Here is my burst and bubbles. And I had the privilege to share this at Tamaki College staff PLD too.
My inquiry focus is based on how do I capitalize on the whanaungatanga and the sense of wellbeing that already exists among the learners of my year11 Mathematics class(Akomanga Kaihanga) to empower their learning?
This goal provides a strong pathway into year12 using literacy strategies , skill practice,
confidence building and well being techniques.
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 goals.
To build up a rich picture of my learners I used student voice, topic test and PAT results.
This is a mixed ability year11 Akomanga Kahinga class consisting of 27 students: 9 Tongans,3 South east Asian, 2 Samoans,8 Maori and 5 Cook island Maori.
From the PAT results ranging from stannine 7 to 1,there is clear diversity shown here in terms of mathematics and literacy skills.
This course consists of 4 internals and 3 externals.I divided them into 3 groups, First group of seven students sat for 3 externals( which is the first time at Tamaki College), second group of 13 sat for two external and the third group 7 students sat internal only.
The hardest thing is to teach how to teach all three externals and 4 internals during class time ia a mixed ability class. In order to balance,I taught one external class during after school.
I made the following changes:
Planning by term,Promoting culturally responsive pedagogy by translating into their languages, TAPASA framework, Learners to lead, Literacy strategies from Dr Janni, working with Matt Goodwin, Collaborating with Whanau weekly, peer teaching groups, study classes and Wellbeing weekly check ins.
As I step into term1 Lockdown hit, my tweaks were Google jamboard, Miro online board, tracking sheet, DOC hub lessons using apple pencil, to rewind.These strategies helped us to overcome the second lockdown too.
Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as impressive so far because no loss during both lock downs as I did extra support for those who are working in the goldilock zone due to COVID.
Qualitative shift- positive attitude, questioning skills, critique each other and shift in their growth mindset.
Quantitative shift-
Due to covid,learners are eligible for learning recognition credits. According to that calculation, to date 16 have gained 16 credits, 7 have gained 13 credits and the rest of their work is under progress.24 out 27 have gained Numeracy.
Externals-20/20 sat their MCAT and 19/20 sat their Graph and 7/7 sat their Geometry .
My Next steps are that I am waiting for external results to finalise. I also wish to collaborate with other teachers and share my findings with colleagues/dpt. Feel free to view my blog, Thank you.
