Maths Discussion Forum (Assessment)

 Marie Hirst discussed the purpose of each assessment: 

JAM - Multi-strand - Non-standardised

GLOSS - Mental number strategies - results are subjective, but it creates lots of opportunities to talk to the students and hear what they are thinking. It was not designed as an end of year test. Non-standardised

IKAN - Timed test - trying to see if students know the facts or whether they are using strategy. Valuable as a formative assessment. You could scribe for students. Non-standardised

Lomas Test - Non-standardised

ARBS - Non-standardised

e-AsTTle - Standardised

PAT - Standardised

Additional information: 

GLOSS: Problems needs to be solved mentally, you could ask, can you do it in another way? You need to give the students time. If in doubt, continue with the interview to see if the students can cope. 

What if the strategy is right, but the answer is wrong? The expectation is that the answer should be right, you could give another example.  When students solve with an algorithm, ask them to solve it in a different way, or ask them to explain the algorithm. 

Do not use pen and paper accept if they got the answer right but struggles to explain how they got to the answer. ELL students might need a different test. 

Students need to practice Basic Facts. 

Modelling books could be digital. 

Number Talk (Jo Boaler) silent strategy practice. 

What stood out for me? 

It was really helpful to get an understanding of the purpose of each test and how to apply them. 

Next step: Developing using Number Talk in my class, looking into Jo Bouler's strategies. FIne tuning how I use the GLOSS as an assessment tool. Using ARBS as an assessment tool especially for strand. 

Leadership Coaching Workshop

 I had the privilege of attending a leadership coaching workshop with Roween Higgie and Tom Hullena. What stood out for me? 

The difference between mentoring and coaching, both powerful conversations for learning, but different. Each one has it's placed depending on the receiver. 

Growth Model Framework: 

Mentoring: Let's set up a goal for you. 

Coaching: Tell me about what's on top for you. What do you need to achieve? 

Mentoring: What is not going well? 

Coaching: If we think of a scale 1 - 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest, where do you think you are at towards this goal? What would it look like if you were at a 10? 

Mentoring: This is what you need to do. 

Coaching: What will you need to do to get this done? What steps can you take towards this goal? 

Mentoring: Speak to person X, they will tell you how to do it.  

Coaching: Who might you talk to? If I was a student in your class, how will I know what the goal is? 

Mentoring: I think this is a good place to start, this is the first step. 

Coaching: Looking at your options, are you going to focus on all three? What are you hoping to see when you are successful? 

Mentoring: You need to have this done by the end of the week. 

Coaching: We are meeting again in 3/4 weeks, you should have met the goal by then. I'm looking forward to hearing about your success. 

When setting up a goal, use the following framework: 

By ______________________________________

I am / have ________________________________

so that ____________________________________

e.g. By the end of week 3, I have a clear Maths planning sheet where I plan for number knowledge, group work, follow-up activities and problem-solving opportunities so that my students will get better at using different strategies to solve problems independently. 

Always remember that goals should be ISMART: Inspiring, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. 

Feedback Framework: 

Something else I found really helpful and would like to use as soon as I have the opportunity is the Feedback Framework. 

What I value in the work you do... _____________________

And it would be even better if... _______________________

Because/9or) so that... _______________________________

How do you see it? __________________________________

e.g. What I value in the work you do is that you do a great job on the facilitation and presentation of your course,  and it would be even better if you complete the paperwork and follow-up after the workshops, that will ensure our admin is accurate. How do you see it? 

Concern-based Feedback:

And finally, the concern-based framework. You will use this to address a persistent problem. E.g. I've noticed during Maths you are using mass-produced worksheets as the follow-up activities, the expectation at our school is that our students get opportunities to practice and apply their learning. How do you see it? 

This workshop was amazing, I learned so much, especially as it was all new learning for me. I'm hoping to practice this on a regular basis before I actually have to use it in a real-life situation. My next step will be to practice using it in a safe zone like my daughter or husband. Getting used to the framework and flow of the conversations. Then practice using it in our leadership team. I will ask Michelle or Gretchen to support me through this. 

Maths in class

After our GLOSS testing, I felt disappointed in the results. I felt like I let my student down, perhaps as I was so focussed on developing a great writing programme. So I used my time during lockdown to investigate how I can improve my teaching in order to accelerate their learning. 

The first thing I did was to get a good overview of what is expected to move students from levels 4 - 7. And having NZ video examples to link with each curriculum progression. 

ADD/SUB strategies progressions

Our year 4/5/6 team had a Google Meet and discussed a recipe that we all should have in order to ensure maximum learning taking place, especially as we have missed a lot of days of school due to COVID. 

This is what we decided: 

1. Start with 5 - 10min Number knowledge quiz or game

2. Strategy/concept teaching

3. Mon-Wed time for students to practice the strategies they learned in the group. 

4. Thurs - Fri Problem Solving questions where students get the opportunity to use any strategy to solve the problem, focussing on them explaining why they chose the specific strategy. 

5. Time to reflect on their learning.

Gretchen (Subject Lead) then collated a document with Maths Teaching Expectations  In this document she mentioned Number Talk. 

I investigated this and what this means. Gretchen shared with me more documents around Number Talk.

Number Talks: Crowd-Sourced Doc

Number Talk 

So what I want to add to my above mentioned "recipe" is to add a 5 - 10min number talk 3 times a week. 

Further, I re-looked at my Maths planning and setting it up in a clear way so that I can see in a glance what I planned, and that I don't try to thumb suck examples. 

