2021 Teacher Inquiry Evaluation

This year I set out to find out if a focus on oral language in maths would accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language.

In order to be able to do something, you need to have access to the tools you need and the understanding of how to use them. This is no different in a classroom. The challenge for my students this year was to make accelerated shift in Maths by being able to talk about their learning in thinking groups, explain it on their blogs and create comment threads that invite others to respond by talking/writing about their learning in maths. This was something I quickly realised that I had to unpack fully, as my initial analysis of my target group’s thinking group conversation showed that my students were not able to access the content vocabulary they needed to be able to have a rich learning conversation. The quieter students chose to remain silent which resulted in the more confident students filling the void with ideas that lacked detail eg: “I did this and then I moved that number…”. They did try to initiate a discussion however, “What did you do?” was the only question I heard being asked. Simply put, my students were not able to talk in depth about their learning.

Being silent is not an option if acceleration is to take place so I realised quickly that I needed to model the language of explanation eg: “I saw that the question was asking me to… so I knew I needed to think about…” or “Groups of means… so I…”; and support the use of questions that encourage justification, eg: “How do you know it works?”, “So what happens if you…”, “What about if you say…does that still work”, “So if we…”  if I wanted rich learning conversations to become the norm.

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

When asked specific questions eg; “What is this question asking us to do with the numbers?” or “How did you find your answer?” The learned go-to was to remain silent, however being silent is not an option if acceleration is to take place. My initial thinking was that a lack of comprehension remained one of our biggest obstacles. After listening and observing from a distance I realised my students were just not confident when using maths vocabulary as the connections between the words and the strategies had not been made. 

I began breaking down the barriers by:

• Introducing the Talk Moves framework into our maths program so that the discussion stems could become the norm within our learning time. This didn’t work for us because we simply did not use or connect to the words in the stems in. Our solution was to repurpose the Talk Moves idea by co-constructing and implementing a framework that we could connect to because it used our own words. We called it LS2 Moves.

• Modelling the language and supported the use of questions which lead to justification like “How do you know it works?”, “So what happens if you…”, “What about if you say…does that still work”, “So if we…”. 

• Unpacking Jo Boaler’s positive classroom norms.

• Stepping my students through the Talk Moves framework by explaining each component and giving individual students different roles within the group.

• Explaining the purpose behind having a learning conversation.

• Actively planning for talking about and reflecting on our learning in each lesson.

• Actively planning time in class, for students to create blog posts, comment on each other's blogs and respond to comments on their own blogs. This allowed me to see where connections to the learning content were strong, and where the gaps in knowledge were evident.

• Acknowledging individual success in talk time regardless of how big or small that success was.

• Setting the expectation that during our talk time, everybody in the group needed to participate actively.

• Modelling how to bring someone into a conversation in a way that wasn’t seen as ‘scary’.

Summarise evidence about key shifts in the problem of student learning:

Due to the impact of lockdown the shifts in my student’s learning this year are based on OTJs and observations. I collected detailed baseline data in Term 1 and student voice in Term 1 and 2, but am unable to make any time point 1/time point 2 comparative shift analysis this year as lockdown forced me to draw a line under my original inquiry. I literally lost contact with half of my focus group. Due to the length of time we had been learning from home, as a school we decided not to formally assess our students at the end of the year. Because of both these reasons I can not make accurate measures in academic shifts this year. I have additionally chosen not to use the three student voice comparisons I did manage to get as this does not paint a true picture of the change in my learner’s perspectives on maths. 

Write an overall evaluation of your intervention in terms of the causal chain you had theorised. 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?

In all assessments our students are required to read and respond to questions. Often our students are not literate in their own language so the gaps that emerge when questions are written in English are getting wider, thus causing bigger disconnects in the learning. This year I want to implement the strategy of Talk Moves in Maths. Talk Moves is a strategy that promotes classroom conversations centred on maths that helps to improve students' understanding of mathematical concepts. It is a framework to prompt the discussion, and will allow me to capitalise on the learning I got from my inquiry in 2020 by providing authentic opportunities to use this 'talk' within blog posts and blog comments to help strengthen connections.

