My Reflections on my Inquiry - Phase 5 Monitoring and evaluating Impact - Part 2

As I had focused on vocabulary for the purpose of my inquiry, I needed to monitor if vocabulary of my students had improved. I did this through Kids Vocabprofile, a tool that can help assess vocabulary knowledge. The analyses of writing shows that students have learnt lots of new words and can use these in their writing in a meaningful way. There is a clear indication that student's vocabulary bank has increased.

Analysis of vocabulary using vocabprofile

Student Name :  D

Target student 1 - Time 1

8 topic specific words used.

Target student 1, Time 2

28 topic related words used.

Target student 1, Time 3

74 topic related words used

_______________________________________

Student Name: O

Target student 2 

Time 1

The solar system has planets. Mars is the hottest planet.

2 words

Time 2

The sun lies at the centre of the solar system where it is by far the largest object.
It holds 99.8 of the mass of the solar system. The sun and it’s atmosphere are divided into
several layers. The sun’s light is made out of rainbow colours.

17 words

Time 3

Earth is the third planet in the Solar System. It is the most unique planet out of all the
other planets.People can live on Earth and there is water and oxygen that can grow plants.
It is called the goldilocks planet and is the perfect planet for human beings to survive.
Earth has one moon. There are lots of other heavenly bodies in the solar system like
the moons and shooting stars. There are some planets that are not discovered.
We cannot live on other planets because there is no oxygen and no water. Other planets
are too cold or too hot.

18 words

Student Name: X

Target Student 3

Time 1

What do you know about the solar system.

Solar system is a clelltion ( collection) of planets and smaller objects all travelling around the
senstrel ( central) star the sun. it is big and heavy that it’s gravity pulls the whole solar system
to orbit around the sun. Solar means something to do with the sun. the solar system is colletion
of 8 planets more than hundred moons.

11 words

Time 2

Space is everywhere. In space it is pitch black alos space has millions of galaxy in spaces too.
Space has no oxygen so that’s why astronauts wear space suits and helmets with an oxygen tank.
Space never ends so it is infinite. Scientists are unaware of the possibilities in space.

15 words

Time 3

Topic - Caring for Planet Earth

Earth was created when a solar nebula explosion happened wich created the sun that also
created all the other planets and Earth. Earth is a goldilocks planet because it is neither too
hot nor too cold. It has the right temperature because it has two elements oxygen and water to survive.
Animals also other creatures are dying because people are cutting down trees, littering hunting
down animals because sometimes the rubbish goes on animals. Then they die, like seas turtles,
cows, bulls, penguins shark fish. Killer whales alos whales mostly sharks because they eat whatever
they can find. also some animals lives in trees. That’s how animal lives get harder for them.
But we still need wood to make things so always after cutting down trees plant a new one.
Nether litter and don’t hunt.

19 words

Student Name: J

Target student 4

Time 1

A solar system have 8 planets. Earth is unique because we have oxygen.

2 words

Time 2

Our Solar system has 8 planets and 1 sun and lots of moons. There are other heavenly bodies
known as shooting stars and meteors. There is a possibility of different planets and galaxies
beyond the milky way galaxy. There could be aliens and mermaids and other species that we
are unaware of.

Earth is the most suitable planet to live in. We cannot live in other planets because are too
cold or too hot. Some planets have no oxygen and no water. We cannot live on gaseous planets
because they would blow us up. Other planets have no seasons and have too long days and too
long nights. So Earth is the only planet you can live on.

13 words

Time 3

Our Solar system has eight planets and one sun and lots of moons. There are other heavenly bodies
known as shooting stars and meteors. There is a possibility of different planets and galaxies
beyond the milky way galaxy. There could be aliens and mermaids and other species that
we are unaware of. Earth is the most suitable planet to live in. We cannot live in other planets
because other planets are too cold or too hot. Some planets have no oxygen or no water.
We cannot live on gaseous planets because it would blow us up. Other planets have no seasons
and have days and nights that are too long. So Earth is the only planet you can live on.
Earth has one moon and the right temperature for life to survive. It has a number of species
and this is what makes it a beautiful planet.

24 words

Sharing my Inquiry at Staff Meeting

This week I did a staff meeting on my inquiry. My Inquiry is about writing and how I have focussed on vocabulary to raise the writing levels of my students. The feedback that I got from the inquiry was very positive. Here is the presentation that I shared with the staff.



The highlights were -

• How can I set my students for success every time.
• Why vocabulary is so important for children to learn.
• How can I design rich tasks for students to recycle new vocabulary.
• How I track my students progress. 

Developing subject related vocabulary

At our CoLs meeting it was reiterated several times by Jannie, Anne and Aaron that 

We teachers are very good at extracting and asking students what they know about a topic, but do we also give enough so children can produce cutting edge information? One of our jobs is also to lift and feed students with information so we can make them cognitive thinkers who can talk about their learning.

I took this idea back to my class. This Term the topic of our study is space.

The most urgent need for my students was to stretch their language and this would require effortful, purposeful and engaging tasks.

I used a you tube video that not only had lots of information but challenging, purposeful language that would extend my student's vocabulary. We watched the video in parts and had a lot of discussion around new words and phrases. 

My students struggled to form complete sentences when they tried to use the new words to deliver information verbally. We practiced and finally we were able to frame good sentences.

I also used a transcript of the video as a reading text. 

Reflection

Students need to listen, speak read and write the new words a number of times before they can begin to use them in their spoken and written language. This requires very thoughtful planning, firstly to resource students and designing tasks that will provide an opportunity to use their new knowledge and vocabulary in different contexts.

Here are a few examples of writing produced by some of the students.

The sun is the biggest object in the solar system.It has
a massive magnetic field and extensive gravitational pull
which holds the Earth and the other planets to make our
solar system.It is many times wider than

Earth and the sun is the star that

is many times closer to us.The sun

can fit more than 1,0000 planets

in the sun.The sun is a burning ball

of gas mostly hydrogen and helium.

If the sun wasn’t here there would be

no light no heat, plants would not grow and the days would grow colder.

By Dyzon

The Sun is the biggest object in the Solar System.

It has a massive field and extensive Gravitational Pull which holds the Earth and the other Planets to make the  Solar Systems.

It is many times wider than Earth and the Sun is the star many time closer to us.

The Sun can fit more Then 100,00 Planet’s in the sun is a Burning ball of gas.

By - Fine