What I'm hoping to see is more engagement of my students, using a variety of strategies to solve problems, and them being able to verbally explain why they chose a strategy and how they used it. 

Online Toolkit with Mark Maddren - Creative Collage for Descriptive Writing

Helpful for kids that are not engaged in writing. Also helpful to teach digital skills such as cropping and masking. 

This is what it looks like: 

All images in EXPLORE is free to use. To change the shape of an image click on crop and then the shape you like. The order in which you stack the images is important. Arrange, order, send to the back... Because of layering, it is important that students think through what they want to be at the background, start with those images, and work their way to the images that should be in the front. 

My attempt: 

Hahaha, this was done in about 6 - 8 minutes. So not very well thought through, however, it was fun doing it. This could now lead to a descriptive writing piece or many other writing possibilities. 

I am definitely going to use this in week 1. I think the students will love this. 

Middle Management Course - Courageous Conversations

During my last middle management course, I came to the understanding that having agency is not only for students but also for teachers. Giving staff agency is the step towards empowerment which is powerful. 

Our team at school should be integrated, and have a shared understanding of what our school culture involves. We must always think of how we can engage everybody, but sometimes, when staff is non-compliant, or un-corporative, we as leaders, should draw a line in the sand, especially when it affects the students. After you have done the loop a few times of requesting, support, checking in, requesting, support, checking in etc, and things are not improving, escalate to management. 

Leading has lots of inconsistencies. Therefore we should be as restorative as possible, but if you reach the line in the sand - pull the plug. 

As part of leadership is being punitive. When you pick up the stick of leadership, you also take on the accountability that goes with it. 

Then it's time for courageous conversations. However, always take into account how it will affect their livelihood, catch yourself if the stakes are too high. 

PREPARE FOR YOUR CONVERSATION: 

Always write it down: 

1. State the issue e.g. David consistently not coming to class on time. 

2. Express your concerns - say how you feel - e.g. ....keeps me up at night...

3. Ask for others viewpoint and how they see the situation. e.g. This is my view...what do I have right or wrong - your view. 

4. Use the ladder of inference to seek clarification. e.g. let's get clarification (go through each step).

5. Use active listening placement (paraphrase) and reflective questioning. Pick about 3 or 4 up front. e.g. This is how I see it...

6. Acknowledge what you both now know as a result of your korero

..... have I missed anything. 

7. Develop a plan of action. Constructed process. 

8. Follow up and follow through...be diligent. 

9. Keep close attention to the timing of actions around nr (8). Look at what you are requesting, it should be doable. 

10. Have data at hand to work from. Tip: Write in a diary. Use invitational language as much as possible w.r.t the above. Consistency leads to integrity and credibility. Consider collegial or other supports as necessary (both them and you). Ensure the plan is documented, signed off and achievable. Act quickly at post planning, however, be mindful of natural justice.  Document, document, document!

Try to avoid sh...t sandwich technique. Don't flower it up. This will give the wrong message on how important the issue is. 

So what: 

I found this workshop extreamly informative. Although I realise that there will certainly be lots of times that I will have to have a courageous conversation with a colleague in my career, I am hoping that it will not be needed often. 

ESOL Strategies Rm 1

I have had the opportunity to introduce some ESOL strategies in Room 1. Our first strategy was Running Dictation which is a listening and speaking strategy. Especially good for practising new vocabulary, spelling or even phrases. The students really enjoyed it and everybody participated. In our initial trial, we used adjectives to enhance their writing.

When playing it the second time, I realised that this game might be a bit hard for students with dyslexia and/or reading impairments. Therefore it will be good if the teacher stands close to the words and supports students that have reading difficulties, by doing this, it includes them in the game and set them up for success.

The second strategy I introduced was Say It which is a speaking strategy. The students work in small groups and get a chance to ask a question to anybody of their choice in the group. The person answers the question, they can then choose the question he/she wants to ask next and to whom. In this way, they can read a question that they already heard or a new question. I chose the topic of kindness to make the really low in context while introducing the game. The students enjoyed it and all participated eagerly.

The next activity that I introduced was Think, Pair, Share. 

This is a quick easy activity to use during any discussions to encourage sharing ideas and listening to your buddy. Students had to think for a minute before discussing it with their buddy and then shared what their buddy said. It was interesting to see who was able to report back on what their buddy said.

The last activity for this term was Shared Dictation. In this activity, two students sit back to back, each person gets a few sentences and takes turns to dictate to the other. They have to mention where the punctuation has to go. If they get stuck on a word, their partner can spell it out. I was good to see everybody participating in and completing the task.

I am looking forward to seeing these strategies used in room 1 and to see if it supports acceleration in writing. 

TLIF observation Term 2 2020

Sam and I had our TLIF observation this week. My lesson was successful as the students managed to answer the big question after a dialogue on whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable.

What I managed to do:
- Introduced Talanoa at the start of the lesson.
- Provide cue cards for student talk moves.
- Used wait time to give students the opportunity to share their thoughts.
- Used non-verbal cues to remind students to use Talanoa.
- Also asked students to respond in non-verbal ways (thumbs up or down) to determine their stand on a question.

What the students did:
- Some students spoke up by saying, " Can you say that a bit louder as I can't hear, please".
- More dialogue between students. The most interactions before I had to speak were between 3 students.
- Students used the talk moves a few times (but lots of room for improvement).

What next:
- Increase wait time even more.
- Extend dialogue by deepening their thinking. (Refer to page 91 of the Classroom Talk textbook).
- Use more pedagogy strategies so that students can practice talking to each other.
- Bump up the context to make room for deeper conversations.