Analysis of my teaching as inquiry this year

 How do mathematical practices in DMIC support learner identities in Maths?

The shift in student independence in solving mathematical problems has been evident in my anecdotal notes of lessons during this year.  There was also a shift in the students' reflection in their maths books of how they have been learning in maths. At the beginning of the year, many students preferred to let what they perceived as able mathematicians take over the problem solving. Towards the middle of the year, there was a gradual shift in students giving their ideas to discussions which lead to students leading or facilitating discussions. 

Through a consistent emphasis on participation, the students in my target group understood they were to take part in problem solving and if they did not know what was being discussed, that they could raise their hand and ask questions for clarification. Upon reflection, I have thought about do my students need to be taught strategies they could follow when they do not understand? Do my students needs to be taught how to ask questions? Clarify misunderstandings? Note take? I have concluded that students do need to be taught what they could do when they do not understand. Often, students will prefer not to ask because they do not want to be highlighted as the student who does not understand. How can I as a teacher, create and encourage an environment of collaboration and support for all students so they are able to learn and re-learn at their own pace?

The DMIC tasks are given to schools who implement DMIC. Teachers are to take the tasks and plan for their lessons using a template which was provided from the DMIC programme. Reflecting on the planning part of DMIC, I know that there needs to be more consideration about the students who are below their expected achievement level in maths. How can the students who have a lot of gaps in their knowledge, build on their knowledge so they are able to solve problems in their expected levels. We have been considering and anticipating misconceptions students can have in their strategies when solving problems, but I feel it is not enough for students to learn a new strategy and consolidate a strategy within a week. Possible solution? Workshops during the week. 

Student voice, peer collaboration. This is something I have worked very hard to implement in my lessons this year. From the start, we have included student voice and peer collaboration in our Community of Mathematicians norms. I am very confident to say that, in my class teaching, all my students are able to work with any peer they are partnered with. This is a great way to build inclusiveness in the class. For the whole class to be inclusive and to value the collaboration between peers. 

Assessment data

The summative data from the maths assessments shows most of the students in my target group have made progress in their maths testing. One student who did not do very well in their PAT test was due to lack of effort during the test (student JF Y8). Was really pleasing to see the students' progress in the Gloss test as well as the PAT maths test. During the Gloss testing, it was evident the students wanted to keep trying to answer the questions in the test. They had the perseverance and the determination to give all the questions a chance to solve them. 

Where to from here, while the learner identities and self confidence of the students were strengthened in this teaching as inquiry, I have realised, the assessment data proves that there are a lot of mathematical knowledge that students lack and therefore hindering their progress in mathematics as shown in the assessment results. 

What leads to students lack of confidence in maths? What can be done early in their education journey to address these? What is a good balance for problem solving to develop mathematical inquiry communities and mathematical workshops for student content knowledge?

These are some of the questions I have been reflecting on for further steps from this year's inquiry. There is a great need for students to have workshops to build their mathematical knowledge. Students also need to be assessed throughout the year in both formative and summative assessments. Another aspect I want to explore more into my practice is the collaboration between student and teacher in teaching and learning. How involved are students in the decisions making about their leanring? How can I consistently factor in student voice in their learning? 

DMIC practices: Mixed ability grouping

How do mathematical practices in DMIC support learner identities in Maths?

One of the arguments I had when we switched over to DMIC was that mixed ability grouping will allow the able mathematicians in the group to take over the discussion while students who are not confident in Maths will take the observer role. I also questioned how I would be able to cater for the diverse abilities if the students are in a mixed group. Reflecting now, those were the questions of a closed minded person. I was really trying to stay with what I was already used to in grouping my students for maths through ability grouping.

Mixed ability grouping is part of the DMIC practices. My class is split into two mixed ability groups for maths. When I group the students, I consider their mathematical confidence and social dynamics of the class. I like to have a balance of these factors into the grouping of my class. 

"Because Pasifika children tend not to talk, their teachers assume they don’t understand and put them in a bottom group. Once there, they become trapped in a self-reinforcing cycle of low expectations", Associate Professor Bobbie Hunter. 

