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. 

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. 

2022 TAI evaluation

My teaching as inquiry for this year has brought me so much more experience as a an educator and leader. Working with my sample group of teachers enabled me to gain insight about the challenges and successes a team of teachers can experience when collaborating as a team on a specific goal. 

Our goal as a group was to accelerate the learning of our akonga in reading. We also wanted to change the way we teach so we were all on the same understanding as to what an effective reading programme is. It is fair to say we have not completely achieved the goal of identifying what an effective reading programme looks like in the classroom but we have certainly made a good start. 

What happened this year?

Collaborative planning - we had a lot of korero/talanoa about our understanding of what an effective reading programme is. What we currently do in our practice which works and what we could add

Using the Planning Fala (Manaiakalani Effective Reading Practices Survey (2022). Analysis of teacher responses by N. Rosedale (Literacy Facilitator) for the Reading Design Group) - this was a core element of my teaching as inquiry. The Planning Fala incorporated aspects of a reading programme which I wanted to incorporate into my teaching as inquiry and much more. We have added certain parts of the Planning Fala to our planning and teaching but need to incorporate more next year.

Interpreting assessment data - as part of my teaching as inquiry, I interpreted the PAT reading data for our senior school from the term one assessment and also analysed the term four data. I strongly believe data is an integral part of any teaching as inquiry. As a teacher, data can inform our practice and challenge us to make changes or to keep doing what we are doing if the data shows acceleration. The qualitative data I collected from my sample group gave me a lot of insight about the strengths and needs of the teachers I worked with this year. 

In class observations - as part of my inquiry, I also observed teachers in their classrooms teaching their own target learners. From the beginning of my intervention, I highlighted that my role was to work alongside our group. The observations were for teachers to receive feedback and feedforward through post discussions about their teaching practice in reading. I do understand that observations can be daunting for some teachers but I relied on our connections as teachers, team members and friends to eliminate this feeling. 

End of year data collection

My data set for the end of my teaching for inquiry for this year is a survey completed by my sample group in Term 4. The survey was sent in a google form and I have analysed the data using the qual analysis method Naomi Rosedale taught me. 

Qual analysis of my point 1 data collection

At the beginning of my intervention, I collected qualitative data from my sample group. There were no numerical information from the data set because it was a survey where the teachers answered the questions. In a recent PLG, Naomi Rosedale discussed analysing qualitative data in a quantitative way. This is called qual analysis. I asked Naomi if I could meet with her so she could go over this analysis technique with me. 

The meeting with Naomi was a very educational meeting for me because in the short time we met, I learnt so much from Naomi about how to analyse qualitative data. The analysis I have done of my data set is a very basic qual analysis. Naomi has shown me some other forms of qual analysis to analyse qualitative data but for a start, this is what I have done. 

This method of data analysis paints a much clearer picture of qualitative data. When I looked at my original data analysis in qualitative form, there were so many different information presented. However, when I completed the qual analysis of the same data set, I could clearly see some common trends in the data set. I suppose it supports a saying I have about quantitative data - the numbers tell a story. 

The overall theme I picked out from my data analysis were:

• There was and is still a great need for pedagogical knowledge needed for our teachers to plan and implement an effective reading programme
• The teachers all had different ideas about how to teach reading
• There was no common understanding of how to plan and teach reading
• There is a lack of connection with whanau with the reading programmes happening in classes 
• Key elements highlighted in the Fala Planning Model were not used in our current reading programmes 

I have just collected the last data set from my sample group from their reflections of our journey this year. I will do a qual analysis of this data set and post it in an upcoming blog post. 

Evaluating data for inquiries

Today's PLG for our CoL teachers focussed on how we analyse data. There were definitely a lot of great learning which I took away from the PLG. 

I have always thought about collecting data as qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative giving more statistical information with numerical values and qualitative where the information is more categorial. Today Naomi Rosedale did share that there are ways to analyse qualitative data to give more numerical information. I am booking a time to meet with her so she can give me more support in doing this. 

