My inquiry learners' movie

 My Inquiry class produced a movie to capitalize on the journey as a team. They helped each other with full of dedication and co-operation. I noticed positive teamwork. After the movie production, I started to emphasize the learners by asking how can we do well in Maths as a team. 

Bursts in Bubbles

 My inquiry focus is based on the year 11 General Mathematics(11MAT) class. The class entails internals, targeted Maori students and the goal is for students to gain Numeracy with at least 16 credits and a pathway into year 12 using literacy strategies and skills practice.

 My personal goal is that as an Assistant HOD, I want to Increase students’ Mathematics achievement in year 12 and Year 13. This goal will make a powerful contribution towards Numeracy,  school goals, Department goals, and Manaiakalani

My Specific Outcomes include: 

• Facilitating year11 students’ pathway into the year12 General Mathematics course, which includes gaining at least Numeracy(10 internal) credits.

• Learners must also pass at least 16 credits to contribute powerfully to NCEA L1.

By the end of the year, all students can experience success in their learning by gaining Numeracy and fulfilling their requirements for NCEA L1 by using literacy strategies and skill practice.

The catalytic component of student learning is ensuring how I can promote self-confidence, independent learning, and positive online teaching due to COVID.I identified this as my focus from the past experiences of students.

To build up a rich picture of my learners I used student's voice, Pre-test/Post-test/halfway test/end of topic test, and PAT results.

This is a low-ability class of 23 consisting of; 4 Maori students,1 cook island Maori, 8 Tongan students, 3 Samoan students, 1 Cook Island Maori,2 Fijian, 1 Filipino, 2 Niuean, and 1 Afshani and four of them are ESOL learners. However, there are now, 19 students and as I moved 3 of them to top class due to their huge shift within in a short period  So now I have 19 students consisting of 8 Tongans, 3 Samoan, 1 cookIsland Maori, 2 Fijian, 2 Maori, 2 Niuean, and 1 Afghani.

From the PAT results last year, one group are working at-stanine 4, the second group are at -stanine 3, the third group are working at -stanine 1-2, and the 4th group are ESOL learners. There are clear gaps shown here in terms of mathematics and literacy skills.

The challenges will be cultivating their accuracy skills, literacy strategies, deepening their understanding, creating confidence, ownership, promoting engagement, leadership skills, love of learning, confidence, and collaboration across their subjects.

My students would likely make more progress if I developed how to use literacy skills with confidence. I asked my students for feedback and 

I made the following changes: 

Promoting culturally responsive pedagogy by translating into Tongan languages, Learners to lead Learn to create a session at manaiakalani cluster create staff session, critique each other's work, Literacy strategy from Dr. Janni and Mrs Latu, Multimodal instructions, Collaboration with ESOL department, Making a movie at manaiakalani festival and working with Lanva Shearing, SOLO taxonomy, 3 Act strategy, KWL chart, PEEL structure, Do nows and Professional reading.

As I step into term3 Lockdown hit Tweak Causal Chain-After the first lockdown causal steps are matching activity using  Google jam board, Miro online board, tracking sheet, setting lessons on google calendar, checking periodically with Whanau,DOC hub lessons, videos, and Miro lessons to rewind.

The easiest thing is teaching using online Trig and Linear Algebra packages-demos, GeoGebra, google spreadsheet, DocHub, Google jam board, and online matching activities to teach Trigonometry(1.7) and Linear Algebra(1.4).

The hardest thing is to teach Number(1.1) and Multivariate data(1.10). I sought help from Dr. Janni and Mrs Latu, PEEL structure to reflect on each other's work and differentiated teaching.

This year I divided them into groups due to their availability and covid conditions.

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as impressive so far because of no loss during the lockdown.I offered 4 internals and three have been completed before lockdown and my learners have been working through the internal during lockdown and bcos of no loss they started their test on their return to school.

Quantitative shift-  According to my understanding online learning is working. More time and pastoral care is needed to address these issues, especially covid. Nothing was lost, everyone adapted to being online effective learners and finished their tasks. 16 out of the 19 students were in class regularly.  

Due to covid, learners are eligible for learning recognition credits which means for every 4 credits they earn, they get one extra credit. According to that calculation, to date 11 have gained 16 credits, 4 have gained 13 credits, two of them have gained 12 credits and 3 of them have gained 8 credits.16 out of 19 have gained Numeracy.

