School Name: Southern Okanagan Secondary School

School District: SD#53 Okanagan Similkameen

Inquiry Team Members: Cam Adam: cadam@sd53.bc.ca
Naryn Searcy: nsearcy@sd53.bc.ca
Brad Burns: bburns@sd53.bc.ca
Susan Beyer: sbeyer@sd53.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: cadam@sd53.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Indigenous Education Impact Initiative

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Not applicable

Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Other: LEA, Welcoming Indigenous Students

In one sentence, what is your focus for the 3-year cycle? How to support success for Indigenous students at SOSS through belonging, by addressing staff bias and working with the band on a new LEA.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Connections to Year 1: We had a refocus onto the new LEA we are writing with OIB. This is due to the scanning in year 1, where both SOSS and OIB surveyed OIB students on school attendance.

New Educator Professional Learning: This year was less new professional learning than it was working with OIB directly. Staff learning centered around a district focus on Indigenous pedagogy in professional development opportunities. Staff are participating in a District Pro-D Day in September that has come from this work focused on connecting schools staff to local place through guided visits to OIB.

Taking Action:
– Co-writing the LEA with OIB
– Revising processes for all school processes around communication, learning, discipline, attendance, and course changes
– Biggest change has been an improvement in communication between OIB and SOSS and greater collaboration with regard to student success
– Another strategy has been SOSS staff attending many education dinners and events in OIB community
– SOSS staff hosted family conferences in community

Reflections for Year 2:
– Connection and relationships are key
– Relationships and trust take time and intentionality to build
– Sometimes we have to hear hard truths and perspectives
– Approach with an open mind and an open heart
– Shared goals
– Showing up matters
– Families and communities care

Plans for Year 3:
– Staff education around the LEA, bias and privilege
– Education for staff in community
– Planning grade-wide cultural learning opportunities for all students in the school

School Name: Heath Elementary

School District: SD#37 Delta

Inquiry Team Members: Ericka Brugge: ebrugge@deltaschools.ca, Kelly Reeve: kreeve@deltaschools.ca, Lyndsay Smith: lssmith@deltaschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: ebrugge@deltaschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy

Focus Addressed: Literacy

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Teachers worked on finding ways to best support the literacy needs of their students while continuing to support them in making positive behavioural choices.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: Heath has a very diverse range of learners in our school, with 111 of the 233 students falling within their first 5 years of ELL support. In addition, 27.4 % of the school’s students earned an emerging or developing in the reading strand of literacy on the second term report card, with 13.7% of those with a ministry designation and of Indigenous ancestry. In addition to this knowledge, teachers assessed each student in the school using the Dibels assessment to develop a more comprehensive understanding of student strengths and areas for growth in literacy.

Staff and admin also noticed that, although they had set a clear expectation of behaviours in various locations/situations through the PBIS behaviour matrix presented to students through monthly assemblies the previous year, there were still a significant number of students who participated in unfavourable behaviours, especially during less structured times such as during recess and lunch. Some students also seemed inattentive during lessons which affected their understanding of the curricular content.

Focus: In the 2024-25 school year, our school goal focused on helping students improve their math understanding. The challenge teachers discovered was that a significant number of students struggled to access that learning as they lacked the language skills to follow along with lessons and/or arrived in Canada with little or no schooling, missing basic skills learned in primary grades. As such, the staff shifted their focus to literacy. Staff hoped that by working on improving literacy skills, students would be able to develop a better understanding of the curriculum and participate more confidently in all subject areas.

Regarding the second strand of our inquiry, staff looked into the activities that students participated in when they experienced the most difficulty. This included during eating time at lunch and on the soccer field during recess and lunch breaks.

Hunch: Staff believed that the lack of literacy skills affected student focus and understanding and hoped that by focusing on improving literacy skills, they would be able to develop a better understanding and participate more confidently in all academic areas.

