Day 5 RPI Planning a Reading Programme

Today I was able to have an update on Planning a Reading Programme. This like all the topics was very interesting and I was able to understand the reasoning behind the different ideas and theories explained in planning a reading programme for Science Lessons. 

Some critical thinking and discussions came out from the examples given in Rubrics to be learnt at an earlier age so that they know exactly what they need to get for an achieved merit and excellence grade. 

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 Having those conversations early about their writing and how they can improve. 

Sign posts to check on the way. Not a shock in term 4. Set up from the beginning of the year. Q A R - tool Question Answer Response On the line between the lines What is this question asking me?

Below are a few of the gems which I will implement into my lessons and also use as guidelines for planning.

 

Epic! is one of the apps that I was introduced to at the start of this RPI, I would like to use in my classes as well as Blooket which my Y11's are hooked into for their Microbes unit. Repetition of questions on the topic is a hook in and this is helping them to remember through practice and competing against their peers.

If my students could use this vocabulary as a basis to their reading progress and programme I think they would be able to make the connections to why we read 10mins at the start of every lesson. And the final tool which I will also try ane implement into mys science lessons is Q A R Question Answer Reflection           A lot to take in this week but if I can use it in my lessons for my tauira it will be worthwhile.

Ka nui te mihi kia Kiri te kaiako mo tenei rā and her team for the time and effort put in to teaching us.

Day 4 RPI Small Group Reading

Setting up a task board for Week 9 Using small groups to investigate texts. How often would I do this with my classes? Depends on how much time I have with each class and the difficulty of the text. Scenario - We all go to the library every week on Thrurday to issue out a book about our topic. One week it was on climate change, the other week it was what makes things bubble and recently we are looking at Matariki. Observing at first some students were taking out books related to the topic or word about the topic but had no idea how to decode the words in the book. This week because all the students have some prior knowledge about Matariki they are more than happy to read their books over and over without any reservations. Some things noted on the slide was SL/Words Spend longer on preparation if it is a new topic and students have not much knowledge on the topic. Vocabulary teach new words, repetitively but in a variety of ways Why we are learning this is a good reminder. Pick up some vocabulary Watch video and then write out-use different mediums for structured reading. At the end of the day, each class has different levels of reading and understanding so we need to cater to the needs of our learners/readers individually, paired up, groups and the whole class. Thanks Kiri for the Catch up on Sesson 4. He pai te iti ki te kore. It is a reminder to value any progress, no matter how small, as it is always a step forward from zero. Ngā mihi Setting up a task board for Week 9 Using small groups to investigate texts. How often would I do this with my classes? Depends on how much time I have with each class and the difficulty of the text. Scenario - We all go to the library every week on Thrurday to issue out a book about our topic. One week it was on climate change, the other week it was what makes things bubble and recently we are looking at Matariki. Observing at first some students were taking out books related to the topic or word about the topic but had no idea how to decode the words in the book. This week because all the students have some prior knowledge about Matariki they are more than happy to read their books over and over without any reservations. Some things noted on the slide was SL/Words Spend longer on preparation if it is a new topic and students have not much knowledge on the topic. Vocabulary teach new words, repetitively but in a variety of ways Why we are learning this is a good reminder. Pick up some vocabulary Watch video and then write out-use different mediums for structured reading. At the end of the day, each class has different levels of reading and understanding so we need to cater to the needs of our learners/readers individually, paired up, groups and the whole class. Thanks Kiri for the Catch up on Sesson 4. He pai te iti ki te kore. It is a reminder to value any progress, no matter how small, as it is always a step forward from zero. Ngā mihi

Day 3 - Reading Practice Intensive

What? (The Concrete Experience) This Week s Blog I am reflecting on what I learnt about reading groups identified from their reading age level, interests and age. There were a number of ideas that go with text and critical thinking. I also learnt that there is a vast amount of resources available for implementing into Reading Programmes. We also heard that it is important to have a teacher to help readers who need extra help rather than having reading apps available. Summarizing a text through script and what students actually thought when reading over text. These are some of the gems I will take back with me to school. So What? (The Significance) Why is all this important for my learners? If I look back to the beginning of this Course and the results from my students it was an eye opener so if we continue to do the same things over and over how do we expect any change? Through Manaaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive course it enables me to learn the tools that can be implemented in to Science Lessons and Classes not just with the class I am supposed to be working with but with as many classes as I can. Just recently we had a ToD where our science Departmet looked at the Science Thinking with Evidence Results and analysed which areas of Nature of Science was High, Middle and Low. If we could work on where students strengths were then they would improve and for those who are at a benchmark different texts, skills, ideas, resources could be implemented now. It is great to have supportive staff who also agree that we need to improve the literacy and numeracy in our curriculum area. Now What? (The Action Plan) The three things I will implement into my classes this week are More shared Reading from different sources Text, Visual, Audio Analysing the text and Summarizing Thank you Presenters Ngā mihi

