As we come to the end of the year I have reflected on another very interesting year in my professional learning.
I began the year with a focus on Numeracy with my class of Year 2's I share with Ms Squires. I had some big ideas as it was the first time I had taught Mathematics in many years due to having had a focus on small literacy groups.
I began therefor with JAM data and a big question; How do I best build retention of facts and support children to apply these in multiple contexts? This stemmed from what I believed was a lack of understanding around maths concepts; Did the children know what they were trying to find out? What was the best strategy to use? What facts did they know that would help them with the problem?
I began with JAM data and moved swiftly into Reading data with the exciting news I was to begin BSLA training mid year. I would be enrolled in the University of Canterbury Micro-credentials course. This course supports teachers to understand the research behind the approach and help them scaffold changes to their teaching practise.
So at the start of term 3, I changed my inquiry focus to match my new role as the BSLA teacher for small groups. I am now focused solely on teaching the Better Structured Literacy Approach (BSLA) with two classes, Rooms 11 and 13, as well as teaching the Taumata in Room 23.
This is just the start of my learning on the structured literacy journey but I can already see the changes in my students confidence, their growth in understanding of how to apply their knowledge of spelling patterns and phonics to their reading.