New Professional Learning: During the August 2025 Professional Development Day, an LST from a neighbouring school introduced the CORE phonics to teachers as a way of gaining a clear understanding of students’ areas of strengths and challenges. After using the program to assess students, teachers created a continuum of learning applicable to the learners at Heath. They also worked together to create bins of resources to teach each skill so that everyone felt supported as they worked with their group of students.

Our school Teacher-Librarian educated herself with the mind-up and second-step programs, and created lessons around problem solving, calming strategies, and belonging, among other topics.

Taking Action: Teachers grouped students with similar literacy learning needs and organized material to target the skills necessary for reading and writing. Similar grade teachers, as well as Learning Support Teachers, offered grouped sessions 4 days per week. Staff met regularly with the COI coordinator to talk about the progress the students were making, and, as students made improvements with various skills, they were moved between support groups accordingly. In addition to literacy groups, teachers also covered other aspects of reading, writing and oral learning as a class so students experienced homogeneous and heterogeneous lessons with peers. During each Tuesday afternoon, while teachers met with the COI coordinator, the Teacher-Librarian, supported by the Music Teacher and Principal, taught the mind-up and second-step lessons to classes. As such, 10 of the 11 classes received these lessons. She also provided each classroom teacher with a set of posters and common language to use to help support students to make positive behavioural choices.

Checking: At each reporting period, teachers reassessed students using Dibels and the CORE phonics and piloted the District phonics assessments that are required to be implemented and input into Myed next year. Most students have made gains with their literacy skills. In addition, students reported enjoying Literacy Groups as they worked with students at a similar level. Teachers noted that students who rarely, if ever, participated in class discussions became active participants in the small group setting. One grade 7 student remarked that the fewer number of peers and knowledge that they were with other students “who learned slower like them” made them feel less self-conscious and more comfortable. Another grade 6 student in a higher-level group pointed out that they felt like they were challenged more as the learning was targeted to a more capable group instead of lessons being directed to an “average” student.

The school Principal kept track of the number of ‘behaviour forms’ that students need to fill in as they reflected on their choices and what they should have done differently. This year, the number of Behaviour Reflection Forms increased due to consistent implementation, with all students required to complete them. Rather than being used solely by the principal to monitor behaviour, all staff began using the forms whenever negative behaviour occurred. Additionally, this year the forms were regularly sent home to support ongoing communication with parents.

Reflections/Advice: Teachers and LST liked this approach to literacy support. LST was able to meet with at- risk students 4 days per week for targeted skills support, far more than they were able to accommodate in previous years though single class supports. Teachers also appreciated being able to work with a group with a narrower range of abilities.

For next year, a more targeted intervention is underway and planned for students who have not demonstrated sufficient progress. These students are few and have a multitude of factors that add to their learning challenges. Next year, the focus will be for all students to understand where they are at in their literacy ability and to set their own learning goals with the support of their teacher. This teaching model worked great at our school as we have a high population of ELL learners at all grade levels, including some students who had not attended school before coming to Canada. Students were able to receive intensive support and help them to make strides before moving on to the next grade. This works well as students are receiving homogeneous group support as well as heterogeneous class lessons and activities around literacy.

We will be continuing to use the behaviour matrix and reflection forms. As the Teacher-Librarian and principal are both moving to new schools in the fall, the staff will be working with the incoming principal on ways to keep the lessons fresh, current, and regularly revisited.

School Name: Queen Elizabeth Secondary

School District: SD#36 Surrey

Inquiry Team Members: Geralie Oba-Underwood: oba_g@surreyschools.ca, Helen Rogan: rogan_h@surreyschools.ca, Jeevan Dhami: Dhami_j@surreyschools.ca, Angie Baumgartner: baumgartner_a@surreyschools.ca, Aimee Oulette: oulette_a@surreyschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: oba_g@surreyschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Writing, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social)

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? For 2025–2026, we aim to empower Humanities 8 students to develop their voice through purposeful writing and speaking, while fostering critical thinking and personal connection to content.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: Over the past two years, Queen Elizabeth Secondary has prioritized literacy development, particularly in reading comprehension, written expression, and oral communication. Students have shown growth when given structured opportunities to share ideas, collaborate, and reflect. However, many still struggle with organizing complex thoughts, using evidence effectively, and adapting communication for different audiences. Humanities 8 students are at a formative stage in developing these skills, and targeted support can accelerate their growth.

Focus: This focus continues the trajectory set by Queen Elizabeth Secondary’s previous inquiries by moving from foundational literacy (2023–2024), to cross-curricular communication (2024–2025), to student-driven expression and critical thinking (2025–2026). It allows educators to better understand how students evolve as communicators and thinkers, and how instructional practices can adapt to meet their needs

Hunch: Students benefit from inclusive and scaffolded literacy instruction, but may lack consistent opportunities to connect personally with content and express their ideas in meaningful ways. Embedding literacy strategies into Humanities through inquiry, reflection, and dialogue can bridge this gap and promote deeper learning.

New Professional Learning: Literacy Instruction Resources to Support Inquiry
• Grand Conversations (2nd Edition) – Faye Brownlie
• When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do – Kylene Beers
• The Vocabulary Playbook: Learning Words That Matter – Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

Last year, Humanities 8 students demonstrated noticeable improvement in showing respect to their classmates during conversations; however, many were still speaking “past” one another. Only the most confident proficient/extending learners were consistently engaging with the content of their peers’ contributions. To support stronger dialogue, direct instruction and practice of specific conversational skills were introduced this year.

For each attempt, the class was organized into five small groups based on interest or topic to encourage meaningful engagement. Before the first discussion, the class received instruction on open and supportive body language, followed by role-play and tableau activities illustrating body language that signals openness versus body language that does not. Students enjoyed exaggerating “perfect” and “terrible” examples, and the shared laughter helped establish a positive tone for collaborative conversation.

After the first attempt, students received general whole-class feedback (“here’s what was noticed…”). Prior to the second attempt, students were reminded of these observations and then taught two targeted discussion skills:

• Adding to or building on another student’s contribution. A flowchart outlining effective response options was created on the whiteboard. As a class, students generated statements, and various response types were modelled using the flowchart. Students then practiced making statements and building on one another’s ideas in pairs.
• One branch of the flowchart focused on respectful disagreement. Using sentence stems, the class explored ways to express differing viewpoints while remaining open and supportive. Students practiced these approaches in pairs as well.

What will we do differently?
We will implement the following strategies:

• Use student-led inquiry projects to encourage authentic writing and speaking tasks.
• Integrate graphic organizers, sentence frames, and exemplars to support written structure and clarity.
• Facilitate peer feedback and self-assessment to build metacognitive awareness and collaborative skills.
• Provide formative assessment opportunities using rubrics aligned with core and curricular competencies.
• Embed critical thinking routines to help students analyze perspectives and construct reasoned arguments.

Core Competencies Focus

• Communication:
  • Connect and engage with others (to share and develop ideas)
  • Explain/recount and reflect on experiences and accomplishments
•  Thinking:
  • Generate ideas and build on the ideas of others
  • Reflect on thinking and processes
•  Personal and Social:
  • Positive personal and cultural identity
  • Social awareness and responsibility

Curricular Competencies (Humanities 8)

• Use writing and oral language to communicate ideas, arguments, and information for a specific audience and purpose
• Recognize and identify different perspectives and evidence in texts
• Make reasoned ethical judgments about events, decisions, or actions
• Assess the significance of people, places, events, or developments

Taking Action:

We will:

• Share findings with staff to inform cross-curricular literacy practices
• Adjust instructional strategies based on student feedback and performance
• Continue professional development in formative assessment, inquiry-based learning, and literacy scaffolding

Strengths

• Continued explicit instruction supported stable student performance across discussion attempts.
• One student demonstrated growth, moving from developing to proficient.
• Students showed willingness to engage in peer reflection and provide positive feedback.
• Group reflection increased participation and awareness of discussion behaviours.

Challenges

• Students had difficulty providing specific, constructive peer feedback, tending toward kind but vague comments.
• Peer feedback did not lead to expected growth for students in the emerging range; one student showed regression.
• Reduced presence of strong discussion models (due to absences) may have impacted overall discussion quality.
• It remains unclear whether group feedback supported engagement for all learners or affected motivation for some students.

Overall Observations Comparison of Student Performance:

December 2025 vs. May 2026

Overall Observations Comparison of Student Performance: December 2025 vs. May 2026
• Student performance shifted toward higher proficiency between December 2025 and May 2026.
• In December, most students were Developing or Proficient, with minimal Extending representation.
• By May, following targeted instruction and feedback, more students demonstrated Proficient and Extending behaviours.
• Extending increased from 1 student to 6 students (26.1%), indicating greater independence and confidence.
• Overall, targeted instruction reduced Emerging levels and supported movement into higher performance categories.

Checking:

We will collect evidence through:

• Student writing samples and oral presentations
• Self-assessments and reflections
• Peer feedback forms
• Teacher observations and rubrics

Conclusion

Classroom evidence shows that while students are increasingly willing to participate in discussion, many require explicit instruction to communicate ideas clearly, critically, and constructively. Targeted modelling of academic language, discussion skills, and differentiated access to texts will support more equitable participation. Emphasizing purposeful speaking, listening, and writing will help students develop confidence, critical thinking, and meaningful connections to content.

Reflections/Advice:

Next steps: Continued explicit instruction in discrete conversational skills outside of discussion practice, increased use of differentiated text sets to address varied background knowledge, and integration of literacy screening data to guide targeted interventions.

2026–2027 Actions
• Baseline discussion in September
• Mini lessons on probing questions, summarizing, and connecting ideas
• Structured routines: “Say–Summarize–Connect,” paired practice, small group discussions
• Feedback cycles: whole class + light individual feedback
• Three discussion attempts tracked with a consistent proficiency scale

Success Indicators
• More students demonstrating Proficient/Extending levels
• Students independently using target skills
• Increased confidence and participation
• Evidence of deeper thinking and collaborative meaning making

School Name: Prince Rupert Middle School

School District: SD#52 Prince Rupert

Inquiry Team Members: Kerri Levelton: kerri.levelton@sd52.bc.ca
Lori Leighton: lori.leighton@sd52.bc.ca
Salomon Garcia: salomon.garcia@sd52.bc.ca
Missy Trimble: missy.trimble@sd52.bc.ca
Natasha Brown: natasha.brown@sd52.bc.ca
Leslie Barton: Leslie.barton@sd52.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: kerri.levelton@sd52.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Indigenous Education Impact Initiative

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Not applicable

Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what is your focus for the 3-year cycle? To continue to build relationships so students love being at school and this will improve their attendance.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Connections to Year 1: We had our learners at the center of our scanning process. We noticed that some students need to gain more confidence in themselves, some students don’t want to be at school because they struggle with academics and/or social connections, and some students are allowed to stay home from school. We focused on attendance data (that still needs improvement), as well as one-on-one communication with each student, phone calls, home visits and letters to their family. We learned that having small group activities that focus on culture and connection gave students a space to be themselves outside of their classrooms.

New Educator Professional Learning: We have Indigenous Implementation Day that is for all staff. The resources that have been most helpful are our Indigenous Family Resource workers. We used our student leadership that are responsible for school decisions and activities. We encourage and support new ideas, activities and collaboration.

Taking Action: Our school has many fun activities happening on a daily basis. We have noticed that students are attending and enjoying these activities, such as the drumming group, leadership club, intramurals, spirit days, special lunches, etc. Each grade group has whole group activities such as Wellness Day, Medieval Faire, Ancient Civilizations and whole group activities to celebrate culture and students.

Reflections for Year 2: In year 1 and 2, we learned that having small groups with different activities has given students an opportunity to find themselves. We have quiet non-engaged students join in for activities such as drumming, and a big leadership group who plan activities for our whole school (spirit days, dance, etc).

Plans for Year 3: We have learned that we have been successful with many of our students, but there are still some who we are not reaching. We need to focus on the students who come to school but are not attending their classes, as well as the ones who are not participating. We will need to plan for regular attendance meetings, connections with their guardians, continue with our school activities, more student surveys asking students what they want, and continue one-on-one connection with one or more adults in the school with students who don’t attend regularly.

School Name: Mapes Elementary

School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes

Inquiry Team Members: Kira Watson- kwatson@sd91.bc.ca
Candace Lawrence- clawrence@sd91.bc.ca
Jennifer MacDonald- jtmacdonald@sd91.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: sdargis@sd91.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: SRL Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Not applicable

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social), Self-regulation

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We worked in multi-age groupings to assist self-regulated learning through building strong personal and social relationships.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: This will be our third year using our multi-aged groupings. We started our process by identifying that our learners could benefit from building their communication and collaboration skills. We conducted a school-wide project of making 4 multi-aged groupings to build these skills. Through these groups, we looked at local animals and completed skill-building activities in the forest. Last year, we were able to build on our communication and collaboration skills. We focused on building critical and creative thinking skills. We centered our activities around these skills. This year, we determined that the third layer was to build personal and social relationships using the skills we have been growing from the previous two years.

Focus: We wanted learners to develop a deeper understanding of one another. Our goal was for students to apply the skills they had built over the previous two years to form meaningful relationships with peers beyond their established friend groups. By expanding their connections, we hoped to foster a stronger sense of community, empathy, and belonging across the school.

Hunch: We noticed a growing sense of negativity toward the colour groups among some of our older students. As educators, we could see the significant progress learners had made over the previous two years. Communication skills were strengthened not only within the colour groups but also in other settings. We observed meaningful growth during playground interactions and transition times. This led us to wonder whether, although students may not have recognized their own growth as clearly as the adults did, they would still benefit from continued opportunities to develop and strengthen these skills.

New Professional Learning: Monthly Teacher collaboration planning sessions. This was a great time for our staff to reflect on how things were going and decide on the necessary steps to move forward. We used these times to plan and coordinate the coming group activities.

• Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature – John Young. We used this for our forest activities.
• John Muir Laws Virtual Workshops – Learning in Nature. These were used for reflection activities.
• 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning – Virtual Sessions and Season 1 – Foundational Knowledge.

Taking Action: We used two different approaches to help build relationships among our learners. Through conversations with our older students, we learned that it could be challenging to create activities that were engaging for all grade levels. As a result, we explored activities with our full Kindergarten–Grade 6 groups, as well as activities involving only the Grade 3–6 learners.

In our whole-school groups, we participated in activities such as morning forest walks followed by a school-wide pancake breakfast. During these walks, learners completed letter-unscrambling challenges as they travelled through the forest. Once finished, groups returned to the school and continued spending time together while sharing breakfast.

Within our K–6 groupings, we also completed seasonal STEAM-focused activities. During Halloween, the winter holidays, and Jump Rope for Heart, learners rotated through activity stations with their groups while teachers remained at designated stations. We noticed that this structure encouraged learners to build relationships by looking out for one another and helping each other complete the activities.

Our groups also constructed birdhouses. The Grade 4–6 class built their birdhouses first, which allowed them to develop an understanding of the necessary steps. Later, during our multi-aged groupings, the older buddies worked alongside their younger buddies to build one or two birdhouses together. This provided meaningful opportunities for leadership, mentorship, and collaboration.

