Yesterday I witnessed one of the COOLEST things I've seen in the past 10+ years of teaching English.
There I was in the classroom beside the wharenui, helping to prep my Y9 Tihi tauira for their English exam today. The girls had all organised their own study groups, each group working on a different text (Substitute Teacher, Affectionate Kidnappers or Kupe and the Giant Wheke).
The boys sat in the class for the first few moments, got started on the mahi quickly, reading out loud.
This is a new strategy for all five boys and they were cacophonous with their reading aloud - so much so that the girls were telling them to be quiet.
The boys asked if they could head off to the wharenui - I agreed. Proud of them for making good choices.
When I went back in to check on them, all I could hear and see were these boys in small groups, individually reading aloud to themselves or their mates.
One of the boys came out and told me everything he understood about the story 'Kupe and the Giant Wheke' that he could think of. It was less a retelling and more a point by point overview of why it's important. This new ability to decode, comprehend the text and GET IT is new for this young man. I asked him a few questions, slowly getting deeper and deeper into the overall kaupapa of the Maori narrative.
When the questions targeted certain sections he hadn't read (as it was double sided - whereas the first time we'd read it in class it was in the school journals) - he didn't give up. He said, "Oh, whaea I didn't know it was on the back. I only read the front sections. I'll go back and read the rest aye?"
MUSIC TO MY EARS.
What he said next though was beautiful - "It's coz of Whaea Linda, whaea."
I gave him a double high five. Because, yes. Absolutely.
Checking in on the rest of the students, hearing one of the girl's finished speeches from our research project, discussing sibilance with another pair of tauira learning about language techniques in Affectionate Kidnappers, laughing with another pair of tauira when they found the language technique videos I'd posted on Google Classroom ages ago. Seeing students dive deep into questioning and answering, studying the text in preparation for response to text.
I then returned to check in on the boys. Sitting, quietly reading. They came and told me they were finished and were ready for the next text, they wanted a challenge they said.
I gave them Affectionate Kidnappers. A favourite of mine by Witi Ihimaera.
We'd studied all three of these texts earlier in the year. They remembered each one from my quick reminders before reading it again. They could remember the two kuia and the little girl they took to the beach. They could remember the relief teacher and how he got all the kids names wrong. They could remember the story of Kupe and the Giant Wheke. They asked me to re-read Mrs Button's sections because they think the old Pakeha lady voice I use for Mrs Button is funny. They even humoured me when I re-read the hoiho section in the voice I always use for the horses.
Affectionate Kidnappers is being used by my Y12s and one of our Y13s this year. It's a text that can be looked at for surface level questions, right down into inference and applied questions where students link beyond the text. It's one of those classics that really hit home, connect with reality and our past. The type of story that sticks in your very bone marrow and you're reminded of each time you visit the beach, the marae and when you see a white picket fence gate.
When the boys asked for this text I did not hesitate. I was stoked.
I could feel the girls watching as I gave them this new text. Because the boys are accelerating. They're reading and they're ready for the next challenge.
They may not YET be able to fully convey their thoughts on paper without ongoing support - but that's where I come in. I can help with that.
The reading, the understanding of text, the growth of vocabulary? That's where this literacy intervention programme comes in. Absolutely phenomenal.
I had the privilege last term to sit in on one of the first sessions with the tauira. I was sitting in my library office, sewing a hole to repair one of the beanbags. I heard giggling, high level questioning skills, curiosity, excitement, engagement and above all, enjoyment. They were playing a game of Heads Up, a guessing game. To win you have to ask questions that help determine what character, object or location you are. To elicit growth in vocab, you must use high interest tools where the students speak and develop their vocab through grasping it, moulding it on their tongues and then having the confidence to speak and question.
The programme is working.
These five boys have confidence in their reading. They're using a range of skills to elicit responses, comprehension and understanding. They're engaging with the text in a way they were not able to do earlier this year.
I didn't tear up until this morning when I gave this feedback and my sincere thanks to Whaea Linda.
This beautiful confidence in these boys with their reading is truly astronomical. They're able to engage with the curriculum! They're able to discuss key points in the story. They're able to use new vocab and build on their understanding. They've been given time to learn these key skills. TIME to LEARN. What a beautiful concept.
The fact that they've been able to learn this quickly - quite literally in the last few weeks of term 3 and the last month of term 4 - is phenomenal. Imagine what they could do had they been given this support from the beginning of the year? Or if they were given this support for a full year? It could transcend their understanding, comprehension, growth and depth of vocabulary and ensure our students have the CONFIDENCE to READ.
Why did I tear up?
Because I was so proud of these boys. Because I realised how much effort and time Whaea Linda and Whaea Nicky have put in with this group of tauira. Because I can't fit in this depth of intervention strategies in my normal programme of learning to move tauira up the curriculum. Because I can now teach these boys at the curriculum level they're meant to be at. How beautiful is that? They can read, comprehend and understand key concepts, issues and ideas in texts. They use the vocab from the text they've read. They think outside the box and are able to fully engage with the text in ways they were not able to do so before.
It comes down to time. Not just for our bilingual tauira too. For all our tauira at kura.
Imagine if this programme could be rolled out across Year 9 and 10? If we could catch the students BEFORE they fell through the literacy gaps that then prevent them from accessing the senior curriculum. If we could have all students at their curriculum level or above, reading fluently, feeling successful. If we MAKE TIME for our tauira - not just in our curriculum classes but across the timetable - to accelerate and then extend our tauira -- how much more confidence and success would this then breed into our kids? Our community even?
Better literacy intervention strategies now mean better literate communities in the long term. A community that READS. A community that are critical thinkers. A community that fully understands and communicate their wants, needs and aspirations. A community with excited rangatahi, ready to do incredible things in the world to one day return and share their skills with us.
Literacy now is not just about the students in front of us succeeding. It's about breaking glass ceilings and encouraging our sttudents to do more than they've ever thought possible.
Nga mihi maioha ki a Whaea Nicky raua ko Whaea Linda. Kei te tino poho kereru ki a korua. Nga mihi mo to whakamanawa matou tauira, me nga whakaako, me nga rautaki hoki. Nga mihi nunui ki a korua ano.
