Sunday 4 November 2018

Celebrating Creativity In Learning

Today in our staff PD, we celebrated the creative work that we have done with our children. Dorothy was speaking to us about the power of Learn, Create, Share and asked us to have a think about an activity this year that was a creative and successful part of a child's learning journey.

I had a think back to an awesome reading activity that I did my a group called Thor. It was super engaging and helped to push the boys to think more deeply about the text.


Monday 17 September 2018

Goal Setting In DMIC Maths



This term the focus of my inquiry was goal setting and reflecting in DMIC maths.
If you look back to last term's inquiry update, I began using the goal chart that you can see in the photo above. I wrote names under each goal. However, to make it easier and more engaging, I printed out student's faces and students get to stick their own face on the chart! They have found much more enjoyment in getting to stick their faces up and I am able to refer back to this chart during the lesson to remind children of the goal they chose.

I have found 'group norm goal' setting to be very effective. Students choose their own goal, which gives them more ownership/responsibility over their learning!

Sunday 19 August 2018

Inquiry Update, term 3



Creating a rubric
At the beginning of term 2, Sue, Khismira and I created a DMIC rubric. On the left, you can see a large rubric with images. This is the rubric that my children can see in class. On the right are the criteria for each colour level. Throughout term 2, I explained this rubric to my class and gave students feedback on where they were on the rubric. I was really surprised with how engaged my groups were with it. Students would often ask me where they were on the rubric and if they had improved. I was honest with them, and explained exactly why they were at a certain point. 

Changing our view of success in maths
After a while, I decided that instead of them asking me what colour they were, they could decide by themselves through self reflection. As we wrapped up each DMIC lesson, I would ask students to write their name on the book and colour in what they personally thought they were for that lesson. I was intrigued when I saw that Lesieli marked herself as red - meaning no effort. When I asked her why, she believed it was because she got some answers wrong. It was at this point that I stopped the whole class and straight up asked them "who thinks they suck at maths?". They all raised their hands. When I asked why, they all said the same thing, "cos I get the answers wrong". 

From that moment, we've been working hard on changing our view of success in maths. I remind my class that it isn't about the answers, it's about their effort. It's about everything that is in the rubric and there is nothing about correct answers in the rubric. Just listening, speaking and working well with peers. 

It was interesting to see that when I reminded Lesieli that her success wasn't about right or wrong answers, she changed herself to gold, 'buddy teacher'. And she was spot on.

If you skip to the video on slide 5, you will see the golden moment we had after our chat about what success looks like in maths. What a change in the general vibe!

The power of self reflection
On slide 3 you will see a Group Norm Goal poster. My team leader Helen found this online and I thought it was brilliant. Instead of focussing on the rubric, I am now using this every lesson. 
I have printed this poster and keep it on my whiteboard where everyone can see it during maths lessons. Before each lesson, students choose their own goal. I write their name in that box and then we have a quick discussion about what those goals would look like. I purposely don't choose the goals for students because I want them to take ownership of their own goal. At the end of each lesson, they are now reflecting on their chosen goal. It's been great to see how honest some of their responses have been. We still have a lot to work on when it comes to self reflection, but I have already seen students begin to take more ownership of their effort and behaviour during lessons as a result of choosing their own goal. It's also been awesome finishing lessons on a positive note, where students focus on their goal rather than focussing on how many answers they got wrong.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes!



Wednesday 21 February 2018

Inquiry Focus for 2018

Hello 2018! I am now teaching in a year 3/4 ILE with 80 students. I am teaching alongside Helen King and Zac Moran, who I am very much looking forward to working with and learning from!


This year, Pt England School's overall focus is 
Acquisition Of Language. 
I chose to focus my inquiry on the Manaiakalani Achievement Challenge #6 - Lift achievement in maths for all students year 1 -13. 

DMiC Maths

This year, teachers at Pt England School are learning how to teach DMiC maths from Bobby Hunter. As this is going to be a huge change in the way that I have taught maths in the past, and therefore a challenge, I decided it would make sense to focus my inquiry around this! I am currently a little nervous about this new approach at teaching maths, as I know that I will need to step back and allow my students to do the talking! I am also slightly hesitant about mixed ability grouping, however I began doing this in my class at the end of last year and saw it's benefits. I'm really looking forward to this new learning journey and seeing how it not only helps our students, but also improves my teaching.


I've noticed that students find it difficult to verbalise themselves when explaining how they worked out a problem. There are several reasons for this - students could be nervous when speaking in front of their peers, they might still be comprehending the problem, they may not be interested or, they're not confident with their maths language. I often hear children say 'I plussed the numbers' and 'I got the answer, but I don't know how'. Students need to practice explaining their strategies out loud so that they can learn the mathematical language that will help them to become confident when problem solving. This is what DMiC Maths is all about, therefore, my big question for the year is:


Will the use of the DMiC process in maths increase mathematical vocabulary in my students?