Spring Into Maths Reflection...

After our first few weeks of moving Spring Into Maths from a withdrawal group to an in-class programme, my target group are all excited for Maths lessons. By taking time to step back and observe I have noticed these usually quiet students who shy away from sharing their ideas, are now confidently interacting with each other, and appear keen to share their thinking. Actively engaged is not a phrase I would have used many times when talking about this group, but if I was asked to describe their learning today it would have been exactly what I would have said!

Possible reasons for this change in confidence could be linked to: 

• opportunities to strengthen visual connections to the learning through use of materials
• the 'fun' element of maths games
• the small group size
• aligned ability levels has evened the playing field - no one is viewed as the 'expert' so everyone is willing to share their thinking
• following the SPRING format allows for opportunities to revisit learning using different numbers 
• the learning is pitched at the right level
• teacher/teacher aid shared language of instruction
• teacher/teacher aid enthusiasm
• increased self efficacy

After the lesson today I asked two of my target students to work collaboratively to write a description of their learning for this blog post. Their description of today's learning written by students G2 and G5 is below. 

'Spring into Maths is a group that develops and practises basic facts and gives students in the group an opportunity to understand the maths that is hidden in the questions for example - What is ⅛ of 24=?- This question is very similar to multiplication but instead we use the opposite strategy which is division. Today, the Spring into Maths group played a few games that involved addition, place value, and multiplication. We wrote down numbers on the white board and used the place value strategy to help find out the answer. Our warm up  energizer was using the biggest to smallest strategy to sort the number cards out. Next we played maths game to practise our times tables which was called Digi Facts. After that we used the place value house to clarify our understanding of numbers using thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones. Here is an example using the number 689 -600 is the hundreds, 80 is the tens, 9 is the ones. We got all ours right!

We like Spring into Maths because it helps us improve on the areas we need to work on in fun ways. All of us are confident to share our answers because everyone is respectful even if you get the answer wrong.'

Students G2 and G5

An additional element we have added to this programme is a problem solving challenge to help these students strengthen our connections to the maths language we encounter when reading and trying to make sense of written maths questions.  

Spring Into Maths...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to observe Karen, one of our amazing teacher aides, taking a Spring Into Maths session with three of my students who are part of her withdrawal group. What stuck with me the most was the atmosphere in the room. My students were smiling throughout and confidently offering answers to questions, even when they weren't sure of the answer. The latter is something I see happening in the classroom only when they are confident their response is correct. The self efficacy I saw is something I really hope can be transferred back to the classroom.

Spring Into Maths is an intervention program used to provide extra support in number knowledge and strategies for students with knowledge gaps in maths. It is not new to me as I have incorporated this programme into my maths lessons on numerous occasions over the years, however is not something I have been running formally in my maths programme this year. I asked these students what they liked the most about being part of this maths group. Here are their responses:

• JA -  'The games Miss because we can challenge each other in a fun way.'
• AK - 'I like the number challenges because we can try and get a better score than what we got last time. It shows that we know stuff.'
• SB - 'I like being able to say my answer and I don't feel shy because there's only three of us and I really like the games.'

Going forward I am going to rework my maths programme to incorporate the hands on elements of Spring Into Maths into our maths sessions. I saw first hand how powerful being able to manipulate materials is, and see this as another way stronger connections can be made to the knowledge my learners need to be able to operate confidently in a mathematical capacity. 

I began this morning's lesson by explaining the changes I wanted to make to our maths learning time, and as I wanted buy-in from everyone we spent today's session playing the huge amount of number knowledge games that had been most definitely underused in my class this year. The buzz of noise meant this was most definitely not a quiet lesson, and like yesterday all I saw were smiling faces, engaged learners and some outstanding collaboration as they negotiated their answers. 

I'm looking forward to see if this change can help all my students see that they can recall and use their number knowledge skills confidently at speed.

When a 4 becomes a 5 we celebrate...

For the last year and a half I have watched one of my students who arrives every morning with a huge smile of his face completely fall to pieces and dissolve into floods of tears when faced with any form of assessment. He finds most aspects of learning a challenge but during learning time never lets this take the smile off his face, unless as I previously mentioned the task facing him involves any form of test. I have tried so hard to help him relax and just try his best, but this is something he hasn't, until today, been able to do. The fact that we did his GLoSS test and he smiled the entire way through is the sole purpose for the celebration in this blog post. 

Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

Historically this Year 8 student (B3) hasn't progressed past Stage 4 in the GLoSS assessment, but today with a huge smile on his face, I listened to him confidently explain the strategies he was using to help him find the answers to the questions I was asking him (he even asked me if it was ok to use skimming and scanning skills to recheck the information!). This time skip counting was replaced with times table knowledge, counting on from the largest number was replaced with place value partitioning and equal sharing was replaced with repeated addition, allowing him to finally progress to the long awaited Stage 5! 

We have a well developed routine that follows the same format each maths lesson. My learners are grouped by ability so that they are learning at a level that challenges them, but also allows them to feel successful. The teaching DLOs all have the same layout, with only the content being different. Each group has two guided sessions with me followed by two follow up sessions, one where they work with number properties and one where word problems are introduced to allow the strategy to be used in context. In both learning situations talk is encouraged. Alongside this, each person completes three independent challenges made up of 15 minutes of E-Ako, 15 minutes of levelled basic facts challenges and 10 minutes of times table challenges at a time they choose. This purposeful 'brain break' affords my learners the opportunity to self manage and find success as these online challenges are revision based and not instructional. 

So what has changed for learner B3? His self efficacy has increased because he feels confident in a subject that he feels he is successful in. I know this because I asked him. "I like maths Miss, because it's fun and I'm good at it now because I know how to use my strategies." He is finding success because he is able to complete the follow up work set for him independently. He is finding success because he is asking questions when he needs clarification instead of waiting for me to notice he is stuck, and he is finding success because he is using the vocabulary that allows him to engage in the conversation and share the thinking behind the strategies he has used.. 

Huge congratulations B3 I am so proud of you! 

Analysing the data (November) and Reflecting on my Inquiry...

This year I have been looking at ways stronger connections to content specific vocabulary can help overcome hindered student self efficacy in writing. In February I collated the data from the e-asTTle attitude domains for writing as a way of measuring student self efficacy in writing. My February data 'shows that my learners don't like writing at school, they don't believe they are good at writing and worryingly, most think I don't think they are very good at writing.' 

Comparative data collected in November (refer to presentation below) shows that there have been some notable changes between the time one and time two data. Most significantly is that everyone now sees themselves at being better at writing, with 3/8 students seeing being a 'good writer' as something that is 'very like me'. 7/8 students now like writing at school more and 6/8 students now believe I think they are 'good at writing'. Writing out of school is not something these students enjoy, a shift possibly influenced by age and a change in outside interests and influences. When looking using this tool as a way of measuring student self efficacy in writing I can see the shifts are positive. Additionally I know that in the classroom engagement has increased, work completion rates have increased and confidence levels have increased. 

To reflect student achievement (refer to the graphs below) I chose to show the shifts in each of the e-asTTle writing domains using the R scores as this allows me to see where the shifts were strongest. I am aware these levels are subjective, but have been assessed by the same person and moderated for validity. This is a powerful reflection tool as I can see where the strongest connections to my instruction were made. 

The biggest shifts are in structure and language, sentence structure, punctuation and in organisation. When I looked back on my long term planning I see that this ties in with the adaptations I made to dedicate more time to the oral language component of front-loading the vocabulary and more time to talk and use their words in context when planning. There was an increased expectation that all work would be completed and the format of each lesson the same except for the added daily challenge, something determined by peer led feedback and decided by my students. 

When analysing the writing samples I noticed the consistency with co-constructing the success criteria linked to structure, language, punctuation, sentence structure and organisation at the start of each lesson was replicated in the writing plans. Possibly because these students understood what they needed to do to improve their learning. Analysis of ideas and vocabulary show these areas have remained consistent with minimal movement, perhaps due to the fact the writing assessment does not allow time for front-loading and talk when planning. 

What this data does not show however, is the change in the quantity of the content nor the confidence that my learners approached this task with. It does not show that everyone wrote for the full allotted time and when asked to move onto editing, each student used the time to try their best to check their work for accuracy. A sneaky look at the revision history showed me the latter. 

Reflecting on my professional learning through this inquiry cycle...

In our focus on achievement we often overlook the power that positive reinforcement and self belief have on outcome. Strong healthy classroom relationships mean that student engagement  interwoven benefits. The best part is that the adaptations made in writing created a knock on effect across several other learning areas for many of our students.

