Month: June 2024

MPI: Day 3 – Planning A Maths Programme

Let’s Reflect On Our Learning Moving Forward First

Your Learners as Mathematicians – In an ideal world, knowing our learners as Mathematicians would allow us to show reciprocity. How? Well we need to ensure that we know our students enough to forward plan and know what their learning gaps might be and how we might be able to fill those gaps and enhance how and what they will learn. Mathematics as an international language will help us. Keep following this blog post to enjoy the learning for today.

So, what are my takeaways today? 

  • Make tasks and learning manageable for us!! 
  • Monitoring can be digital and who doesn’t need more time, right? 

Reflections indicate thinking and how the topics resonate with what I want to understand or what I really want to engage my learners with – in this instance Mathematics. So Vicki reminded us of the use of RATE: Recognise, amplify, turbocharge, effective practice in the digital world of our learners.  How can we show this? 

Visibility: Make learning visible – so for me at the moment, this is available and practical as an everyday feature of our learning and teaching, so tick (achieved)! Hāpara and Class sites (Make teaching visible).

Rewindable video to support Math interventions will probably be my next step here and it will be made easier by integrating with our topics. Making rain gauges and enhancing our ability to measure has been invaluable because we are able to make this real life maths which motivates and develops discussion with Maths Talk. 

A lot of what I have learned today has brought upon those aha! moments that I have found confusion and loss in during the past two sessions, but the light bulbs are finally burning brightly and now all I can see is the rejigging of practices I used to do, and embracing the new ways of monitoring. 

  • What did I learn that could be used with my learners? 
    • I’d like to look at understanding the workbook more and how I can track our students
    • Spending time with mixed ability groups and making tweaks to allow students to find strategies which work for them
    • Definitely refreshing independent activities which motivate but ensuring I have gone through them with students or made video which help students navigate with the expectations that they will become Mathematician Experts. 
    • Allowing students to make connections and to verbalise what that looks like
  • What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga?
    • Being able to share the planning and the intentions to collaborate on independent activities and how we might be able to make planning succinct and perhaps more purposeful for our whole school. Like our pillars, we can personalise it to us. 

Wow! A lot of learning but jewels in itself. The fact, I have finished this is evidence enough. 

Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi 

With your basket, and with mine, our people with be live well

Authentic, Culturally Responsive Learning – Wow!

As we ascended upon the waharoa of Papakura Marae, a certain calmness and a sense of Tūrangawaewae embraced us and then captured us in a cloak of Tīkanga, Te Ao Māori and Matauranga. An historic event which transpired from a thought of ‘Kotahitanga‘, ‘Manaakitanga‘, and ‘Whakawhanaungatanga‘. As a Kāhui Āko we descended upon our local marae as a collective of schools.

Part of our Whānau

One of my most enjoyable places to be has and will always be on a marae. In amongst the concrete jungle we grew up, there are many pleasures, but going home to a marae surrounded by our whenua, our awa and our tupuna always will send my heart fluttering. Having recently been home to Ruatoki in the valley, made me think of what I was missing out on, especially seeing as for the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged. So here in Taamaki Makaurau, I have always sought the same feeling. I certainly found that at Ihumaatao (Makaurau marae) in among the beauty and the aroha of Te Wai-o-Hua, a place I felt was home when for the 25 years I taught in Mangere and gave service to our community.

Inaianei, i te tū mātou kei te waharoa o te marae o Papakura, i te karanga te wahine ra, i te eke mātou i runga i te marae ātea, ā, i te kuhuna e mātou kei rō whare, me noho, me whakarongo, me waiata, ā, i te poho kererū e au ki te hā kei rō whare, ā mauri tū, mauri ora. 

 

I could not have been more proud of our little school and our little team from the Kāhui Āko being able to lead such an event which mattered to us. Sharing this rich resource and encountering pride when sharing our little pockets of knowledge made it all worth while. How through the turmoil of what we are currently encountering in Education is disheartening, so for this one half day, tīkanga Māori prevails.

Encompassing the stories of our Wharenui, Te Ngira.

We set out to share our learning after starting with “Ko au ko Papakura, Ko Papakura ko au” – what’s more important is how our students see Papakura. Telling their narratives is essential, and teaching them how they can share those narratives is even more important. We learned about specific carvings and art pieces in Te Ngira, but being able to hear it from someone at the marae and not in a book is invaluable. This is what we want our students to be able to do, to show pride with ‘poho kererū’.

We set out to share our learning with others so, our group wanted to take people on a journey of ‘Digital Narratives’. Using the stories we knew, including the Legend of Pūkekiwiriki, we told them using various apps. We also shared the story of Hape as told by Maurice Wilson, a kaumatua from Te Wai-o-Hua.

Book Creator, Storyboarding and Canva with AI were the chosen apps we wanted to explore. It made it all worthwhile knowing we were already using these tools in our class. Our students find it difficult to understand that what we do in our class helps us learn outside of school. I explain that this also helps with introducing the work content to get the most out of our learning and what we share of our learning is important. Our whānau are able to share these experiences with us and help us enjoy the teaching and learning more.

 

Maara Kai was a workshop shared by Aunty Mā and Kristal. This workshop showed their expertise in what we can do with the planting and how this knowledge combined with Maramataka Māori and the history of hākari can be combined in the once fertile land of Papakura to produce matauranga for our ākonga. This is contextual, totally authentic and deliberate acts of teaching which enhance our knowledge. It can also be culturally responsive to the needs of our students as it is related to their current knowledge and makes connections with the land.

Finally the last workshop was the Hīkoi up to the Maunga where the site is a Pā site which told its own story. Wiremu and Hemi helped share this story with the myriads of faces that looked on separately. What a fete!

At the beginning of the term, we decided to hīkoi up the maunga and we like to think that we were pioneering the way. We connected our hīkoi of our Maara kai with the kumara pits up on the maunga and the fertility of the land, we also noted that where there was kai, there would be water and so we followed this back to the source flowing from Hunua and perhaps finding its way down the back to the creek behind our marae.

Kumara Pit

Different angle of the pits

Hunua Ranges

From our hīkoi, we gathered resources and chose different Pūtaiao topics to understand our world around us and how we might use Science to show our learning. Most of us decided to look at the states of water and the Water Cycle as ākonga needed to understand how the cycle works and how we might preserve the water we have.

Other teams decided to look at erosion as a means to look at the effects of erosion on te taiao. We researched quarrying too and its impact on the environment.

From the water cycle, teams have used science as a means to showcase water filtration, and water pollution in our own environment.

 

 

So much more learning but only half a day to share. Our marae hīkoi was exciting and shared our passion for learning and what we can achieve when needed to. With closing and a karakia, we bid farewell to our whare ‘Te Ngira’, our other whare ‘Te Rangimarie’ and in turn Papakura Marae. Now in amidst the rumble of trucks, the screeching of speeding vehicles and the chatter of children and whānau, our marae sits as a metropolitan hub waiting for its next manuwhiri. – E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangaranga maha; tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa

 

MPI: Day 2 – Know Your Learners as Mathematicians

Learners as Mathematicians – What Makes a Confident Maths Teacher? 

Over time so much has changed. What does our Maths Curriculum look like and how can we ensure our students are prepared for the learning ahead.

In our context we are looking at how we can adapt the “Pillars of Practice” to suit our learners and our teachers. This slide talks about 3 key components to making a confident Maths Teacher, however the key question for me, is always “what impact does my teaching have on my ākonga who absolutely do not think of themselves as a good mathematician?”

The points for a confident Maths Teacher resonate:

  • Develop your teacher content knowledge
    • How do you do this and what does that look like in amidst current curriculum and pending changes? Well, we have a saying at school that we need to have an intelligent approach. 

Today, it is heartening to know that I am heading in the right direction and our school is not alone with where we are at with our local curriculum and what we need. The key with Manaiakalani and the pedagogy we have embraced as Kootuitui ki Papakura is the fact that there are the seams of Cultural Responsiveness which we can embed in our practice to suit our context. Content Knowledge of the Curriculum is important and having that growth mindset as a learner will help to accelerate learning for ākonga whether that be Tuakana-Teina or Teacher.

What I do in my class and with my Professional Learning has an impact on my own learning, my students, our school and sometimes even our community. Being an engaged life-long learner gives me satisfaction. This is what I hope to share with my students.

There were a lot of challenges for me today but also some accomplishments. I’m a reflector, an analyser and an adopter so today reminds me that these challenges are just pitstops for me to deep dive. The Workbook is going to be a game changer and when I have time to breathe and take in the concepts and how we as a school might develop its use, we too can use this as a tool of engagement.

From my observations and from the survey I gave our students, the data shows that our students are natural collaborators who often are able to delegate roles and equitable learning outcomes, so why not give student agency, opportunities and aspirational goals to find what works for them and accelerate learning.