Qualitative shift- positive attitude, questioning skills, critique each other, and independent learners and leadership skills. As a result, my learners lead a Learn create share session at manaiakalani cluster create a staff session and make a movie for manaiakalani festival.

Some learning that would be relevant to other teachers is KWL chart, PEEL, Dochub. Google jam board, Miro online board, and 3 Act strategy. And my learners ran Learn create share PD on Geogebra and created a movie on it for manaiakalani festival to promote confidence and leadership skills. Promoting Dochub and google jam board at the staff meeting and ran a session on 3 Act strategy in the department meeting. I strongly believe that collaboration adds motivation and values. When we work together with teachers we can identify the common challenges, analyse common data, which can improve our instructional approach.

My next steps are that  I am waiting for the rest of the students to finalise.16 credits as six of these students are works in progress and 3 of them are yet to return to school.  I also wish to collaborate with other teachers and share my findings with colleagues/DPT. Feel free to view my blog, Thank you.

Numeracy	Total Credits
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	16+
✓	13
✓	13
✓	13
✓	13
✓	12
✓	12
	8
	8
	8

Face to face teaching

 Last week the year11 learners returned to an in-person class, which was very exciting. Out of the 20 students, I was pleased to see 11 face-to-face and 5 online. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of my students. It was difficult over lockdown with online classes, but 16 of my learners are on track and this is a good result. 10 of them completed their real internal test last week and six of them agreed to finish it next week. It is under marking/moderation now. 

I found that teaching online without skipping any lessons, collaboration, working with the whanau to close the gap, flexibility, motivation and online tools helped me in making sure the learners stayed on track.  The learners look very eager to learn after they return back to school, which is encouraging to see. tracking sheet Link.

Inquiry Question#6/3: identify informal & formal ways you are monitoring the effects of your changed practices/intervention on learner outcomes. Explain the reflections and tweaks you are making along the way WFRC #6/4: Describe how you will keep a record of each of the above in a manageable way (‘cos you won’t otherwise remember all your many micro-decisions and why you made them)

 

 Tweak: How to collaborate and create integrated online lessons to improve literacy, skills, and rewindable learning using DocHub, Miro online board, and Google jam board.Link

Next term, I am going to start classes using videos, google jam board and Miro online board which incorporates literacy skills, Algebraic skills. This is also to go through rewardable learning techniques and make sure students recall what they have already learned. I will also present exemplars of contextual questions to unpack keywords, skim reading techniques, matching activities, and video clips.  

I am also going to maintain a log and a tracking sheet to check student progress and keep a record of this on an excel spreadsheet. 

Practice test

 Last week my learners have been working on the Practice test. I have been using google jam board to familiarize them with keywords and it has been a helpful full activity to rewind their learning too.

Maths is not an easy subject for teaching online however Dochub helped me to overcome the obstacles.

Here is the link to the progress. I am very impressed with their progress so far and I am planning to do more practice next week too.

Here is the sample of my practice test along with  my explanation:

Year13s online learning

I have been working on the “Miro ” online board with my year13 Calculus class to do their workbook and revision which incorporates literacy skills, Algebraic skills. My learners found it useful for rewindable learning to recall what they have already learned. Here are the examples:

 This is a collaborative online whiteboard platform that enables learners to work effectively together with digital sticky notes. Learners found it beneficial as it is a nice, crisp, fresh interface.

 I used DocHub to practice past papers too. Learners enjoyed seamless PDF transfers between their Drive and DocHub.

Remote learning

My learners found it very useful with Googlejam board for Do nows and DocHub for an explanation using a freehand pen. I continued the Googlejam board to practice keywords and drill accuracy skills.

Here is the collection:

Student work

As I am running out of space Miro online board in due to my allocated space have been used for my year13 calculus class. Therefore I am planning to try Desmoswhite to engage my learners. 

Colloboration Colloboration

 I attended the Manaiakalani Secondary School Department discussion via google connect with Maths teachers yesterday. It was led by Kerry Boyde -Preece (Manaiakalani Secondary Specialist). Everyone shared examples of Learn, create, share is like in Maths in their schools.  I really got fascinated with how does the DMIC pedagogy is in secondary. This explores how culturally responsive pedagogy influences diverse learners. Promotes  Learn, Create share approach, problem-solving strategies too.

