First Survey

In Mid Term 1, which was Week 5 of Term 1, I was given eight low learners from the Year 5 class. This was unexpected, but it took me about two weeks for those learners to become familiar with my class routines and daily programme. Initially, I was told that the learners would only be in my class for a few weeks. However, by the end of Term 1, it was confirmed that the eight Year 5 learners would remain with me until the end of the academic year.
This change had a significant impact on my teaching and planning, as I had originally prepared lessons and activities specifically for Year 4 learners. The addition of Year 5 students meant I had to adjust my teaching strategies and lesson plans to cater to both year levels. It also prompted me to rethink and reshuffle my participants for my survey.
As a result, I selected four learners from Year 4 and four learners from Year 5. I successfully developed ten questions for my eight participants to answer. 

Below is the slideshow of the questionnaire.

Followed by the learners' responses.

From the responses, I have learned that:

Print, Peers, and Picture Panels: 3 Surprising Truths About Today's Young Readers

If you think the modern young learner is glued to a screen, has forgotten what a library is, and uses Google for everything, you might want to think again. A recent survey of 8 learners from Term 1, 2025, has given us a fascinating glimpse into their real-life reading habits, and the results challenge some of our biggest assumptions.

Let's dive into what these young readers had to say.

📚 Surprise #1: Print is Still Powerful

In an age of tablets and e-readers, we often assume physical books are gathering dust. According to this survey, that's far from the truth.

• No Preference for Devices: When asked if they prefer reading on a device or a physical book, an incredible 0% of learners chose "Device" exclusively.

• A Love for the Tangible: The group was split evenly, with 50% preferring physical books/paper and the other 50% enjoying both formats.

• Weekly Habit: This preference translates into action. The majority of learners—6 out of 8 (75%)—read a physical book by themselves "a few times a week".

The Takeaway: The allure of turning a physical page is still very much alive. Classroom and home libraries are as important as ever.

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💬 Surprise #2: Reading is More Social Than You Think

When a reader gets stuck, what do they do? You might assume they ask a teacher or look up a word online. For this group, the answer is much more social.

• Friends Are the First Responders: When reading something difficult, a staggering 75% of learners said the most helpful thing is "My friends' help". This was far more popular than help from a teacher (12.5%).

• Skipping the Search Engine: When faced with a tricky word, not a single student reported using a device like Google or a dictionary app. Their most common strategy is trying to work it out themselves (62.5%), followed by asking a friend (37.5%).

The Takeaway: Peer learning is a powerful force. Reading isn't just a solitary activity; it's a collaborative one. Encouraging book clubs or paired reading could tap into this natural tendency to learn together.

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💥 Surprise #3: Comics Aren't Just Fun—They're a Gateway

Wondering what to give a young reader to spark their interest? The answer from this survey is loud and clear: comics.

• Comics for the Win: The most popular type of reading material by a landslide was "Comics," chosen by 5 out of 8 learners (62.5%).

• Fiction Over Facts: Stories, adventures, and poems also got some love. However, "Information or facts" received zero votes, suggesting narrative and visual storytelling are key entry points for this group.

The Takeaway: Graphic novels and comics are not a lesser form of reading; they are a preferred and valid format. They can be a fantastic tool to build reading confidence and fluency.

What Does This All Mean?

These learners paint a picture of a thoughtful, social, and print-oriented reader. They are a group that:

• Values the feel of a real book.

• Leans on their friends for support.

• Feels only moderately confident in their skills (half the group described themselves as "sometimes confident").

• Understands the value of improvement, with a majority (62.5%) believing that learning new skills will help them become more independent readers.

So, the next time you want to encourage a young reader, the data suggests you can't go wrong by handing them a great comic and encouraging them to share it with a friend.

Interventions

 So far, I have accomplished these interventions: 

• Met/ collaborated with my SLT, i.e, our school principal, to assist me regarding my inquiry research question. 

• Met/ collaborated with Ms Naicker (colleague and CoL teacher) regarding my inquiry question and discussed the insights. 

• In Week 5 of the first Term, I was given 8 lower Year 5 learners, so my class became a composite class of Year 4/ 5. This disrupted my teaching and learning as I had to restructure my planning, teaching, seating arrangements and a whole lot of other things. 

• Collecting baseline data. Term 1, 2025, assessments are over, and I have successfully analysed the results. For my inquiry, I have chosen 8 learners, 4 from Year 4 and 4 from Year 5, whose progress I will monitor this academic year.

• Created a Google Questionnaire Form to understand and know my learners better.

• I ordered various National Library books to expose my learners and other learners in our school to a variety of texts, mainly our term-related school-wide inquiry or topic-related books. This will enrich and enhance their learning experience, support their cognitive and emotional development, and lay the foundation for a lifelong appreciation of literature and learning.

• Continue to encourage students to do well in their reading. 

• Continued Group reading sessions. 

• Enrolled/registered my class learners to some wonderful reading sites such as Read Along, Read Theory and Epic.

• Also collaborated with one of our schools' Reading Recovery teachers, who took a few learners out of class to assist with reading.

I am still working on these interventions: 

• Working with our SLT to get a few of my learners to join the Lexia programme. 

• Record my reading lesson to observe my learners and myself.

• Continue seeing my 4 reading groups at least 2-3 times a week.

Inquiry 2025 - Planning for an Effective Teacher Inquiry with my Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

Kia Ora, Talofa Lava,  Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Fakaalofa Lahi Atu, Bula Vinaka and  Namaste

Welcome to my Professional Blog!

I am a year 4 & 5 teacher at Glen Innes School, and this year I am again fortunate to embark on a year-long journey with the Manaiakalani Kahui Ako cluster as a Community of Learning within school teacher at my school.

