Reading Inquiry - Strip it back

 

10 years plus into the online world of sharing our student and teacher learning online.  Where are we now?  Time for a stocktake I say!

Sitting with my mentor I had the opportunity to look through my teaching team and our provisions on line from planning through to the learner and whanau.   It became very clear that the baseline of these provisions were somewhat murky...hard to see.    An example: WALTS were stated, it took travelling to slides 3-4 before arriving at a task that focused on WALT.   

While likely the students knew where to find the basics of:

1. WALT: what we are learning today

2. TEXT SET: what we are reading/watching/listening to this week

3. FEEDBACK & FEED FORWARD: for/from student, teacher and whanau

It was not clear enough with my lense of 'Team Leader', 'Mum' hat on.   Time to reset.

At a recent PD for PES staff and also a cluster PD with Rebecca this was a list that my team came up as definite work-ons, must haves for our weekly delivery in reading.  We decided to make a real effort of providing for the following in a limited number of slides.  Explicit teaching also about why we are having more than one text - explaining T shaped literacy.  Trying for 5-6 slides at the most with the following:

*1. Summary (story web, back plan - give a word count)

2. Word work (focus on vocabulary)

3. Comprehension (literal/inferential)

*4. WALT - the problem area (reorganisation/evaluation type questions)

5. Create - mindful of gear and length of time to complete 

6. Showing of additional texts found by reader 

As a team we are sharing fortnightly on a single WALT, text set and follow up activities.  This has been really helpful for the team. Not only are we sharing but picking up ideas from one another that are successful so far this term.  We are trying the same with our maths.   Goal: to get back to a baseline that covers the basics of good quality learning and teaching for our students, teachers and whanau.

Data analysis in action - data to empower learners!

We've completed another round of IKAN's and here are our results for our target group.   I have moved one in and another out of this target group.    My target group are made up of students sitting a level below the national standard in maths.

Process:
We carried out the process as explained in previous posts.   Sitting test by going through IKAN twice, on own chromebook and earphones and then our discussion around our new set of results.

Points of difference:
1. Entering data together: 
This time I had the data on the big screen with the group.   I added this months results next to data collected earlier in year in front of the whole group.   Each student shared which stage they were at for the various categories:
a. Number sequence and order
b. Fractions
c. Place Value
d. Basic Facts

2. Colour codes: Green - shift made, orange - same stage, red - back a stage, yellow shifted more than one stage.  Student by student they needed to look at previous data and tell me if it was 'Green, orange, red or yellow'.   All this from the big screen as shown in image above. This meant the students looked closely at the data making comparisons for themselves - some looks of happiness and disappointment.  In reflection all students agreed that it was good useful information to help them.
The adding of colour helped students see more clearly how to track our data as learners and the teacher.

3. Setting the next steps for self: 
From this data analysis students posted on a doc - as shown below of what their problem areas were and how they planned to tackle the learning needed.  You can see some understand the purpose of this workbook others - well I'll need to coach them.   They were directed to say 'How' they were going specifically  try to improve  OR whether they needed help from me.  They attempted this exercise with the answer sheet in hand to see if they could comprehend further their path of error.

We plan to share our own reflective posts soon.  Watch this space!

Student efficacy and achievement relate!

1. students see someone like them showing other students their work -  explaining how they solved a problem.

In my research for good practice in raising achievement in maths came across an article titled 'Assessing students’ maths self efficacy and achievement' by LINDA BONNE AND ELLIOT LAWES.

I found this very interesting and it confirmed what I have heard in my Pt England Inquiry group as well as COL within schools group.    Something most if not all teacher believe to be key to engaging students so that we can deal with the detail in teaching and learning.  This being the level of confidence or in this case self efficacy in maths.

What do researchers say self efficacy is?
s.1 Self-efficacy can be thought of as part of the key competency, managing self, which is “associated with self-motivation, a ‘can-do’ attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 12). 

One of the leaders in self-efficacy research and theory development, Albert Bandura, described self-efficacy as: people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. It is concerned not with the skills one has but with judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses. (Bandura, 1986, p. 391)

Good practice for effective teachers I believe is the making sure students feel safe and capable of learning in your classroom.  This promoting self efficacy for our students.  When reading further through the article, there was provision of a list of practices that would promote self efficacy.  I believe that using the screencastify app will support point no.1, 3, 6 and 7.   Those points left out I imagine could be catered for in timely feedback from the teacher, student peers and whanau.