I reflect to the start of my teaching career when I grouped my students in ability groups and feel a heavy sense in my heart about how my students in the 'low groups' must have felt knowing they were in the 'low groups'. How being in a low group might have been detrimental to their self confidence as a learner.

Because the students are in mixed ability groups, there is a lot of teaching which goes into ensuring the students work well together and that collaboration is a 'norm'. How I start each year with my maths groups is by setting up group norms for each group. It is very important to set up the group norms at the beginning of the year to build a sense of whakawhanaungatanga in each group. Setting up group norms is also supported in the work by Jo Boaler setting up positive norms in maths class. 

On going tweaks are needed to ensure the mixed ability grouping is working in my class. To ensure the students are all leanring together and the confident mathematicians are not taking over the discussions, we have set up norms where there is only one paper and one pencil per group. There can only be one scribe who writes down what is being discussed and anyone can have a turn during the discussion to be the scribe.

Questioning is also another leanring practice we have focussed on during our lessons. We have time and time again discussed the importance of listening of understanding and asking questions when we are unsure. There have been many discussions where we have unpacked the understanding that, when we question, we are deepening the learning discussion and we are not judging or challenging the person who is sharing their ideas. 

Through mixed ability grouping, I have noticed how caring students are towards each other. There is a true sense of collaboration and aroha with how the students work together. The confident mathematicians in the class take time to explain their ideas to students who are not confident in maths and take time to ask if they understand the strategies being discussed. 

GBS holiday learning programme update

As of Saturday 11.51 pm, there are 53 students who have signed up for our holiday learning programme. I have to admit the holiday programme is taking up a lot of my mental space at the moment. There are so many aspects of the programme I am thinking about and worrying about.

How will I ensure the activities for the holiday learning programme is exciting for the students and caters for years 4-8? I have been thinking, since this is happening during the school holidays and I am mostly working from home while the students are working from home, I want to have whanau involvement as much as possible in the programme. It will give parents, caregivers and whanau opportunities to be active supporters for students participating. I have also been thinking of including my own whanau especially my daughters as I believe it will excite the students to see the little girls, a lot of students enquire about.

How can I ensure all blog posts are commented on and are allocated points? I have a spreadsheet I have created for my team and I which has all the names of the participants listed under their class. I have also shared the link for the feed with my team to check as blog posts are updated. However, there is still the WHAT IF worry. 

I have already encountered some challenges with the blogs for some of the students who have not been blogging for some time. Some blogs are showing that they need to be upgraded. I have sent a request through for support from the Awhina team to upgrade these blogs. 

I know for a lot of our students, they will be busy during their holidays but if we can engage them in some learning activities during the holidays through this programme, then our mission is accomplished. I am really hoping this is the start of exciting our students to utilise their blogs to share the excellent learning they do in their classes and also their unique and wonderful creativity. I am a strong advocate for promoting creativity in learning and through the blogs, our students can shine in their element.

Holiday learning programme - empowering students through leadership

Students who wanted to be blog commenters had to apply to me by submitting an application letter stating why they wanted to be blog commenters for the holiday learning programme. Out all the applicants who applied, I chose only four for the roles. 

Their role: 

Revise the Cybersmart challenge about making quality blog comments

Go to the blog posts posted by students and post a comment 

Give points to the blog points they commented on 

Meet with me regular during the holidays to discuss how the programme is progressing

Direct our team to a blog post they believe is worthy of golden points 

Be strictly confidential about the points system and who the winners are

The photo above was taken during our meeting today. I am so proud to see how proud they are of their roles and more importantly, how empowered they are as leaders through this opportunity. The questions they raised during our meeting indicated to me that they have been thinking about their role throughout the week.

Some questions asked by the blog commenters

How do we record which blog we have commented on?

How many points do we give the blog posts and what are the criteria for the points?

Can we also participate in the holiday learning programme if we are the blog commenters?

When will we announce the winners in Term 4?

I am looking forward to the collaboration between our team during the holiday learning programme. We discussed that each blog comment they make will earn them some money and we will calculate their earnings at the end. We will also have a shared lunch to celebrate our team at the end however, there is a lot of work to be done before we cross the celebrating at the end bridge.

