PROJECT REPORT
St Thomas’s School, Mareeba
Australian Government Quality Teaching Project, 2012
Improve Our Comprehension
Background of the Project:
Reading comprehension was identified as an area for improvement, based on results from NAPLAN testing in 2010 and 2011, and was listed as a focus in St Thomas’s Curriculum and NAPLAN goals. During 2010 and 2011, St Thomas’s Curriculum Coordinator provided PD for teachers based on the 6 Step Teaching Process, and Question and Answer Relationships (“QAR Now” Taffy Raphael, Kathy Highfield and Kathryn Au 2006). Teaching staff was also provided with First Steps Reading PD in 2011. These PD sessions were seen as important steps towards improving pedagogy for the teaching of reading comprehension in classrooms at St Thomas’s. The Australian Government Teaching Project was targeted to continue PD for teachers in this same vein, in 2012.
Goal of the Project:
· To improve the quality of the teaching of comprehension strategies across the school (Prep – Year 7)
Initial Outline of the Project:
Initially, the aims of the project were to:
· Review the PD that had been delivered to staff in 2010 and 2011
· Link this PD with planning, (In particular the CES Australian Curriculum English planning template)
· Provide teachers with PD on current best practice for the teaching of reading comprehension
· Provide teachers with an understanding of the range of comprehension strategies they should be teaching
· Provide a range of practical ideas for delivering these strategies in the classroom.
Improving comprehension in Mathematics (e.g. Being able to read a multi-step problem and determine what is being asked) was also an initial aim of the project, and PD focused on the use of the FISH problem-solving kit was included in the initial plan. This element of the project was not carried out due to time commitments. It is recommended that this PD should be delivered to teachers in 2013.
Initial Survey Results (15/3/12):
All teaching staff completed an online survey in March 2012. Teachers were asked how confident they were with planning for the teaching of comprehension strategies using the 6 Step Teaching Process. 14 of the 17 teachers who completed the survey, said they found this very easy or easy with support, and 3 teachers said they found this difficult, but that they were having some success.
Teachers were also asked how they felt about teaching comprehension strategies within a differentiated classroom. 7 of the 17 teachers who completed the survey, said that they found this very difficult, or difficult but were having some success.
Teachers were also asked to indicate what support (PD and/or resources) they thought might improve their teaching of comprehension strategies. Some teachers indicated that they would like to watch other teachers working with students in their classrooms.
“Modelling how to teach some strategies to students OR more suggestions on learning activities for teaching comprehension strategies”
“release time to watch other teachers”
“peer modelling/observing another teacher at work would be beneficial”.
The information collected from teachers in this initial survey was used to develop the program for the project.
Delivery of the Project:
The project was broken into two parts:
· Part One: PD for Teachers
· Part Two: Peer Mentoring
Part One: PD for Teachers
The Curriculum Support teacher along with one other classroom teacher, attended a full day workshop in Cairns. This workshop, presented by Dr Alison Davis, focused on “The Explicit Teaching of Reading Comprehension Strategies using a Metacognitive Approach”. PD sessions based on this workshop were developed and presented to staff at staff meetings during term 2 and 3. The focus of these sessions was to provide teachers with an understanding of the theory of explicitly teaching comprehension using a metacognitive approach, how this links with the 6 Step Teaching Process and the CES English planning format, the range of strategies teachers should be teaching, student engagement and goal setting, and ideas for the delivery of strategies.
Part Two: Peer Mentoring
This section of the project was developed from the feedback provided by teachers in the initial survey, and took place at the beginning of Term 4. Every teacher was paired with another teacher from a different year level. Teachers were given a task based on what they had learnt in PD sessions. The task was to select a comprehension strategy, and to use the 2nd step of the 6 Step Teaching Process (Modelling), to teach a 20 minute lesson including the “Think Aloud” process. Each teacher was given the opportunity to teach, and to observe their partner teacher. Observing teachers were asked to provide feedback using the two stars and a wish format. Teachers were provided with 30 minutes time release when observing.
Final Survey Results (25/10/12):
100% of teachers at St Thomas’s who completed the survey (18), said they now feel confident or very confident about explicitly teaching comprehension strategies in their classroom using the 6 step teaching process.
100% of teachers at St Thomas’s who completed the survey (18), said they now feel very confident or confident that they know which comprehension strategies they should be teaching.
When asked if teachers had any comments (positive or negative) about the professional development and/or peer mentoring that was part of the AGQTP the responses were generally very positive.
Some comments were:
“Peer mentoring was a positive approach in that I was able to physically see how comprehension was approached in an upper primary school classroom. Think Aloud approach was well presented and I was also able to take away some important tips on how to better include this in my teaching.”
“Wonderful PD, explicit, simple and to the point. A variety of resources to cater for a variety of teaching styles. Well worth taking part in.”
“It was a very valuable experience to be able to observe a co-worker teach and also to reflect on teaching strategies which support children in developing comprehension skills.”
“Peer mentoring: a good opportunity to visit another class; put us in a position where we had to reflect on our own teaching & planning knowing someone was going to closely scrutinise; Felt a little uncomfortable doing the wish (2stars and a wish)”
“It was good - other teacher's were very supportive & helped make it valuable.”
“The peer mentoring project was a great idea. I really enjoyed participating and received some very encouraging feedback. I was also able to gather a few new teaching ideas about teaching comprehension.”
“I thought that the peer mentoring part of the AGQTP was excellent, however I think that it should have been done at a different time of the year (and not so close to report cards being due).”
“It was good to visit another classroom and seeing another year level teaching the strategies. Not sure if I got more of an insight into the reading strategies though.”
“It was a wonderful opportunity - worthwhile, practical, non-threatening, relationship building, provided an opportunity for reflection. It was also presented in a manner that made classroom implementation easy.”
“Beneficial. Good to go into someone else's class for a change.”
“I loved the peer mentoring and would love to do it again.”
Summary of the Project and Recommendations:
Overall the project was very successful. The Peer Mentoring element of the project encouraged teachers to trial some of the theory that had been discussed during the PD sessions, in a practical way in the classroom. It also provided them with feedback from a ‘critical friend’, prompting them to reflect on their teaching practice.
The results of the final survey indicate that teachers feel more confident about teaching comprehension. Including the teacher’s suggestions from the initial survey in the project, worked well, as it gave the teachers a degree of ownership of the project.
On reflection, the Peer Mentoring element of the project may have been better if it could have been held a little earlier in the year to solve the issue of teachers feeling the pressure of completing the mentoring and also preparing for reports.
It is recommended that time is made during staff meetings in Term 4, to share feedback from the Peer Mentoring process, and results of the final survey with staff.
It is also advised that follow-up sessions including sharing of ideas for teaching comprehension strategies, sharing of resources etc… become a regular part of staff meetings during 2013. Further peer mentoring opportunities, follow up of the inclusion of the 6 Step Teaching Process in planning and further PD and professional sharing and discussion about student goal setting are recommended for 2013.