 A recent New Zealand study (described in Bonne & Johnston, 2016), based on work by Siegle and McCoach (2007) and Schunk and Hanson (1985), suggested that students’ self-efficacy is likely to be strengthened when: 

1. students see someone like them showing the rest of the class their maths work, or explaining how they solved a problem 
2. students have strategies for coping when learning is difficult, and when they make mistakes or fail 3. students know what their learning goals are, and understand what they need to do to achieve their goals 
4. teachers give students feedback about the progress they are making towards their learning goals, and let them know what they need to do next to help them achieve their goals 
5. teachers encourage students to reflect on the role of effort in their learning, and—when appropriate—prompt students to attribute failure to insufficient effort, and encourage them to try harder and persevere when learning is difficult 
6. students’ attention is drawn to the specific skills they have developed 
7. students are enabled to develop internal standards for evaluating their own outcomes, rather than to rank themselves in comparison to others 
8. if a teacher—or a parent—found maths difficult when they were at school, then rather than commiserate with students, they challenge students to improve their maths—expect them to succeed, and give them the support they need to do so.

Explain ready as students - next steps.

Graeme Aitken: Collaborative Teaching as Inquiry Image from collaborative inquiry presentation given to school leaders at Manaiakalani Hui Term 2.

As the term kicks off I've used this inquiry flow chart to focus myself on what the next part of my inquiry will be. You open the lid with investigation from your hunch, you may find you were right OR close, or maybe - that the issue is something else!

The start of my inquiry?

Using student data WITH students to support achievement in maths. What has unfolded is a careful selection of words and phrases from me as a teacher to model how we interpret our data from formative assessments so far. These being gloss, IKAN test and small group work.

On expecting students to articulate back to me via blog posts and conversations I have picked up that the students were able to identify the strand area of weakness. This was hugely motivational and built confidence in a number of nervous students. However the next problem became obvious. It's the next level of detail we are actually after! So if you say - 'Proportions and Ratios' is the area of weakness in number - what IN proportions and ratios is the problem area. What are the building blocks that lead me into understanding fractions (proportions) and then ratios? Students goal: to be 'Explain Ready'. Using collaborative teaching inquiry model from Graeme Aitken I have come up with the following to guide me through the next steps for my inquiry.

Inquiry that Hannah West shared in our Pt England School inquiry groups.   Thanks Hannah for your great ideas around screencast!    Will show what we come up with soon!

Screen casts that 'Explains and shows' my understanding

Following on from our staff meeting led by Dorothy Burt we had our own Pt England group inquiry session.  In this session we are invited to share and reflect on progress today with our own individual inquiries.

I will share about the findings of a colleague around the use of capturing screen casts that display a student working through a problem.  In this you will see their working out with a voiceover that is captured at the same time.

The idea I plan to implement with my target group is this very activity of having students capture their explanation of maths problems they tackle.  

Plan of action:
1. Demo working out a problem they find easy using screen capture
2. Demo working out a problem that is challenging for their maths group

I will need to support this process well with helping students to  identify specifically a problem to solve.   Also the skills needed to capture their explanation/working out well so that their example is a clear example of 'Rewindable Learning' for their peer group.

Screencastify - tutorial video

I can understand IKAN's

Update!  In my most recent post I shared my:
Next steps for my inquiry: CREATE rubric and templates that support the following:
1. Carry out the 'SECOND' step as outlined in Jo's presentation
2. Plot results out of Spidergraph
3. Implement activities that prompt reflection on data
4. Decide WITH student what our next steps are in learning in the number strand
5. Implement support this choice in follow up activities and home learning

I have completed step 1 where my all my students were given the opportunity to sit the IKAN differently to how I have administered it.  Most steps being those that Jo in our staff PD outlined.  I have also completed step 4, students have published this on their blogs.

Process:

• Students sat in their maths groups
• All with own chromebook and earphones
• Went through the IKAN test twice over
• Marked own test with teacher and group
• Circling those answers that were 'silly mistakes'.  This meaning mistakes that were made in the haste of test setting.  They could see what they did wrong and could prove themselves by answering a similar problem.
• Scoring the stages and various domains
• Blog post results and their own reflections that explained this different process and how they felt they performed using this new process

Students have made improvements overall.  Place value has not shifted as much as I had hoped for.   It has improved for approximately half of my class - the other half achieving stage 4 at the highest which still means no progress for a some students.   Target group as displayed: 6 same level, 4 shifted upwards.    