Referring back to the title of this post, giving students different opportunities to challenge themselves, learn from and collaborate with their peers and teachers are just some of the work we as teachers do to build our akonga. 

Launching our Glenbrae School holiday learning programme

Today I launched a project I have been planning for a few weeks. The Glenbrae School Holiday Learning Programme.

The objective of this programme is:

• For students to maintain learning during the school holidays
• Encourage our students to blog and share the wonderful learning they do with others through their blogs
• I wanted to give my students the opportunity to apply for a holiday job (blogging fairies had to send me an application letter if they wanted to be a commenter)

Signing up

The students had to sign up using a google form.

How the programme will work

My Class blog will be the launching blog for the students to access the daily activities. Each morning at 9 am, the activities will be posted for the day. The activities are different for each day but there is always a high emphasis on being creative for the tasks. There are two choices for the create activities for each day. 

• Level 1 is a create activity where there is no sound or evidence of motion. For example - blogging slides, a google draw, text.
• Level 2 is a SISOMO blog post. SISOMO stands for sight, sound, motion. We can see them presenting or we can hear them talking about their work. Level 2 earns more points.
• We will also have GOLDEN points for extraordinary blog posts

Monitoring the programme

I am assigning myself as a subscriber to the blog of every student who signs up for the learning programme. Each time a student blogs, I will receive a notification and I will then update a spreadsheet I share with my blog commenters or blog fairies. The blog commenters will then go and view the blog and leave a comment. The blog commenter will also assign points for the blog post they commented on and alert the blogging team if there is an outstanding blog posts which is deserving of golden points. Prior to the commencement of the holiday programme, the blog commenters and I went through Manaiakalani Cybersmart site and reviewed how we can leave good quality blog comments.

End of programme

The programme will run from Monday - Friday in the two weeks of the school break. At the end of the last Friday, the blog commenters and I will have a meeting to finalise the winners.

This is the first time we are running this programme and I am hoping it will encourage our students to continue learning during the school holidays and to share the awesome creativity they are capable of in their learning. 

Here are the slides from the launch this morning.

Considerations during planning

1. How will I manage the blogging? How can I be alerted every time a student posts a blog post 

Solution - assign myself as a subscriber to each participant's blog. I also advised the students today in the launch that they can email me if they do not receive any comments in two days of posting blog posts. Vicki Archer also shared a link which has the blog feed for our school. I will also use this to check the students' blog posts. 

2. What activities will I have in this learning programme, considering the students are from Year 4-8.

Solution - have activities which cater for all year levels involved and not be curriculum level focussed. The objective of the programme is for students to blog and to Learn, Create and Share. 

3. How will I manage the blog commenters and the comments they do. 

Solution: have a shared spreadsheet with our team of blog commenters. I am to post the link to the blogs with posts and each commenter can assign themselves to a post they will comment on. The commenter will also post a link to their comment on the spreadsheet so I can follow up if a comment was good quality or not. (Also a way to calculate their pay/reward for their work).

Above are just some of the considerations, like I mentioned earlier in this post. This is the first time I am running a programme like this and therefore, a lot of learning will come through this experience. 

DMIC observation

Today, I was observed by one of the DMIC facilitators in my class. The focus of the observations is to provide ongoing support to teachers implementing the DMIC programme in their classes. 

When the facilitator asked what aspect of the DMIC kaupapa I wanted her to observe me on, I asked her if she could observe how inclusive I am in my teaching. I wanted feedback on how I am ensuring that my practice is inclusive of all members of the group I was teaching. The students are grouped in a mixed ability group and therefore have different approaches and understandings of the task. I still see evidence of students who prefer to work with a more capable mathematician in the class because they trust, that student will do the work for them. 

During the launch, I used the Talk Moves to unpack the problem with the group. I specifically asked students to repeat their understanding of the discussion at different points of the lesson to ensure they were listening to the discussion and also participating. 

When the students separated in their small groups to work out the problem, I noticed some students trying to be inclusive of their quiet peers while others disregarded their quiet peers and worked out the problem without discussion. This is where what I have been implementing to promote inclusiveness came into action. 

