Summary of 2020 Inquiry including external results

 

My Inquiry focus for 2020: How can I accelerate learning in my Year 12 calculus mix ability class so that Maori students (and other students) can gain at least 14 credits, endorsements, and pathways into the year 13 Calculus course? Our focus was on Algebraic skills and literacy strategies to promote contextually based questions. 

I made key changes in my teaching after the first lockdown. These shifts included causal steps in literacy strategies and student-assisted learning. I utilized the online Miro whiteboard to run matching activities and used, tracking sheets and lesson setting on google calendar. I also made sure to test periodically and used Miro lessons for external topics to create rewindable learning during the lockdown.

As I got closer to externals, I tweaked the monitoring of their progress weekly by 'doing now' activities and conducting weekly tests to improve their accuracy skills.

Here is the internal evaluation Link      

                                                                                                                                               

 Overall evaluation including external:

Overall evaluation including external: The externally assessed As91262 Algebra standard, Achieved 20%(1 out of 5) compare to last year’s 23%(3 out of 13), Merit 20%(1 out of 5) compare to last year’s 7.69%(1 out of 13), Excellence 0%  both years.

The externally assessed As91262 Calculus standard went particularly well, Achieved 58%(11 out of 19) compare to last year’s 25%( 2 out of 8), Merit 5%( 1 out of 19) compare to last year’s 0%, no Excellence both years.

One student gained Merit endorsement, which was the same as last year.

12( out of 22) students gained 14 + credits compare to 6 (out of 25) last year. These students have met part of the entry requirements for the Diploma of Engineering program as well as other courses.

In 2020,  20 of the students were enrolled for externals. The highlight is that 12 students have passed at least one external meaning these students have met part of the diploma tertiary qualification. 

 I have been at Tamaki College for 3 years as a calculus teacher. In 2018, 11 students passed at least one external, in 2019 -5 students passed at least one external, and in 2020 12 students passed at least one external. This is a good record, even though the examination papers were quite challenging in 2020 compared to past years. 

Reflection on my professional learning through this inquiry cycle: Through the inquiry process, I developed a better understanding of learning pedagogy. I also improved learning outcomes for our Maori and Pasifika students. 2020 brought its challenges with online teaching due to COVID. I learned about the effectiveness of online learning and particularly enjoyed using tools such as Miro and Google calendar. I am looking forward to integrating online teaching into lessons in 2021. 

Evaluation

1. Summarise evidence about key changes in teaching and other factors that influence student learning.

2. Summarise evidence about key shifts in the problem of student learning.

3. Write an overall evaluation of your intervention in terms of the causal chain you had theorised. i.e. To what extent was the intervention successful in changing factors such as teaching? To what extent were those changes in teaching effective in changing patterns of student learning?

4. Write a reflection on your own professional learning through this inquiry cycle.

My Inquiry focus for 2020: 

How can I accelerate learning in my Year 12 calculus mix ability class so that Maori students (and other students) can gain at least 14 credits, endorsements, and pathways into the year13 Calculus course by focusing on Algebraic skills and literacy strategies to promote contextually based questions. 

 I  offered 4 internals, including Graph internal which I introduced to enhance their Algebraic skills. There are 20 students who are willing to sit Calculus external and sat for derived grade examination in week2.

Here is the internal Evaluation:

Topic1-AS 91261-2.1Co ordinate Geometry -Link

Topic2 &3-As91257- 2.2 Graphs & As91259- 2.4 Trigonometry -Link

Topic4-AS 91265-2.14 Systems of equations-Link

Derived Grade evaluation -As91265-2.6 Calculus

Term4/Week2 the learners sat their Derived Grade Examinations. They revised well and I am pleased with their performance.

There were 20 learners sat for Calculus and got good results with 2 Excellences, 5 Merits, 11 Achieved and two Not achieved.

After the examination, they worked even hard on their weakness/careless mistakes with repetitive practice and I am very confident they will gain better than what they achieved in the mock examination on the 19th of November next week.

Next step:

My next steps are that I am waiting for the external results to finalize 14+ credits and endorsements. Since we got extended time up to December I am going to teach another extra internal after they have finished their examinations.

Monitoring during holidays(Term3)

 My learners requested me to come for holiday classes during the holidays. I decided to contact according to their availability as they had various commitments(work, training, course, etc). The first, week focused on Calculus and the second week was on Algebra if needed. This holiday class is only for those who will be sitting for externals. There 22 learners in this class with 20 external focus learners.16 out of 20 learners attended with the ongoing support of the whanau.

My learners worked on past papers and they dived deeper into every question and now they know there strengths and weaknesses. They told me I am at this level miss so now I need to focus on these questions in order to pursue the endorsement. I am overwhelmed with their conversations and few of them are working more than I expected. I am waiting for the Mock examinations(term4/week2) for the final update.