Identify the problem:  This statement stumps majority of my class: 'How many tens are in all of the number 782?  Answer 78 or 78.2.  Students answer '8'.   I can see that my lack in variety of questioning and activities of 'All of the number'.  Time to create a task that will help embed this!!  Look below for a draft of this.

The shift in attitude and 'can do' attitude has increased positively in students feeling more ownership over their learning, conversations with each other about how they made the mistake through to how to correct have been evident when marking in our small groups.  

Data - our comparisons from February to April 2017

We've just completed a second round of IKAN tests where we gather a snapshot of the different areas in number.   The students in the target group along with their peers have shown an increase in enthusiasm in learning.  I have noticed an increase in questioning and discussion around what methods they use to problem solve.

In listening to the IKAN's this second time around I picked up again on more learning goals for myself as a teacher.  The terms and phrases I have used have not been as effective as I'd hoped.

Place value was the initial focus for the target group.  However when you observe the data below you will see that it still is the weakest of all areas in number.   There was shift for students - mostly in other areas.

This lack in shift I believe is from not extending the phrases used to support my learners.  For example in the number 789, how many tens are there?  I was accepting '8'.  Whereas the question is actually asking 'How many tens are there in the WHOLE number' which is 78.

My next goal is to be more accurate with my questioning in maths to ensure the correct terminology is used. This will lead me into teaching how to transfer this knowledge of mathematical terminology in problem solving further than place value.

Our team discussions on maths inquiries at Pt England revealed more to me.  I noticed that around the room - especially with place value, there was some inconsistencies too.  A school focus we could well do with is aligning the terminology we use - especially around place value as it is a weakness across the levels.

I am carrying out gloss tests now with this group.  I will share this data here soon.

KEY: blue February IKAN, red April IKAN
Student C made the most progress in all areas - except place value.

You are very welcome to add link in a comment that could support my inquiry of using data to support learners.  I'd love to try out more ideas around 'Place Value Nested', which has been highlighted as something I have overlooked in teaching PV.

NUMBER SEQUENCE

FRACTIONS

PLACE VALUE

BASIC FACTS

I know my results - I know my goal!

End of term

Action plan to date

On completion of our most recent IKAN and PAT maths assessments students have and will be 

1. analysing their personal data (what do the lines, numbers and dots mean?)

*Found with PAT it was challenging to do this as a group as the windows that pop up with explanation of marks.   Doing this as a group was not the way to go. 1-1 conferencing was much better.  Print outs to do whole groups teaching was not effective in that the finer detail was hidden.  

2. can explain their strengths and weaknesses (dialogic and  text/symbols in blog post) 

*Students spent some time looking at a rubric of iKan.  Coaching students into knowing how to use this against their own test paper took a little time.  Completed this with students, needed to set up a clear template to support their reflective post.   

3. learner access any time to individual sets of data to help set learning goal.   Goal is specific for target strand, determined by analysis in step 1.

*Students showed a greater interest in their own learning and progress after highlighting what areas of strength and weakness.   I am confident there has been a shift in engagement and a desire to learn more after making their data accessible with clear learning goals.  Learning goals: I have used this rubric to support our discussions.

4. Updated data: we have just completed another IKAN to capture progress from week 3.  Looking forward to sharing the results with you soon.

Read on for context of the group this inquiry uses.   

Mid term:

Target Group - Priority Learners?

7 children - majority are sitting below the national norm.   2 from 2016 data show to be at.  However small group conferencing and IKAN test it seems that they are sitting below.  The absence in results for IKAN, for 2 due to poor attendance and the other an incorrect filling out of answers.   I hope to test them this week to add their first round of data for 2017.

	Ethnicity	Year	OTJ 16	Add/Sub	Mult/Div	Fr/Pr/Ra	Overall	NS	Fr	PV	BF
Boy	Maori	7	At	6	6	E6	6
Girl	Tongan	7	At	6	E7	5	6	5	4	4	5
Girl	Samoan	7	Below	E6	E6	E6	E6	5	5	4	E7
Boy	Samoan	7	Below	6	6	E6	E6
Girl	Maori	7	Below	6	6	E6	E6	4	5	4	6
Boy	Samoan	7	Below	E6	6	E6	E6
Boy	Cook Island	8	6	6	E6	6	6	E6	5		4

Hypothesise?