My inquiry goal this year was to grow self efficacy in my reluctant writers, something I have tried very hard to do. Learning from Jannie, Rebecca, Aaron and Russell in our CoL meetings has played a huge part in my growth and the growth in my students this year as I come away from each meeting with a ‘takeaway’ that I tweaked to meet the learning needs of my students. Although initially challenging to do I found being asked to backward map a causal chain the most useful tool in keeping my inquiry focused. I have referred back to this many times and is something I will definitely create in my next inquiry.

Adapting Cynthia Greenleaf’s research into student self efficacy in reading to writing in my classroom has given me an increased empathy towards my reluctant writers. These students are not simply disengaged or disruptive, they are, in many cases masking their perceived historical failures by seeking negative attention. 'I always muck around cos then you won't ask me anything cos you'll think I haven't done my work. I always do that every year Miss.' (Boy 8, June 2018) This was the response I got after I had purposely ignored his behaviour for a period of time and focused on strengthening my rapport with him. From then on I made a point of asking for his input. In turn I noticed over time that he had become far more engaged in the learning, he was happy to share his thinking (as long as I didn't ask him first), and from mid way through term 3 took pride in letting me know his finished work was on his blog. Russell reminded us in one of our CoL meetings that success comes with completing a task, something I have seen first hand is vital if we are looking to grow student self efficacy, and one of the most successful adaptations I have made across all my teaching this year.

I can see that the way forward for me is to replicate the changes in how I deliver my instruction as it has given these students the knowledge to approach writing with confidence. 'Repetition without boring' allows key learning points to be revisited so that stronger connections can be made. Planning time for talk and front-loading means new learning is unpacked and new vocabulary used in context. I noticed that the students who said the words used the language. This required a lot of teacher modeling, think alouds and scaffolding initially but allowing my learners the time to process the new, meant I was able to build in challenges that promoted the risk taking I was after. Ignoring behaviour, praising success and setting the expectation that all work will be finished helped to change 'This is boring!' into 'Miss, can you check my work?'.

Adding in the 'fun' factor...

Last week one of our writing tasks was to create Kahoot quizzes with a buddy that would challenge others to recall the deeper and surface features found in an explanation. A learning task that quickly engaged all my learners. As I mentioned earlier, they were working in pairs so there was a lot of collaborative chatter as the thinking evolved. The best part of this was seeing many of the teaching scaffolds and the feedback comments that linked to their own explanation examples being used as reference tools as I had not prompted any of this. 

With the quizzes underway I took the time to step back and observe. Self efficacy was definitely alive in this lesson as my usually shy group had morphed into confident and active participants who were trying hard to recall the answers in the fastest time. No one was reluctant to share their quiz as everyone had the tools and knowledge to complete the challenge successfully. It was great to see the celebrations and praise they were bestowing on each other for making it onto the response podium. What excited me the most however, were the deep conversations that were taking place as my learners were noticing and discussing why their responses were correct or incorrect. 

T1/T2/T3 Comparison of what success in writing look like through the eyes of my learners...

Throughout this year I have focused on growing the self efficacy of group of reluctant writers. As I could only capture 6/8 responses in the T1/2 data comparison I chose to use the data of the same 6 students in T3. Notable changes in responses have been highlighted in yellow. I growth in content specific information that was emerging at the T2 checkpoint has continued to evolve, and there is a general consensus that in order to be a good writer across the learning areas you need to understand what it is you are being asked to do so that you can use your words to talk about and write about your thinking.

Changes I have noticed in class:

Target Students:

• settling to work quickly is the norm
• questioning is for clarity
• increased levels of confidence
• working with a buddy has once again become the preferred option at planning time with active engagement in talk/learning conversations 
• continued positivity towards new learning 
• work completion is the expected norm
• increased levels of risk taking 
• sharing work with class is the norm
• praise is owned and sought
• strengthened connections to the learning through engaged talk

Me:

• positive praise linked to previous success to engage reluctant writers
• overlooking the behaviour that accompanied disengaged learners and focusing on the task ahead. 
• continued explicit instruction
• increased front loading time so that stronger connections could be made
• timetable changes to allow time for work to be completed
• following the same teaching sequence meant familiarity with the process allowed me to reduce the level of scaffolding
• increased talk time for planning
• high expectations
• repetition of content specific language in context

The power of strong connections...