Teacher actions 

• Ask a different member of the group if they could explain the strategy they were working on. 
• Ask for the pen to be moved to another student to be the writer and the person sharing their strategy to explain themselves
• Prompt students who have solved the problem if there are any other strategies they could use
• Praise students for giving the problem a go even when they thought they could not solve it

I have often reflected and believe that the energy and enthusiasm we as teachers have in our teaching transfers on to the enthusiasm of our learners. I have seen evidence of this in so many lessons where my passion and enthusiasm for a lesson just excites the students too. This is another aspect of being inclusive in my practice. 

The feedback I received from my observation was the need for more generalisation in connecting the maths lesson at the end. The students are more engaged in the lessons through the use of Talk Moves and the teacher actions I am implementing in my practice. 

There are also cultural practices which need to be considered when focussing on an inclusive environment. The concept of talanoa. Encouraging all members of the group to voice their opinions and questions. Culturally inclusive practices is another focus on this teaching inquiry to promote an inclusive environment in my class where students are encouraged to take risks in their learning in all curriculum areas.

Casual chain for my inquiry

This is the casual chain for my 2023 inquiry. I have identified what I will do in my practice to make changes and add effect to what the students are learning and how they are learning already in maths. While we continuously have support from the DMIC facilitators, I also know a lot of this inquiry is focussed on my individual actions as a teacher.

There are aspects of this casual chain such as the Community of Mathematicians which has been implemented already and is often referred to by the students and myself. This is displayed on our maths wall and is constantly referred to during our lessons. 

I know the planning of learning is a vital part of teaching and that is one of the focusses of my inquiry. To plan mathematical problems where the big idea is identified and the problem relates to the big idea. DMIC encourages students to solve the problems using strategies they are able to use. Through the connect, the teacher is able to teach or reinforce the strategy at the learning level for the students. In my case, it is level 4 strategies because I teach year 7 and 8 students. 

I have also changed routines in my class to ensure I am able to see both groups each day. The main group for the day is the group I problem solve with, the other group I see to discuss their independent tasks and to give feedback.

This intervention is to magnify the effects of my implementation of DMIC practices and notice if they change the attitude of my target learners towards maths and improve their progress. Through what I have been implementing so far, I have noticed changes in the korero my students have in their problem solving. 

Amy casual chain 2023

Profiling my target learners

My target learners for this teaching as inquiry are at different achievement levels for maths. My class is split into two mixed ability groups for maths. I had to move some students into the group I will be focussing on to make this target group. I have based my selection of my target learners on my observations in the attitude of students towards maths, strengths and challenges in learning maths. There are some students in this target group who I have noticed are often absent. It would be interesting if this teaching as inquiry would change the attendance of these students. 

The assessment data for the students supports that they are all at different achievement levels for maths. I have collected data from PAT Maths and Gloss as those are the assessments we carry out for maths in our school. I have indicated next to the students' name their year levels as well. Looking at the summative data, I have identified some students did well in the Gloss test such as RL Y8, but this particular student did not pass the PAT Maths test scoring only 12/41. None of the Year 7s in my target group passed the PAT Maths test. 

Student voice is also another form of profiling I have conducted of my target group. I used a google form for this and the data I collated from the google form is really interesting. Below are the responses from the students. 

The question which really stood out for me in this data collection were the responses from the students about their friends being better in maths than themselves. This is emphasising the hunch that I have, that students do not identify themselves as confident in maths and often highlight the strengths of their friends instead. I was also surprised when I collated the responses in the same google form, where students listed who they thought were good mathematicians in the class. Many of the students listed by their peers did not identify themselves as being confident in maths. 

I am questioning if the students are being modest about their abilities or if they truly believe they are not achieving well in maths. This also highlights the question if I am giving the students enough feedback to inform them of their progress in maths. 

TAI focus for this year

 How do mathematical practices in DMIC support learner identities in Maths? 

I have decided to focus my teaching as inquiry into the learner identities of my students in mathematics. This decision was made based on my reflections, observations and data from gathering student voice. 

