Hypothesise and Research

“Framing your theories and beliefs as hunches (a feeling or guess based on intuition rather than fact) enables you to subject them to scrutiny (the careful and detailed examination of something to get information about it) ..." 

For this, I have to make a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tested to see if it might be true. 

Formulating a hypothesis (a tentative answer to a research question that has yet to be tested) in teaching as inquiry is essential for creating a structured, focused, and evidence-based approach to improving teaching practices and student learning outcomes. It promotes reflective practice, facilitates data-driven decision-making, and supports continuous professional development.

So, while a hypothesis might be "wrong" sometimes, the process of formulating and testing it is a valuable learning experience in inquiry-based teaching. It will equip me with essential thinking skills and a deeper understanding of my teaching as an inquiry. 

When investigating whether an emphasis on using precise vocabulary (such as adjectives, nouns, and verbs) at the draft stage leads to improved writing proficiency, several hypotheses can be formulated:

1. Impact on Overall Writing Proficiency:

• Hypothesis 1: Students who emphasize precise spelling/ vocabulary in the drafting stage will demonstrate significantly higher overall writing proficiency scores compared to those who do not.

2. Specific Vocabulary Use:

• Hypothesis 2: Emphasizing precise adjectives, nouns, and verbs in the drafting stage will lead to more varied and sophisticated word choices in students' final drafts.

3. Clarity and Coherence:

• Hypothesis 3: Focusing on precise vocabulary during drafting will result in clearer and more coherent writing, as measured by teacher assessments or rubrics.

4. Grammar and Syntax:

• Hypothesis 4: Students who concentrate on precise vocabulary in their drafts will produce fewer grammatical and syntactical errors in their final writing.

5. Engagement and Interest:

• Hypothesis 5: Emphasizing the use of precise vocabulary in the draft stage will increase students' engagement and interest in the writing process, as indicated by self-reports or surveys.

6. Revision Quality:

• Hypothesis 6: Students who focus on precise vocabulary during drafting will make more effective and meaningful revisions in subsequent drafts compared to those who do not emphasize vocabulary precision.

7. Audience Awareness:

• Hypothesis 7: Emphasizing precise vocabulary in drafting will enhance students' ability to write for different audiences, as evidenced by improved scores on audience awareness in writing assessments.

8. Writing Fluency:

• Hypothesis 8: The emphasis on precise vocabulary at the draft stage will lead to greater writing fluency, as measured by the quantity and quality of words produced in a given time frame.

9. Peer Feedback:

• Hypothesis 9: Drafts that emphasize precise vocabulary will receive more positive peer feedback in terms of clarity, engagement, and readability.

10. Teacher Perceptions:

• Hypothesis 10: Teachers will perceive an improvement in the overall quality of student writing when precise vocabulary is emphasized during the drafting stage. (OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT)

These hypotheses can guide the research and inquiry process, helping to determine whether focusing on precise vocabulary in the drafting stage has a measurable impact on various aspects of writing proficiency.

My Year 3 and 4 learners are classified as COVID-19 learners. They have missed a lot of learning since most of them missed school or did not attend any online lessons at all. Most of them have this huge gap in their overall learning and writing is been one of them.

By focusing on the hypothesis listed above, I came up with three hunches from what I have learnt so far about my students and their learning environment:

1. If I encourage my students to learn spelling words, then they will feel confident while writing.

• I am teaching them how to form correct letters

• I have also set up a word wall and I am going to continue working on it.

• I have also got an individual Spelling Book and a Handwriting Book.

2. If I teach my students how to sound out words, then they will be motivated to spell. 

• I am also teaching them how to sound each letter/ Jolly Phonics.

• This is because most of my learners are scared of taking risks such as sounding out words and giving a go at writing. When I noticed this, I brought it up with the management and they have asked me to take on The Code programme with RTLit so I can teach learners the alphabet and letter sounds. I am also going to start Heggerty programme from Term 3 as well.

• Using The Code Book, I have made a poster for the Heart Words. 

3. If I focus on teaching the nouns, verbs and adjectives, then the students will start using them in their writing.

• With lots of encouragement and motivation, I am still in the process of getting my learners to produce a structured piece of writing with lots of detail.