Data is really important in our teaching as inquiry. Whenever I analyse students data, there are always so many questions and wondering which come to mind when looking at data especially over a number of years. I always say that data tell a story about what is happening for our students and also our teaching as teachers. 

This year, because my sample group are our teachers, I have collected my profiling data using surveys and also quantitative data from the assessments of the target students in each teachers' group. As we are heading towards end of year assessments, I am very keen to see what the summative data will show in the students' assessments and also the end of year qualitative data from my sample group of teachers. 

"Just saying they have made progress because they have a higher test score or jumped xxx levels is not enough.

Need to compare to something more than just pre and post test data.

Are the learners in your target group making progress in comparison to... Norm, Data from last year, other comparative learners in school/cluster?" (PLG slide 63)

The information above from our PLG slides highlights the importance of comparing the achievement of our students to the norm, past data and also learners in other schools and clusters. I think this is important because if we just compare our students by themselves, then we will not know how they are achieving compared to other learners in the cluster or NZ. 

The template above from our PLG slides is one way we can compare our student data with the norm and a comparison group. 

Deep learning conversations about planning for purposeful learning drawing on the Reading Planning Fala

Vocabulary

Through the learn activities, there is a focus on vocabulary in the texts. There is a shift in the student discussions where students are often questioning the meaning of words they come across in their texts. The students are also experimenting with using these words in their everyday conversations. Some of the activities around vocabulary are identifying how the words are used in the text. What about the text type, sentence, paragraph helps us predict what the word means? The students are now consciously using these strategies to predict the meaning of words they do not understand. 

Text selection

In a meeting with my sample group of teachers, we discussed the topic of text selection for learning. In the Reading Planning FALA, it states to have a specific text selection for a rich set of texts. We unpacked what this might look like as we select texts for our planning.

• Multimodal - comics/graphic novels, picture books, newspapers, brochures, print advertisements, posters, storyboards, digital slide presentations
• Caters for the learning intention - does the text support the lessons purpose for students to achieve the Learning Intention of the unit?
• Texts which are challenging and fosters perseverance of reading - are the texts challenging for the students? Do they enable the students to struggle with the text and seek clarification through rich discussions?
• Information/topic specific - do the texts relate to the topic of study? Enables wide and narrow reading for information? 
• Main, supporting, challenge text - Will two texts support each other and the challenge text encouraging the students to compare and contrast information from the texts and making their own conclusions?
• Student choice in text selection - Will the students have opportunities to seek more texts of their own choice which links to the unit of study?
• Vocabulary - texts introduces students to new vocabulary

There are so many aspects to think about with text selection but when teachers are purposeful in their text selection, the learning will be more purposeful, challenging and enjoyable for the students. 

Extended discussions 

For years, our school have focussed on having rich discussions during learning. In Maths with the use of TALK MOVES to facilitate discussions. In reading, a focus on having dialogic discussions. Yet, I still feel and observe that our students are reliant on us as teachers to lead discussions and prompt them. I have seen and experienced some excellent discussions where the students have been so involved in their discussions that it almost sounded like a heated debate about the topic. I did reflect after those lessons if it was the topic the students were passionate about or the texts or set up of the lesson. I believe purposeful discussions have to be planned for and that comes from the teacher knowing the focus of the unit of learning, the lesson and understanding the texts and where to focus the discussion for extended discussions. 

Reflection

It is great to be engaged in these learning conversations with my colleagues because it not only highlights what we need to work on but also empowers each of us to change our mindset and try new ideas in our planning and teaching. I feel we have definitely shifted in our understanding of how to plan and teach reading and it is still a work in progress but the shift in understanding is definitely evident from our professional discussions. 

AKo, Hanga, Tohatoha

Learn, Create, Share
Ako, Hanga, Tohatoha

My class shared projects they have been working on for the last two weeks. The unit was for four weeks where the first two weeks the students were learning using learning materials created by me. The last two weeks, the students inquired into ares of our topic they were interested in. The unit was on what New Zealand produces for the world and ourselves. 