What I had begun to notice in class was that there was a stronger connection to the maths language used in written questions. The evidence I have for this I have taken from my observations in class lessons (T1/2), GLOSS testing (T2) and online collaborations (T3/4). 

I noticed that my target group approached a written question by immediately looking at what the question was asking. (eg: This says XXX had 3 times as many XXX… that means we need to times it). By doing this, the talk then moved quickly to which strategy would help them solve this in the most efficient way. On this occasion I saw this group all solve the problem using their preferred multiplication strategy, then share their ideas with the group. Student G83 then took on the leadership role, cast our LS2 Moves framework to the TV and asked everyone to share their strategy. What was interesting to see was that without a teacher involved the discussion flowed much better. Possibly because these students feel less pressure when talking in front of their familiar group of peers. Acceptance of all contributions was the key to the success on this occasion, with student B82 taking on the role of affirming each response.

During GLoSS testing all these students repeated the question I had asked aloud, then set to work to find the answer. What impressed me here was no one ‘worked it out in my head’ - the usual go-to when they don’t have the words to explain what they did. There were calculation errors but the foundations for the Y8 students were much stronger than I remember in the previous year. What I wasn’t expecting was all these students asked questions for clarification when their connections to the strategy they had chosen weren’t as strong. I asked each person what they felt they needed help with and got quite specific responses (eg: I want to learn more words that mean addition… I think I need more help with XXX strategy… I need to learn my times tables so I can use them to help me with the bigger numbers… I need to practise my place value…) 

The online environment was completely different. The talk just stopped. This meant I had to think carefully about how I could keep the thinking going. I did this through skill drill challenges, which for some reason got huge buy in,  by basing our maths questions around popular topics/themes and by introducing the idea of ‘find the error, fix the error, explain the error’. My thinking here was that if I couldn’t hear the talk I could still read it. My students shared with me that they collaborated on the maths tasks so behind the scenes talk was happening, but most importantly they remained connected as a group.

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

This year’s inquiry into my own practice as a teacher has highlighted the importance of being creative and making adaptations that work for the tamariki in front of me. One size definitely does not fit all and in our case using Talk Moves did not work. Rather than discarding the idea of using a talking framework, I asked my students why they felt this wasn’t working. We came up with the theory that we simply didn’t speak this way, so we worked together to co-construct a framework we felt would work for us. A week later LS2 Moves had evolved and had become visible in our learning environment.

We were on a roll when lockdown happened this all changed. I have summarised my own learning in my Bursts in Bubbles presentation which can be read and/or watched here. My journey this year reminded me you need to continually think outside the box. You need to adapt and try, then try again. If something doesn’t work, look for the why then find a how.... then repeat.

Bursts in Bubbles 2021

This year due to Covid restrictions our Bursts 'and' Bubbles became Bursts 'in' Bubbles, an online opportunity for the Manaiakalani COL teachers to share their 2021 inquiries into their own practice. You can watch the presentations here.

Inquiry Focus Question

Will a focus on oral language in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language?

The ability to use Maths is a communication tool to describe relationships and connections becomes compromised when maths language and literacy skills are not in place.

I noticed that my maths assessment results did not align with what I was seeing in the classroom. Formative maths assessments require students to read and respond to written questions, or to derive an answer and explain their thinking. The disconnect gap continues to widen when our tamariki do not have the comprehension and language skills in place that allow them to talk about their maths using maths words.

I used the evidence and data from the PAT Maths, IKAN, GLoSS and Running Record assessments, student voice and baseline observations to build a rich picture of my students’ learning.

During the profiling phase I noticed my target students sat silently in maths time, listening carefully and nodding their heads in agreement to avoid looking lost in the learning. Not having the words meant they became visibly anxious when asked to share their ideas. Collecting student voice each term allowed me to see maths through their eyes and helped to inform the changes I was making to my own practise.

Profiling of my own teaching after capturing and analysing the words spoken my baseline lesson gave me a valuable insight to the words and scaffolds I use. I use a wide variety, and a good balance of deliberate acts of teaching. However, I also realised that by stepping in with scaffolds too early meant the students who were less confident with sharing, weren't given a true opportunity to take a risk and share their thinking. The lesson captured was an honest one. I did not do anything I don't normally do, because someone was observing me as I wanted real and purposeful feedback and evidence.