Last week we revisited explanation writing. This is something most of my group find a challenge as they do not believe they are 'good at writing explanations'. We have looked at the language features and structure in a variety of ways this year as I have tried to show them how to use these features in context. However when I said we would be writing explanations I was met with the usual moans and groans that appear whenever this group think something is 'boring'. I have since found out that 'boring' in this setting means 'I don't know how to do that, or I lack the confidence to do that'.

These comments quickly changed when I said we would be writing explanations about how to

make a hangi. Instant connections were made as everyone in my group has eaten

or been to a hangi our umu. I had buy-in because my learners had a 'hook to peg

their knowledge on'. Together we unpacked at a written exemplar, watched a

YouTube clip, looked at a series of images that show the process of making a hangi. With the front loading complete we then co-constructed our vocabulary list so the learning conversations could continue with the words I needed them to use being used in context.

Once again we used the safety net of paired planning but this time the written challenge had

to be done independently. My learners had a scaffolding framework so they could organise

their ideas but the actual content had to come from their plans. I noticed lots of rewindable

learning taking place so that facts could be checked.

The biggest success from this writing challenge was that one of my most reluctant writers

(Student X) was engaged the entire time! For the first time in writing this year his motivation

was intrinsic and he completed and blogged a piece of writing

(I have included this below).

How to make a Hangi

A hangi is a special kind of traditional way of Maori cooking using a pit which has been dug in the ground. Men work together to lay down the hangi. There are several steps to preparing and cooking a hangi.

Firstly the pits needs to be dug in the ground.Then volcanic rocks and irons are lit and the fire needs to burn for about 2 hours.While the fire burns a Karakia is said to pray for the environment and protect the native trees, bless the food and pray that it is cooked nicely.

Once the fire has been burning for about 2 hours they break it down and dig out the

ashes to remove some embers. This helps stop the food from getting too smokey

and acrid (better tasting).

Food gets wrapped in cabbage leaves.This keeps the food from drying out and

keeps the dirt from going in the hangi after the wrapped food is put in basket. Meat like chicken goes in first and then veggies are put on the top.

Cabbage leaves and sacks soaked in water then put on the hot irons. The baskets

are carried over to the pit and then covered with wet sacks to keep dirt out.

Finally it is all covered with canvas. They let it cook for about 3 and a half hours before they remove the sacks and the baskets of food.

Hangi food is still cooked on special occasions the same way it has been done

for many years.

The power of strong connections to the learning, using realia and tapping into the

cultures of our learners is huge.

Innovation, Creativity and Success #2...

I have realised that the more enthusiastic I am about our learning the more enthusiastic my learners are, so with that in mind I introduced our pick-a-path story challenge. We began by exploring an interactive advertisement that gave my learners, who were working in pairs, a choice of which path to follow. I knew I had picked the right hook as the initial giggles were quickly replaced by excited chatter as the outcome of each choice became evident. We then went on to explore some pre-made pick-a-path stories that allowed a wider choice of options.

                                   

Once I knew my learners were hooked we began planning our own versions. We began by planning our ideas in pairs as I knew the discussion around the storylines would be richer if we did this. However the final piece of completed work was done independently as each person was given the freedom to add their own twist to their shared planning. the I used a planning template that Matt Goodwin shared with me to help us organise our ideas. The screenshots below show our twist with this. We found we needed to colour code the ideas that went with each other as this helped us organise our responses on the google form. 

We had a few hiccups linking between the sections on the google form. The pictures below show one pair's problem solving strategies.

 . 

Te Pounamu is happy for me to share his pick-a-path story. He has done this with other teachers and classes in our school and absolutely loves reading the response sheet. This YouTube clip is a great resource that explains the process using google forms.

 

Te Pounamu said on his blog post 'I like this story because it was a new experience and I want to do this again because it is fun, new and interesting. It is a awesome way to do a writing lesson. I think everyone should have this experience and have fun.'

What I noticed most of all during these writing sessions was that everyone was engaged and motivated. There were even moans when we had a change to our timetable that meant writing wasn't going to take place one day! When I think of what we did through the lens of self efficacy, I can say that on this occasion the boxes were well and truly ticked. My challenge as the teacher is to now capture this so that we can hopefully transfer the same level of self belief to our next writing focus.