There was a lot I learned about, but it was refreshing to see that what I know and do like the reintroduction of LI and SC is reemphasised so students feel like they are being heard. I am ready for the learning. As I am a engaged life long learner all my professional learning always meaningful to my students especially when we regroup and incorporate my homework into what they do.

Task boards have been around for a long time and as an innovator, I quite like to see the variety people have. The experiences with my class at the moment are challenges which I embrace as they shift from being a hybrid class to a digital class of savvy investigators who have choice. Over the next few weeks, I would like to consolidate what I learned from both sessions with the talk moves or the ground rules for talk to the deep dive discussion about the data and how we could interpret or introduce it to hard to shift students.

Our learning today centred around the premise of knowing our students as Mathematicians. We looked at data and the analysing of data, but also ensuring that our students made connections with Maths in our everyday world. I can’t wait to take them to the marae, so they too can embrace the beauty of Te Ao Māori. To be able to see the symmetry in the patterns of the tukutuku panels, to feel the harakeke as the whenu are applied to raranga – all of which incorporates Maths.

For my class:

  • Getting to know their Maths quirks has been enlightening but I feel discussions still need to be had about our next steps.
  • Incorporating the Teacher Work Book into our programme to align what we do and recreate to add value not work.
  • The ‘Koorero kia pono’ integration across the curriculum
  • Consolidating these tools with the taskboards

Overwhelmed, but ready for the challenge. Tūwhitia te hopo mai rangatia te angitū! Feel the fear and do it anyway! Mai i a Wharehuia Milroy

Talking the Whakaaro (Thinking)

He Whakaaro Noa Iho (A mere thought)

When does a kaitiaki not become a kaitiaki? An annoying thought has recently come to mind whenever someone asks me about what I do and where I teach. First and foremost, I need to clarify in my mind what I do … and recently my answer in the last week has been “I’m acting AP, but I’m caretaking a class of vibrant Y5&6 tamariki.” I do not know where it came from, but previously it has always been, “I am a kaiako at EHS kei Papakura.” The annoying thought is WHY? Why has it changed and why should it matter?

If we are truly Kaitiaki (Guardians) who and why does it matter who that is and what that entails. All that should matter is these children need us to be true to who we are and how what we do impacts on them and what they achieve. This is why whānau should be involved. Our knowledge as Kaitiaki is need in the guidance we provide and the opportunities we present.

MPI: Survey: What Type of a Mathematician are We?

Firstly, what an intense catch up couple of weeks it has been, but all tasks done and great conversations had. Recently, we had the task of surveying our class with a Survey to understand ‘What Type of a Mathematician are We? – I asked them some questions on what they thought might be in the survey. It was great, watching them both struggle and articulate what they thought the questions mean’t. I asked them to do the survey on their own, but after the weeks we spent talking about how we could collaboratively work smarter, harder and encouraging talk, they were suddenly asked to fill the survey out alone. “Oopsy!” – I allowed them to clarify the questions amongst themselves, and I also encouraged them to give examples of what the questions mean’t. Once they understood the scoring system, they were away.

                               Click on the image to find the Survey Results

 

So to the results: I found more value in the discussions about the results except, the whole experience with clarifying their understanding of what the questions were asking and what was mean’t also reminded me that for some the language in the survey or the need to comprehend what the question was asking them needed clarity. It also needed for the language to be considered as a global language. In the PAT Maths Test it asks you to consider prompts like 1 – like me and 4 – not like me or similar. Some students felt confused, but this is like what we need to do when thinking about assessments and the opportunity for students to ‘Talk the Whakaaro”.

We discovered that we do take into account that we all enjoy Maths and we are confident with this. Students felt Maths is a strong skill which we have been using in class and out in the playground, we just haven’t made the connection yet that Maths is everywhere. Our summaries seemed quite obvious, but I wanted to probe them more because it seemed too good to be true. I felt they were holding back and so we began looking at a padlet which allowed them to explore this more.

The validity of the data came to mind for me, and if this data was true then we have lots for me to worry about and nothing to do but to teach the skills and strategies as half the battle of confidence and engagement is already done. However when looking back at their PAT data and considering what our class went through at the time PAT testing was done, there were lots of thoughts and considerations I needed to address. One part in here which did concern me was the part I played in how I was perceived in the survey especially around whether I thought they were good at Maths and also about the feedback I gave them. Something for me to cover as a goal perhaps.

I have many thoughts and the discussions were rich, but let’s explore more with MPI first to look at what we can implement soon.