The changes I made in my teaching were to consciously allow longer periods of wait time and to find activities that allowed us to use the maths words in context. We introduced the Talk Moves framework, but did not connect to these question stems. When I asked my students why, they pointed out that we don’t actually speak this way. That was true so we adapted the original framework and made our own version called LS2 Moves.

The literature that helped me make informed changes are summarised on my blog. These readings reminded me that Talk is not an add-on... it is a critical component of the lesson... that allows students to explore ideas and use evidence to build and critique academic arguments. It promotes the transfer of knowledge, and skills with learning to talk and learning through talk being of equal importance.

The easiest thing for me to change was actively planning time for talk to take place, time for scaffolding the talk and time to let my students respond in their own time.

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as a work in progress. When lockdown sent us back to teaching online, the talk literally stopped. I lost contact with half of my target group and the students I did see, did not have the confidence to share their thinking in an online environment.

The most important learning I made in regard to increasing student confidence and capabilities when using spoken and written maths vocabulary and language was that you need to be creative.

Some learnings that would be relevant to other teachers are that you need to think outside the box. You need to adapt and try, then try again. If something doesn’t work, look for the why then find a how.

Qu 8: How another lockdown period may impact the learners in your focus group?

How another lockdown period may impact the learners in your focus group? 

Will you need to make any changes to your Inquiry?

How might your intervention look different if you continue through this period?

• Do any of your intervention plans work via distance learning?
• Is there any information about implementation of your changed practices/intervention you could collect during this time?

As mentioned in an earlier post Alert Level 4 has pretty much seen my 2021 teacher inquiry come to a grinding halt. I do not have the authentic opportunities a face to face learning environment provides so I have needed to adapt what I am doing to encourage my students to keep the 'talk' going in Maths. 

Building on the 'familiar' by strengthening the language and vocabulary foundations already in place was how I thought we would move forward, but this has not happened in the ways I thought it would. With only my target students in mind, Google Meet attendance is an ever changing picture, making it quite challenging to get a whole group snapshot of where these students are at now. I have tried a variety of ways to try and organise a whole group Meet, but this hasn't panned out, with low level engagement being the barrier for two of these students.

Adapt and Try #5 asked my learners to write 3 maths questions linked to the topic of online gaming each using a different skill (eg: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, algebra…). Solve them incorrectly, then share the questions with a friend and challenge them to find, explain and fix the error.

The examples in the DLO show varied levels of understanding and I can see that these students are falling back on the known in their choice of number operation. Follow up conversations identified that these students chose to buddy up and collaborate for each part of this task, so my original idea did not work. Unfortunately, hindsight tells me that the real and rich conversations that took place were not captured. However in saying this, the interactions that evolved from my feedback in the comments tool showed me the depth of the thinking behind the co-construction of these responses.

Keeping the talk going in a distance learning environment is really challenging. This is an inquiry focus that is definitely best suited to a face to face environment. From the tasks I have set over the last few weeks I can see that 50% my target students are able to use maths language effectively to explain their thinking, 25% understand what it is they need to do but have not yet developed the vocabulary and language to allow them to do this, and 25% did not engage in this task. 

What has worked over the last few weeks, is that all my target group have engaged in the 'skill drill' type activities we have set. I have no idea why the buy-in for this type of learning is so high, but I'm taking this as a win. These students may not be physically talking about the strategies they are using, but they are using this time to strengthen their connections to the number knowledge foundations they need to have in place before connections to new learning can be built.

Being back in a face to face environment isn't going to automatically make my inquiry a success. I need to continue to reflect on my teaching and explore ways I can adapt and change my practice if I want to effect change and keep the 'talk' going in maths.

How I'm helping our staff as the in-school COL teacher for PBS...

As the in-school COL teacher for PBS part of my role is to guide the teacher inquiries of our staff. I have held this role for a number of years and because of that have had the opportunity to adapt and refine the ways I do this. If you're new to this role this post might be useful to you.

In Term 1 shared an overview of the purpose behind teacher inquiry at a staff meeting. Doing this helps us all get on the same page. Like many schools we have new staff this year so giving a shared message helps get the dialogue going. Graeme Aitken asked, “How can we come together and integrate our expertise and our knowledge to address significant problems?”  At our school we look at our data and use that information to guide our overall shared focus. We have found that by doing this for a number of years we get better traction as we have each other to bounce ideas off.  