Innovation, Creativity and Success...

This is a celebration post and one I am extremely proud of! The clips below show the end result of our pechaflickr style challenge. You will see that they vary in recording style but when you listen to the story that accompanies each clip you will hear sentences that make sense, links between paragraphs, risk taking with vocabulary and the voices of collaboration. To preserve the anonymity of my target students I have shared a selection of DLOs from my group.

When I reflect on this learning challenge from start to finish I know I began with a huge level of motivation as this was (my twist on) one of the ideas I brought back from ISTE, and I was excited to try something new. I think that captured my learner's interests initially, but it was the fun element and the chunked bites of success that kept it going. As I had not given my learners a specific topic they enjoyed the freedom of being able to explore and be creative. The oral language component set everyone up for success because the storylines had been trialled a few times before becoming scripted text. This meant that ideas that didn't fit could be explored and easily eliminated.

Throughout the lessons I made myself available for 'learning chats' that were specific to the content of each pair of learners. I made sure I approached the new in a gentle way as this year has shown me that is what works with these learners. We celebrated the positives, shared our own exemplars of great ideas and each lesson set a focus together for the next. 

The challenge for me as the teacher is to retain the level of interest shown in this challenge as we move on to the next. I learnt a lot about what I need to do to help the levels of self efficacy continue to grow. External factors like ongoing absence and withdrawal group support mean not all my learners have the same opportunities to complete the work, so my next challenge is to ensure everyone is able complete the task.

                  

Success comes with completing a task...

Our writing session today was the most focused and on task my group have been all year! A big statement to make but also one that is very true. Last session we created our own pechaflickr style slideshows and had created the simple storyline plan to accompany these images, so today it was all about fleshing out the details. 

Throughout the lesson I could hear a lot of negotiation taking place as each new paragraph was created. To clarify here my learners were creating a collaborative piece of writing. As I have mentioned earlier, I work with a large group of reluctant writers so for us collaboration is the way to go when we are unpacking new learning. 

Our initial drafts show great promise but what I was most proud of was the efficacy that is growing within this group. No one was 'too shy' to share and feed forward was well thought out and constructive. Developing links between paragraphs was the guided teaching component. I found the best way to do this was to work with three pairs at a time. In each guided session I began by asking for an exemplar to use and this time I was most definitely not at a loss for volunteers. 

With permission I made a copy of the exemplar text and shared it so we could all help make the links between the paragraphs. This style of editing our work was really well received because it was safe. I noticed smiles and elements of dialogic learning conversations emerging. This meant when I left the group they were able to continue the process and help each other to make connections and links between their paragraphs.

Self efficacy remains the focus and I have learnt that patience and gentle praise on my part have gone a long way towards growing this. The final part of this challenge is that each pair will present their narrative alongside their pechaflickr style slides to the class.

Innovate and Try #4...

This lesson gave me the chance to build on from our pechaflickr introduction from last week. We began with a revisit of how to participate in a pechaflickr challenge. This is always an important step with my target students as it allows connections to be made with information that may have been overlooked previously. Once again the room was a buzz of chatter with the creation of the narratives to match the randomised images.

Today we personalised our pechaflickr style challenge. Each pair made a copy of the google slide template I shared in my previous post and chose an idea to build a story around, then set about finding a series of images to tell that story. To add a written component I introduced a template so the sequence of ideas was clear and links between each image could be made. We will use these later to flesh out what will become the paragraphs needed for our narratives.

What I noticed when I stepped back to look and listen was that everyone was on-task. Why? Probably due to the 'fun' element of our challenge, but also because my learners could connect to their learning. Each pair chose a topic that linked to their own prior knowledge which meant the vocabulary was richer as the words and ideas flowed more easily. Interesting to note here is that despite knowing what they wanted to say, a number of students struggled to access the content words they were searching for. I could hear frustration in their voices as they found themselves settling for what they were able to recall, so I stepped in to give them the words they were searching for as I wanted to keep the momentum going. 

Student voice continues to play an important role in my quest to grow self efficacy so at the end of the lesson I asked my learners what they liked about our learning today. Here is a snapshot of the feedback: 'The slides we created helped us think about the emotions of the image.... People's faces made us think about how they were feeling.... It helped us check that the story made sense and linked with the photos.... It was fun and interesting because we had pictures to help us with the writing.... I learnt to link an idea in one picture with an idea in the next picture'. 

