Day 9 - Create and Share

We made it! 

Kicking off the day listening to Dorothy speak about and share a heap of useful 'create' resources was quite motivating. I look forward to exploring and incorporating those links into my planning. I particularly liked the look of suno.ai - I have no doubt that would be a hit with some of my students.

Today's math talk topic was images. There were a heap of great images for us to use, but also the strong message was to find the right image, and plan for the maths talk. I quite enjoyed this and was surprised by the number of things to notice :)

 

The create and share sessions were a good reminder of how and why. Last year, we lost our way when we had a series of blog issues, and with that, we lost a good deal of best practices. I am looking forward to starting off the new year/new class with blogging being a focus again. As well as blogging, there were plenty of other avenues to be explored for sharing.

Thanks ladies for the opportunity to be a part of this. It's definitely not called Intensive for no reason :) I have gained so much out of this PD, and look forward to the incoming fine-tuning of my next year's planning!

Over and out.

 Day 8 - Statistics and probability

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Data Talks today, as part of our learning on Statistics and Probability. The link to various useful graphs was really valuable, as I knew that I could choose the ones the students would relate to. My example today used the stats from Steph Curry's shooting stats, and for my basketball-mad, boy-heavy Year 8 class, that will be right up their alley. 

I also liked the slow-release graph, where looking at the graph, and the step-by-step introduction of information, created some interesting predictions. 

So what I have always just called the investigation cycle, turns out to be called by the acronym PPDAC. Who knew :)

We had a chance to explore Census at school, which I have used in the past. I checked the interactive maps, and this would definitely be an opportunity for some great 'I notice', and 'I wonder' statements. For example, the population on the West Coast dropped in 2018. This will have been directly related to the mines closing in 2017. However, the age of the students probably means they won't realise that. I think this will lead to some perfect integrated teaching moments. 

My question to finish is: in our current scope and sequence, which is well overdue to be updated, we always cover statistics as a unit at the start of the year. While  (in the ideal world) we aim to integrate this learning across the curriculum, do you think this is the best time of year for this focus? I see pros and cons, and it's been a question I have been pondering for a while now. 

MPI - Day 7 - Geometric Thinking

Geometry is always fun—for the teachers and the kids. Today, we have been introduced to a lot of really useful resources that I can easily incorporate into my planning. My students will benefit hugely from these resources, which will also be very engaging for them.

Subitising was introduced as this week's Maths Talk. While I can see the benefit of this for younger students, or those working at this level, I feel like my more able students wouldn't necessarily gain anything from this, so I think I would choose to target certain students/small groups with this.

Angles / 2D and 3D shapes were interesting. Sometimes you just stumble across snippets of information you don't know or haven't retained lol. Useful websites that we got to have a quick look at, but I must go back to include Geogebra, iknowit.com, and Polypad. 

Position and Orientation (Pathways 😏) - this is definitely one of the favourites. This was a cool activity (The Treasure Map). I would make it clearer where the treasure was though! I can see a lot of potential with this activity, and certainly having the students create their own (with answers) would be the most obvious. 

 

Overall an interesting day, with lots of great resources once again, which I love! My walls are looking a bit bare at present so bring on all the maths art :)

MPI Day 6 Measurement

So, Day 6 was all about measurement. Throughout the day, I discovered heaps of cool maths tools online, some of which I am still to explore properly, and others of which, from what I have seen, are going to be frequent flyers in my maths programme. 

The big message I got today was equipment, equipment, equipment. It's hands-on, doing, which I know, but it's a good reminder. Portraying mathematical problems visually, such as below,  took a bit to get my head around if I'm honest. The template, which we have met on previous days, where the problem is written in words, numbers and represented twice visually is great, and one which I will be using frequently. 

I loved this online activity, and I know my ākonga will also be engaged with this, while learning. 

Number Strings: While I haven't had a formal title for this activity, I do feel like I already do this to some degree (didn't know it was a thing). I have formalised this in the class over the past week, and also have had students create their own, at their level, which I think was beneficial. 

