Reading is Core to Learning - RPI Session 1

Link to RPI website.

Tuesday the 14th marked the first of nine sessions I will be attending as part of the Manaiakalani Reading Programme Intensive.  The Reading Programme Intensive (RPI) is facilitated by members of the Manaiakalani Programme Research Team and hosts teachers from eight different schools.  While we have differences about what we believe as kura, there are things we hold in common.  The facilitators stated that the nine sessions, have evolved out of that.  Day 1's theme was "Reading is core to learning."

I enjoyed listening to the kaupapa and pedagogy of Manaiakalani's RPI, namely how big of a focus they've always had on reading.  They are very firm in the belief that reading and being literate provides more access to all other curriculum areas. Even more than that, reading is absolutely key to our life outcomes and everything we do.

We discussed how essential it is for our learner that they experience acceleration this year.  Many children will need to make more than a year's progress in order to catch up with the 'norm' - this is something we've also discussed at school staff meetings.  Research has shown that where a young person has been in a Manaiakalani school or class where the teacher has taught using Manaiakalani frameworks and used effective teaching practice - that is where progress (therefore acceleration) is seen.

Initially I did feel that I didn't have much to contribute to reflection discussions considering I have only been in the classroom as a teacher for a week now.  However I definitely learnt a lot that will help improve my capability and confidence in teaching reading.  This is specific to teaching students how to 'talk' using 'ground rules'.  This borders what my school currently practices within their 'Extended Discussion.'  

A resource I saw that I am keen to use with my learners is a digital modelling book.  On placements and relief teaching, I have really enjoyed teaching small groups with modelling books.  This is mostly only ever seen within Junior classrooms, so it was not something I thought to use with my senior primary students.  It will be interesting to see how one of my small groups may respond to using a digital modelling book.

One of the segments showcased a reading model created by the research team in 2021.  It covers a cycle of reading instruction from beginning to end - "designing learning with the end in mind."  Under one of the pillars (Plan to Use Diverse Texts) it details different ways to cover multi-genre, multimodal text sets both inside and outside of the classroom.  I found this particularly interesting as outside the classroom is not something you usually are considering when planning for reading.  This is something I feel I need to talk to other colleagues about to gain a better understanding of how they might have catered to this area in previous years.