From there teachers look at their own practice along with the data from their class, and begin thinking about how they are going to move forward in a way that allows them to grow professionally. It is at this stage that teachers are reminded that an inquiry into teacher practice is about the changes we make to help our students strengthen their connections to the learning. It is our what we do and how we do it that we unpack, reflect on and adapt.

The focus for Term 2 was to form our individual focus questions, choose a focus group, capture time point 1 data, and create a causal map to guide our inquiries. All of this data is then shared in a blog post that teachers can use as a foundation to build their inquiries on. To help ensure everyone is on the same page I created a google presentation (shared below) that aligns with the one the COL teachers use. This is a step by step 'how-to' so that everyone is empowered to begin their spiral of inquiry. I chose to share this DLO with a tern by term focus as that way no one is overloaded and everyone walks the journey together. 

In addition to this I have termly 'check-in' chats with everyone. This helps us stay on track and helps teachers to keep their inquiries alive by talking about what they have done so far and what their next steps will be. It is an opportunity to ask questions and have rich and real conversations that help us work towards our goal of accelerated shifts in student achievement. 

TAI 2021: Where am I at?...

Last week I was writing some blog posts linked to my 2021 Inquiry and realised I had 'lost' my direction and focus. Having been the in-school COL teacher since 2017, I was initially thrown by this realisation as I know that I know how to carry out an in depth inquiry. Rather than find excuses for not being on top of my game I decided to find out why so I began by reading the posts that captured my journey so far this year. I then looked back over pervious inquiries and realised there were two important parts missing. An actual inquiry question and a causal chain. I was actually quite shocked that even though I had an inquiry underway I had somehow overlooked writing the actual question.

Step one was to amend this immediately, however it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I was trying to fit too much information into a very small space. Fortunately Dr Jannie Van Hees came to the rescue and helped me put into words everything I was trying to say. This wasn't a planned meeting but was definitely a very worthwhile conversation. Dr Jannie reminded me that my question needed to be succinct and through questioning helped me 'drill down' to what it was I actually wanted to focus on which is, 'Will using Talk Moves in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language?'

Step two was to put my causal chain together. I found this so much easier once I had a succinct question to guide me. I have used a causal chain for a number of years and is one of the ways I help the PBS teachers put their inquiries together. Causal chains help to plan steps forward (ie: a cause leads to an effect and that effect becomes the cause of another effect - A leads to B. B leads to C. C leads to D) by working backwards to create a chain of events that unpack the logic of the actions of the inquiry. Once I had done this I had more clarity but still felt a bit lost so I asked for help. I feel that highlighting the fact I asked for help this is important because so many of us overlook this step, preferring to muddle our way through rather than reaching out. It takes a village and within the Manaiakalani cluster we have many people who can and willingly give support when it is needed.

Step three was to organise a meeting with Fiona Grant to talk through my inquiry so far. Fiona helped me see that I that my hypothesis is if I use 'talk' to help my learners gain a deeper understanding of maths vocabulary, this widened connection to maths words will provide opportunities to improve their reading comprehension which will in turn lead to accelerated achievement in maths. I want to find out if using Talk Moves to 'learn' to talk in Maths will help my learners 'learn' through talk. Alongside this I want to see if the knowledge and skills gained can be transferred from the classroom to the blogs. 

Fiona asked me what was happening now in relation to my inquiry. I explained that I have introduced, unpacked and created group norms. I have introduced and unpacked the TM framework prompt 'So you're saying'  to encourage my learners to actively listen to others' responses. At that point Fiona asked me if my learners understood what that meant. This was when it dawned on me the reason I was 'lost' was because my learners did not have ownership of the Talk Moves process. 'So you're saying'  is not how we speak. My students can't see themselves in the framework so there is no personal investment.

When asked how I was going to engage my learners in what I wanted them to learn, I knew what I needed to do. I know I encourage my learners to 'look for the learning' when we are commenting on blogs so I am now thinking that if I ask my learners to 'listen for the learning' they will know what to do. We need to create our own version of the Talk Moves Framework using our language because this is how we learn in LS2. When I reflect honestly this disconnect applies to me too. I have no connection to the words used as I do not speak like this... #Lightbulb moment! 

