This week we have been reflecting a fair bit on our inquiries, and how we are impacting student achievement. I have noticed a real sense of excitement in maths, where the kids are starting to feel like the goals are attainable for them, now that they are beginning to understand what each stage looks like.
I spend a bit of time at the start of each lesson going over a 'strategy of the week', in order to try and make learning more visible for the kids. We look at that strategy in stage 6, and then look at the equivalent strategy in stage 7. This is to try and bring that clarity into my class, that will help the kids know where they are, where they need to be, and how to get there.
The kids seem to love this (student voice pending) and enjoy the 'challenge' that stage 7 work presents. Obviously this is still way beyond some of my kids, but there can't be any harm (surely!!) in exposing them to it. In fact, research says this is exactly what we should be doing.
I have been looking a but more into math whizz and how effective it is in my class. I have had a muck around with it and realised I can set focussed topics! It also has a feature that shows where students are struggling. It shows that in my class, my students are working at an average of 9 years old in solving problems! This shows me that my kids don't understand word problems presented to them, or don't have the prior knowledge necessary to answer them!
I have been reflecting on how often I am exposing my kids to these in class, and realised that even though I know that is good practise, it has been the last thing on my mind!
So, next steps are to collect that student voice to see if kids know where they are at, and expose them to/explain to them how word problems work!
Stay tuned to see how we go!
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