Having shorter inquiry units linked with literacy has been so successful in my class. Where before, we would drag a unit for a whole term, now we have a long term inquiry topic but choose different lines (aspects) of inquiry to focus on for 4-5 weeks. I found the students enjoyed the shorter and focussed progress of learning. I also feel the two weeks of front loading and exploring the topic using the materials I prepared led the way for the students to choose their own inquiry topics. 

With the individual student inquiries, some scaffolding was needed to brainstorm and select topics and main questions for the student inquiries. After the main inquiry question was chosen I then conferenced with the students about the supplementary questions they could ask to help them answer their main question. 

The searching for information was a learning process the students are confident in. Support is still needed for some students to identify what relevant sources of information are and to translate information they read into their own understanding. This is an ongoing need as students are using digital sources of information for their learning. Thus highlighting the importance of being cybersmart. 

The Create part of the student projects was interesting to observe and monitor. Where some students were happy and excited to plan their create activity and how they would present their work, some needed a lot of motivational talks, prompting and observing. 

At the end of the inquiry cycle, it was great to see the students presenting the information they researched and also their create tasks. We had hand made fashion items, fashion walks, farms, stages, arenas, aeroplanes and many more creative ideas hand made by the students. Our showcase was a celebration of the end of this inquiry cycle but more importantly, a celebration of my students' success in their learning. Where success looks different for every child, every success was acknowledged and celebrated. 

PLG reflection

Yesterday at our CoL PLG, I was in a small group discussion where I shared where I am so far with my inquiry. 

The focus of my inquiry this year is to work with a team of teachers in my school to plan a reading programme which aligns with the Manaiakalani Reading Plan FALA. 

As a team, the teachers in my inquiry group and I have been constantly discussing what and how we will change our reading practice to cater for not only our inquiry groups but all our students. I think it is very important to highlight that, if we intend to make a change in the way students learn, then we as teachers have to make the change first. 

From my teaching as inquiry this year, these are the changes we have made so far:

• At our team meetings we have a time set aside to share our planning for our literacy programmes and our inquiry programme as they are integrated
• We have time set aside in our team meetings to reflect and share what we are doing for our own teaching as inquiry
• We are working on using the same planning templates for our reading programmes
• We are consistently sharing resources which we can use in our classes

TWEAKING!!!!

Fortnightly planning exemplar

Fortnightly reading planning

I made the above templates to be used for our short term planning. These templates are to be used with the incorporation the T Shaped literacy in having a main text, support text and a challenge text. HOWEVER!!!!!! We have found that although the reading planning is very detailed, it is not very practical for a teacher to be spending so much time on doing the planning using this template for three reading groups per fortnight. We are now on a quest to simplify, modify or re-create a template for our short term planning for reading. A planning template that still encompasses what we want to have in our reading programme but is not too time consuming. That meeting will happen next Monday in our team meeting. 

Another way I am monitoring my teaching as inquiry, is by looking at the class sites of our teaching team. By looking at what is on the site, I am able to make a link between what we are implementing from my teaching as inquiry and how this is translated to the learning of the students. I also make copies of the slides used for student work, make a copy then add comments and feedback. Some of the feedback I have given is around texts being used for students learning being at the right level of challenge for them. I have observed that when texts are too complicated for the students, the learning conversation is predominantly controlled by the teacher. We have also discussed as a team the idea of giving the students the texts at the end of the week so they are able to read at home during the weekend and have some exposure to the text by the time they start the next week.

As well as formal meetings, we also have informal conversations about what we are doing in our reading programmes. We often discuss what we observe in our students' learning and what we find works and what doesn't. It is good that we are consistently sharing our pedagogical journey with each other. 

I will be collecting my next set of data from my inquiry group in the next week. Although I feel like we have not done enough to show any major changes in student learning, it is till good to gain an idea of where the teachers are currently at with their practice and reflections. 

