WFRC #5: 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.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

After this term's assessment week I created a blog post that reflected both current data and this group's historical learning pathways.

Following on from this I asked all my learners to complete our LS2 T1 evaluation questionnaire. Gathering student voice is something I feel is really important as it gives you a clear picture from your learners perspective alongside giving your students ownership of their learning. I have bullet pointed the responses from my target group that will help guide my hunch that some issues with my students’ math achievement are related to issues they have with reading instructions and tasks. (Two students were absent so I will update the information when I have their responses).

Link to Google Draw

Link to Google Draw

What is interesting here is only 1/7 students felt they had improved in maths. When I reflect back on our learning this term I know I have identified individual successes in all three curriculum areas in my feedback (both written and oral) to these students. What I now realise is that I only tapped into the power of peer led feedback in literacy. This is definitely something I need to embed into our maths lessons too. Could this is why most of this group do not see maths as an area they achieved success in?

Another piece of evidence that affirms my hunch was observed during a guided maths lesson. I asked my target students if we could we use the language and strategies we learn in reading and writing, in maths. 9/9 students saw reading as what we do during reading time, writing as what we do during writing time and maths as what we do during maths time. I needed them to understand that what we learn in one subject can be used to help us in another, so I used a maths problem solving exercise to help them see how this works.

As a collective group we were able to rise to the challenge of reading and interpreting the language of instruction and translating the word problem into a number problem. However, when I asked them to try another question independently this was not something they could do. Seeing this in a negative light would have been detrimental to the self efficacy that I had been trying to build, so I encouraged them to work collaboratively. Independently 8/9 students did not demonstrate resilience when faced with a challenge, but when able to have the learning conversations that come with working collaboratively, no one gave up. Some students were more active participants but no one disengaged. I now also realise that I need to help this group develop confidence when applying learning independently.

WFRC #4: 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.

Link to backwards map

My hunch is that some issues with my students’ math achievement are related to issues they have with reading instructions and tasks. The students in my class who achieved higher scores in the PAT reading, STAR and Probe running record assessments also achieved higher scores in the PAT maths and IKAN assessments. My target group's data showed the exact opposite. With the exception of student B2 who scored slightly higher in the maths assessments than the reading assessments. The tools/measures/approaches I plan to use are:



PAT/STAR/Probe/IKAN 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. This year I have been looking closely at the vocabulary used in the questions, and will be incorporating this into my lessons so that connections can be made to what these words are asking my learners to do. With my inquiry in mind I need to introduce, unpack and use the words: calculate, recognise, identify, find, plot, solve, estimate, visualise, interpret, percentage, fraction, proportion, decimal

Student Voice:

• Gathering student voice is a vital part of teaching so at the end of the term I asked all my students to complete our T1 evaluation using a google form questionnaire. I find this type of evaluation really useful as it gives me an insight into their honest responses, and not responses influenced by what their friends are saying. With my inquiry in mind I asked my learners what they enjoyed in writing, reading and maths to give me an insight into how I can capitalise on learning where student self efficacy is high as this shows me which teaching approaches were a success. Additionally I asked if there was anything they still needed help with in these learning areas. This information quickly shows me where student self efficacy is lower, and most importantly informs my planning.

Check in chats:

• I have been focussing on building student self efficacy this term so each week I have a 'check in chat' with all my instructional groups. I have found this really useful as I get immediate feedback and am able to see quickly where confidence levels are lower. During this time I give each of my students a vivid and give them 2 'teacher' minutes to write down any questions they may have, or any words they don't understand. This part is proving to be successful as I don't intervene (unless asked), and it is all done anonymously. I have noticed during this time that

Feedback:

• Continue to use the comments tool in G suite so my learners can see where I notice their success (this is something these students have told me they want to know), and can ask me questions or let me know if I need to spend some 1:1 time strengthening knowledge gaps. For this tool to be successful I need to allow time for my learners to reply to my comments. My target students still need support in doing this and I have found if they write their replies with scaffolding from our teacher aid or from each other, they are more likely to give me an honest response, rather than a response they think I want to read.

Peer to peer talk:

• Peer to peer talk is a huge part of our learning time as it provides authentic opportunities for new words to be used in context. I noticed my learners also used this time to seek clarification from each other so I have added in a 'fun' component of timed challenges to share knowledge with a partner.

Instructional lessons:

• Planning opportunities for time to unpack new vocabulary or revisit known vocabulary is embedded into all lessons and gives us an opportunity to focus and notice the words that help us make sense of the learning.

Spring into Maths/Rainbow Reading:

• At our school these groups are run as withdrawal groups. They provide the students who attend opportunities to grow confidence and strengthen their connections to the learning in a supportive small group environment. The teacher who runs these sessions aligns her programs with the planning on our sites.

Lesson format:

• I adapted my lesson formats so that regardless of curriculum area, the structure is the same. This will help to ensure I am actively planning time to introduce and unpack new vocabulary and/or revisit known vocabulary; actively planning 'fun' warm up challenges to strengthen skills/strategies/knowledge; and actively planning time for talk so the language can be defined/used/explored in context. By doing this I am hoping that my learners will see that the language of instruction we use in one area can be transferred to another.

WFRC #3: Why is this the most important and catalytic issue of learning for this group of learners this year?

Explain why you judge this to be the most important and catalytic issue of learning for this group of learners this year (In chemistry, a catalytic substance is one which increases the rate of reaction, but it also offers an alternate path for the reaction to follow).

As I mentioned in my previous post the struggle is real and ongoing for our learners who do not have the language acquisition and literacy skills needed to make sense of learning at our Year 7/8 level. Assessment results across the board identified that my target group were all achieving well below expected norms. A follow up discussion with these students highlighted the fact they were not able to unpack the language in the questions. Not having the language to be able to unpack the learning or unpack what a question is asking, in my opinion is the most catalytic issue facing these learners.

Image by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay