Adapting on the Go: What Monitoring Has Taught Me

When I first set out to implement this project, I had a clear plan in mind. But, as with most things in education, the reality in the classroom quickly reminded me that flexibility is key.

During the monitoring stage, I started to notice that the overall participation and engagement wasn’t quite where I hoped it would be. Teachers were interested, but time was tight. Classes were already packed with other priorities, and my initiative was competing for attention.

Rather than pushing harder, I decided to step back and rethink my approach. I began tweaking the resources so they could be more easily integrated into everyday lessons or during language weeks. I simplified some activities with help from others who sent amazing resources to me, created shorter versions for quick use, and adapted materials to suit different learners making sure that everyone, regardless of ability or learning style, could take part meaningfully, even if this was just through song.

These small but intentional changes made a big difference in my opinion. We saw more engagement and the intervention began to feel like a natural part of classroom rather than an extra task for some.

Monitoring has shown me that success isn’t always about sticking rigidly to the original plan, it’s about being responsive, adaptable, and willing to meet people where they are and sometimes adding more is just too much.

Interventions: Part 2

Introducing multilingual visuals, cultural practices, and inclusive resources is only the first step in the implementation their impact is just as important. In our school, we do this through a combination of classroom observations, participation tracking, and teacher feedback. Observations from team leaders help us see how students engage with visuals, Te Reo Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language, while tracking participation shows who is involved and who might need a little extra support and if they are valuable to learning.

Teacher feedback plays a key role too. Our staff are encouraged share what strategies are working well and highlight any challenges they notice, giving us a clear picture of what’s effective in real classroom settings. This will be more present and the end of the year when another survey is sent out. 

To keep everything fresh and meaningful, I have tried to review our resources and routines, ensuring materials remain accessible and engaging for learners. Reflective meetings and brief reports help us celebrate successes, address any gaps, and plan next steps. This ongoing process ensures that our focus on cultural capabilities isn’t just a one-off initiative or tokenistic, it's a sustainable, evolving part of school life. 

We will see how this goes and I will make adjustments if needed as the year progresses.

Teaching as Inquiry 2025

“Recognising and spreading sophisticated pedagogical practice across our community so that students learn in better and more powerful ways...”

The Manaiakalani Community of Learning is working together on this task using the expertise existing in of our community of learning.

In 2025 for my inquiry I have selected the following CoL achievement challenge 

#5. Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts

The teaching as inquiry framework I will be using in 2025 has been specifically co-constructed for Manaiakalani schools using our familiar Learn Create Share structure.
The elements in this framework share close similarities with other models New Zealand teachers use.

I will be labelling my posts as I update my inquiry throughout the year to make the content easy to access.

Labels:

LEvidence, LScan, LTrend, LHypothesise, LResearch, LReflect,

 CPlan, CTry, CInnovate, CImplement, CReflect,

SPublish, SCoteach, SModel, SGuide, SFback, SReflect

Label Key:

LEvidence	Learn - Gather Evidence	CPlan	Create - Make a plan	SPublish	Share - Publish
LScan	Learn - Scan	CTry	Create - Try new things	SCoteach	Share - Co-teach
LTrend	Learn - Identify Trends	CInnovate	Create - Innovate	SModel	Share - Model
LHypothesise	Learn - Hypothesise	CImplement	Create - Implement	SGuide	Share - Guide
LResearch	Learn - Research	CReflect	Create - Reflect	SFback	Share - Feedback
LReflect	Learn - Reflect			SReflect	Share - Reflect