CoL Teacher Inquiry: Vocabulary and Oral Narrative!

Wow! What a busy start to the term three! I can't believe it is already week six!! 

In this blog post I will discuss the progress of my inquiry which is guided by the following question: 

Will explicit teaching of vocabulary, phonological awareness and the alphabetic code lift the achievement of my tamariki in literacy?

Throughout this year, it has become increasingly evident that my students have made positive strides in word encoding and decoding through systematic and explicit instruction. However, they faced challenges in grasping meaning, including vocabulary, comprehension, and overall sense-making. As it is stated in my inquiry question, I have also been explicitly teaching vocabulary. I aim to achieve this goal through three methods: story mapping, vocabulary strips, and rich language experiences.

1. Story Mapping

I adopted the story mapping approach after attending a webinar by English educator Pie Corbett, part of the "Sounds-Write Symposium". A "story map" involves a squiggly line on a piece of paper guiding students to illustrate a sequence of pictures aiding their verbal recount of a familiar story. I've integrated "story mapping" into our daily shared picture book (which is an element of the BSLA) where the teacher shares the same picture book with the class each day for a week, explicitly teaching target vocabulary and oral narrative. I have started explicitly teaching story elements such as setting, character, problem, plan, and ending using these shared picture books. As the week progresses, students grow more familiar with the story, and they take on a more active role in narrating it, with less teacher guidance. I had the hunch that using a "story map" would really scaffold the children into producing a more coherent and rich oral retelling of the shared picture book of the week.

Thanks to a generous contribution from "Breakfast Club Kids," my class has been enjoying the "Tales of Aotearoa" series by New Zealand author Donavan Bixley. The series includes three books: 'How Maui Slowed the Sun,' 'How Maui Fished up the North Island of Aotearoa,' and 'Maui and the Secret of Fire.' Each student in my class has received their own set of these books for home enjoyment with their families.

For each of these shared picture books, I've curated target vocabulary, comprising four English words and two Te Reo Māori words, mirroring the approach used in the BSLA.

Here are the target vocabulary for the book, 'Maui and the Secret of Fire'. 

• Curious (p. 5): Curious means wanting to learn or know about something. Maui was curious to know what would happen if he put all the fires out.

• Respect (p. 9):Respect means to be polite or kind to someone or something else. Maui needed to respect the fire, by not letting it go out and knowing how dangerous fire can be.

• Furiously (p. 18): Furiously means that someone is really angry. Mahuika was furious with Maui for not respecting the fire.

• Precious (last page): Precious means it is highly valued or very expensive. For example, Maui’s discovery of the secret of fire was very valuable as they people could now make fire themselves.

• Ahi : Ahi is the Te Reo Maori word for fire.

• Kuia: Kuia is the Te Reo Maori word for grandmother.

To scaffold this process, I've introduced a straightforward story map to guide children towards independent oral story retelling. The simplicity of the story map proves effective: a squiggly line on paper, with the beginning of the story at the top and the conclusion at the bottom. I demonstrated the creation of my story map to the class, and they crafted their own versions.

Below are a few examples of the story maps created by the students, based on the story "Maui and the Secret of Fire." Additionally, I've attached a video showcasing one student's narrative using the story map as a tool for enhancing their oral storytelling skills.

 

2. Vocabulary Strips 

I participated in GEM Literacy's webinar titled "Introduction to Explicit Vocabulary Teaching," where Gemma explained the rationale and methodology behind explicit vocabulary instruction. In May, I incorporated her "vocabulary strips" into our daily small group reading sessions. These strips have helped my students bridge the gap between word decoding and word meaning. I specifically choose words from the reading material for each session, aiming for high interest, and multiple meanings—such as 'pit' which can refer to a 'sandpit' or a 'hole in the ground'.

In practice, I introduce the chosen word for the day along with an accompanying image unrelated to the reading material. Using an "I do, we do, you do" approach, I first model segmenting and blending the word, then guide the students through the process, and finally, they independently practice the word. We then discuss its meaning, with an emphasis on the children expressing it in their own words.  Then the students use the vocabulary strip to practice writing the word, as illustrated in the attached image. Lastly, the children complete a sentence dictation that includes the target vocabulary and other decodable words or heart words that they know (usually this is a sentence taken directly from the decodable book the vocabulary was selected from).  

Following this, I've observed that children are more likely to both recall the word's meaning and retaining it in their memory. Subsequently, they are often able to recognize the word in their reading without needing to sound it out. It's important to note that although this trend has been notable among my tamariki, it isn't always true for all my tamariki all the time. 

3. Rich Language Experiences 

Giving my tamariki the time to create as been a big focus in our classroom this term. Our topic study for the term has been focused on "Farms" which is leading up to a trip to Ambury Farm (next week). 

The tamariki have been creating using the products that we get from farming. We've made butter from cream, bread from scratch, lemonade, cooked scrambled eggs and will be making french fries using potatoes, weaving with wool and making our own ice-cream! 

I've given the tamariki as much opportunity as possible to be independent and experience making these things for themselves. Here are a few photographs as evidence of what we have been getting up to! I have displayed these photographs and key vocabulary on the wall in the classroom and it has been lovely to see the children looking at the photos and talking with their friends what we made.

Making butter - we made butter by placing cream in a jar (and a few marbles) and shaking it until it turned into butter. The tamariki enjoyed butter their own fairy bread!

We made bread from scratch using yeast, flour, water, sugar and oil. 

We made lemonade (with a few limes thrown too!) using lemons a tamariki in our class brought along to school. 

After much classroom debate and a taking in a vote in the classroom the children decided the best way to cook eggs was to scramble them, so that is what we did! 

Lastly, I am left with the challenge of capturing all this amazing learning. I have decided to keep it simple and use the assessment practices that we have in place at our school already like the BSLA assessments (as this covers early literacy and oral narrative) and the Liz Kane Phonological Awareness Assessment.  I have gathered data using BSLA for all learners at baseline (beginning of the year), after 10 weeks of school (and 20 weeks for those identified as needing support) and will gather data again at a the end of year. I have gathered data using Liz Kanes Phonological Awareness Assessment each term as recommended in the instructions for administration. 

I am looking to find a way to gather my tamariki's voice in an authentic and meaningful way. Any ideas would be much appreciated?

Nga mihi nui!!