The End of the MST2 Chapter in My Mathematical Journey

RESULTS:

Its been a busy few months since the return from Ulearn 15.  I have finished up my Cohort 2 MST2 groups and have their data processed with pleasing results from some children and a little disappointed on others BUT all have made progress to some degree or other.

End of year Data Analysis Shows:
OTJ Nat Std     Start 2015    End 2015
Met                                 0               15
Below                             8               19
Well Below                    21               2
Well Well Below            7                0
3 Children have left over the course of the year so their results are not included.

We use the difference in the scaled PAT m scores to ascertain whether accelerated progress was made by the Year 4-6s or not:
16/27 make accelerated progress
6/27   made progress
5/27   did not make progress

The children who did not show progress on the PAT m test still made gains in their learning and GLOSS/JAM test results reflected this.

CURRICULUM TEAM MTG:

On the 20th November I was part of a team of teachers: Rana, Clare, Tony, Greg, Vanessa and Myself co-odinated by Brendon to come up with a plan of what a Future Learner/MLE curriculum might look like at Porritt School. This was a really interesting an made us think of what these 'ideals' would look like in reality at our school.  It was quite hard to start with but we soon had lots of great ideas.  Some readings which would be useful around this are The OECED Report - the Nature of Learnng and A Framework for Transforming Learning in Schools: Innovation and the Spiral of Inquiry, Timperley, Kaser and Halbert.

FINAL MST 2 IMPACT DAY:
Once again lots of fabulous ideas gathered from a great bunch of ladies:

MST 2 Impact Day 2015 2 Novotel Auckland

GEMS:

Sue Jarvis:

• Maths is the first lesson taught each day.

Nicky Zampese:

•         Maths Buddy System – About a dozen confident maths children go and work with middles and juniors for 15 minutes each day, Mon-Thurs on their basic facts, counting collections and splitting numbers (inspired by Nuffield Foundation Readings).
•         Use Parents as a mouth piece for second groups coming into MST
•         Sharing student voice recorded at beginning and end to show attitude shift.
•          Play the 100 game from ‘My Kids Can’

Ngaire:

•         Whole school focus on maths, each teacher has an inquiry question linked to appraisal; every teacher has a target group.  Each teacher uses the Teaching as Inquiry model which changes as focus changes.  Lead teacher knows all of this and flicks resources and readings to support the teachers, observations of teachers once a term for three terms.  Have a focus for each team meeting – budget, home connection, readings, target children…

Cara – Churton School:

•        Sharing with another school, theme throughout school could be ‘using materials’, everything a word problem, use the word ‘challenge’ not ‘hard’ removes a mental barrier.
•         Big breakfast – matariki focus – reason, informal 7-8am, shoulder tap parents to help as well as talk to about progress, school hall, whole school or syndicates, have coffee and cake nights with child care provided.
•         Watch each other take maths, Have a critical friend – weekly mtgs, syndicate termly with the focus on maths.  Also an inquiry check in.  CRT days – professional reading component plus BOT funding extra CRT days.
•         GARY from CARA’s SCHOOL: Open Poly tech PAPER on teaching maths.

Jenny:

·        Set up a Google doc for the SIT team and team leaders can access and share with their teams.  Includes resources and readings to disseminate amongst the school to improve effective practice.

Kylie:

·        MST Network Teachers – friends, resources, support.

Helen: 

·        Get into classes to support teachers/children and observe what is going on with both.

Dori: 

·        Maths TV using a box to help get talk flowing and explaining thinking.

Cliff: 

·        Family Maths Book.  Each night the book goes home with a child.  A game in the front gets played and the families share how they use maths at home/work/life. Photos and blurb.

Sue Graham: 

·        Sustainability – 4 school cluster funding 1 teacher to be their PLD lead.  One term in depth in each school as well as continual support and Staff Meetings.

OTHER NOTES:

o   Mahiri Wallace – first three years

o   Sept MST 2 Day : Problem with a friend – pigs in sty youtube clip to support HOW the BRAIN LEARNS Readings.

o   Link Inquiry to Appraisal: self-assess, problems on a continuum, rich tasks, Teaching channel, sharing resources, picture books, reflection.

o   Develop the CAaP – maybe flow chart

o   Youtube Clip: What would your students say? Teachers? Parents?

o   Youtube Clip: Math Class Needs a Makeover

SELENA O’LEARY:  Fielding Intermediate DP

·        ALiM and MST Nominations come from Students, Parents and Teacher.

·        ALiM, MST and ALL are given priority over all other school programming and double dipping is kept an eye on (2 lots a day necessary).

·        It’s about:

o   Engaging in mathematics organisation

o   Raising achievement through whanau engagement

o   Developing understanding thru rich mathematical tasks

o   Extending thinking through mathematical questioning

o   Creating positive mathematical thinkers

·        2 staff meetings a term and 2 CAaP meetings a term.

·        On agenda for parents drop hints but not the actual content – make it exciting and fun sounding.

·        Create your own community of maths, network and lead teacher mtgs.