As the in-school COL teacher I am always looking for ways I can support our PBS teachers. My takeaways from speaking with Jannie and Fiona are:

• Inquiry questions need to be succinct
• Ask for help if you need it 
• Use 'I'm hearing' when teachers are talking about their inquiries so that I am guiding not telling.
• Create a causal chain to help visualise your theory of action.

Qu 7: Readings to support my hypothesis...

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

If I want to use Talk Moves in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language I need to make sure I have set the norms that allow for academically productive talk to take place.

'Students explain their ideas in detail with evidence... listen carefully to each other with respect... evaluate their own and others’ competing ideas.... are intellectually engaged.... Talk is not an add-on... it is a critical component of the lesson... that allows students explore ideas and use evidence to build and critique academic arguments.'
Page 13 of this reading suggests four goals that might support me in providing a learning environment where academically productive talk to take place

1. Individual students share, expand and clarify their own thinking
2. Students listen carefully to one another
3. Students deepen their reasoning
4. Students think with others

Michaels and O'Connor (2012)

Talk Science Primer

Instructional strategies are the tools of effective practice. They are the deliberate acts of teaching that focus learning in order to meet a particular purpose. Instructional strategies are effective only when they impact positively on students’ learning. Teachers need to be able to use a range of deliberate acts of teaching in flexible and integrated ways within literacy-learning activities to meet the diverse literacy learning needs of our students. These deliberate acts include modelling, prompting, questioning, giving feedback, telling, explaining, and directing.

Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8, p. 78

 

Oracy is defined as ‘the ability to use the oral skills of speaking and listening’.... Spoken language is... of equal importance to reading and writing.... we need to make our classrooms talk-rich environments where every child is encouraged, expected and supported to develop a range of effective speaking and listening skills in a range of contexts.... Strategies for talk need to be in place to promote the transfer of knowledge, skills.... In practice this means there are two aspects to oracy, each equally important: learning to talk (oracy education) and learning through talk (dialogic approaches to teaching and learning).

Mannion, J. (2020, October 19). Oracy in The Learning Skills Curriculum: Rationale. Oracycambridge.Org. https://oracycambridge.org/oracy-learning-skills-rationale/#_ftn44

Qu 6: How I will use the data...

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.

Time point one data (shared and analysed in this blog post) was captured through:

• Informal teacher observation
• Student voice
• Assessment (IKAN, PAT Maths, GLoSS)
• Formal observation by a colleague to identify teacher talk time vs student talk time, strategies I use, purpose for talk (teacher/student)

This year I have moved away from comparing historical data with current data as the picture painted does not relate to my inquiry question. I feel however, the methods of data collection used at time point 1 will be able to be easily replicated when I am gathering data at the end of the year and will allow me to make clear comparisons.

The comparative data I am most excited to see is the data from the formal observations as this is not subjective. It is real and will allow me to see very quickly if there have been shifts in student confidence levels, teacher/student talk time and the amount of scaffolding I am needing to provide to get the maths talk going.

Student voice comparisons will allow me to see if there has been any shifts in attitude, use of content specific vocabulary and efficacy. Assessment shifts will allow me to see if the language we use when actively participating in Talk Moves conversations is helping to make the connections to the learning needed to show that understanding is being transferred and applied independently. Finally the informal observations will show if there has been any change in participation levels.

Qu 5: Nature and Extent of the Student Challenge...

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.

The challenge for my students this year is to make accelerated shift in Maths by being able to talk about their learning in thinking groups, explain it on their blogs and create comment threads that invite others to respond by talking/writing about their learning in maths.

Accessing content vocabulary continues to be one of the obstacles that seems to limit assessed student achievement. Our students are not confident when using maths vocabulary out of context. As a school we have been inquiring over the last few years into ways we can help our students to see that learning used in one area can be transferred to another - linked to vocabulary, instruction and strategy. With teachers being transparent in their inquiries we can see what is working and what we can build on. Building on from the year before is the direction we are all heading this year. In 2020 we were successful in using our blogs to encourage our learners to share their learning, ask questions and talk about their learning.