In addition to these activities, we wanted to create opportunities for learners to contribute ideas based on their own understanding. To support this goal, we designed a collaborative project around the book Thomas’ Snowsuit. Each of our three classes read the same story but focused on different elements. The Kindergarten–Grade 2 class explored characters, with each learner selecting and colouring a character from the story. The Grade 2–3 class focused on setting, with learners recreating one of the story’s settings through drawing. Finally, the Grade 4–6 class examined the themes and underlying messages within the text.

With each learner holding a different piece of the story, we used cards to create random groups that included students from each classroom. Each group had a character, a setting, and a collection of themes. Using these pieces of the puzzle, learners were challenged to create an original story together.

When we first attempted this activity, many learners experienced frustration and confusion. There were too many unknown variables at once—the task itself and the new groupings. While some groups found success, many struggled to understand what was being asked of them.

We revisited the activity later using a different story. Although we continued to use random groups of three, the task was now more familiar. This time, we saw exciting growth in both understanding and engagement. Learners were able to contribute their own ideas with greater confidence and collaborate more effectively.

We then adapted the activity for our colour groups. After reading a new story together, each group worked collaboratively to create a beginning, middle, and end using elements from the text. They developed three settings and incorporated characters from the book into their new story. Every learner could proudly say they had contributed to the final product, creating a strong sense of ownership and accomplishment.

Our most recent collaboration was with the Grade 8s from NVSS. Throughout the spring, our Grade 2/3 class collaborated with the Grade 8s on three different occasions. Each session, a new class of Grade 8s came to collaborate. The schedule for each session remained consistent. We met as a whole group to discuss the plan and safety. Using cards to make random partnerships, a Grade 8 buddy was partnered with a Grade 2/3 buddy. We then walked into our forest to clear the area for a learning centre. Once the spot was cleared, we completed a sit spot activity with our partners. The last activity was some form of creation activity that rotated throughout the sessions. Over the three sessions, we built animal sculptures, natural mandalas and gave trees clay faces. When the sessions were over, the entire group enjoyed a cool, sweet treat together.

Checking: Through our various activities, we observed exciting growth in our learners. They were excited to take on leadership roles and share personal experiences and ideas. In our colour groups, learners became quite comfortable working together and listening to one another’s ideas. We observed growth in learners of all ages sharing personal experiences with multi-aged peers in our organized groups and in moments such as recess. Our group as a whole has also demonstrated more patience and understanding for peers of all ages.

Reflections/Advice: Through this inquiry, we learned the importance of predictability when working to foster relationships. Through each of our collaborations and activities, we learned that if there are too many unpredictable variables, unknown groups, unknown activities, etc., groups demonstrated difficulty building relationships and sharing activities. We learned that if we have a variable that is predictable, learners demonstrated a stronger ability to build relationships and were more comfortable sharing their ideas. This can be a new activity, but with familiar groupings or familiar activities with unknown groupings sets our learners up for greater success to build relationships and use their communication skills.

School Name: Mouse Mountain Elementary School

School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes

Inquiry Team Members: Cherilyn Sandback: csandback@sd91.bc.ca, Lilly Schulz: lschulz@sd91.bc.ca, Justine Anderson: janderson@sd91.bc.ca, Katie Thiffault: kthiffault@sd91.bc.ca, Candace Beier: cbeier@sd91.bc.ca, Helana Driedger: hdriedger@sd91.bc.ca, Roberta Toth: rtoth@sd91.bc.ca, Penny Eisert: peisert@sd91.bc.ca, Sabina Dennis: sdennis@sd91.bc.ca, Crystal Parsons: cparsons@sd91.bc.ca, Cholette Lelond: clelond@sd91.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: csandback@sd91.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing

Focus Addressed: Literacy

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We are continuing to focus on literacy in a broader sense of the literacy programs and interventions that are being used within the classrooms, which involves small groups, multi-sensory and multi-modal learning tasks and a structured scope and sequence.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: After asking the questions, we realized that many students need direct instruction on what they are learning about. We need to teach them how to talk about their learning with modelling and classroom conversations. The guiding questions help us teach them to think about their learning and take ownership of their learning.

Focus: We were continuing our inquiry from last year on the Structured Literacy program and expanding it to include more literacy programs, tools and structures. Using a variety of strategies can help us look at the most effective ways of moving learners along the continuum from emerging, to developing, to proficient.

Hunch: Our hunch is that our students that are emerging or developing have lower attendance, difficulties focusing and/or learning disabilities. By having structure in literacy, it seems to help students know the routine and focus on the learning. By assessing frequently, we can adjust the needs and learning of every student.

New Professional Learning: We continued to use collaboration time and professional development days to focus on literacy instruction. We continued our learning about Structured Literacy and expanded to include new learning in literacy including looking deeper into the learning progressions and how it aligns with what we are teaching.

We also got new resources including Syllasense readers, UFLI manual and readers aligned with the UFLI curriculum, and Eagle Crest novels.

Taking Action: We did a blend of whole class instruction and literacy centres. Most classes did literacy centres 4 to 5 days a week for 1 hour, where students were grouped based on the skills they were working on. We really worked to ensure there were as many adults supporting our literacy times as possible by having different times for literacy for different classes. The K, K/1, 1 classes would do literacy first thing in the morning and the two grade 2/3 classes would be right after lunch. This allowed the Inclusive Ed teacher, and the Indigenous Advocates to be available to push in to classes for both times. Most of the tables would have an adult to support the learning.

The literacy centres included various activities. Each centre was small group targeted instruction, and the students would rotate through the groups. Learning focused on all different types of literacy skills – letter sound recognition, phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, high frequency words, guided reading, structured literacy, story work/comprehension, spelling instruction, and fluency.

Teachers completed continuous assessment, and adjusted/changed groups or students depending on learning needs. The assessment also adjusted the instructional focus depending on the needs shown in the assessment.

Checking: Overall, we were satisfied. All students made growth, some more than others. Classroom and inclusive ed interventions showed improvement for students that were in the emerging/developing area. We used various assessment tools for data: PMs, Anecdotal information on confidence and skills, EYE – DA, Structured Literacy assessments, Letter ID assessments, Sight word assessments.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry solidified our hunches that frequent, targeted, systematic reading instruction supports all students, especially emerging/developing learners. Pulling in as much staff to support the literacy centers has been hugely beneficial to ensure the learners at the table are working on the expectations. In rooms where adults were not available, those students were not always on task and the learning was not as focused. Incorporating many aspects of literacy, as the children were ready, in our teaching instruction was highly effective to support students’ learning. Using multi-modal ways for children to learn the skills supported students that have a harder time learning concepts. Being able to buy resources that support the learning the children are doing was very helpful to support the teachers in their instruction.

Next steps will be to continue using supported literacy time with as many adults as available and ensuring the adults have the tools needed to support the learning.

As a result of our learning through the NOIIE inquiry process, we will continue to strengthen literacy instruction by providing intentional, evidence-informed learning opportunities that respond to the needs of our K–3 students. Our focus will remain on building strong literacy skills through explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, oral language, reading comprehension, and written expression. We will continue to use small-group instruction, targeted interventions, decodable texts, and ongoing assessment to identify student strengths and areas for growth. We will also create meaningful opportunities for students to share their thinking, build confidence as readers and writers, and connect literacy learning to their experiences, cultures, and communities.

Through collaborative inquiry, regular reflection on student evidence, and responsive instructional planning, we will continue to refine our practices to improve outcomes for all learners.