One last reminder for me, I need to print out this poster :)

MPI - Day 5 : Algebra

This has been my favourite day by far. Firstly, I really enjoy teaching algebra, and secondly, I learned a lot that was relevant to my ākonga working at Phase 3. What does keep going through my mind is when we were doing an activity using a variety of strategies and it was discussed how important it is for students to know there is more than one way, which I do know, but it took me back to why I enjoyed maths so much growing up. That being it was black and white. We learned how to do a problem, followed through a model, and learned to self-check.  Unlike English where I never quite knew what assessors were assessing :). How times change!

Vicki Archer gave a fab intro to the day, took me back to DFI days. I learnt about inserting special characters which was very handy, and also reminded me about the Digital Dig. I totally agree a more advanced one would be very timely. 

The Maths Talks - Number Talks session was valuable for me. I was a wee bit confused about the types of problems we were meant to put to our class for this, so this session with examples was very helpful. 

I am definitely still an amateur at using technology / creating resources using technology etc, partly because I am so slow, but also because I guess that's not how I learned. Hands-on sure, but I am now starting to build up my digital maths resources thanks to RPI. This is undoubtedly a huge benefit for me personally. The Think Boards / Frayer model/ vocab pages are all being added nicely to my collection. 

There was a lot on the taskboards/sessions today that I will definitely take directly and use with groups in my class, and as we are about to start algebra the timing couldn't have been more perfect. I am looking forward to integrating Maths Talks into my daily in a more formal manner than I have previously.

MPI Day 4: Number

Today was all about number. In particular the importance of Place Value, as well as fractions, decimals, percentages and integers. 

I have included the screenshot below, just as a reminder to myself really. Most of these tools I use within my program, however the toolkit there in the Turbocharge is a useful reference for me. 
 

Choral counting isn't a term I have heard of before, however I have used a hundreds board for similar pattern-based activities. These have always been an oral activity, which of course means they aren't rewindable, however the gist remains the same. Definitely more scope using choral counting for integers, fractions and decimals. I can definitely see the benefit of choral counting so it will be interesting how the kids perceive the activity I have planned. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the sections on fractions, as we are working on these right now for mult/div, which of course made it all the more relevant. I am planning my teaching activity for the homework around the key idea 'Fractions provide context for multiplicative thinking'. (mult/div). I also liked the idea of the chart, to secure and extend vocabulary. I can see how this will be useful both as an activity and as a point of reference once completed. 

The importance of useful manipulatives was apparent today when discussing these, and something I was aware that I do need to build on in my classroom. I think maybe having always taught seniors this wasn't something that was my go-to, however as the needs of my class having become full range, it's something I know I need to build up.

Finally this. This is so important! I think this is the most commonly asked question in the history of a maths teacher. This is so important to the students, and to everyone. The why. The authentic context. Why are we learning this? For this reason...I am looking forward to the session on algebra :))

Sharon

Day 3: Planning a maths programme

What a great day. This has been my favourite day by far so far. What I wanted to get out of doing the MPI overall was a) ideas to help me create/find content for follow-up activities with ease, and b) to learn and understand current best practice in teaching maths. Today has helped me with both those things a lot. 

I found this to be a useful reference, the glossary. Teachers are, after all, renowned for their use of jargon. :)

The conversation around flexible vs levelled groups was interesting. While I often used mixed ability groups in reading, I hadn't really thought about it for maths. Having Level 1-5 learners in my room, I still struggle to think that everyone in the group would get the most out of a completely mixed ability group, but lessening the range of the students I can see would work in some situations. I will be trying this while working with the class on the rich maths tasks. 

The session on rich maths tasks was extremely useful for me, particularly the opportunity we had to explore the maths sites geared up toward rich tasks. I took the time to look at Youcubed, and was impressed with the parts of it I looked at. 

The low light of the day was when I read the question wrong in the rich task activity! It wasn't until I heard the answers of others I realised my mistake. Haha, I was mortified. This is precisely what I teach the kids not to do :)

The huge list of digital resources will be a game-changer for me. My biggest issue in maths planning is getting lost down a rabbit hole trying to find the perfect resource. I really like a suggestion today that we could perhaps use just one site a week/month etc. I would adapt this to be one new site a week/month while backing up with sites the students and I are already familiar with. 

Thanks for a really interesting day. I am looking forward to trying the rich maths tasks next term when I am back in the classroom and introducing some of these new sites to my class. 