Through empowering students to analyse and understand their own personal and group data, the students will accelerate their achievement and move into the 'At' and/or 'Above' in the number strand.  (Gloss, PAT and IKAN assessments)

End of term:

Target Group - Priority Learners

The WHY of this inquiry

Below you will see items posted earlier this month.  What I have not stated clearly enough was the 'WHY' behind this inquiry.

WHY???
I have reflected upon feedback via our PAT, IKAN, small group observations, Gloss results also research across the cluster.  It has been found that the rate of acceleration and achievement is slower when hitting year 7 - 10.
*This is the reason for my selection of inquiry - maths for learners in year 7 and 8 in my target group to see if I can shift achievement through using close examination of their results WITH the student.

My inquiry to use data to empower learners is currently my hypothesis to make learners in this age group aware of what they are actually achieving.  In this knowledge be more driven and focused when presented with ongoing maths tasks that target the areas needing development.

From previous post:
Go to this link to find out more detail about my COL inquiry.   The curriculum area it sits in is maths.

Empower learners - show them the data!

Kia Ora, Talofa lava!  After considering my school’s targets, Woolf Fisher Feedback from 2016 and the Manaiakalani CoL achievement challenges I have arrived at the following:

My Inquiry this year as a CoL teacher is to use data to empower learning and teaching in maths.

What does this looks and sound like? Students receiving explicit teaching and guidance through their own data.   Student empowered to interpret from data what their strengths and weaknesses are.   Collaboration of peers and  teacher to map out steps to accelerate their individual and group learning in maths.

Target Group - Priority Learners?

7 children - majority are sitting below the national norm.   2 from 2016 data show to be at.  However small group conferencing and IKAN test it seems that they are sitting below.  The absence in results for IKAN, for 2 due to poor attendance and the other an incorrect filling out of answers.   I hope to test them this week to add their first round of data for 2017.

	Ethnicity	Year	OTJ 16	Add/Sub	Mult/Div	Fr/Pr/Ra	Overall	NS	Fr	PV	BF
Boy	Maori	7	At	6	6	E6	6
Girl	Tongan	7	At	6	E7	5	6	5	4	4	5
Girl	Samoan	7	Below	E6	E6	E6	E6	5	5	4	E7
Boy	Samoan	7	Below	6	6	E6	E6
Girl	Maori	7	Below	6	6	E6	E6	4	5	4	6
Boy	Samoan	7	Below	E6	6	E6	E6
Boy	Cook Island	8	6	6	E6	6	6	E6	5		4

Hypothesise?

Through empowering students to analyse and understand their own personal and group data, the students will accelerate their achievement and move into the 'At' and/or 'Above' in the number strand.  (Gloss, PAT and IKAN assessments)

Slide from Lenva Shearing presentation to Manaiakalani School Leaders PLG

Action plan to date

On completion of our most recent IKAN and PAT maths assessments students have and will be 

1. analysing their personal data (what do the lines, numbers and dots mean?)

2. can explain their strengths and weaknesses (dialogic and  text/symbols in blog post)

3. learner access any time to individual sets of data to help set learning goal.   Goal is specific for target strand, determined by analysis in step 1.

 Lenva presented to the School Leaders of Manaiakalani on 'Using student data to empower learners'.  I plan to use this also as a title for my inquiry.  Lenva's presentation  was an excellent reminder having just completed testing cluster wide.

I will be using resources from this page on the Manaiakalani site  to support teachers at PES to carry out the same with their learners.   Also creating DLO that are rewindable for teachers and students.

**In addition to supporting learning in maths, as a Spark-MIT I plan to investigate how to better support home learning.   Home learning being focused on the strand of number in maths.  It'll be interesting to see the change this could bring about too!

Teaching as Inquiry 2017 - COL

“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 

#4. Increase the achievement of Years 1-10 learners, with a focus on Years 7-10,  in reading, writing and maths, as measured against National Standards and agreed targets.  My specific focus will be on maths.  However I will share from time to time on the other curriculum areas as I am able.

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