Spiral of Inquiry: New Learning about Oral Language

I had the great pleasure of attending a day long PD with Janie Van Hees today. While my brain is absolutely overloaded, I will attempt to share my key takeaways and actions from the day.

What is the role of talk?

• More ideas shared
• More words used
• Greater quality words
• more ‘to and fro’ talk with your child

Quotes that provoke!Its never too late! Be relentlessHigh expectations and delicious learning available to all tamariki.Surfing to comprehend, and surfing them back again…

Talk accompanied print is the difference maker

Why does spoken language matter? And what does it offer?

60-70% of my environment has to have ‘others’ language available to me

30% me trying it out

The role of talk

• More ideas shared
• More words used
• Greater quality words
• more ‘to and fro’ talk with your child

Your child hearing and saying reading and talking about reading with you and other sets them up for literacy and learning.

• Knowledge gap - language is a critical contributor to the knowledge gap.
• Oral language is a way to grow your thinking.
• Lived experiences: fluffy sheep or smelly cow
• Extended daily conversations

Teacher Attention

• Attention to and noticing
• Effortful and purposeful engagement and interaction
• all participating
• Triggering the ‘known’ to connect to the ‘new’
• Stretching the learners current language repertoire
• Multiple encounters
• Context relevant
• Facilitated through engaging mediating tools - persons, tasks, activities, sources.

Learner Attention

• Focus and Notice
• Put in the effort
• Take part (participate) fully
• Push myself to the edge
• Dig deep for what I already know
• Learn from others - notice and focus
• I share - others gain from me
• Think and talk; think and read
• Wondering and asking opens up possibilities to know

Classroom talk

• More time to process
• Think to yourself, share with someone else and then share with someone else
• First, second, third

A dialogic gifting exchange might go like this:

Lets all look carefully at the photo, really closely and think and look for details. Dig deep and notice whats going on…use your brain and your eyes to see and think about what the photo is telling us

Ill give you a good amount of think and look with all your brain. Get your ideas ready for sharing. So thinking and looking deeply as much as your bring can AND getting some of your ideas ready to tell someone else. Use gestures

Okay everybody, let's make sure we have on fabulous idea ready to tell another person. Remember how we get a fabulous idea ready.

Children show they know by putting their thumb up.

Teacher: Oh…so many of you remember. Tiaki, you tell us what we need to do to get a fabulous idea ready to tell someone.

Tiaki: We need to use words so they can know what we mean.

During teaching and learning/Dialogic gifting in class

Why do we keep asking so many questions? We should be in dialogue with our children

Example of dialogic gifting

Teacher: Sea horses are amazing animals. Remember how we read that they propel themselves through the water with the tiny fin on their back

Child: The fin flutters really quickly. It uses it for steering.

Teacher: Yes, I used the word propelling and you used the word steering, the fin helps it go left and right.

Teacher: It does, it has some other fins too. I wonder who can remember the name of those fins. We read that word.

CHild: P…. Pec… Pec Oh I can't say it

Teacher: Pectoral fins, clever, good remembering now let's talk about the tail and how 

The point is: When we have exchanges of ideas in the classroom, could we better at being responsive and adding to the kaupapa and the meaning.

High level vocabulary: Groups of words e.g. feeds no plankton, steady itself to eat, curly, scaly tail, fin flutters, seahorse is a fish

There have been some amazing words that we’ve used, lets remember some of them.

Lets explain that word - vocabulary

Like …. is an example.

Actions:

• Meaning making ready and explain ready rather than reading and writing ready
• JOST in different languages e.g. Tongan/Samoan
• Toy Library @ Wymondley
• Re-word testing: gathering information
• Video myself 
• Create a framework of things to look for in my video analysis.
• We choose best words to say what we mean, really say what we mean
• Acknowledge what the child says and open it up for further comment
• Students to do the heavy lifting
• Provide quantity and quality in the schooling environment
• Visuals: Ask what's going on in the photo, what else are you thinking?