My hunch is that students who have low self confidence in mathematics, do not identify themselves as mathematicians and therefore, are reluctant to participate in maths lessons or engage in maths learning. 

Mathematical learner identity is not fixed and therefore, teachers can do something about it. Mathematical learner identity is concerning the mathematics learning the learner has been exposed to, rather than the learner themselves (Education Hub). Often as a teacher I have questioned if the students who are reluctant to participate in maths lessons are doing so deliberately or because they are not able to understand what the lesson is about and disengagement is their refuge. Through this inquiry, I will be exploring in depth my own assumptions and actions as a teacher and how I can change my mindset and practice to cater for my target learners. 

Our school have been implementing the DMIC programme since 2019. We have had many professional development experiences where we have discussed the importance of giving students the autonomy to learn and share their leanring without teacher input. The DMIC programme puts student voice and participation at its heart. There are a variety of mathematical practices which I will be focussing on for this inquiry and analysing how effective they are in supporting students in growing their learner identities in maths. 

Gathering literature on maths teaching and learning in New Zealand

The Education Hub is a resource I often refer to when searching for articles or materials for my teaching practice. Through my search for articles on mathematics, I came across this research article written by two lecturers at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh and Fiona Ell. 

The article is called Five research-derived themes to consider when teaching maths. The article begins with this statement, 'The task of teachers of primary mathematics is to bring important mathematics concepts and skills together with students’ attitudes, beliefs, prior knowledge and thinking – and to do so in dynamic learning spaces'. I have highlighted the words - attitudes, beliefs, prior knowledge and thinking because as I keep observing, planning, teaching and reflecting on what is happening with my students in maths, I keep coming to the hunch that it might be my students' attitudes, beliefs, prior knowledge and thinking that is hindering their progress in maths. 

The articles by Dr Darragh and Fiona Ell talks about five key themes that teachers need to consider when planning and teaching maths. 

1. Talk 
2. Tasks
3. Tools
4. Thoughts
5. Together 

As I was reading through the five themes, I came across ideas and understandings which I am familiar with and have been implementing in my teaching already. For example, the theme of TALK talks about using mathematical language, encouraging talk, ensuring all students have a chance to talk, changing the balance of teacher/student talk. 

I have gradually been making changes in my maths teaching through the problem solving programme our school started and also now with following the DMIC programme. One strategy I use in my class is ensuring the students are in a group of three to work out problems and the groups are always random. The students do not know who they are working with each time so they are open to working with any other student in their group. 

Another is, unpacking the problem and identifying words we do not understand in the problem. I always emphasise to my students that problems to be solved is a story, not just a mathematical problem. This changes the mindset of the students from quickly jumping into the mathematical work to trying to discuss and unpack the problem to be solved. 

As I was analysing PAT results for my class, I noticed some of my confident students in maths got some problems wrong probably because they did not understand what the question was asking them to do. Therefore, it is valuable for students to unpack the problem and analyse, interpret, decide what the problem is and what the mathematical problem to be solved is. 

We also do not use the hands up technique during our lessons. I have a saying which is 'When you raise your hand, you are stopping someone else from thinking'. I feel that students who are trying to think of a response will be put off their thinking or give up when they see another student with a raised hand as they will think that student has solved the problem or have the answer to the question. This also promotes learning conversations between the students and the teacher. 

Another theme which I reflected upon was the Thoughts theme. Theme number 4. 

'This theme has two components: the teacher’s thoughts and the students’ thoughts[vii]. What teachers think about mathematics, and what they think about their students, are key determiners of the progress that students will make. Seeing them as capable, taking an asset-based approach, and regarding mathematics as valuable and fun will set teachers up to design learning opportunities that will help all students progress'. 

What are my thoughts about maths and how do I promote 'maths is fun' to my students?

Another question which struck me from the article was this question: What messages do I give my students about my view of them as capable mathematics learners? I teach Year 7/8 and my students can easily infer meaning from my actions and what I say. This question highlighted to me that in gathering student voice, I need to put a question similar to the question the students answer for Asttle Writing - My teacher thinks I am good at writing but in my context, maths. 

