Building a Data Wall: Aligning with the NSW English Syllabus

 Developing a robust understanding of writing skills, particularly in the Creating Texts and Grammar components of the NSW English Syllabus, has been a central focus for our school. To support this endeavor, we designed a Data Wall that aligns closely with these syllabus outcomes, emphasising sentence structure and variety.

The Foundation: Teaching Advice and Learning Progressions

To guide the development of our Data Wall, we drew upon the Teaching Advice and Examples provided within the syllabus. This resource offered clarity on key aspects such as sentence structure, ensuring students develop competency in writing simple, compound, and complex sentences. In tandem, the Learning Progressions served as a critical alignment tool, enabling us to pinpoint the components necessary for writing correctly formulated sentences.

Staff Consultation and Feedback

Once the initial draft of the Data Wall was complete, it was presented to the broader staff for consultation. Their reflections were invaluable in refining the design. While the original concept provided detailed information, feedback highlighted the need for simplification. Staff emphasized the importance of a clear, user-friendly structure that could be seamlessly integrated into daily teaching practices.

Toward a Simplified Writing Data Wall

In response to these reflections, we planned to reimagine the Writing Data Wall, with greater Staff voice and involvement. The goal was to maintain its focus on critical skills—such as sentence variety and structure—while ensuring it remains an accessible and effective tool for educators. As we refine the Data Wall, we aim to create a resource that not only tracks progress but also inspires deeper engagement with the craft of writing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Assessment Waterfall Chart

Image
  The learning Collaborative team engaged with learning around the Assessment Waterfall Chart. We begun by analyzing the purpose of assessment. The learning focused on how every meeting should start with data and ensuring our instructional strategies move students to learning the deeper, broader concepts that sit beyond the context of the activity.   We also contemplated how learners best learn and how this might influence us as teachers of students and each other as professionals. The Assessment Waterfall Chart directly connected to the 5 Questions we ask with Learning Walks and Talks. If students are able to answer the questions then the Waterfall chart is evident. As a Learning Collaborative we discussed the importance of unpacking each section so that our students can become assessment capable learners (an effect size of 1.44).  With staff we shared how The Assessment Waterfall Chart depicts all of the components of assessment as and for learning, NO amount of instruc...
Read more

Revising the Parameter 1 and 14

Image
 Staff were asked to re-reflect on  Parameter 1 and the shared beliefs and understandings articulated by Lyn Sharrat. We had completed this same activity 12 months earlier and wanted to gain a sense of where we were placed collectively. Staff were asked to give a rating from 1 to 10 to indicate how much they believed in each of the statements and were encouraged to give a reason as to why they believed what they did. These ratings and reasons were collected anonymously. Then redistributed. Staff then stood behind the chairs, reading out the rating and reason they had been handed.  The photo below indicates where staff now sit with the statement: All leaders, teachers and students can articulate what they do and why they lead, teach and learn the way they do. The photos below are the staff's reaction to: High expectations and early and ongoing intervention are essential. The photos below are of staff's reaction to: All teachers can teach to high standards given time and th...
Read more

Going back to the Data Wall

Image
The following staff meeting was presented by the Learning Collaborative team. Time was spent selecting students for the next CMM. Teachers completed a Chronicle entry using the Case Management Meeting template on Compass . There was also a d iscussion of support such as Drew’s time (Thursday 9:00am - 10:00am). His time can be booked to release staff for Learning Collaborative engagement and a timetable for purpose and booking was shared.  Kim Post shared how her time has been used by staff and announced her availability continues (Monday to Thursday 9:00am - 11:00am). Staff shared how she had modeled the unpacking of Learning Intentions, co-constructed Success Criteria with students, and coached teachers around the construction of BIU walls and anchor charts that support student learning. Moving forward, she might be utilised as an extra set of hands in training students how to use the wall and effectively find stars and stairs in their own and others work. This staff meeting high...
Read more