A Message from Keir

As many of our families will be aware, this year BNWPS has been implementing the tutor program with a different subject focus for each term. The tutor program has focussed on assisting those students who did not make growth in the areas of English and Maths in 2020. 

Last term, our tutor program focussed on writing. Teaching writing tutor groups remotely presented many challenges for staff, students and families, but the growth data from the tutor groups was commendable. 

As our tutor cycles have evolved across the year, we have been linking them very specifically with Professional Learning Cycle (PLC) teacher groups. This has meant that teachers are choosing a new teacher practice goal that they can apply to the tutor group but will also evolve their classroom practice with all of the students in their class. Hand in hand with this has been the identification of student tutor group goals and placement on existing and created learning continuums.

For the writing cycle, this has meant identifying one of the 6+1 writing traits that students in the tutor group need to focus on, identifying goals from a rubric for that particular trait, and then breaking that trait down into micro-steps so that the teaching in the tutor groups (and subsequently the whole class) can work thoroughly through the achievement of these continuum macro and micro steps.

The teachers' professional learning focus this year has been writing, so teachers are anecdotally reporting a huge shift in their practice, and the tutor group data supported this report. 

The teacher practice goal for most of the PLCs during the writing tutor cycle was small group instruction.  This focus has also had a huge impact on the way that teachers are planning for and implementing writing sessions in their classrooms. 

In general, the writing cycle of our tutor program was a big success!

Have a great week everyone!

Keir