All given themes have golden nuggets which I believe are valuable for teachers to consider in teaching maths but the theme which really relates to my hunch is theme five. TOGETHER. 

The theme Together is about the idea that maths is for everyone and not just for the elite or the SMART students in the class. The idea that smart students can do maths and the dumb students can't do maths. I know some of my students think they are the dumb students who can't do maths. These students can also point out the smart students who they believe are good at maths. This also emphasises why I always pick the small groups of three for group work, so the students are not pick and choosing who they want to work with. I am a firm believer in being inclusive and supporting each other so absolutely no pick and choosing who one wants to work with in my class. 

'When teachers design opportunities to learn, it is important to think about how to include everyone and make the ideas as accessible as possible'. My class are grouped in mixed ability groups. Making learning as accessible as possible is ensuring my task design and how I teach the lessons cater for all students in the groups. 

Students' self efficacy plays a huge role in how a student learns and interacts with others not only in a school setting but outside of school. That is why I am going with my hunch that, when students are not confident in maths, that is a barrier to how they learn and progress in maths. 

So, after reading this article, back I go to the drawing board to frame my inquiry question for my teaching as inquiry. 

Profiling my class in maths

'Promoting a positive mathematic learner identity for all students and communicating the belief that mathematics is for everyone are important components of effective teaching and learning in maths', (Education Hub). 

I have been observing my class with their learning in maths. I have also been making notes on their behaviour during our maths lessons and reflecting on my conversations with students about maths as well as the students' conversations with each other. Other conversations I have been drawing from, happened during our recent Three Way Conferences. 

Assessment data provides information about the level of achievement the students are at but, I also believe that gathering background information about the students and their attitudes towards maths is as important as assessment data. When I was in discussions with my students and their parents, many of my students shared that they find maths challenging because the learning is new or hard for them to understand. 

My reflections on what I have observed about my students' learning in maths? (These reflections are of my whole class. There will be another post profiling my target group in detail).

Making changes and encouraging mathematics in my classroom and whanau community

Many of my students feel mathematics is too hard for them especially when it comes to Decimals and Fractions. I am sure many teachers can agree with this. I have noticed throughout my teaching that many students have huge learnings gaps in decimals, fractions and also percentages. 

At the moment, our focus through our DMIC programme is on decimals, fractions and percentages. I have noticed that I am teaching mathematics with a lot more passion than I ever have. 

Reflective question: Have I been so focussed on my literacy pedagogy that I have neglected Maths? 

 

I am encouraging my students to learn their times tables from 2 - 12 as this will help them with their basic facts knowledge and also with their multiplicative strategies. It is part of an on going home learning focus we have and majority of the class 80% are learning their times tables at home. I also received some feedback from parents during our Three Way Conferences that they were happy to see their children learning their times tables. Some parents also expressed they are quite the experts at recalling their times tables. 

Reflective question: How else can I harness whanau support in my Teaching as Inquiry in Maths?

Our school distributes our school newsletter every month. In our class page I often used to put maths questions which we were solving in class for whanau to solve. Not one whanau responded. 

Reflective question: What do other schools do to encourage whanau participation in student learning?

As I have been on leave for Term 2, I am now having to decide what my focus will be for this teaching as inquiry. I have identified my curriculum area of focus and now reflecting, analysing and reflecting on the changes I will make to my practice to accelerate student learning. The other outcome I hope for my teaching as inquiry is to change the mentality of my target group from 'I am not good at maths' to 'I enjoy learning in maths and I can do this'. Where in literacy we aim to encourage life long readers, I am aiming to encourage life long mathematicians. 

Ero review report on Mathematics

It is important when inquiring into a curriculum area to look at what the literature and what has been happening in this curriculum area in other schools. I came across a review conducted by ERO titled: Teaching approaches and strategies that work KEEPING CHILDREN ENGAGED AND ACHIEVING IN MATHEMATICS published in 2018. 

The review was one of a series of reports on teaching strategies that work. It featured strategies and approaches which were observed in 40 primary school from across New Zealand. The schools came from a database of 129 schools with rolls of 200 or more where the proportion of students in the upper primary years had increased in their achievement. 