Fast forward to 2021 and we have all got new students in front of us. For many the simple transition between rooms is a challenge for many of our learners as they leave behind the known when they walk through the new doors of the unknown. The students who were with me last year, for the most part, are able to talk confidently about their learning when asked. This is because this is embedded into our classroom culture. However for many others being asked to talk about their learning is a huge challenge. Low self efficacy and a limited knowledge of vocabulary means these students find the 'talk' component to be overwhelming. Student voice collected earlier in the term identified shyness as one of our biggest obstacles and shows what I have stated above to be an accurate observation. It is from this data that I now realise the more able students find it frustrating that others in their group rely on them for the answers. The fear of 'getting it wrong' or having their ideas overlooked are other factors at play here.

I know from previous inquiries that if students are not able to use their words to explain their thinking, their connection to the task become compromised. I want all my learners this year is to create comment threads on blogs that help strengthen their connections and the connections others are making to the learning. I want them to refer to the learning intention and confidently use content specific language when giving feedback and feed forward. I also want questions to be asked that provide opportunities for those receiving the comments to justify their thinking. If this is to become the norm and be a successful intervention I need to provide a scaffolded framework so that opportunities to use content specific vocabulary in context, are not seen as safe learning opportunities and not overwhelming and scary situations.

I need to help my learners understand what a learning conversation is and realise 'talk' has a valid place in our class strategy toolbox as it helps us unpack and reflect on our learning. So the question I am asking is 'will using Talk Moves in maths accelerate student confidence and capability to use spoken and written maths vocabulary and language?'

Qu 4: Collecting evidence and data...

Begin to collect evidence and data and come to the next session ready to share your preliminary findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge i.e. using your baseline student data and evidence.

My focus group are made up of a mix of Year 7 and Year 8 students. Four students I taught last year and two who are new to LS2 this year. These students are the students who prefer to sit silently in maths time. They work hard and listen carefully but all become anxious if they are asked to share their thinking during instructional teaching times. With my inquiry in mind I stepped back and watched how they interact with others when working in maths thinking groups. The information below indicates what I observed on this occasion.

• 6/6 students look at the person speaking and nod their heads in a way that looks to others like they agree with what is being shared.
• 1/6 students offered to act as scribe.
• 4/6 students turned down the opportunity to act as scribe.
• 6/6 students did not share an alternative strategy (their book work showed a variety of different strategies had in fact been used)
• 4/6 students did not volunteer to speak first during sharing time.
• 6/6 students enjoyed the group success when their group's strategy was successfully shared with the class.
• 1/6 students offered to act as spokesperson.

Student Voice

The best way to see how my students feel about contributing their ideas when working in thinking groups or commenting on a maths blog post is to gain their perspective. I used Google forms to capture this data as it allowed my learners to share their thinking with me without being influenced by the ideas of others.

Focus Group Baseline Data

Baseline Observation 

To enable me to measure time point one data with time point 2 data I took Kiri Kirkpatrick up on her offer to observe my learners and I in a guided lesson and record the talk that took place in that lesson. After the observation Kiri showed me how to analyse the amount of student talk compared to the amount of teacher talk in the lesson, so that when we repeat the process later in the year I will be able to see if my intervention has helped to change these percentages. 

For anyone wanting to replicate this, you need to listen to the audio and record the timings of who is speaking and for how long. I will unpack this further in a future blog post. Analysing the audio takes a while but gives you also gives you so much more information about your own practice that you can reflect on. For example, I noticed that I use a wide variety of deliberate acts of teaching (DATs) to scaffold the learning and help my learners strengthen their connections to the task ahead. 

I used modelling to clarify and let my learners see what they needed to do. I realise that I prompted to encourage talk and the use of the content specific vocabulary. I used questioning throughout the lesson to encourage my learners to add detail to their responses. Without realising, I heard that my feedback to affirm, inform and guide was ongoing, informal and when needed. There were several opportunities where telling and explaining was used to help clarify confusions, and I directed my learners towards the success criteria, questions stems, new content specific vocabulary and the teaching DLO slides when specific instructions were given so the purpose of the task was made clearer. I could also see that I need to allow a longer period of wait time with the students who prefer to listen rather than contribute. On two occasions I feel I stepped in too early which meant the students who were less confident with sharing actually weren't given a true opportunity to take a risk and share their thinking.