Good inquiry happens in teams

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari, he toa takitini

Success is not the work of one but, the work of many

I have been supporting my colleagues with their teaching as inquiry. I find a lot of value in the professional discussions we have when we are discussing how we can improve our practice to accelerate the progress of our students. 

Reflecting on our practice

A very important aspect of professional discussions about teaching as inquiry is around what is currently happening in the teacher's practice. Our practice determines how students learn. If we want our students to change their current achievement or accelerate then we have to reflect on what we need to change in our own practice. I understand there are times we feel we are doing well in our practice and that is great but if our achievement data is showing our students are not achieving where they should be for their year levels then something needs to change. 

The importance of data

I have this saying "data tells a story". When I analysed our school data last year, I was amazed the learning I gained from looking at the school wide data. The student achievement data do tell us a story about the learning of our students. It is very important for your TAI to gather the starting data for your sample group at the beginning of your inquiry. This will be your measuring point for the end of your inquiry.

Student voice

As the recipients of our practice, our students views and voice is vital to our teaching as inquiry. As well as having conversations, I like to collect student voice through google forms. It is good to give students time and space to think about their responses and that is why google forms are effective. Below are some student voice I collected last year for my TAI about self efficacy. I have always been surprised by what students share through their student voice and it often challenges my own beliefs about what I am doing in my teaching. 

Record your TAI journey

TAI is a learning journey for teachers. Reflections are very important because it enables us to analyse what is currently happening and our next steps. Whether you have a professional blog or not, it is important to document your teaching as inquiry. It is a learning journey which you can look back on.

He waka eke noa

Having professional discussions with your colleagues and professional leaders about your TAI will be a great resource for you. On going discussions are much more valuable than one off presentations at the end of TAI cycles. We need to be challenged and questioned about what we are currently doing. When we explain our rationale for what we are doing in our practice, we often explore aspects of our practice we did not think about before. 

Manaiakalani Create Staff Meeting

Yesterday, I had the privilege of hosting a create workshop for our Manaiakalani Create Staff Meeting. My session was on Smartphone Photography. 

It was quite interesting to learn that in the 1970s, New Zealand was leading the world in literacy and that was a time when The Arts was heavily incorporated in the curriculum especially at primary school level. Just last week, I was sharing with my school team that the Create part of the Manaiakani kaupapa is often overlooked and not given a lot of attention to when planning for student learning. I shared that the Create should have sufficient time for students to plan and create to show what they have learnt in their learning. It is also a great opportunity for our talented students to showcase their confidence and creativity. Every year, we have the Manaiakalani Film Festival. It is an absolute testament of how confident and talented our students are. 

Going, through the shared photo album from yesterday's create meeting, I could see teachers taking part in different activities, getting their hands dirty, smiles on their faces and I even saw some posts on some of my colleague's social media pages of them showing off what they did yesterday. A colleague of mine who car pooled with me yesterday was also feeling sick and was reluctant to go but at the end of the two sessions she attended, she said she had quite a lot of fun and glad she went. 

NOW, bringing this into our practice. If our students are getting involved in being creative, collaborating with their peers they too would have the awesome feeling we had yesterday after our create meeting.  

Designing my intervention for 2022

Where am I at now?

I have been working in the classes in my school and observing how the students are learning in reading. I have also had conversations with teachers about their reading programme and what their strengths and challenges are. 

I do not have my own class this year which is something very different for me. I did think of having a sample of students from a class in our school to be my sample but decided against this because it will not be consistent TAI if I am not consistency working with the students on daily basis. I then reflected and decided to focus my TAI on working with a group of teachers in our senior school to collaborate with them to plan and implement a reading programme which I hope will accelerate the reading progress of our students. 

What is my focus on this inquiry?

Mentor/coach/support teachers to plan and implement reading programmes which will accelerate the reading progress of their target students.

Share resources with teachers to build their pedagogical knowledge.

Have korero/talanoa sessions with teachers to reflect on their practice and make plans for changes needed to improve their practice.