Term3 Update -Monitoring

There are 22 Learners in this class as one of them has left. I have been monitoring every learner very closely to get the most of every learner. I have been flexible this year in due to COVID I have divided them into five groups with the help of the whanau as they have various commitments. The first group comes in the mornings(8am to 8.30am), the second group comes on Wednesdays after school, the third group comes on Thursday after school, the fourth group comes on Friday after school, and the Fifth (one student) comes on Lunchtime as she founds it really hard to fit with thee groups. 

As a result, 20 out of 21 learners have moved to 11 credits now, There are two external and 12 students who will be sitting Calculus (one )external, and 8 students who will be sitting two external. Currently, my learners are working on past papers to sit the Mock examination(derived grade examination) in Term4/week2. Also agreed to come during the upcoming holiday break classes.

Next step: Holiday class monitoring

Evaluation-As 91269(2.15)-Systems of equations-

This is the fourth and final internal assessment. In this internally assessed 91269 Systems of equations standard, Not Achieved 0%  compared to last year’s 4%,  Achieved 54%  compared to last year’s 68%, Merit  19%  compared to last year’s 4%, Excellence 27%  compared to last year’s 23%. Overall there is a shift in the progress and I am very impressed as this got taught during the second lock-down. And lock-down has been a beneficial time for my learners.

Next step: Monitoring continues with externals Algebra and Calculus.

Plan and conduct 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:

TAI2020WRFC Inquiry question#6: 

Question6/1:
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.

Peer observation:

My learners have completed three internal assessments, and here is the link to the student voice/perspectives.
I invited our literacy specialist, Mrs. Mele Suipi Latu, to do a peer observation.
Her feedback was:
“No behaviour issue, students’ engagement was fantastic, all students were on task. However, a great amount of attention was given to ESOL students.”
I found this feedback very useful for my future planning and will incorporate it with my planning.

Question6/2:
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 had many conversations with students while I was teaching and holding study classes. I also gained feedback on their attitude towards learning mathematics through google forms. I found there has been a large shift in terms of attitude and students have now started to take ownership of their own achievement. It was reassuring as I also had a good turn out during the winter holiday break study classes (first week of the holidays.) I also did catch up sessions in Algebraic skills and contextual based questions.

Quantitative data:
Here is the overall summary

Most of the students have gained 9 credits with Merit or Excellence. Due to COVID19,  12 credits with at least one external is enough to get an endorsement. My learners are in a very secured position with internals to gain an endorsement.

Question6/3:

 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.

Now my challenge is motivating students with externals (there are two externals) until the examination period and ensuring they retain knowledge. Having said that, there is also one more internal to finish this term too.

My Inquiry

End of Term 2 Update. Link

Evaluation- As 91257 (2.2) Graphs and As 91259(2.4)Trigonometry.

Evaluation- As 91257 (2.2) Graphs(4credits) and As 91259(2.4)Trigonometry(3 credits).

This is the second internal assessment. In this internally assessed 91257 Graphs standard,  Achieved 20%  compared to last year’s 26%, Merit  55%  compared to last year’s 48%, Excellence 25%  compared to last year’s 22%. Overall there is a shift in the progress and I am very impressed as this got taught during the lock-down. And lock-down has been a beneficial time for my learners.
Tweak: One of the learners found this standard challenging and she is working on Statistical experiments(2.10) to make up the credits.

This is the third internal assessment. In this internally assessed 91259 Trigonometry standard,  Achieved 32%  compared to last year’s 52.6%, Merit  32%  compared to last year’s 16%, Excellence 32%  both years. Overall there is a shift in their progress.

Students Voice:

Next step: Algebra teaching continues.

Share your findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each finding.

TAI2020WRFC Inquiry question#5: 
Question5/1: Share your findings of the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each finding.

I have collected individual students' past year results from kamar. See  blog post is here
Historical results from NZQA site and my blog post is here.
The following is the year planner:

Data: My whole class has finished the first internal coordinate Geometry (2credits) before the lockdown and here is the comparison of results between 2018 and 2019




Trends:
The percentage of students who achieved Merit and Excellence increased, thereby shifting achievement higher out of the achieved level. Overall, I am happy with these results.

I am currently teaching the Trigonometry topic and catching up with teaching the second internal. We are following tight time constraints because of lockdown.

Challenges:

•Lifting achievement up to Merit and Excellence so that students can get Merit and Excellence endorsements.

•Another challenge is getting students to complete the second internal (Graphs) as few students are still in the process of internal completion.

To combat this, I have asked my learners to complete the graph internal while I teach Trigonometry.

I am also holding after-school study classes to ensure that students complete the learning which they missed during the lockdown.

To figure out how effective these solutions are, I have created a tracking sheet, google hangouts, catch up classes, and conversations with the learners.

Question5/2: Explain how some of the data you have used to build a profile of the students’ learning will be used as baseline data at the end of the year.

The credits they have gained are a huge contribution to my inquiry. And I am working on marking and catching on the second topic (worth of 4 credits) as well as teaching Trigonometry(worth of 3 credits).

Question5/3: Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped your form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning.

Reading one- Link

Reading two- link

Reading three-link

Next step: Learners working hard towards third internal Trigonometry.