Raising achievement in primary schools: Accelerating Learning in Mathematics (ALiM) and Accelerating Literacy Learning (ALL) June 2014 This report shared how some primary schools were using the Ministry-funded support projects Accelerated Learning in Mathematics (ALiM) and Accelerated Learning in Literacy (ALL) to enhance learning and raise achievement. 

The report found that, in schools where teachers’ involvement in the ALiM and ALL projects had accelerated children’s progress, 

• students were active partners in designing their own learning plans; they were supported to monitor their own progress; they knew what they needed to learn next; and they were able to provide feedback about the teaching actions that worked for them. 
• parents and whänau were formally invited to be part of the process; they were involved in workshops to develop home activities and in frequent, regular, three-way conferencing in which teachers emphasised progress and success.
•  teachers knew they were expected to critique the effectiveness of their practice and to make changes; they had a willingness to seek both positive and negative evidence of progress; and they were open to new practices that make a difference.

The report discussed that, for schools to be effective in accelerating student progress, they needed:

• leadership capability 
• teacher capability 
• leaders and teachers with assessment and evaluative capability 
• leaders with the capability to develop relationships with students, parents, whänau, trustees, and other teaching professionals
• leaders and teachers with the capability to design and implement a curriculum that engaged students.

The report states that 'in schools where mathematics achievement was improving, and leaders knew the reasons for this improvement, teachers had usually participated in well-planned and targeted professional learning and development (PLD). Leaders had identified each teacher’s strengths and needs and then organised internally or externally facilitated PLD to respond specifically to those needs. They carefully selected teachers from within the school who could lead development work successfully with their colleagues to spread the agreed practices. They made time available for these selected leaders to increase their own knowledge and to work with others'. 

The above statement highlights the value in identifying staff members which strengths in the curriculum areas of focus. For example, the schools in the report identified teachers who had strengths in mathematics and gave them lead roles to implement good practice across their schools. 

Other valuable insights I took away from this report were the use of teaching practices which my own school have been implementing  throughout the years. These practices include: mixed ability grouping, using Talk Moves, teacher collaborative planning, problem solving approach and using Teaching as Inquiry. 

I reflected on how these teaching practices have been introduced, implemented and then the focus on continuing these practices slowly diminished as time passed. I also have noticed it is not highlighted to our new teaching staff as they begin their teaching in our school. Thus highlighting a break down in how we as teachers have a uniform understanding about practices in teaching mathematics. 

From this report, I will move on to discussing with our teachers what their mathematics programmes are and how they implement DMIC which is our current school wide mathematics focus. 

Choosing a focus for my inquiry this year

After assessing my students this term, I have found that there is a great need to focus on Reading and Maths for their learning. I have analysed my data and found that most of my students are below their expected achievement level for their year level at the start of this year in Reading and Maths. 

After sitting through many 3 Way Conference conversations with my students and their parents, I have also realised that a lot of my students have identified Maths as a subject which is hard for them to achieve in. Through the Gloss test, I identified that many of my students struggled with answering the ratio and proportions questions. 

As I have been focussing on Reading in my past inquiries, I feel I have confidence in continuing with what I had learnt from my previous Teaching as Inquiries and implementing these into my classroom programme. Therefore, I plan to tackle the challenges with Maths this year. It is an area I have not focussed on in my Teaching as Inquiry for some years but an area of great concern in my teaching at the moment and it is reflective in my class data and also student voice. 

We are a DMIC school and have been doing the problem solving approach at our school before DMIC was introduced to our school in 2020. It will be a great opportunity for me to inquire into how DMIC is helping our students with their learning in Maths and also how our teachers feel about teaching using the DMIC approach. 

I have yet to identify what aspect my teaching as inquiry will follow with DMIC and maths this year but this will be finalised soon. I am quite keen to focus on Maths this year as I can see the great need for this inquiry focus with my current cohort of students. 

Introduction 2023

Talofa lava. As we embark on another exciting year I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I look forward to working with our schools in our cluster this year. Wishing you all a successful year ahead.