Co-construct a reading programme with teachers which accelerates the reading progress of our students and share this programme with all the teachers in our school/cluster. 

Have I developed a profile of the sample in my inquiry?

I have identified the teachers I will be working with. I have sent them a google form to gather their thoughts/ideas about their teaching of reading. This will be my baseline data for this inquiry.

Once I have collated the information from the google form, I will then have one to one discussions with each teacher about their responses. 

Have I generated hypotheses about what I will do (actions) to shift the teaching of the teachers who will be in my sample group? 

My focus for this inquiry is to work with teachers to analyse their current practice in teaching reading and mentor/coach teachers to plan and implement a reading programme which focusses on T Shaped Literacy.

 I also want to strengthen the involvement of whanau/aiga in the learning of students in reading. 

I would like to look at the texts chosen for student learning and activities which the students engage with in their reading programmes.

2021 Teaching as Inquiry Evaluation

As an educator, every year comes with its challenges which we reflect on at the end of the teaching year. However, this year, there are so many more aspects of teaching and learning to reflect on. The Covid lockdown of 2021 has definitely been a challenging part of this year's journey. 

With many weeks of online learning and with not all of my students attending the meets, I felt as if I was battling a losing battle. When I reflected about learning from home during the lockdown, five of the seven students in my target group were consistent participants in our online meets every day.  They were the attending the meets, participating in our online learning and sharing their learning with me and also on their blogs. That is one of my successes for this year. 

The Project Based Learning programme enabled students to be more independent with their learning. This worked well with learning from home. The students were able to choose which activities they would work on. They were able to work at their own pace but all students had the same deadline for submitting their work. Throughout the year, most of the students gained the confidence to independently plan their work, seek help from their peers and teachers and also reflect on what they needed to do to improve their work. 

Looking at the data for the projects this year, there are definitely many successes to be celebrated. The projects were marked according to the marking criteria for each project. The students were awarded points from 1-3 depending on the quality of their tasks.  Looking at the last project which was NZ People and Places, most of the students were achieving Excellence and Merit for the tasks which they submitted. By the last projects, the students were confident in attempting and completing their tasks. Two of the students in the group did not submit their tasks due to their lack of attendance of our meets during the lockdown. I think it is also important to highlight that the Dux award for Glenbrae School this year went to one of the students in my target group and the Top Academic Student award also went to another student in my target group. Great achievements for these students due to their perseverance and effort right throughout the year. 

It is also important to reflect on the students who did not make significant gains in their learning. For example student KP. Throughout the year, this student did not get an achieved for his projects. I am questioning what more could I have done to support this student? Success for this student was his confidence to participate in learning discussions and not take an observer's role. His marks does not reflect the improvements he made during the year. 

Was self efficacy a worthwhile focus for my TAI this year? Yes! Definitely. When you have a student look you in the eye and say "Miss, I can't do this, I am dumb". That is heartbreaking to hear these words coming from a student. This was said to me in Term 1 and it really sent me on a reflective journey to question how this student has come to this conclusion about themselves. I also questioned the role of teachers in building the confidence of their students as learners and also how we can also be destructive in the efforts of students to be confident learners. Definitely a conversation I wanted to have with my teaching colleagues this year but did not have the chance to. 

Building self efficacy in my target learners, worked differently for each student. This is reflective of the complex needs we have to cater for in our teaching practice. I had seven students in my target group and they were all at different levels in terms of their self efficacy and abilities. The variety in learning abilities enabled the peer modelling to work well. The students identified their own "favourite" peer to ask for peer modelling and would always refer to these peers for help when they needed. I also noticed an increase in visiting the blogs of others as part of the peer modelling. Thus emphasising the different strategies the students were using to have their peers model work to them. 

That is a question which I have been reflecting on. We often would like to think we are doing all the right things to tick the boxes in terms of supporting our ākonga. At times in our reflections we can be one sided and say we are doing all the right things however, we might need to dig deeper and critically analyse our own practice and actions and how they impact our learners. Student, voice would also be very valuable to answer this question. The students, have always in their student voice given me valuable insights about my teaching practice. Most importantly, as educators, we need to be open to challenging our beliefs, thinking, professional judgements and be open to making changes. 

