Ako Hiko T shaped Literacy

 The focus of today's workshops is to 

'Teach Learners to Think and Question".

We need to encourage students to learn by participating in deeper discussions, thinking critically and developing strategies to develop in-depth comprehension.

Teachers often use open-ended questions for students to work independently or in small groups. However, without formal discussions and a chance to justify or explain their thinking with continued probing, they don't have the opportunity to question their own understanding or hear others' points of view. 

We were gifted through the Ako Hiko Portal - T-shaped Literacy resources, lots available for Years 4-6. We also received a checklist from Selena, helping teachers to reflect on lessons and the construction of T-shaped Literacy Plans.

The workshops had a large focus on Reading for Year 1-3 with a few that were applicable to Year 7 and 8. Reciprocal Reading is a tool I use, but I wondered how does it work with T-shaped Literacy. 

It was interesting to see this teacher using T-shaped literacy alongside guided reading groups. The skills groups were ability-based and the discussion groups were mixed abilities. I understood the reasoning behind this, not everyone needs the same skills to be taught or retaught. Discussion groups need a range of thinkers and talkers to help generate discussion and to help spark ideas and thinking. 

But my issue or problem remains how to generate the questions or activities to create the discussion. I will keep reading to learning how to phrase these questions.