I am looking forward to seeing how this writing challenge unfolds. We have the foundations in place and now need to tap into my learner's awareness of linking ideas and exploring feelings in our guided sessions using the exemplars we have created.

T1/T2 Comparison of what success in writing look like through the eyes of my learners...

This year I have been focusing on building student self efficacy in writing. Why? Because I have a large group of reluctant writers. I know that no-one finds something they have success in boring so I have tried hard to be creative in my task design.

This DLO reflects the comparison of responses to questions I asked my target students in both Term 1 and Term 2 - (6/8 students were questioned at both checkpoint times so only these responses have been compared in this DLO). Notable changes in responses have been highlighted in yellow. I can see more content specific information emerging in their answers overall, but the part that excited me the most was that half of these target students are now seeing members of their own writing group as 'good' writers. 


Changes I have noticed in class:

Target Students:

• settling to work more quickly
• increased levels of confidence
• working with a buddy is no longer the 'go to'
• positivity towards new learning
• increased work completion levels
• increased levels of risk taking
• more willing to share work with class
• ownership of praise
• strengthened connections to the learning

Me:

• finding more opportunities for praise
• increased use of learner created exemplars from this group
• paying closer attention to explicit instruction
• calmer voice tone
• increased awareness of when I need to repeat/reinforce my instruction
• increased use of content specific language 

Innovate and Try #3

One of the sessions I attended at ISTE explored different ways of encouraging creativity in writing. The link to my previous post is here. With my inquiry focus of exploring ways I can build student self efficacy in mind I decided to start the term off creatively using the 'pechaflickr' idea. 

I knew most of my reluctant writers would not have done much written work over the term break so finding a fun way to get them to use the skills we have been developing over the year would be the hook I needed. As this was a completely new activity for us I wanted to maintain a level of control over which images were being used so I created my own versions using a google slide template sourced from here. You can make a copy of this template by clicking here. It's fantastic as all the settings have been done for you.

I thought carefully about the topics I chose as I knew my learners all needed to be able to make a connection to the images they were seeing. For our introductory session I used the subjects of 'dogs' and 'friends'.

The initial plan was that my students would work in pairs using the 'pechaflickr' slides on their Chromebooks to co-construct their narratives, however this wasn't to be. Just as we were about to begin we lost the internet so I had to use my phone to display the slides on the tv. This worked a treat and all I could hear around the room was the buzz of talk as stories were being created!

I noticed the usual ever present initial shyness but this was soon overcome as confidence levels grew and the risks being taken were paying off. Today was very much an oral language activity so my next step is to introduce the recording aspect to allow my learners to apply the skills they have been practising in context.

Afterwards I asked my learners for feedback and found that this task was well received by all my learners. One student said, 'l Ioved hearing people giggling about their stories to each other because it meant they were practising their learning.' One of my target students said he thought, 'Our lesson was really good today and everyone was focused because they were all communicating with their partners.' Another said, 'It was fun to take turns to come up with ideas and try and turn the ideas into a story that made sense'. 

On the flip side another targeted learner said, 'It was fun Miss, but it was a bit hard to make up a story that made sense when we both had different ideas. I had to listen really hard to my partner's idea then add something that made sense with that.' I see this feedback as positive and I am excited to see where our next writing lesson takes us as everyone found success in our learning today.

Innovate and Try #2

Following on from the use of a mentor text I knew that collaboration was the safety net needed to preserve the student self efficacy that was beginning to emerge. The series of photos below reflect the learning pathway we followed to strengthen our connections to the learning and stem from some of the ideas suggested by Aaron Wilson to help break down the barriers my target group have of not knowing what to write.

Retelling the mentor text using text maps

Using new or interesting vocabulary noticed in the mentor text to create word clines

Using the text maps and word clines to create a simple plan 

Using the plan to create a collaborative orientation

Implementing 5 -7 -10 timed writing challenge

Giving each other feedback and feed forward

All these images were snapshots of opportunities for learning talk to take place. I noticed there was no lull in the conversations as my learners took ownership of their new knowledge. The clip below shows some of the talk that helped my learners use their words in context.