This is purely inquiry-based learning, so any refreshing ideas (feedback/ feedforward) via comments are welcome. They will enable me to become a better within-school educator.

Inquiry 2025 - Planning for an Effective Teacher Inquiry with my Senior Leadership Team (SLT) 

Reconnaissance - Student Inquiry Foci

1. Collaborate with your school’s leadership team and colleagues to identify areas where your inquiry will make a powerful contribution to wider school and cluster goals.

2. From what you know already about your classes and your school’s profile and leadership goals for the year, share a possible inquiry focus.

3. Frame your focus as a desired change in student learning, NOT a change in teaching (as yet!)

My Inquiry Focus for CoL 2025:

I have chosen The Achievement Challenge 3 as an area of focus:

Lift the Achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Maori students (both genders), years 1-13. 

My inquiry focus question is: 

Will exposing Year 4–5 learners to diverse texts and explicit instruction foster reading independence and reduce reliance on devices or peers for support?

I am focusing on this inquiry question because, for all of my learners, English is their second language. They are scared to take risks. They need lots of practice, motivation, vocabulary, and spelling words to use in their writing and build self-confidence to produce a good piece of writing. 

For all the above to happen successfully, I have done the whole class profiling and selected 8 mixed learners to investigate and see what I can do differently to assist them and bring about successful change regarding my inquiry topic. Profiling is the activity of collecting information about someone. In this case are the learners. This inquiry will investigate the nature of the student’s strengths and gaps in their valued learning outcomes in detail. 

Profiling can be done in so many different ways. According to OpenAI, 2025, profiling in reading can be done by: 

To effectively profile students in relation to whether exposing Year 4–5 learners to diverse texts and explicit teaching promotes reading independence, I will gather data on their current reading habits, abilities, and reliance on support. Here's how profiling can be done:

1. Diagnostic Assessments

• Reading Level Tests: Identify each student’s reading level (e.g., using PM Benchmarks).

• Running Records: Analyse fluency, decoding strategies, and error patterns.

• Comprehension Checks: Use written or verbal questions to assess literal and inferential understanding.

2. Observations

• Classroom Behaviour: Track how often students ask for help, use devices, or seek peer support during reading tasks.

• Group Work: Note levels of independence in small literacy groups or during silent reading.

• Engagement: Monitor which types of texts capture students’ interest and encourage persistence.

3. Student Surveys or Interviews

• Ask questions like:
  
  

• “What do you do when you don’t understand a word?”
  
  

• “Do you prefer reading with a partner or alone?”
  
  

• “How often do you use a device to help you read?”

4. Teacher Anecdotal Records

• During lessons or interventions, maintain notes on students’ reading progress, challenges, and independence over time.

5. Peer and Self-Assessment

• Provide checklists or rubrics that allow students to reflect on their reading strategies and independence.

6. Digital Usage Tracking (if applicable)

• Review logs or reports from reading apps to see how frequently and why students use devices (e.g., for definitions, read-aloud features, etc.).

This profiling helps establish a baseline to measure growth in reading independence and the effectiveness of introducing varied texts and explicit instruction.

To address my inquiry, I will also be incorporating the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA), which I just started the professional development on the 5th and 6th of May, 2025. 

According to OpenAI (2025), the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) is for early identification and ongoing monitoring of students' literacy development.

Here's how BSLA supports profiling:

✅ 1. Structured Assessment Tools

BSLA includes initial and ongoing assessments that profile key early literacy skills, such as:

• Phonological awareness

• Letter-sound knowledge

• Oral language and vocabulary

• Word reading and spelling
  These provide detailed diagnostic information on each learner’s strengths and needs.

✅ 2. Individual Learner Profiles

BSLA helps create individual learning profiles based on data collected during assessments. This shows where students are on their literacy journey and what support they might need to become more independent readers.

✅ 3. Progress Monitoring

BSLA encourages regular, short assessments (e.g. every 6–10 weeks) to monitor progress over time. This ongoing data is crucial for:

• Tracking improvements in decoding and comprehension

• Identifying reduced reliance on external support (devices/peers)

✅ 4. Data-Informed Grouping

You can use BSLA data to form literacy groups and plan targeted explicit teaching based on learner profiles—helpful for testing your research question in group contexts.

✅ 5. Supports Intervention Decisions

Profiling through BSLA also helps in identifying students who need additional support or extension, aligning well with your focus on promoting reading independence.

In Summary:

BSLA is a robust tool for profiling in your context. It not only helps assess where students are at the start but also tracks the impact of your teaching approach on their independent reading skills, providing both qualitative and quantitative insights.

To address the above, I have planned a series of interventions.

My Planned Interventions for Term 1:

• Create a Google Questionnaire Form to understand and know my learners better.

• Discuss with last year's/ previous teachers regarding the learners' reading in class.

• Collecting baseline data - from Term 1, 2025.

• Collecting reading data from their e-asttle and Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs)

• Meet/ discussion with the principal and senior lead teachers.

• Met/ discussion with Ms. Naicker (CoL) teacher.

• Ordered various National Library books to expose my learners to a variety of texts

• Record my reading lesson(s) to observe my learners and myself.

• Collaborate with my SLT to assist me to better/improve my reading planning site.

• Group reading sessions.,

• Encourage students to write book reviews at least once a week.

Thorough planning, including exposing my learners to a variety of texts, encouraging discussions, addressing their questions, and prompting them to engage in literal, inferential, and evaluative questioning, will significantly assist them. Additionally, this approach will foster greater reading independence, reducing their reliance on devices or peers for decoding and comprehension.

Reference:

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [3.5]. https://openai.com/chatgpt