Putting PD into practice - Share/Model/Record

One of the 'gems' I shared in my previous post from Jo Knox's PD was how she worked her sharing time in small group situations. If one pair was sharing, another pair was modelling using materials (how that group solved their problem) and the other pair were recording it on paper. 

So I tried this out in class and it worked brilliantly! Previously, sharing time normally consists of the person(s) sharing to me but hardly anyone else in the group is listening. They are either distracted or trying to sort out their own problem ready for their time to share.

So this method of sharing is a great way to ensure that:

1. Everyone is engaged
2. You cover a triangulation of oral explanation, numbers being manipulated in an equation, and also what it looks like on hard materials. 
3. Once all 3 groups have shared, students would have been exposed to 2 or 3 different ways of solving 1 problem!

I'd encourage anyone and everyone to give this method of sharing a go. It definitely adds a much needed scaffold to the learning process.

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

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!

Strand data - Pre test

One of my 'points of interest' that came out of one my previous post about MidYear GLOSS outcomes was: 1) Parents pointing out that STRAND work in maths was one of the weaknesses when they got to high school. 2) We had no formal way of measuring how much progress students actually make in strand.

To address this Team 5 (Year 7 & 8 block @ Pt England) decided to create our own asTTle test which covered curriculum levels 2-4 about geometry and measurement. We used this as a pre-test for the start of this term and the plan is to create a similar test for the end of the term to see how much progress students make.

Here is my Year 7 and 8 data as well as data for my 'target group' and my 'extension group'.
 
 
A closer analysis of students Individual Learning Pathways will help to target areas in which they need support in. But this is a great starting point for my teaching and I look forward to comparing it with my end of term data.