MPI 5

 Algebra!!!!
As a kid I hated algebra, and did not understand it at all. However, as a teacher, I have grown to love it, and it has become one of my favourite strands to teach. Having said that, I still struggle with the nuts and bolts of algebra, and I found myself confused by some of the content today. I will need to go back through and process the information again at my own pace to understand it fully. 

In terms of teaching algebra at year 7 and 8 level (which I have been doing for about four years now), materials have not been a big feature in my maths programme, as I have always been concerned with making sure the students can see rules, and use rules to solve algebraic problems, etc. However MPI has taught me that equipment (whether physical or digital) is hugely important so I will need to find a way to incorporate materials in to our algebra programme. As it is a schoolwide focus for term 4, I do have a little bit of time to plan for it, however I am aware that if I leave it for too long I will forget the amazing things I learned today and just revert to doing the same old stuff! So starting to work on it now (and using MPI taskboards and activities etc) will be valuable.

Vocabulary was a big feature of our session today, and it is another area that I would like to spend more teaching time on, especially working in Māori medium. I love the TIP chart idea and will use it more often. I am thankful for resources like Paekupu and Te Poutama Tau for having done most of the legwork in this area - my job is to find ways/activities to embed these kupu while also using them in real contexts in class. 

Reflecting on two changes that I have made that I have consistently implemented in my classroom maths practise:

1. Rich tasks Thursdays. They have become a regular feature every Thursday, and I change maths groupings on these days. Some groupings work better than others, and there will always be students who are more vocal than others, but in general the students seem to work through them at a good pace, so it seems as if they are achievable without being too easy. One students even asked last Thursday if we were still going to do one that day :)  - from this particular student it is a positive question, not a negative one (so not "do we really have to do that again?")

2. Introducing learning outcomes and success criteria with group session times. It hasn't been something I have done in the past with small group maths, but I have found it is great for getting students to reflect on whether or not they achieved the intentions of the session.

When I discussed this with my mentor, she also mentioned rauemi/resources. She has observed that I am using rauemi more often than I used to, and allowing the students to manipulate them, whereas before I thought it was babyish for year 7 and 8s! So this is probably a third area (but needs to remain a constant).

 

MPI 4

 Great session today, I love getting into the nuts and bolts of maths (and content knowledge is what I actually need in terms of my practice). I especially appreciate having everything broken down conceptually (eg percentages are another way of writing hundredths), as it helps my own understanding.  I know that I definitely need practise myself in some areas before I even try to teach the children. Decimal place value in particular is a difficult concept for me to grasp and I do end up reteaching myself over and over, however some of the rauemi today did make that a little bit clearer. 

I notice too that apart from a few pieces of equipment that we received recently, my kura doesn't seem to have a lot of manipulatives for fractions/decimals/percentages. This could mean that I need to make as much as I can from nzmaths material masters, or be creative with whatever rauemi I can find. However, I realise also that they can't just sit on the shelf and get forgotten about either (which is a nasty habit of mine) so I need to be purposeful and thoughtful about any rauemi I acquire, and make a plan to use it.

MPI 3 Homework Reflection

 My task today is to reflect on the opportunities I give students to communicate and explain their ideas. I actually thought I did this quite well, but my student survey results at the beginning of MPI suggest that this is not the case. So some reflection is definitely necessary!

I expect that students will show me their thinking in their maths books. I don't expect them to write screeds and screeds, but I do expect that they will show me how they got to their answer (for example, if the question is 25 x 12, did they use doubling/halving? Or did they use place value partition? Or old school algorithm?) This usually gives me the opportunity to give them feedback or discuss with them in small group sessions - which strategy do you think is the most efficient? Why? Also, unfortunately, there is no room for a high trust model with this particular group of children - some will definitely be using the calculator function on their chromebooks to work it out, so if they have to also write a strategy, it at least allows me to hold them to account in some way. 

On reflection, however, I need to remember that some children may prefer to share their strategies verbally rather than writing them; and I also need to make allowances for students who would rather draw their thinking (which I tend to dismiss as 'babyish' for my senior students). This can maybe be an independent station activity (providing them with a choice of how they represent their thinking), or it could be part of small group sessions (although these sessions are usually taken up with strategy teaching and/or practise). As Te Poutama Tau/The Numeracy Project is heavily reliant on the teaching of strategies, I do need to make time for teaching specific strategies, as that is how progress is measured; however, stations provide an opportunity for a bit more variety and exposure to other types of activities.

 learners to communicate their thinking and ideas.

