Overview

The New Zealand Curriculum (pages 34–35) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (pages 13–16) describe some of the teaching approaches that research shows to have a consistently positive impact on student learning. However, they stress that there is no formula that will work for every student in every situation.

(This book has developed over 5 years of my inquiring into the impact of my teaching of writing to my students)

Teacher actions promoting student learning

While there is no formula that will guarantee learning for every student in every context, there is extensive, well-documented evidence about the kinds of teaching approaches that consistently have a positive impact on student learning.

Teaching as inquiry

Since any teaching strategy works differently in different contexts for different students, effective pedagogy requires that teachers inquire into the impact of their teaching on their students.

Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship can be visualised as a cyclical process that goes on moment by moment (as teaching takes place), day by day, and over the longer term. In this process, the teacher asks:

Author’s Note

Since any teaching strategy works differently in different contexts for different students, effective pedagogy requires that teachers inquire into the impact of their teaching on their students. In the classroom, this model identifies each part of the writing process allowing the teacher to inquire in a focussed way into their practice. This model also gives a visual structure and systematising the writing process enables the learner to work independently of the teacher.