Using 'because'

PROBLEM: My kids struggle to explain and justify their thinking and reasoning in maths.
WONDERING: How can I develop the mathematical dialogic discourse ability of my children?

As mentioned in a prior post I'm not seeing the progress I was expecting to see at this stage of the year.  Discussing my frustrations with Dr Aaron Wilson he assured me that inquiries which involve a culture and behavioural change are often slow going and can take a long time to see change. So that was reassuring.

The main frustration I have is that my kids struggle to use vocabulary that effectively explains and justifies their thinking. They will to some degree explain and justify their thinking using their own vocabulary however, the person trying to understand their thinking is often having to infer meaning and join the dots.

Among other unused vocabulary and phrases the most common unused word in helping to explain and justify is the word 'because'. Despite having introduced it earlier this year as part of the waka paddle prompts and insisting the children use it while explaining their maths problems the word 'because' is not yet common place in the classroom.

To combat this I'm going to introduce some activities/games where the kids have to use the word 'because' in order to successfully participate/complete the activity. My hope is that by using the word more frequently and highlighting it in a fun way prior to a maths session the children will transfer the use of 'because' to their mathematical explanations and justifications. I'll keep you updated.

First run with the waka paddles

PROBLEM: My kids struggle to explain and justify their thinking and reasoning in maths.

WONDERING: How can I develop the mathematical dialogic discourse ability of my children?

This week I used the waka paddle prompts for the first time. As they were a novelty the kids were eager to use them. At first they weren't using them meaningfully. They viewed it more like a game to get rid of their waka paddles. After some more discussion around the purpose of the paddles and how the prompts needed to be used appropriately and meaningfully the paddles started to be used more effectively. One annoyance is that some kids were more focussed on playing with the paddles than the maths task however, I'm hoping that once the novelty wears off this won't be much of an issue.

Waka paddle prompts

PROBLEM: My kids struggle to explain and justify their thinking and reasoning in maths.

WONDERING: How can I develop the mathematical dialogic discourse ability of my children?

The data I collected confirmed my suspicions that my kids struggled to explain and justify their reasoning in maths. My hunch is that the kids don't know how to do this effectively. To help them learn I have made prompts of the kind of things they should be saying when explaining and justifying their thinking.

The idea is that each kid holds a few prompts in their hands and their goal is to meaningfully use the prompt in their maths session. Once they have used it they can discard the prompt. My hope is that over time using these prompts will become second nature and they will no longer need them. I used the symbol of the waka paddle as we often talk about how we are one whanau and we are all in one waka. We need to all paddle in the same direction if we are to get anywhere. 

The power of co-constructing the WALT

One of my significant takeaways from PD with Jo Knox was how she co-constructed the WALT with the children at the end of the lesson. The WALT was written in language the children used and could understand.

I have since done this with my maths groups and it is working a treat and has a number of benefits.  By co-constructing the WALT the children are reflecting on their learning straight after the lesson and it has helped them cement the lesson content.

I have also seen higher levels of engagement when co-constructing the WALT.  By not letting the cat out of the bag at the start of the lesson there is an element of the unknown. This unknown creates a level of curiosity within the children which leads to greater engagement.

Finally, it has empowered the children and given them greater agency over their learning which can only be a good thing right?

If you haven't done this with your class you should give it a whirl. At the very least it's nice to mix things up a bit for both you and your kids.

Perfect Punch - Ratio Lesson

The learning intention for this lesson was to solve word problems involving decimals and to justify your thinking. The video shows snippets of the whole teaching process from the introduction of the problem to the children explaining their thinking to the class. Check out the full lesson plan and child generated content here.

An interesting issue that arose was the children didn't read the question properly. The question asked was,  'How much of each drink would Jack need to make punch for 30 people' but the children read it as, 'How many batches of punch does Jack need to make to serve 30 people'.  Once the error was highlighted they were able to join the dots and do the maths but the problem was they didn't realise the error themselves.  This is a common issue for our kids, they struggle to understand either the vocabulary in the word problem or knowing what it is asking them which then has a detrimental effect on their maths. My next steps involves  unpacking the word problems with the children and guiding them to make sure they fully understand the problem before proceeding with solving it.

A challenge with create tasks

This term my maths class has been studying measurement. This lesson involved the children estimating and measuring distances then comparing the difference between them. It aligns with my CoL inquiry as it has a hands on/materials and a create element to the lesson. Being a hands on and a create based task made for high student engagement which was great to see. Unfortunately high engagement doesn't always mean learning. One challenge I find with create activities is the children get so caught up in the create aspect of the task and neglect the actual content of what they are creating. Often leading to videos with mathematical examples that are not accurate or clear.

This was a Google Class OnAir episode. For a full lesson plan, reflection and examples of the children completed activities please go here.

Fraction Challenge - Google Class OnAir episode

The learning intentions for this lesson was to participate 100% as a member of a group and to visually represent a fraction of a whole. I chose this create lesson/activity as a way of concretising my kids fraction knowledge. Click here to go to my Manaiakalani Class On Air site where you will find a detailed lesson plan, a reflection of the lesson and an example the the kids final product.




This lesson highlighted to me how effective create lessons are in engaging the children. I was delighted to see one boy who struggles with maths and often disengages really light up when doing this activity. It was the first time I had seen him genuinely engage in a maths activity.

Book Da Teacher

As a part of my inquiry scan I asked my children via a google form: "Is there anything your maths teacher could do to help you improve more in maths? If so what?

20 children responded to the survey question but only 7 answered the question in it's entirety. The others opted to simply answer yes or no without explaining what I could do to help. Out of the 7 who responded in full 4 of them said something along the lines of "spending more time with the teacher". This surprised me as the introduction of the maths tumble meant I was seeing each group regularly. I asked those four children to elaborate on what the wanted and they all mentioned they wanted one on one or smaller group time with me. As it turned out when I asked the class to close their eyes and raise their hand if they would like to have more teacher time in a smaller group setting 4/5 of them raised their hand.

With 20 kids indicating they would like more time with me to help them in their maths learning I have initiated 'Book da teacher'. The children can book in a 10 minute time slot with me using a google sheet via our team's website. The 2 conditions are: A maximum of 3 people per session and the children must come to the session with something to work on or a problem.

'Book da teacher' is now in it's second week of running. To my surprise in the first 2 days no one booked in. When I questioned the kids about what was going on it turned out they were confused as to what they should come to me with. After some further elaboration the booking sheet started to fill up. It is still early days but I am hoping that this initiative will be a small step towards lifting the maths achievement of my kids.

Decimal Place Value - Popsicle Decimals - Google Class OnAir episode

Below is a video and reflection of a place value lesson I recently did with my children. As mentioned in an earlier post I was challenged to use materials as a way of building the children's decimal place value knowledge. This was my first attempt. To see examples of the children's finished work please go to my Class OnAir site.

Reflection
I found this lesson a bit of a struggle. Some of the children were reluctant to engage, maybe because they thought they were beyond this however evidence from their classwork and GLOSS test indicates otherwise. This lesson highlighted to me how important materials are for teaching decimal place value. With using materials the children quickly latched onto the idea that 1 popsicle stick represented 1/10 so 3 popsicle sticks represented 3/10 and so on. It also made it easier for them to add decimals together. The next steps involve removing the scaffolds and getting the children to work with tenths without the popsicle sticks

Multiplication inquiry reflection

Term 1 is almost over. It's been a long one but a good one. The post below contains information about my term 1 inquiry that we presented to our professional learning groups in staff meeting last week.

The Question
Evidence from IKANS test and conversations with the kids suggested they were lacking in their knowledge of multiplication basic facts. This got me thinking ‘How can I significantly improve my kids times tables knowledge within a learn, create, share pedagogy?’ Below are some of the strategies I tried and the results.

