Pulling the Threads Together

At this time of year, its always important to learn from one's staff. That's actually really important all the time, but at mid-year in a New Zealand Primary School the best data is formative data that comes from the people working directly with the learners.

The source of information for me, along with kids' blogs are the Inquiry Blogs of Pt England teachers and those of the Manaiakalani Kahui Ako. The blogs create a really rich tapestry of threads that are beginning to show some really strong and colourful themes.

The theme that I am finding the most urgent and that is commanding my attention more than any other, is that of the acquisition of language of our learners. Its abundantly clear from Teacher Inquiries across schools, levels and subjects that this single but large and complex factor is most significant impactor on whether our learners are doing well or not.

The problem with "noticing and knowing" in education is that it immediately produces a moral imperative. -"So what are we going to do about it?"
What I'm going to do about it, is starting talking, asking and inquiring myself into:

• who could help us with this problem
• understanding the problem more fully
• how we would design a strategy to deal with it (this will take all of the 2nd semester)
• appropriating resource to apply to it
• having something "ready to roll" for Term 1, 2018

Watch this space!