Reflectioning on my inquiry

2018 has been a huge year of learning for me and my inquiry focus has been language acquisition in mathematics. I have learnt so much about shifting the balance of talk and providing support for learners to engage in talk.

This is my presentation about my inquiry and my findings. I have also share some insights into my tool and how it has worked for me and my class. I hope that you will find this presentation interesting and perhaps it will have an impact on your practice as my inquiry has in mine this year.

My Inquiry Presentation Manaiakalani & Outreach Principals Wananga 2018

This year I had the privilege of being part of the MIT program and as part of this we shared our inquiry impact story with the Principles and School leader from the Manaiakalani and Outreach Cluster at the 2018 Wananga on the 1st of November. 

What happened for the learners

As a result of my inquiry was that learners became more confident in their use of mathematical language and this meant they were able to model, explain and use this language when solving problems and discussing mathematical ideas.

For one of my target learners this supported great shift in her mathematical ability and with her making two years progress in one year. Another learner in my inquiry group made 1.5 years progress. However this was not the case for all learners and as such I wondered if students interaction in the intervention played a larger role than I had anticipated.

What evidence do I have for this
A clear picture of the language development was painted by the vocabulary survey which was taken in terms 1 and 4 this showed that students understanding and ability to use this small range of vocabulary had greatly improved.

I also used Gloss Data to look at mathematical strategies and explanation. This as we have discussed a lot this year may not be the ideal for of assessment for the DMiC method however it did how that students how activity engaged in the intervention could understand the language and this supported them to solve the problems.

What did I do to make this happen?
This inquiry has been a huge area of growth for me as a teacher. I have step out of my comfort zone and tried many new things. This started with a focus on coding which quickly shifted toi using a range of approaches to support language development and discussion in mathematics.
-Developing a shared language and classroom culture.
-Write Questions rich in language and open for discussion
-Integrating language into coding tasks
-Providing language and discussion prompts

Wonderings about what next

As we move toward to end of 2018 and into 2019 I want to continue this approach and see if with learners becoming more familiar with DMiC in can have a bigger impact. I also wonder if the key principles of this approach the rewindable videos, prompts for discussion can be adjusted and applied to literacy as an aid to goal setting and discussion of goals in reading and writing. I am interested in this because of the work that Danni Stone has been doing this year with her year 7 and 8 students in the connection between reading and writing and the language that we can draw from reading to writing. It also came up at MIT that the prompts and videos could be integrated across the curriculum building more familiarity and cross curriculum integration.  

Video of my Inquiry Presentation Manaiakalani & Outreach Principals Wananga 2018

This year I have enjoyed the privilege being part of the MIT program. Throughout the year I have learnt so much and extended my knowledge. It was a big moment for me presenting to the Principals from Manaiakalani and the Outreach. This is the video of my presentation at the Wananga and I hope it will connect with my journey.

Opening Manaiakalani & Outreach Principals Wananga 2018

Today I am at a very special event. We had the opportunity today to come together with teachers, leaders and passionate in what they do as teachers.

We are so privileged to have partners who support us as clusters through financial support, research support, all the families and people who make this possible.

Today we are celebrating all the people that are Manaiakalani by making connections. Today is about making friends and staying friends when we leave here today to make the connections last, so we can make it work.

 

Why we do this is for because we want our learners to be out there. Playing the game with style, passion, as themselves.

We have been on this journey now for sometime and we are clear in our ambition. Clear in using the data to inform positive change and innovation.

We want the learning journey that communities want to be in the forefront of education and consider what we do to make this possible when it does not match what they Ministry of Education goals for that community. We are lucky in New Zealand to have a government who are willing to listen and hear and see what is going on in Education and notice the shift being made in Manaiakalani.

Change, accelerated shift is not possible without Manaiakalani teachers throughout New Zealand, who collaborate together, accept challenges and innovating and finding what works.