NET Scheme News 2024 Summer issue 46

“ AT: The principal at the school wanted to revise the school phonics program from P1 to P6. The AT suggested all teachers experience the two online workshops on phonics to develop a shared understanding of the latest thinking and gain practical examples on how to teach phonics effectively. The EPC and PSM CD completed the workshops first, followed by all the teachers by the end of term. This greatly informed how they went about revising their phonics programme. EPC: During the pandemic, it has given teachers more time to reflect and complete the PDNETwork workshops such as phonological awareness. This workshop has equipped English teachers better, provided more knowledge and increased confidence to teach phonics. One of the positive consequences of everyone completing phonics workshops at the school was how teachers became aware of what was available and the ease with which they could gain PD hours. Our teachers completed 34 workshops in the 2021/22 school year. “ Case study 1 : A learning community within a school Shared challenge: How to match students to book levels The role of PDNETwork : Teachers developed some shared knowledge through PDNETwork, before coming together with their Advisory Teacher (AT) for context-specific learning and problem-solving. AT: In SKH Tsing Yi Estate Ho Chak Wan Primary School, we encouraged the teachers to learn how to match students to book levels as assessment for the reading programme. I proposed that all teachers do the online workshop to get a general understanding, and this would be followed by a school-based workshop. EPC: PDNETwork helped us achieve our goal in a timely way. The two workshops (one online and one school-based) complemented each other. The online workshop acted as a good lead-in to our experienced and novice teachers. In the online workshop, we acquired the basic terminology and the procedure of matching students. In the school-based workshop, our AT reminded us of some key concepts in matching students. More importantly, we had a hands- on experience in doing a mock matching with our teachers which definitely deepened our understanding in matching students to book levels. “ “ Shared challenge: Updating a school phonics programme The role of PDNETwork : Teachers developed shared knowledge on the latest phonics approach to ease the development of a new programme. 4 NET Scheme News Issue 46 PDNETwork