Here is my contribution:

Inquiry Question#6-6/1: Restate your inquiry question and your theory of action/chain of events (so you keep your eyes on the prize) Quion #6/2: Describe how you will collect information about the implementation of your changed practices/intervention (so it is clear what you do differently)

My Learners have completed three internals and now working on the last internal.

My learners struggling with contextually based questions, careless mistakes with skills, and rewind the learning. Recently I have introduced DocHub, Google jam board, and Miro online board which will address all the issues, lessons are interactive and enjoyable and ideal tools for remote learning. The three areas are indicated on the flow chart with the respective implementation strategies.

Tweak: How to collaborate and create integrated lessons to improve literacy, skills, and rewindable learning using Miro Online whiteboard, DocHub, and Google jam board. Link

I am going to collect the information using a tracking sheet, online group activity, online feedback, conversations, and an Excel spread sheet.

Joy of Learning

 Our recent experience of Lockdown and the urgent shift to online learning highlighted the need for my learners to be digitally fluent.  I feel proud of the fact they were prepared and ready to cope with this change.  Over the past years, our school has embraced the challenge to move from an analogue traditional classroom to a digital environment. 

We are working on Linear Algebra at the moment. I tried Google jam board for skill practice, used Doc Hub to teach by turning PDF documents to editing mode/Free handwriting, and Miro online board too. 

Here is an example:

Do now: Matching activity -My learners completed it as a group activity and thoroughly enjoyed it. Link

•

Lesson: Using Doc Hub Link-I shared the documents explained using a free handwriting pen.

Learners found it enjoyable and understood the lesson as I brought the classroom environment via virtual meet. To check their understanding further I asked them to work on a quick test. I made them send their answers and gave them immediate feedback. Here is the example.

Inquiry Question#5-1,2,3

 

Question5/1:

Plan and conduct a detailed inquiry into specific aspects of your current teaching that are relevant to the hypotheses you identified in the literature. Inquiring into your teaching should give you:
Formative information about your current strengths and areas for development
Baseline information that you can use at the end of the year to provide evidence of shifts in teaching

use multiple tools such as self- or peer-observations, analysis of your class site, student's voice.

My learners have completed three internals now. Fourteen learners have gained 11 credits,

one learner has gained  8 credits, six have gained 7 credits, and one has gained 4 credits.

In order to pass   NECA L1, everyone must gain Numeracy (10 credits). Therefore fourteen

learners have gained Numeracy. The huge effort made by learners to achieve since their PAT under

four or four. Mrs. Singh (HOD Mathematics) will be observing this class very soon.

Tweak Tweak:

This is an internal-based course. Having said that, I noticed three of them have

gained M/E throughout the year so I have moved them to an External based course and

brought three of them down from the External course to internal who aren't performing.

Question5/2:

Write a reflection in which you summarise your main learning about your teaching and the next steps. This will prepare you to design an intervention next time.
Present findings from this inquiry about your teaching. Ensure qualitative data includes rich descriptions of your teaching and quantitative data is clearly presented.

Qualitative data: I make conversations while I teach and during study class times. Also, I took them to lead Learn Create Share PD and made a movie for the movie festival. As a result, they are very settled in class and agreed to take Mathematics as mathematics is optional next year too.

Quantitative data: See the data above. Now most of them have gained their Numeracy next challenge is to move to 16 credits to pass NCEA L1 who have gained 11 cerdits and the rest of the class to get at least Numeracy.

Question5/3:

 Write a reflection in which you summarise your main learning about your teaching and the next steps. This will prepare you to design an intervention next time.

My learners' have completed three internals, now my challenge is how to finish the last two internals during

lockdown.

Student Feedback:

Online lesson

Solo taxonomy As91026(1.4)

 

Here is a 1.4 worked example linked with Solo taxonomy.

Plan for 1.4 (91029)

 My learners' have finished 1.10 Multivariate data successfully just before the lockdown.