The Humble Tumble
I introduced a tumble to my maths program. This ensured each child got at least 20 minutes a day       to work on the multiplication basic facts they needed to.

Basic facts station
The basic facts station included multiplication/division wheels where the kids would test themselves or play with a partner. It also included multiplication snap. Each child played a card then it was race to multiply the two numbers together. First person to say the correct answer won that pair of cards.

Multiplication songs
The kids could also watch and learn the multiplication songs we found on youtube. They had access   to the 2 - 12 times tables songs through our class site.

Regular tests
To track progress,  the kids were tested on their knowledge of the first 100 times tables basic facts

The results

This graph shows the amount of shift the kids made in their times table score from the start of February to the end of March

Reflection

Overall the inquiry was successful. The children made gains in their times tables knowledge and were generally engaged and wanting to learn them. I will be carrying on with the basic facts station into term 2 however I will be changing the activities to ensure the kids don’t get tired of them. The children who have a great understanding of times table 1-10 will be encouraged to learn the 12’s, 13’s and the division basic facts.

The basic facts station also promoted self monitoring which was great for the kids. At times it got a little messy when some kids went of task but after a word or three from myself they were back on track.

The multiplication complication

To increase my kids times table knowledge I have included a basic facts station into the maths program. The goal was to make this station engaging and 100% child monitored as the children would be working at this station while I was working with a small group.

So far the station is proving to be a success. The children are visibly engaged when they are there and often ask when it is their groups turn at the station. At this point and time the station includes two activities:

 1 - Multiplication/division wheels
This task has the children testing each other on a times table they find challenging. If they get one wrong they have to find out the correct answer and say it 5 times e.g "6 x 8 = 48,  6 x 8 = 48..."
This task can also be done without a partner.

2 - Multiplication card game
Children start with the same amount of cards. At the same time each child turns over a card. The   goal is to be the first of the pair to correctly multiply the two cards together. The winner takes the cards. The person who gets all the cards is the winner. This game is works well particularly for the children who know most of the 1 - 10 times tables as the packs of card they use go up to 13. These children are encouraged to select cards that included 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13. I have 3 children who really struggle with times tables so these students add the numbers on the cards.

To keep the children engaged I will be changing the various activities up during the term. While the children are engaged I have yet to test them to see if this station is having any effect on their achievement. This will be happening soon so watch this space.

Manaiakalani Community of Learning

“Recognising and spreading sophisticated pedagogical practice across our community so that students learn in better and more powerful ways...”

The Manaiakalani Community of Learning is working together on this task using the expertise existing in of our community of learning.

In 2017 for my inquiry I have selected the following CoL achievement challenge 

#6. Lift the achievement in maths for all students years 1-13.

More specifically my focus question is :

How can I significantly improve my Year 7 & 8 kids mathematical knowledge within a Learn Create Share pedagogy?

The teaching as inquiry framework I will be using in 2017 has been specifically co-constructed for Manaiakalani schools using our familiar Learn Create Share structure.
The elements in this framework share close similarities with other models New Zealand teachers use.

I will be labelling my posts as I update my inquiry throughout the year to make the content easy to access.

Labels:

LEvidence, LScan, LTrend, LHypothesise, LResearch, LReflect,

 CPlan, CTry, CInnovate, CImplement, CReflect,

SPublish, SCoteach, SModel, SGuide, SFback, SReflect

Label Key:

LEvidence	Learn - Gather Evidence	CPlan	Create - Make a plan	SPublish	Share - Publish
LScan	Learn - Scan	CTry	Create - Try new things	SCoteach	Share - Co-teach
LTrend	Learn - Identify Trends	CInnovate	Create - Innovate	SModel	Share - Model
LHypothesise	Learn - Hypothesise	CImplement	Create - Implement	SGuide	Share - Guide
LResearch	Learn - Research	CReflect	Create - Reflect	SFback	Share - Feedback
LReflect	Learn - Reflect			SReflect	Share - Reflect