Day 2 Reflections on RPI - Know Your Learners

Today's theme for this week was Know your learners as Readers. At the start as always it was great to see our enthusiastic presenters doing their mahi in their positive and experienced way. Being able to revisit our homework through our readers profile survey was a good start and quite doable until we were taught what their reading comprehension assessment results could possibly mean. That was quite a hurdle to jump over as there was quite a bit of English jargon that I needed to get my head around and somewhat out of my learning space. Thus we perservered and managed to upload names onto the teacher workbook with the 10+ columns of evidence required for each student. Thankfully for some reason all my students were not showing on the individual report where I discovered Local Inferencing, Interpret and Integrate were my PAT Reading next steps. What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Reading Programme ? There is a lot of technical jargon that is used for assessing and reporting back to shools and parents however Manaaikalani tries to break this down in some way through examples of challenging activities that I think works well in Primary Schools and is being utilised in Colleges. I am needing to adjust planning to fit these activites in. What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching reading? Continue to engage with my students through the Nature of Science which are Communicating Understanding Investigating Participation and Contribution. What did I learn that could be used with my learners? There were some good insights about the whale and sharks task board which could be implemented into Seaweek which is this week. How to write up weekly taskboards with Learning Intentions, WALT, WALHT, Learning Objectives. What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? The Library is a very useful facility for our community, colleagues, whanau/aiga to visit and learn from. Connecting classes to using the library more often to take out books or to even use the search up a book title author on our OC portal page is quite effective for all to use. Thanks Presenters Ngā mihi

Profile Survey Reflection

First and foremost students were able to fill out the survey about themselves ✔ 14 completed survey 25/2 10 completed today 4/3 Email 24/24 First Name 24/24 Last Name 24/24 Otaki College 15/24 Year Level 24/24 Then after receiving feedback from the survey here is a short summary. PART ONE: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT READING? Q1 4/24 likes reading at school Q2 3/24 ss like reading books digi or non digital Q3 2/24 ss like reading other digital texts in own time Q4 5/24 students are enjoying a book for enjoyment Q5 7/24 students thought reading texts in their own time helped them Q6 6/24 ss have never borrowed a book from a library Q7 7/24 ss had no texts they liked to read in their own time Q8 6/24 could not list 1 favourite book Q9a 6/24 students have never had a teacher suggest further reading Q9b 6/24 students did not do further reading Q9c 12/24 could not give an example Q10 16/24 had no for their response PART TWO: HOW SKILLED ARE YOU AT READING? Q11 8/24 ss are good at reading Q12 5/24 teachers think they are good readers Q13 13/24 family whanau thinks they are good at readin Q14 Q15 When it comes to reading I want to get better at… Life skills and success: Being a good reader is important for being successful in the future and helps with almost everything in life, including having patience and learning many things. Employment: Reading skills are necessary for a good job, as reading is required for most jobs and older people with good jobs often read a lot. Understanding and knowledge: It is important to be able to read and understand information, become smart, and learn. Practical application: Reading helps with school, spelling, and passing tests, and allows people to read things that are important or needed. Q16 5/24 did not know why it is important to be a good reader Q17 2/24 did not know what to get better at in reading Overall the reading profile was very helpful to attain these results as a benchmark for this class. As I had said earlier that it would be great to take the students to the library, I needed to taihoa on that as there are a few management gems to getting to know my students before they go into the peaceful and quiet learning environment. One must persevere and search for topics in science that will engage these learners to read! Like today no one was interested in Seaweek the Ocean or the sea creatures. We discovered all students were interested in Food. And engaged in something they were all familiar in so we played kahoot 75% accuracy Food and Nutrients 55%. It is a start!

Reading Intensive Practice

 Friday February 13 2026

Today was the first session of our Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive

• What did I learn that increased my understanding of an effective reading programme ? There were various topics which involved: Connecting with each other,  What  characterises a good reader? Teachers as Readers  Across the Curriculum  Grow good Readers Research and bringing that all together before the end. Talk about Intense! There is a lot to take in about what makes a good reader and how to follow the process and criteria of using the pedagogy and research that will enable me to teach good reading skills to my students in my classes. 

   

• What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching reading? I could possibly visit the library more with my students once the reading survey has been completed and we can identify a possible list of topics that could be related to their interests.

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  The first thing I could do is to get my students to do the reading survey. The next most likely task set would be to gather the data and information about what my students enjoy or don't enjoy about reading.                                                                                                         

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• What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? Read for knowledge Read for Understanding! Read for Leisure! Read for Life! Thank you Kiri, Gorgie and Amie.

*Please add images / slides to make your blog more interesting.  

Energize Ōtaki

 Today we had the privilege for Leigh Ramsay to come to ŌC from Energize Ōtaki to speak with some groups of students so that they could listen to the expert and ask some questions.

Energize Otaki