The lesson captured was an honest one. I did not do anything I don't normally do because someone was observing me because I wanted real and purposeful feedback. Additionally this group had not worked together before so confidence levels were altered. 

Qu 3: Building an accurate profile of students' learning - tools, measures and approaches...

Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students’ learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools.

My challenge this year is to strengthen the language and learning in maths that our students need to be able to actively participate in Talk Moves, so this can be harnessed and replicated in blog posts and comments. 

Link to causal chain

In all assessments our students are required to read and respond to questions. Often our students are not literate in their own language so the gaps that emerge when questions are written in english are getting wider, thus causing bigger disconnects in the learning. This year I want to implement the strategy of Talk Moves in Maths. Talk Moves is a strategy that promotes classroom conversations centred on maths that helps to improve students' understanding of mathematical concepts. It is a framework to prompt the discussion, and will allow me to capitalise on the learning I got from my inquiry in 2020 by providing authentic opportunities to use this 'talk' within blog posts and blog comments to help strengthen connections.

The tools/measures/approaches:

Planning changes:

My first step will be to introduce the Talk Moves framework into our maths program so that the discussion stems become the norm within our learning time. Being silent is not an option if acceleration is to take place so I need to model the language and support the use of questions which lead to justification like ‘How do you know it works?’, ‘So what happens if you...’, ‘What about if you say…does that still work’, ‘So if we...' 

Additionally I need to continue to actively plan time in class, for students to create blog posts, comment on each others blogs and respond to comments on their own blogs. This will help me to see where connections to the learning content are strong, and where gaps in knowledge are evident.

Instructional lessons:

I need to create opportunities for my learners to focus, notice and use the words that help us make sense of the learning, and not only model this, but also prompt the use of these words by providing opportunities for explaining strategy choice and use in groups within the lessons.

I need to use Jo Boaler's strategy of setting up positive norms in my classroom. Actively strengthening the growth mindset in my students might help to break down some of the barriers that stop them taking risks when solving maths problems or sharing their thinking.

Provide visible scaffold frameworks and rubrics to support the talk moves process that are used across the school. 

Observation:

After speaking to Kiri Kirkpatrick (MET) about the best way to gather baseline evidence she suggested I measure the amount of teacher talk compared with student talk in a maths lesson. To help me get an accurate picture, I have asked Kiri to observe me at time point one and time point two. Having the same observer will be a huge benefit as the continuity will be in place.

PAT/IKAN/GLoSS Assessments:

Analysing these results gives me a clear picture of what my students can do and where our knowledge gaps are. I use these results to inform my planning and identify shifts in achievement. I need to look closely at the language of questioning and the content specific language that is used in these assessments to ensure my instructional language aligns. I do not want my choice of vocabulary to be a reason that any student loses their connection to the learning.

Student Voice:

Gathering student voice is a vital part of teaching. It gives us a clear picture of where our students are at, what our tamariki are thinking and what we need to do to allow our learners to make their individual connections to the learning. I need to ask my learners what the barriers are that stops them commenting on blogs, replying to blog comments and contributing their thinking to class and small group discussions. It is only by identifying these barriers that I can devise a plan to help break them down. This is not a time for me to assume and act, it is a time for me to listen then act on the information I have heard.

Peer to peer talk:

Peer to peer talk continues to be huge part of our learning time as it provides authentic opportunities for new words to be used in context. I can see that buddying my learners up they can talk through a blog post then collaboratively decide the appropriate feedback and feed forward through dialogic discussion before leaving their individual comments.

This will also provide the opportunity for my learners to buddy up and talk through comments received before responding.

To do this effectively I will need to:

• Strengthen my own knowledge to the strategy of Talk Moves with professional readings
• Strengthen my own knowledge of the growth mindset process 
• Teach my students how to use Talk Moves 
• Teach my students what growth mindset looks like
• Co-construct group norms so there is a shared understanding of the expectations
• Provide lessons that allow for this to take place
• Monitor, observe and listen to my students as they are sharing and/or recording their thinking in their groups 
• Consider the times different students need for processing when grouping my students
• Gather accurate time point one and time point two data for comparison.