• I also have to aim at achieving,  Year 3 and 4 level or Curriculum 2 standard writing.

• While I am doing that I have also introduced and taught my learners what are nouns, verbs and adjectives. There needs to be constant revision with lots of various activities so that my learners can remember the difference between nouns, verbs and adjectives and how they can use them in their writing to make it sound more interesting.

Reference:

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (July 11, 2024 version) [Large language model]. Retrieved from OpenAI platform.

Teaching "The Code" Feedback

Mrs Walsh from RTLit has been the main support person apart from Ms Pavarno regarding teaching me how to implement ‘The Code’ to my learners, during Mid-Term 1. Since then I have been working collaboratively with them. 

Mid of Term 2, Mrs Walsh came and observed one of my lessons and provided me with feedback attached below.

After the observation, I was introduced to teaching Heggerty to my learners in Term 2.

CREATE Workshop

On the 31st of May, Manaiakalani organised a CREATE workshop for our cluster. 

Purpose: Over the past five years, our Cluster Create Staff Meetings have championed opportunities for teachers to Create in all its forms. This year's focus was on how Digital Technologies Empower Creativity.

Manaiakalani’s Pedagogy focuses on: 

• Learn/ Ako

• Create/ Hanga

• Share/ Tohatoha

With another colleague, Ms. Naicker, from school, we focused on Freehand Drawing with Digital Guides. We looked at utilising Kleki and Polyline to enhance our teaching, learning and sharing. 

Below are the presentation slides we shared with our Manaiakalani cluster (teachers and teacher aides).

Consent Forms and First Survey

I gave out Consent Forms to all the participants and I am glad I received all the forms back successfully within a week. It indicated that parents were happy to see their children being closely monitored and assisted in school for their writing.

Once I received all the consent forms, I created a short survey. Then I got my 8 learners to participate in the survey so I could gather some information before delving deeper into my inquiry. The responses are shown below:

From the responses, I have learned that: 

• I need to teach learners about verbs, adjectives and nouns. 

• The learners learn and utilise verbs, adjectives and nouns in their writing.

Interventions

While going through my Planned interventions for Term 1, I realised that I needed to create a consent form for the parents to permit me to use their child’s writing for this inquiry. So I created a Consent Form to be signed by the learner’s parents/ guardians, whom I have selected before I can go ahead with this inquiry.

So far, I have accomplished these interventions: 

• Met/ collaborated with my SLT ie. our school principal to assist me in regards to my inquiry research question. 

• Met/ collaborated with my SLT, especially with our school deputy principal to better/ improve my writing planning site.

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

• Collecting baseline data. Term 1, 2024 assessments are over and I have successfully analysed the marks after our cluster writing moderation. For my inquiry, I have chosen 8 learners whose progress I will monitor this academic year.

Priority Student Baseline Data - Term 1, 2024

	2023 EoY	Term 1, 2024
Learners		Ideas	Structure	Organisation	Vocabulary	Sentence Structure	Punctuation	Spelling	Writing Level
Jon	1A	2	2	2	3	2	2	3	1P
Gra	1P	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	!P
Sot	1A	2	2	2	2	3	2	3	!P
Gab	1B	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	1B
Edi	1A	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	1A
Ala	1P	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	1B
Jan	2B	3	2	3	3	2	3	3	2B
Ali	1P	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	1P

• Investigate the Easttle Attitude questions and the answers (collect the learners' responses).

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

• Discuss with last year/ previous teachers regarding the learners' writing in class. Last year’s teacher left so I reached out to Ms Webster (the previous year's teacher).

• I collected samples from their term 1, e-asttle writing test.

 

• I ordered various National Library books to expose my learners and other learners in our school to a variety of texts. This will enrich 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 producing their writing. This is because, in our Kura, there is a weekly writing display in the foyer of the best piece of writing from 2 of the classes. 

• Continue Group writing sessions.

I am still working on these interventions: 

• National Library Week (April 23, 2024 - April 29, 2024).

• Ms Naicker and I have planned to organise a Library Week celebration at our school. Further discussion is needed with the admin team.

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

• Continue Group writing sessions. Over here I will delve deeper into introducing my learners to verbs, nouns and adjectives.