CoL Inquiry - SHARE checklist

I will be adding to the SHARE labels more next term as I work towards the end of year goals for my target students, extension students and my maths class as a whole.

One of the areas I need to be more explicit about is the Model/Guide section as this is split into 2 separate labels in the framework.

Publish	What happened as a result of the changes? Share evidence (artefacts of student learning, DLOs) and effective strategies.	Extensions students Hands on Geometry
Co-teach	What if my plans didn’t work? Are there different approaches?Who can help me? Peer observations, video analysis of my practice.	T3 checkpoint - Staff presentation CoL teachers leading staff meeting @ Pt England
Model / Guide	How can my findings and experiences support my peers? How is this shared?	Extensions students Strand data - pre test It’s the little things that matter
Feedback / Feedforward	What are my next steps? How will I sustain effective practice? Learner feedback? New goals?	T3 - Update on target students
Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	T3 - Update on target students T3 checkpoint - Staff presentation Reflection on Geometry

CoL Inquiry - CREATE checklist

Organising my blog posts into our Manaiakalani Teaching as Inquiry Framework has enabled me to identify the gaps in my inquiry which I have not addressed. The table below clearly identifies this for me as being the Create - Innovate part of our inquiry cycle.

Create - Innovate: 
Are we capitalising on the affordances of the technology to support the Five Affordances of Learn Create Share (Engagement, Teaching Conversations, Visibility, Cognitive Challenge, Scaffolding) identified by the WFRC

Reflecting back on my inquiry, I can confidently say these things have been happening and overlap with some of my other topics discussed in my blog posts under the label "Ctry" - try new things. So I will try and distinguish the differences between the 2 labels next time and be more specific to ensure I cover this aspect of the framework.

Make a plan	What can I already do and  what do I need help with? Who are the learners? Group/class What are the goals for my practice and student achievement? Set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for my students.	Make a plan Teaching as Inquiry Framework PD - Creativity Empowers Learning
Try new things	It is a constant state of action, monitoring, reflection, and adjustment - and then more action. Failure may occur. Feedback from learners - how will I engage them with new learning? Do they know we’re trying something new?	End of T1 inquiry reflection Student Voice - what do they really think of maths? Rotations and half-time breaks Extensions students Strand data - pre test It’s the little things that matter
Innovate	Are we capitalising on the affordances of the technology to support the Five Affordances of Learn Create Share (Engagement, Teaching Conversations, Visibility, Cognitive Challenge, Scaffolding) identified by the WFRC
Implement	Just do it!	Success Criteria and self assessment Rotations and half-time breaks T3 - Update on target students Extensions students Strand data - pre test Hands on Geometry
Reflect	“Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship goes hand in hand with formative assessment, in the cyclical evaluation process that goes on moment by moment, day by day, and over the longer term.” Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry	Success Criteria and self assessment Student Voice - what do they really think of maths? Rotations and half-time breaks Mid-Year GLOSS outcomes Teaching as Inquiry Framework T3 - Update on target students Extensions students Strand data - pre test Hands on Geometry

Reflection on Geometry

As I take a look back at what we've covered so far for Geometry, and the types of hands-on activities we've been able to experience, I feel a sense of accomplishment. My goal was to try and 'create' more experiences involving movement and materials that would help imbed knowledge into learners so they would remember it further down the track. My gut feeling, based on observations and the learning conversations I've had with students , is that this has been achieved. We've still got our post test to do and mark next week, so keep an eye out for the results coming soon.

BUT...

There is a BUT to this. As I reflect and think about my 'where to next' steps, I realise, strand only makes up a small part of where students need to be at in terms of National Standards by the end of the year.

So how can I transfer these kinds of experiences, to teaching number, strategies, ratios and proportions?

I've got a plan forming in my head, after talking with members of our team, involving making punch to help with ratios. Will keep you posted on how this pans out. But for now if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear about them please.

It's the little things that matter

My inquiry has come to a point now where its the little things that matter. The small steps we take, the teachable moments in class, and the 'warm-ups'. These are the things that matter and I (and we - as a class) need to do well. Attending to these, and planning well for these will really help towards my goal of embedding knowledge into learners - for the long haul.

As part of this, I've been trying to think of engaging warm-up activities which require students to move around in order to create experiences which will help them remember the learning better.

Here is a warm-up activity we did for Geometry - Transformations last week.

Outcome - This activity really helped students to complete their set tasks and activities manipulating shapes by rotating them, flipping them or sliding them side by side. Students were able to use the warm-up activity to help them sort out what their shape will be doing based on the task they had to do. Check out some of the poses we had. 

So although we don't give warm-up games in maths too much thought, let me tell how useful it can be, as that 5-10minute game (especially if it relates to your lesson for the day) can do a world of wonders!

CoL teachers leading staff meeting @ Pt England

Monday nights staff meeting was led by our CoL teachers. We had Matt and Andrea lead the intro for the whole staff before we split up into teams and each of us 5 CoL teachers were allocated a team to lead. I was with Team 4 who are 5 teachers from years 5&6.

Team 4 were very responsive towards what I had to share and the task they were to complete. Some of the things they found interesting were: Some of the blogs they read about Maths from other schools resonated with them as it was the same situation they are experiencing in class. Another commented about now nice it was to be given PD time to read and learn from other teachers as it gives them ideas to try out in their class or triggers other ideas rather than being stuck in their own world of inquiry.
It was great to hear this feed back and feel how grateful the team felt that there are teachers who are putting themselves out there in terms of their teaching practice for others to learn from.

Thank you to Team 4 and my fellow CoL teachers for writing such reflective and detailed blog posts.