My Spark Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) 2016

Today was the first professional learning group of the Spark MIT cohort, and gave us an opportunity to share and critique our inquiry problems and the evidence we have collected which highlights the existence of our problems.  This was a great opportunity to think more deeply about the problem through collaborative discussions and ensure we are clear before we begin the Spark MIT inquiry process.  

The Problem Identified:

• During a writing session, some learners struggle to produce even one sentence.

One of the things I did today was to brainstorm some hypotheses as to why this problem may occur in my class, as well as documenting the evidence that I have so far examined.

Hypothesis of Potential Reasons:

• Writers who are reluctant and not motivated to write
• Reluctant writers are therefore not practicing writing in order to improve (writing mileage)
• Learners who don’t have an audience to write for

What Evidence Exists of the Problem:

• Learners’ e-Asttle writing results at the end of 2015 and early 2016
• Blogs with a history of writing completed to date for all learners who were at Pt England last year
• Observations of learners in my classroom
• Student voice – what my learners currently think about writing and who reads it

I've consolidated my Spark MIT inquiry question to:

Using an authentic audience to enhance the motivation and writing mileage for learners in my classroom.