After having a look at my mid year data and questioning why some of the students in my class hadn't made as much shift as I would have liked I started to look at my teaching as a whole and what I could change.
Up until this point I have been making sure that my whole class is settled and on task. This becomes a challenge sometimes and looking back I have realised that there has been less small group teaching than I would have liked. I will need to take a step back and focus on my small group teaching so that students are getting quality and uninterrupted learning time with the teacher.
By focusing on vocabulary I had been pre-planning which words I was going to focus on during small group discussions. I have seen a shift in my students, who are now picking out and vocalising the vocabulary that they don't know. I now have a loose plan of the vocabulary that will be looked at although now the importance has shifted to strategies that are in place and which ones to use.
In the future I would like to look at themes around my reading programme so that the texts that are chosen link from week to week. I am hoping that this will lead to more engagement and mileage in a specific context as well as building on new vocabulary. In the end of Term 2 reflection from I wanted to link my reading and writing programmes to give more opportunity for new vocabulary to be used. I will continue to try and do this.
What kind of iPad activities promote higher order thinking and cognitively engage Year 2/3 students?