IMPACT ON ME:

The last two years of MST as well as the ALiM journey have been monumental in terms of personal growth with Mathematics.  I have gained content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and confidence.  It really has been a journey of discovery.  I gained an A- this year to go with my A from last year and am very proud of myself for having achieved these results at Post Grad level.  I still have the desire to study but just not as intensely as the past two years.  The Open Polytech are offereing a worthwhile looking paper so I am considering that.

Next year will give me the opportunity to grow into the role of leading the maths team  on our continued journey towards effective practice for all staff at Porritt School.  My goal is for everyone to have a strong sense of capability and confidence in teaching maths by improving their own knowledge thru my support and readings/PLD etc...

A goal to be going on with and a journey continued!

2015 Appraisal Notes

This is a copy of my appraisal notes as noted by Sonya Aifai (DP)

Learning area being observed: Mathematics   CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Teacher: Nic McGrath              Observer: Sonya Aifai              Date: 26/8/15

Learning activities	Time	Learning Intention/Success Criteria
Fans –reading numbers in place value with place value cards to separate numbers. Practice cards for experts. Bead frames to practice skip counting. Appraiser’s Comments: (focus on student outcomes) Revisited how we can help each other with mats- reiterated the class agreement about how they work together. ‘Steals you thinking’- listening to others. Often asked do you agree? How do you know- think/talk moves Removed distracting influence to teach 1 to 1 with those needing support. Good feedback given on ideas presented to the group e.g. Izzy- that was a great way of working that out- you did…. (Paraphrasing) You have a lovely nature with the children. You use humour and connect to the children well. You are also able to curtail the over exuberant ones and keep them on their learning journey. Children felt comfortable to explain their thinking and were fully involved in the learning activities. A variety of equipment used and Future Actions / Goals: The kids were great. Lovely to teach with a group of 4 with no other distractions. Perhaps as an action to keep Izzy contained is to make her lead some of the group activities. After working with the 2 less capable- make sure you have some extension time with the 2 capable ones. The former 2 could practice independently. Good work Nic. You are a  pleasure to watch teach . It is evident you have the children’s learning at heart. And so much Maths knowledge!!   White boards for recording	11:30-12 noon	To re visit the learning support rules Place value and reading numbers into the hundreds and then thousands Skip counting Problem solving activity

Signed: Teacher :                       Date:15.10.15

          Observer ____________________________Date __________

ULearn 2015 - Got me Thinking!

I have had the privilege of being able to attend ULearn 15 with the majority of the Porritt staff.  It was inspiring, motivating, challenging and over whelming.  It was great to hear the same messages about how children best learn at the conference as what I have been learning about over the past two years.  I thought I was behind in the latest thinking about education but I was familiar with the research that was behind the the MLE's, Student Agency and Transforming Learning. I feel familiar with the pedagogy which was reassuring.

It was interesting to have conversations with other staff members who still cling to some traditional ideas of education and feel that traditional structures still need to be followed.  It was really reinforced to me that technology is a huge part of the modern learning environment and that, yes children were going to spend the majority of their time on devices but that it was a tool that was relevant to them and therefore engaging them.  I still struggle with the seeming isolation of children working by themselves on devices but maybe that's my problem - I need more knowledge around that whether by reading or conversations.

Loved they way Hampden Street School in Nelson operated their senior block - inspiring!!  Wish I was involved in a scenario like that but also am scarred that I couldn't do it justice to home life demands - I acknowledge it takes a lot of work and dedication to achieve and lots of time - years in fact.  I suppose that's a challenge to face.

I would like to do some GATE stuff but again the Hampden Street school crew made me consider the implications of taking children out all the time and why are we segregating children - not sure how I feel about that as I can see both sides to the argument - typical fence sitter!

I am looking forward to the new year and seeing where to next for Porritt but am apprehensive about staff changes and the implications of that for my friends and myself.

Busy Times

September has been a busy month with our last MST block course ever in Auckland at the Waipuna and countdown to the last assignment in mid October.  School has also been busy with Maths PD provided by Te Toi Tupu, teachers and students in observing me as well as me observing five teachers take mathematics.  I have felt a little out of my depth here and there but finding that I'm constantly examining my practise and striving to make the kids do better.

Our block course was fantastic and once again have come away with so many great ideas - surprisingly around special ed with the 'Success For All' resource front and centre.   This is a great bank of knowledge for teachers with kids with special needs to access and give them tips for inclusion.

There was also a very good session on involving parents and ways to target reluctant families.  All worthy of consideration and have been discussed with Brendon.

Doing Teacher Obs has been eye opening in a really great way and made me really focus in on what the teachers were doing.  I tried to give full and constructive feedback with helpful hints or where to next statements.

My children feel a bit neglected at the moment as we have production on so time is getting sucked up very quickly.  I am really focussing on my senior boys groups as they are the basis for my assignment due in a month and I need to get all my obs on them done and their take on measurement and misconceptions they may have.  Once that's taken care of then its focus on the first part of term 4 to get all my kids really for testing mid November - not much time at all.

In the holidays the majority of the staff and I are heading to Auckland for U-Learn 15.  I have focussed my programme around Modern Learning Environments, Student Agency, a little maths and ICT.  My thinking was about wanting to keep up to speed with latest innovations and catch phrases in education as I miss out on staff PD due the part time nature of my job.  Hopefully I have chosen well with a view to future classroom teaching and will record my thoughts once we get back form the holidays.

