I can relate to the purpose of combining a child's holistic well-being with learning self-regulations skills in order to interact with their peers and manage themselves independently in a school environment. I shared some ideas around future games which could include Te Reo Maori and Pasifika games, language with a focus on cultural observances that the children are experienced with in their home environment and then make translations on new cards so teachers can use them in the classroom. I'm looking forward to this new direction and hope to use them when we can return to school life again. Depending on whether New Zealand comes out of Level 4 lockdown in response to COVID - 19? Kia kaha, stay safe in your Bubbles.

Making a volcano for Year 2 learners!

MIT: research continues...

So despite New Zealand being in national lockdown for a 30 day period; I decided to take my MIT research on a slightly different tack and record the teachers experience of their involvement with ENGAGE in the classroom prior to the COVID - 19 epidemic. I created a Google Form survey which asks questions pertaining to games played/used in the classroom and the initial responses that children have made? I will collate these answers in their graph formations once all the teachers who participated in the ENGAGE PLD workshops have submitted their form to me. Then I will include this data collection as part of my feedback in the final presentation of my research towards the end of this year.

ENGAGE game: 5,4,3,2,1

For this game you will need to find something that you can eat and place it near you; such as a piece of fruit and also something that you can smell such as a flower from the garden. Here are the instructions for this game:

Relaxing Yoga with Mrs Carter!

Story time with Mrs Carter and meet Ruby the rabbit!

ENGAGE - Jack in the Box!

Play another ENGAGE game called "Simon Says" with your whanau and friends!

Wednesday 1st April, 2020

Here is my second ENGAGE video called: The Magic Blanket

Friday 27th March, 2020

Home learning becomes a reality, but it's still quite surreal!

I have posted this onto each student's individual blog in my class to help them to access their Home learning over the lockdown period in NZ.

My first Quick Time ENGAGE video!

I have made this 10min video for Junior teachers in particular to use in order to carry out ENGAGE with their students at home. Now more than ever we need to focus on our children's personal well being during this time of uncertainty amid this COVID 19 epidemic. It involves using relaxation techniques such as controlled breathing and also being mindful. I hope that you will find it useful? Any feedback is warmly appreciated. TIA, your fellow online distance learning teacher.

Seaside Hui

This has been such a worthwhile opportunity to design, rethink and unpack my research project with a set of fresh eyes, like minded colleagues for support and time for meaningful reflection as I walked along the beach. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Empathy session/ role play

My MIT Moonshot buddy Kerianna and I got together to discuss what our current challenges are with our students in the classroom setting. We then role played each idea to the whole group. #1: So I started and began introducing "The Magic Blanket" game with Kerianna who was one of my Priority Learners (in amongst 19 other Year 2s) who was easily distracted, not focused and kept interrupting the game. I kept going, trying to involve her whilst using verbal praise and encouragement along the way. #2: She then began speaking fluently in Te Reo Maori and I pretended to be the disengaged student who was unwilling to participate in Te Reo korero g(speaking). My attitude was getting in the way of my learning, making it more challenging for Kerianna to carry out her Whaea role effectively. This gave our teaching colleagues an opportunity to observe the challenges we face in trying to overcome disengagement.

Crazy 8's - IDEATE

Here is the poster I created which highlights 8 different ways that I will utilise and implement support to help carry out my research project for this year. I took a photo of my poster which has "Googly" eyes to demonstrate the most popular idea! This was my idea to create a digital tool being a "Teacher Portal" for teachers to use to be able to access and implement the ENGAGE program with their students.

My new Research Project Title:

Teachers need a digital tool for the ongoing collection, analysis and sharing of ENGAGE data.

How might we?

My MIT colleagues gave me suggestions as to how I could utilise other people to help my with my research project.

Connections and Resource poster

Here is a poster of the people and resources I plan to contact and use for the initiation of my research project.

Design Thinking Quote which I agree with.

School Hall reflection

This imaginary school hall scenario involved 10 teaching colleagues who participated in a role play. We were all given a range of different characters to act out. The chairman identified a number of "challenges" that had come to the school board's attention and were being shared with parents of this "hypothetical" school. Some examples of the characters were a doctor, a lawyer, a cleaner, a farmer and an ERO representative. The issues that were brought to light were low oral language acquisition, lack of Te Reo Maori participation, students who needed support with transition to Intermediate, students who struggled with curriculum based literacy and maths learning, ESOL support, lower levels in Reading and Maths etc... So after a heated debate it was agreed that these pertinent issues either needed to be removed or dealt with as soon as possible, especially considering the principal was overseas stuck on a cruise ship. It was easy to relate to these challenges as they are based on the reality of the problems that we currently face in our low decile schools which have Maori/Pasifika students who attend. Research shows evidence of the learning outcomes of these students and how it affects them if not addressed by teaching professionals. So it was interesting to find out how other teachers might investigate these challenges over a period of time.

Tweaking and redefining the challenge

This is how my research began....my initial ideas was to focus on children's oral language acquisition for my original Moonshot proposal. I have now decided to use this for my Inquiry focus for 2020.

Inquiry Focus for 2020!

Priority Learners chosen to participate in 1:1 Quick 60 program

Word accumulation in young children

UK research cont...

Literacy research from the UK

"Talking Matters" with young children

My original Moonshot slide deck was developed with "oral language acquisition" as a focus. However, this has since changed as you will see in later posts.

My summer learning journey in 2019/2020!

I spent 8 days in Googong, just outside of Canberra, Australia with my younger sister and her family. She now has a busy toddler and a 3 month old. So whilst her husband returned to work, I helped out with changing nappies, doing bath time, reading lots of books and teaching Freddie to sit on the potty! In addition, we had a family reunion as baby Lizzie was baptised and I was asked to be her Godmother. So I saw my Dad and stepmother who flew down from the Gold Coast. For the duration of this time, the Australian bushfires started raging in surrounding states such as Victoria and New South Wales. The outside air was stated as the "worst pollution" in the world. We were actually housebound for 3 days and Freddie's daycare was closed for 2 days after the statutory holidays. The second day we visited the local community gardens which were so dry. Then we could not leave the house because of smoke inhalation and smog and I didn't want to aggravate my asthma. I was sure that children who were on their school holidays must have been feeling anxious. My sister told me that those families that had driven to the coast for their summer break were now either stuck there or travelling back taking them 3 times longer than normal. The temperature sizzled at around 38c most days and then we hit a record high of 44c! Lots of government buildings and offices had to be closed due to the fact that the smoke was coming through the air con units. My brother in-law filled their 2000l water tank with the garden hose as there was talk of losing town supplies and we also prepared for lack of electricity which thankfully didn't eventuate.It was quite phenomenal to be part of this devastation that Australia endured. Finally, my son sent me a photo of the strange sky colour that hit NZ whilst I was away that had travelled 1000 miles...we had the same in Oz. I was so saddened to hear about the wildlife that also lost their lives in addition to innocent people. It felt good to back in Aoteoroa where I felt safe back on terra firma!