The survey results found that, in general, my students have a positive attitude towards maths. The feeling I get from them on a daily basis is that they prefer maths to literacy (especially reading - something else to reflect on) so these survey results don't really surprise me to be honest.
For my observation, I chose a mixture of students to work with - a couple who I knew would speak up quite confidently, and a few that I knew would not. I thought they would be the ideal group to introduce the "Rules for Group Talk" to. However, even with encouragement, the quiet students remained quiet, and even the confident ones took time to warm up. Obviously they will need more consistent exposure to working with the rules - hopefully my reluctant talkers will find their voices using this tool, and those who tend to dominate will learn to include the less confident students.
Survey results:
Question - how do you feel about maths? (with 1 meaning they don't like it at all, and 4 meaning they really like it). As mentioned above, this is not surprising; students often greet maths time with relief ("yay!").
Do you feel confident when solvinging maths problems? 1 = not at all, 4 = yes. I found it interesting that while all students seem to like maths, some are not confident at it. When I looked at who answered that they weren't confident at all, I was not surprised; 1 student is definitely and obviously not confident, and the other two, while quite capable, do stress out about their bookwork (but not necessarily about other aspects of the maths rotation eg warm-ups, independent group activities).
Do you prefer: 1 = easy questions, 5 = hard questions. Most of the class is in the middle - I'm assuming they mean a mixture of easy and hard, which does make sense - easy questions for a sense of achievement and success, harder questions for a challenge. I'm actually pretty stoked with this result, as most of the class want a mix.
Does your teacher give you feedback about your maths work (either verbally or in your book)? One student that was in my observation group said that I often mark their books without actually putting any kind of comment - I do believe it is sometimes not necessary to leave a comment, especially if they can see that their work has been ticked - however, I take on board that a purposeful comment such as "I can see that you are trying really hard to practise this strategy, well done" can be a great acknowledgement and confidence booster.
Do you find your teacher's feedback helpful in improving your maths skills? Very happy about this result - it is also interesting to note this result in contrast to the previous graph. Some students think they don't get feedback (or don't get enough, or don't get the right kind), but then think that feedback is helpful for them. This tells me that they would appreciate more feedback because they find it helpful.
Does your teacher think you are good at maths? 1 = not at all, 4= yes, she thinks I'm awesome. Grateful that nobody chose 1, but still need to reflect on the fact that a student chose 2. This particular student has an IEP, and is getting extra maths homework/ support from home as per the kura expectations for IEP students - this has all added up to create a picture in his head that his teacher doesn't really think he's that good at maths (as well as any other messages that I am unknowingly passing on to him). Obviously this doesn't sit well with me and I will need to reflect on this. However, in contrast, most of the class chose 3 and a couple chose 4 so that is something to be happy about.
What helps you understand maths problems in the classroom? Not surprisingly, working in pairs with a friend and working in a group were the most popular choices (and they do have lots of opportunities for this). Working on their own was the next popular. Only 3 students said that working with the teacher was helpful - again, something to reflect on! When I asked my observation group about this, one student said our group sessions are too long and that this is the reason why they generally don't find working with me helpful - however, I think 10-15 minutes is perfectly fine, and this is actually a constant source of frustration for me with this particular class, who seem to find 10-15 minutes a long time in lots of different situations. This is probably the only area that I am not willing to change - in fact, I truly think rotation times could be a bit longer, or maybe have more rotations a day.
Does your whānau think you're good at maths? Sadly, two students chose 1 = no they think it's hard for me. 1 of these students is the same student who chose 1 for "Does your teacher think you're good at maths?" Perhaps the need for regular homework and hui whānau is the reason behind this.
How often do you practise maths outside of school? This question should probably have included some examples eg buying lollies at the dairy, gaming. I suggested this to my observation group, who all agreed, saying that they didn't think of those things when they answered the question.
Some ideas that came out of the group observation session:
- more games with the kaiako (which I think is great for those competitive students, but not necessarily for less confident students - maybe I could group them according to who likes competitive games and who doesn't? That way the less confident students can either compete against each other, or have less competitive games).
- shorter teacher-led session times (which, as I mentioned above, are only 10-15 minutes long which I think is reasonable).
- give written feedback when marking
Some of the comments left by students at the end of the survey, which give me even more insight into individual students' feelings about maths:
He pai te Pāngarau ki ahau tera pea ko toku kaupapa pae ake - I like pāngarau, it's maybe my favourite subject.
He pai ki ahau engari ka tino hōhā au i nga wā kore ka marama. Ka hau (Stress) i ngā wā kore e mōhio au. I like it but it's frustrating when I don't understand. I stress when I don't know.
He ahua pai te pangarau, engari ētahi wā kāre he pai. Maths is kind of cool, but sometimes it's not.
Me māia ake ahau i roto i ngā mahi pangarau. I need to get more confident in pāngarau.
E pai ana au ki te pangarau nā te mea he pai nga mea katoa ki au. I like maths because I like everything. 😄😄
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