To raise student achievement
Malcolm Howard
Regional Technology Facilitator
Central North Region
Team Solutions – The University of Auckland
November 2012

Aims for this session
• Explore literacy strategies that could help raise student achievement in technology.
• Explore ways to include literacy data in your wider data analysis, and how to make decisions informed by data.

Literacy in the Learning Areas
For each area, students need specific help from their teachers as they learn:
• the specialist vocabulary associated with that area;
• how to read and understand its texts;
• how to communicate knowledge and ideas in appropriate ways;
• how to listen and read critically, assessing the value of what they hear and read.
From p16 of the NZC

PISA - reading literacy results
Country/
Group
NZ
OECD average
Maori
Pacifica
Mean
521
493
478
448
Ranking
7th
34 th =
44th

Literacy and language support
• Vocabulary
• Pre-writing
• Writing reports
• The importance of the four modes (reading, writing, speaking, and listening)
• Use of literacy data

Vocabulary strategies
• My definition (specialist technology words)
• My definition (assessment words)
• ‘I think’ speaking frame
• Mix and match - matching word and definition

My definition – ‘technical’ words

My definition – ‘assessment’ words

‘I think’ Speaking frame
I think …… (word) means ….. because ….
Possible meanings for the ….. (word) include …….
The evidence / clues that I used to arrive at these meanings are: (firstly, secondly, thirdly etc)
In this context, I think ….. (word) refers to ...
My sentence is:

Mix and match

Vocabulary activity 1
Try some of the vocabulary strategies and discuss others you have used.

Vocabulary activity 2
Choose a particular standard and complete the vocabulary worksheet for that standard.
(Remember to think about the four modes when deciding on a strategy).

Pre-writing

Pre-writing using a spider diagram

Pre-writing using a table

Pre-writing activity
Explore the writing frames provided (spider diagram and table layout) in relation to the demands of the standard.

Writing
From Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9 to 13

Writing – describe, explain, discuss
From Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9 to 13

A writing strategy – use of acronyms
Explanation SEX or SEE(D)
• Statement
• Explain
• Example (diagram)
From Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9 to 13

Writing a report for externals
• Complying with assessment specifications
• Correct referencing
• Authenticity
• Headings and sub-headings
• Diagrams, screenshots, photos
• Layout and readability
• Proofreading

Authenticity
Information from external sources can become authentic evidence of understanding only where the candidate does one or more of the following:
• interprets the information
• paraphrases the information
• uses the information
• relates the information
• comments meaningfully on the information.

How to get good at writing
Practice writing!
So… what opportunities are there in your programme for students to practice writing prior to writing a report for external assessment?
(think current year plus junior programmes)

Writing activity
In groups discuss these ideas about writing and share your experiences.

The importance of the four modes
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking
• Listening

The four modes - Activity
Take one of the scenarios and discuss how you can provide students opportunities to use all four modes within that scenario.

Using data
• Including literacy data in your data analysis
• Making asTTle literacy data available to teachers
• Using a pivot table to sort and summarise data
• Making decisions informed by data

Some raw data in an Excel spreadsheet

Example – a summary of internal 2

Maori boys who didn’t achieve Int2

Creating a pivot table

Tutorial – create a pivot table
Use the tutorial to create a pivot table using either the sample data (or your own data if you have some with you)

Data activity
In groups discuss how you currently do or could use literacy data to assist in decision making in your faculty.

Further information
Secondary Literacy online on TKI http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-
Online/Secondary-Literacy
Team Solutions literacy wiki http://leadingliteracynz.wikispaces.com/Literacy
+in+Technology+Clusters

Were the aims for this session met?
• Explore literacy strategies that could help raise student achievement in technology.
• Explore ways to include literacy data in your wider data analysis, and how to make decisions informed by data.