Beyond a Blackboard

To help support me to narrow down my inquiry focus (i.e. choose which of my many ideas to actually focus on), I have been chatting to colleagues to identify areas of need. Yes, reading is still at the forefront of our minds and an area of focus here at Pt England. Across the cluster we have recognised an issue with students getting stuck at an 8-9 year old reading level for several years. But we have amazing research and a variety of CoL inquiries that have confronted this problem.  At the moment we have a cluster wide reading intensive, where the Manaiakalani researchers are giving teachers practical support and suggestions that will shift our learners. This programme is based upon research in our own classrooms - it's the next level of inquiry!  I think it is quite clear what needs to be done - after years of inquiry and this reading intensive, we really need to put the suggestions from the researchers and other CoL teachers into practice.  So while it is a school focus, and I do

 Wow, I am super eager to get started with my inquiry this year. After spending a couple of weeks with my two main classes, I cannot wait to get further into investigating their learning. In fact I'm probably too excited in terms of narrowing down my inquiry focus. On one hand, I have an amazing opportunity to focus on reading. This year half of my class are 'stuck' at an 8-9 year old reading level. I also have one group slightly lower and one group who are at. I have spent the last four and a half years focussed on reading, with particular focus on this level. This could be an amazing year to get shift and work with this level on a larger scale. But after spending so long focussed on this, would it truly be an inquiry, or more putting my past inquiries into practice on a larger scale? On the other hand, my real passion started with maths. It was the topic of my dissertation and a subject I really enjoy teaching. I love planning for maths - I can clearly imagine learning pa

Kia ora, I'm Danni Stone! I'm a year 7/8 teacher at Pt England School.  For several years, my inquiry was focussed on reading. In  2019 , I was interested in generating more discussion about texts and used reciprocal reading, argumentation boards and debate as part of my intervention. In  2020  I looked at teaching my students to self-reflect in reading; to identify when they found something challenging and to stop and employ a strategy to support their understanding.  In 2021 I was an across schools teacher and combined my previous two inquiries, with further changes to my practice to shift my learners who were stuck around an 8 year old level. This was a highly successful intervention, but I left in term three to have my daughter, Ruby. I am now back as an across schools teacher in 2023 and really looking forward to the year ahead!  Please feel free to visit my  class site , to watch my lessons on  Class onAir  or check out my  MIT  inquiry.