School Name: Maquinna Elementary

School District: SD#70 Pacific Rim

Inquiry Team Members: Sheena Falconer: sfalconer@sd70.bc.ca
Alex Tom: atom@sd70.bc.ca
Diana Olson: dolson1@sd70.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: sfalconer@sd70.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social), Other: Attendance

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Does attendance improve if we create joyful and engaging opportunities for our school community to connect with Nuu-chah-nulth culture.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: We asked Grade 4 and 7 students in two classes the key questions. We also asked individual students. A number of students in Grade 7 were involved with the National Indigenous Day celebration the previous year. We asked them how they felt about the celebration and learned that they would like to share their culture with the school on that day. They talked about dancing, singing, and lahal. In the previous year, we had focused more on the sharing of food. We thought that with this new information, we could work together to focus more on the cultural aspect of the day and weave that in throughout our year. We wanted to honour the student’s desire to have more culture and language embedded into the school community. We will continue to use the First People’s Principles of Learning through honouring the role of Indigenous knowledge, generational understanding, and recognizing that time and patience are important.

Focus: We wondered if involvement with cultural celebrations will result in increased attendance at our school.

Hunch: We had a hunch that honouring student knowledge and voice would increase connectedness to school. We hoped that this connection would have a positive impact on attendance.

New Professional Learning: We utilized the Toolkit for Raising Attendance Rates of First Nations Students in British Columbia as our basis for professional learning. This resource was created by the First Nations Steering Committee and the First Nations School Association. The Toolkit was very helpful as it provided information on how to define and understand poor attendance, as well as providing a section entitled, “What Students Say” which gave explicit information around reasons for missing school. Further, the Toolkit provides information for schools on how to address poor attendance. One aspect included Making Schools Places Where Students Want to Be, which spoke about the importance of connecting students through the creation of strong interpersonal relationships.

Taking Action: We built upon the two activities from our last project to engage students in cultural learning. The first activity was the Nuu chah nulth word of the week. Each Monday we announced a word and put clues around the school. We shared this with staff as well. Students would come up to us and provide the meaning for the word, as well as pronounce it. We built on our success from last year. While it varied, we generally had a core group of students who would search out the meaning and pronunciation of the word each week. The second activity involved embedding student voice into our event for National Indigenous Day. We honoured this by having them help with the organization, as well as participating in the opening ceremony and acting as student volunteers.

Checking: We decided we were going to use two different ways of measuring attendance. Firstly, we were going to create a snapshot of attendance by comparing attendance on the day of the celebration against other days that week to determine if holding an event made a difference with attendance. As we aren’t holding the event until the 22nd, we will analyze that date following the event. Secondly, we reviewed our Indicators of Success data. As we went through that data, we could see that students who were involved and participating had lower absenteeism. We are happy with the level of involvement our student volunteers are displaying. They have come up with the idea for a student from each of the Nuu chah nulth Nations to introduce themselves in Nuu-chah-nulth during the opening ceremony, as well as talking about the importance of Indigenous Day. They are also creating puppet shows, singing the Nuu-chah-nulth song, and showing other students different games and activities such as Dot Art, Bracelet Making and creation of a Paint Wall. We have seen that some of our more vulnerable students have become very engaged with the ceremony and are excited to participate. We feel that this may have helped them feel more connected to the school and thereby increased attendance.

Reflections/Advice: We have learned a great deal about attendance and this has been very helpful. We realized that it was difficult to tease out our activities as a factor in attendance, although we can say that students who have been engaged have had good attendance despite other challenges in their lives. However, this may have been due to other factors. In upcoming projects, we would spend more time designing how to analyze attendance trends. When we were reviewing the data, we could see that there are students who we could include in the future in the hopes of creating connection and engagement with the school. Sharing the knowledge we have learned with the broader school community will be very beneficial and we believe this knowledge will become embedded within the school community. Engaging students in celebrating their culture has been a very positive experience and the students have enjoyed being part of the process. We would like to keep working on bringing student voice into our schools as a means of increasing connectedness. If other schools were planning to do this, it is very helpful to engage with students early to get their ideas.