A Quick Trip to Gisborne

Sue Jarvis from Havelock North Primary and I were invited to speak about our MST experiences to a group of ALiM 2 teachers in Gisborne yesterday.  We presented a powerpoint of what was involved as well as sharing some resource ideas:

Gisborne MST 2 Power Point

We felt we did a good presentation and worked cohesively as a team.  We were honest about the study commitment  but also the benefits to our teaching and how much we have learnt, personal growth and the pay off back in the classroom.

It was a great 24 hrs full of stimulating professional conversations around the teaching of mathematics with teachers and advisors from all over the East Coast.

Back to the groups:

So far its taking a little while to settle but the children are for the most part engaged.  The year 3s have a huge amount to learn but keeping them focussed has been challenging and short and sharp seems to be the requirement.  My potential problem senior boys are being fantastic and I am feeling good about where we can go with their learning. My main focus is keeping them engaged but covering the basics and having a game as a reward at the end.  I am also now going to be available on Fridays to meet with teachers to offer advice and support - which kind of feels arrogant but I only wish to help so hopefully this will be successful.  It will also mean I can catch up with my cohort 1 students whom I am missing.

Connecting with whanau:

My commitment to connecting with Whanau will hopefully receive a boost tonight with our Maths Evening and general walk through.  I made separate posters as a reminder and hopefully with connect with a few of the parents tonight.  I also have jazzed up the Ministry Parent Evening Powerpoint and this will be the focus of tonight's meeting.  Brendon, Tony and I will collectively present to parents and answer any questions we can.  Idea is to respond to the detrimental media reports regarding children failing due to the way we teach maths now.

We had 15 parents turn up to the parent math info night which was disappointing but we attributed the low number to time of year and perhaps a bit late at night.  One of my MST children's mums came and it was great to connect with her.  She made a positive comment about how her son's attitude to maths had changed for the better.  the rest of the staff were pleased with the contact with parents which was positive and Robyn Holt came in support as well.

End of a Cohort and New Beginnings

At the end of last term I had to say goodbye to my cohort 1 children.  They have worked hard over the last 15 weeks and all have made progress to some degree or other.  Only four children out of eighteen did not shift a stage but did make gains within the stage they are at.  Ten children gained one stage progress and four children gained two stages in their progress.  Three of the years fours got an OTJ of after 3 years which makes them only 6 months behind.  Five year fives are only 6 months behind and four year sixes are only six months behind.  One year six has now met the standard after starting two years behind.

I am pleased with the results and especially pleased by the feedback from both staff and parents as to gains made in confidence and attitude which is reflected in the students through the conversations we have had.  I am very sad to see them go but look forward to see how they 'fly' out there on their own.

I spent the first two weeks of this term testing and arranging my new groups.  These children are low and also contain a large year 3 contingent.  We focused on older children at the start of the year to see if they could make some gains to help get them through the year and I think we have done well closing the gap.  This cohort are very low with the majority working at stage 2 and a few at 4 and one at early 5.  I am hoping to really shift the stage 2 children to a stage 4 (at least) and the other children through to early 6/6. I really need to keep my eye on the big ideas and keep pushing independence and perseverance with the kids.

On an interesting aside Sue Jarvis and I have been invited to share our journey thus far with MST 1 teachers from Gisborne on August the 10th.  We have met and started a power point of ideas on google docs which we will add to over the next week and finesse when we are in Gisborne.  Hopefully it will go well and inspire the attending teachers to continue with their MST journey.

I also finished my second assignment over the holidays on a discussion relating to children's misconceptions with decimals, fractions and whole numbers.  I got 25/30 which I am thrilled with not to mention all the great learning that came out of the reading etc..  Its amazing how it alters the way in which you listen to children's thinking and analyse what they are saying.

As we have been in the process of maths PD - which has been a bit hit and miss - as realised by the facilitator and felt by the staff, our SIT team has not been functioning.  However, we do have a meeting on Tues to discuss our parent night on the 11th August and what we need to do for that.  I will also request a time to meet and discuss the rubrics we need to cover to make sure we are still on track.

My inquiry for this half of the year is to increase my whanau connections and put myself out there as well as try and connect the families to their children's learning.  I have approached one dad who was positive about his son's upcoming involvement but negative about his ability.  This is a hard mindset to break but I will do my best to try and change his and other parents ideas.  I hope to have a blog or facebook page going and regular feedback home.  I really need to step up in this area and by making it my inquiry it will become a priority.  It really is a necessity in helping these children become successful.

That's all for now - on with the study, the new groups and making connections with whanau

The Unusual Baker

Over the past two weeks I have presented the children with the problem of the Unusual Baker.  This activity is so rich in the mathematical thinking that it elicits from the children that it has been a great tool for me to be on the ball and anticipating where the students are going next.  It has also forced me to step back and allow them to get on with the solving.  We have made links between fractions, money, decimals and percentages as well as all the operations we use.  This activity has been worthwhile both from a student and a teaching perspective.