Week 31: Evaluate your impact

The actual impact of my inquiry has been an increase of vocabulary knowledge in my classroom. I was surprised at the result when I retested them. They now recognise 14 of the 24 words in the vocabulary assessment. At the beginning of the inquiry they only recognised 3! I must admit that this was engineered a little as I focused on those words during our reo sessions. There has also been a slight increase in self-efficacy. Survey results showed an increase from 48% to 56% of students who feel confident about speaking te reo Māori exclusively for 15 minutes.

Impacts not supported by data are things I have noticed in class. Students are showing a greater awareness and acknowledging the use of te reo Māori by others. This awareness has increased their use of the language, but there is still a high level of consciousness, it is not a natural flow. They are proud of their learning and keen to share it in the classroom.

My anticipated impact was that te reo Māori would become a natural way of communicating in class, so students move easily between languages. This has happened on a word level but not on a sentence level i.e. they will substitute te reo Māori for some English words in sentences but they are not using complete sentences. This is mostly because we are still developing our sentence structure so there is a limited number of sentences they can use.

As the inquiry progressed I made changes to my original plan. I soon realised that we needed more structure, rather than free conversation. Once I started using shared books to begin our sessions we had a framework for our discussion. We could then use sentences from the book, changing some words to make it relevant to the class.

The other main difference was that I realised I needed some expert help. It was surprisingly difficult to quickly find phrases that I needed to use in class online. I was also determined to use the local Ngapuhi dialect at all times so I relied on experts at school to make sure I was on the right path.

The main change I would make for my next inquiry would be to involve whanau more. A dialogic relationship allows students, teachers and whanau to share their expertise (Charteris & Trafford, 2010). I would start the inquiry with a letter home outlining what we are trying to achieve and inviting them to participate either at home or by coming in to class. I would also keep them informed of any progress we are making and share resources we are using with them via my class blog.

Charteris, J., & Trafford, R. (2010). Speaking Plainly: Student Led Reporting in Relation to the New Zealand Curriculum Standards. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, 7(1), 38–46. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=54312933&site=ehost-live