MPI - Day 2: Know your learners as mathematicians

Another intense day on MPI. I am really enjoying the range of participants on the course, not only being able to glean information from the presenters but also from other participants is appreciated. 

This is exactly why I wanted to go on MPI. My strengths are in my content knowledge, as well as my own mathematics ability. However I needed to know how to strengthen my own understanding of current pedagogy, and in turn, hopefully, this will help with my planning of maths. 

I got a lot out of the session on PATs and E-asTTle. Knowing where and how to unpack these was really interesting. The information given on the individual pathways, which I use consistently, was useful. Particularly the bit about the yellow box(strengths) requiring maintenance. Which of course sounds obvious, but sometimes due to time, aspects of a maths session fall away. So this was a good reminder. 

The session on taskboards, which unfortunately I needed to leave early and missed part of this, is probably the newest to me. While I use taskboards in literacy, I haven't done so in maths. Not sure why! I have spent a considerable amount of time since Thursday searching for maths activities suitable for a taskboard, and at this point, I think some strands might be easier than others. 

Finally...this. While we do goal setting and reflecting on goals twice yearly for the purpose of student conferences (formal), I know I don't give the students enough time to reflect on the learning intentions, and I need to step up my game with this, as well as blogging. This was a great set of reminders.

MPI - What kind of mathematician are you

29 out of my 34 Year 7/8s completed the Mathematics Profile survey. I haven't been in class this term as I am on medical leave, but it still gives me plenty to mull over. Some of the results I thought were predictable (ie the top mathematicians being more confident in their abilities, and looking for challenges), and some answers I found less predictable. For example for the frequency of teacher feedback question, the answers varied a lot even for students who are often grouped together. 

My biggest issue/concern every year is reflected in the first question above. I have found when students arrive in Year 8, they already have a preconceived notion about maths, their ability in maths, and their fixed mindset of not enjoying maths. This often becomes my priority with specific groups. 

This survey was emailed to my class and was completed independently. There was no opportunity for discussion, or unpacking the questions. My guess is when they think of practice, they are only thinking of digital platforms where they can learn/practice their maths skills, rather than real-world maths. 

The final question, which wasn't great reading in my opinion, was Question 5. The 4 who said every day are all from different groups which is interesting. Of course, I am happy no one said 0! I am now thinking maybe I should be tracking feedback daily, including verbal feedback, to make sure I am hitting the mark with everyone. 

Overall this was an interesting picture of my learners, and I learnt quite a bit from their answers.

Sharon

MPI - Day One: Mathematics is Core

MPI - Day One: Mathematics is Core

Day One: Having done the Reading Practice Intensive, I half knew what to expect with the Maths Practice Intensive, but at the same time I really didn't. What I didn't expect was there to be such similarities between the two if I am honest.

Listening to the glorious Dorothy Burt is always a highlight for me. Discovering the history of Manaiakalani and maths was really interesting. What stuck with me from her segment was when she talked about 'Harnessing the digital technology effectively to really accelerate the learning'.

We looked at what makes a good mathematician and studied the profile of a good mathematician.

Mindset was discussed throughout the day, as to how a growth mindset affects students' attitudes and potential in all areas, in this case, maths. We were asked to complete a maths profile survey. as if we were a student in our class. Fortunately, my son was home today (he is in my class) so I got him to fill it out directly which was really interesting. Although I am not in class at the moment, I will have the class complete this for me still to analyse the results.


Establishing Ground Rules; I was familiar with the ground rules having completed RPI last year. Interestingly I had never thought to apply these in any teaching area outside of literacy, so that was a bit of a wake-up call for me. I find it very useful for students/teachers/TA's to be familiar with these, and to have them posted in plain-view.




Maths Across the Curriculum

I found this session to be really useful. Although I am a frequent user of TKI, I can't say the same for using the Connected tab - it was great to have time to look around both the TKI site, as well as NZMaths, which I regularly use for ideas.

 

This is how we were taught to teach back in the late 80s, early 90s at Teacher's College, and it was always a fun way to teach across a variety of subjects. With our timetable in Year 7 and 8 being so jam-packed with everything we have to fit in, this makes perfect sense.

Thanks Elena, Georgie and Donna. I really enjoyed the day.

Sharon

MMindet