1. 
   

MPI Day 3

 Really enjoyed today's session. I enjoyed the intensive descriptions of how things are done (eg how to teach a rich task) and appreciate the sharing of ideas regarding where to find rich tasks/investigation problems. My goal now will be to translate/adjust them for my own class.

In particular I like the look of IXL and Mathigon for basic facts practise, and Polypad for the digital manipulatives. There are a few students in my class who struggle with basic facts retention, so it would be great to have something else to try. 

In terms of my own practise, the Taking Stock document was a good way for me to think about and reflect how I do things. While I do offer independent activities, these are often on a rotation (eg Number Boggle this week, Number of the Day the week after). There isn't necessarily a targeted approach happening here (unless I adjust the Number of the Day activity to include something that they need to work on). So I need to rethink this and try to offer more relevant activities. The students also have a choice board that they can choose games from - I have given each group different games, and they are targeted at what the group needs - but again I need to rethink how effective these games are, and how I can monitor their learning. Some games do not offer monitoring/ a report afterwards, so I need to decide if they are worthwhile.

I tend to rely on nzmaths for planning, whether it's number or strand (and this is a whole school approach).  We are fortunate at our kura that there are many unit plans/resources available in te reo Māori that we can use.

Groupings are another area where I would probably make some changes. I know that certain children don't work well together (and this can create disruption for the whole class) so I will need to do this carefully, but I also think some students would be a positive influence on other students who are still struggling with some concepts. I take on board what was said though - do this for maybe one day a week first (eg rich task Thursdays), and get an idea of which groupings work best.

Mānawatia a Matariki :)

MPI Day 2

 Lots of information today, some of it a bit overwhelming (Google Sheets! Boo!), BUT - one of my personal goals for my digital world knowledge/skill level is to get better at using Sheets in a similar way to how the Teacher Workbook is done. The task boards are also eye-opening but again, as Donna said, they are aspirational, so definitely something to work towards and keep adding to. I do like the variety of tasks that were on offer, and all addressing the same learning intention.

Goal setting is something that was definitely evident throughout the day. I currently do this with my students who are achieving at their expected levels, as a means of keeping them engaged and not just cruising; but I need to make it something that all students do. So getting them familiar with progressions will need to be the first step.

Overall, lots to process - I will need a bit of time to decompress from today (being up at 3am to pick up my son from nightshift has probably not helped the situation). Excited however to try some things.

 

Maths Survey Reflections

 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.

Do you get an opportunity to communicate your ideas and strategies? 1 = never, 4 = all the time. I should have maybe edited the question to say 'either in your maths group or in your book', as I am constantly reminding the students to show their thinking in their books. I'm surprised at the 4 who said "never" or "not often" as I feel like it is a constant expectation that they will . I'm thinking they either didn't understand the question or they assume it's referring to whether or not they offer to explain their strategies. More clarity needed here.

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. 😄😄

 

 

 

MPI 1 Reflections

 Lots to think about from today's session, and in terms of my maths teaching practice. One new concept that I heard about for the very first time ever today is "low floor,/threshold, high ceiling' tasks - never ever heard of that before! The definition I found from NZ Maths is " to describe tasks that accommodate a wide range of learners. A LTHC task has relatively easy entry points so that all students can begin it, but has scope for exploration and challenge for students are all levels. " This fits in really well with the article I read about providing cognitively challenging tasks for all students, so this is definitely something I would like to explore in more depth.

Other areas of practice to reflect on:

- the emphasis on memorisation. I definitely place a lot of importance on memorising facts, mainly because I feel like that is the main thing stopping students from participating in activities, and progressing in maths in general. But if I really think about it, it could be a number of factors such as lack of confidence to speak up rather than not knowing.

- teaching strategies that align with the Poutama Tau/Numeracy Project way of doing things and not giving students the sense that their own strategies are still valuable.

- if I was to ask my students the question "Does your teacher think you are good at maths?" I dread the answer. I think a few would say no and that is actually quite devastating, and I am keen to find ways to address that.