Achievement		Achievement with Merit	Achievement with Excellence
·      Apply linear algebra in solving problems.		·   Apply linear algebra, using relational thinking, in solving problems.	·       Apply linear algebra, using extended abstract thinking, in solving problems.

This topic is a combination(fourth topic) of Algebraic, Graph, and contextually based questions.
I got student input on how to teach this topic and after a discussion with my students. I made the following planning decisions:

• Applying SOLO taxonomy, to work on Achievement/Merit/Excellence.
• Spending more time on Algebraic skills, Forming equations of graphs and contextual-based questions.
• Three Act task.Link
• Focusing on the interpretation of questions and use demos to draw graphs. 
• Using Google calendar to set lessons/work space.
• Tracking sheet will be used to track their progress due to lockdown.
• Continuing with multimodal instruction.
•  I will give students a Chunk, Chew, Check to retain the knowledge.
• At the end of the topic, learners will be sitting a practice test and the real test.
• Using the online whiteboard, videos for rewindable learning, lots of repetitive practice from exemplers, and education perfect to make my online lessons more effective.

Next: Solo taxonomy

Tohatoha-Share Staff meeting

 Last Monday, I attended the Manaiakalai share staff meeting via google meet. Here is my korero.

Describe what was happening for the group of learners you selected, their strengths and needs. Discuss evidence you have e.g. anecdotal observation, learners’ blogs, data, student voice, conversations with whānau and previous teachers.

My Inquiry - year 11Mat  (General Mathematics) class with internals for targeted Maori students and the rest of the students to gain Numeracy with at least 16 credits and a pathway into year12 using literacy strategies and skill practice. Link

By the end of the year, the Maori (targeted students) and the rest of the class can experience success in their learning by getting Numeracy and fulfilling their part of the contribution to passing NCEA L1 by using literacy strategies and skill practice.

Strengths and needs: There are 23 students in this class. Five Maori students, 8 Tongan students, 3 Samoan students, 2 Cook island Maori, 2 Fijian, 1 Filipino, 2 Niuean, and 1 Afghani. Four of them are ESOL too. 

From the PAT results last year, 6 students are working at PAT-stanine 4, 10 students are at PAT -stanine 3, 2 students are working at PAT -stanine 2, and the rest working are at PAT stanine 1.There are clear gaps shown here in terms

of mathematics and literacy skills. 

My challenge is to accelerate their learning towards NCEA Level1, achieve 16 credits and make an effective contribution to ensuring they pass their NCEA Level1.

Link

Summarise the student learning challenge you planned to focus on in 2021. Talk about why this is important for your school/kura i.e. what difference will this make for your learners/school?

My challenges are cultivating their accuracy skills, literacy strategies, deepening their understanding,

creating ownership, promoting engagement, love of learning, confidence, and collaboration across their subjects.

If I achieve the above challenges I am confident they will produce a better outcome.

This will make a powerful contribution towards Numeracy,  school goals, Department goals, and Manaiakalani

goalsLink

Your hunch - describe what you can change or do differently in order to improve learning experiences and outcomes for students. The simplest way is to say -  if…..    then…..

Hunch is accuracy skills and comprehension.

If I encourage my learners to do lots of skill practice and a variety of literacy strategies by critiquing each

others work,  they will get motivated and enjoy learning. 

Learning - Describe how you have acquired new knowledge and skills to make changes in your practice e.g. PLD, readings/research, ideas from your colleagues.

CoL PLG 

Department meeting.

School PD

Literacy specialists Dr Janni and Mrs. Latu.

Research into specialist strategies te kotahitanga.

Professional reading.Link

As an  Asst HOD, I attend Management holders PLD and Auckland Mathematics association PLD.

Working with Lenva Shearing.

Taking action - describe what you are planning to do (or have done) differently. 

• 3 ACT tasks for every problem. Link

• Promoting culturally responsive pedagogy-translating into Tongan language. Link 

• Learners lead  Learn create share PLd at Manaiakalani cluster Create staff PLD

• at Stonefields school to build up their confidence and leadership skills.

Link

• Critique each other's group work.Link

• Literacy strategies with Dr Janni for first topics Number and trigonometry.Link

• Multimodal instruction. Link

• Collaboration with the ESOL department for ESOL learners. Link

• I intend to do a Collaborative cross-department and dive deeper into Maori learners.