Building self efficacy by fostering goal setting

Goal setting can be a powerful tool for students to use in building their own self efficacy. As well as student led goals, teachers can also give students goals to work on. As a teacher, one has to know the students well to set realistic and manageable goals for each student. A one size fits all model does not work here. We often discuss that our classrooms are differentiated to cater for our students and their learning abilities but are our expectations realistic for each student? 

In my practice and working on my teaching as inquiry, I have been discussing with each student their own journey in their learning. We have discussed their challenges in completing their tasks and how I as their teacher could be of help. We have also discussed how we can overcome challenges by seeking help from peers, whanau and self directed study. We have a long way to go yet with self directed study but making a start by asking the teacher or a peer is proving to be effective. My target learners are engaging in more discussions about their tasks where they share their ideas. The less confident students are not afraid to say they need help or say they do not understand. This is an improvement from getting stuck in their work then finding other activities to occupy their their time until it is time for their break or packing up for home.

I have always been a firm believer in the power of self realisation when one analyses their own performance or achievement. I did a task with my target learners where they reflected on their last project which was Architecture. They looked at their submission sheet for the Architecture project and summarised how many tasks they completed as well as make notes on how many Excellence, Merit, Achieved and Not Achieved tasks they had. As the students shared their reflections, they were very honest about their lack of effort, making simple mistakes and missing out on valuable points. It was also very evident they were very eager to ensure the current project which is Great Books would be an improvement. 

To set a goal, one has to realise where they are and their next goal for improvement. This was the purpose of this activity. Now the students are on a quest to ensure they complete all the tasks for the current project and working towards improving on the marks they receive. 

Guiding questions about self efficacy

In the planning of my self efficacy intervention for my students. I have been having a lot of conversations with my buddy teacher who is a long time colleague of mine. We have been discussing what we have been observing with the progress of our students in their project work and more importantly their self belief and perseverance when they come across a task which they find challenging.

At times, as teachers we might say the students are not working hard enough. However, as reflective practitioners, we have to think of what is underneath what we see. In a way thinking about the iceberg image. We only see the tip of the iceberg but beneath the surface, there are more we need to consider, in this case the challenges our students are experiencing. 

I have been doing some readings on the resources available on The Education Hub, I came across guiding questions teachers needs to ask themselves on how they are building the self efficacy of students. My experiences in conducting teaching as inquiries has taught me that inquiring into your practice is not just about looking at what the students are doing and how you can change that. It is also a deep reflection of yourself as an educator, mentor, teacher to your students. 

Below are the questions with my responses:

How often do all students in your class experience success with their learning?

When I first read this question, I thought of course my students experience success with their learning every week. However, I re-read the question and saw it referred to ALL of the students. I would like to think that all my students experience success in their learning on several occasions a week. How would I measure this though? Without qualitative or quantitative data, how can I be sure the students are experiencing success? This is a really interesting question which is highlighting the importance of noticing when students are experiencing success and also celebrating success. I know my students experience success, whether it be solving a problem in DMIC, completing all their blog commenting for the week, completing a task they have been working on for their project or for some...There are so many ways to experience success but what this question made me realise is the lack of noticing when success is experienced in my class and acknowledging and celebrating success. 

How do you scaffold learning into smaller tasks, so that students experience smaller successes more regularly? 

With Project Based Learning, I realised after the first project that the tasks we complex for a lot of students. The students struggled to manage the tasks because it required a lot of planning and self management. In the second and third project we planned, we looked at breaking down each task on the submission form so the students understood what the task required them to complete. Now, as the students work through their tasks, they have the submission form open on their devices so they are able to check if the requirements of each task is met in their work. 

My buddy teacher and I have also been discussing working with students who are struggling with completing their projects on breaking down the tasks to manageable sections for them to complete. 

This question is emphasising the importance of scaffolding students to experience success by working on smaller tasks and experiencing success. In my intervention, this is an aspect of I am incorporating into my self efficacy intervention. Students experiencing success regularly and working through manageable tasks which will enable them to experience success and build their self efficacy.

How do you communicate your aspirations for your students, and let your students know that you think they can succeed in their learning?

I have always been a teacher who communicates my aspirations for my students. I strongly believe in building a positive relationship with my students and this starts from the very first day of Term 1 every year. When a student is feeling down, I always take the time to unpack how they are feeling and the factors which contributed to their emotions. Often I find the students are able to articulate how they are feeling towards the situation but often neglect to consider how they contributed to situations. It does take a lot of time to build the trust of students but I always find that once the students have my trust and I have theirs, collaboration, teaching, learning, sharing...is more effective. 

With learning, I always emphasise to my students that success is a matter of perseverance and resilience. Failing is a part of learning. I do not hide my failures from my students. I often embrace my mistakes and share these with them and we collaborate together to solve challenges we have in class with learning. 

These guiding questions have been a good reflective experience for me to think about what I am currently doing in my practice and what I still need to work on. Following on from this post, I will complete the rest of the iceberg with my target group where they will unpack what is under the iceberg for them. 

Back to the drawing board

I have been looking deeply into my practice and identifying trends in my teaching and the learning of my students. After gathering data from the first student voice survey, I was thinking my main focus will be on feedback and feedforward. Through implementing this feedback and feedforward system through commenting on student work, oral discussions, peer assessments and communicating with students through emails, I realised there was something more that I could do. The feedback and feedforward was happening in class regardless. The student voice collected emphasised to me that through Project Based Learning, some of the students felt I was spending less time with them in discussions and giving feedback. That I have now addressed through a more focussed approach to giving feedback and feedforward to students. 

Throughout, this time of the students working through their projects, I have always been keeping a closer eye on students who were not completing their tasks unless being monitored or given consequences if they were not to complete their tasks. I also noticed some students really struggled to manage their time and their work. The big projects is too much for them to unpack and plan around. They needed a lot of support to be scaffolded in how to complete each task. 

Could building self efficacy in students be my inquiry focus?

Through marking of the first projects the students completed, I noticed a trend in work the students handed in. Some did not complete every aspect of the task, some did not attempt some of the tasks and some students missed out on tasks altogether. 

In class, I would encourage the students to work through their tasks, give them support my verbal and written feedback but still, I was not receiving the work I was hoping the students would hand in. I believe the students did not have the belief in themselves or the motivation and determination to carry out their tasks until completion. Thus making self efficacy a very important focus for me in teaching using the Project Based Learning programme. 

What is self efficacy in students?

According to Pajares (2002), 'Self-efficacious students exert extra effort, persevere with difficult tasks longer and show resilience by bouncing back from difficult learning situations. Students with high self-efficacy regard problems as challenges, set goals and are committed to them, attribute failure to lack of effort or as yet unlearned skills or content, and increase their efforts in order to overcome failure'. After reading the article by Pajares, I knew this is what I want to focus on because these are the goals I have for my students. To be able to persevere when tasks are hard, set goals, bounce back from difficult learning situations and be committed to their learning. 

I am wanting to find strategies which I will implement into my practice which will foster and build self efficacy among my students. I am thinking of incorporating strategies I find in readings about self efficacy to design a learning framework in my practice which will build student self efficacy. 

Inquiry question: Will a self efficacy framework designed for my learners, build their self confidence in their abilities and enable them to have more self efficacy to persevere in difficult learning situations?

In Parajes (2002), there are some strategies mentioned to build the self efficacy of students. I will now gather more readings about building self efficacy and reflect on what I know about my students. I will from there start to build the self efficacy framework which I will implement in my practice. 

Reference: Pajares, F. (2002). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic contexts: An outline. Retrieved from https://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/efftalk.html