Inquiry: Are they making the expected shift?

What value have I added to my children so far?

Looking at the data I collated at the beginning of the year to where my class is now is very rewarding based on the confidence my students have gained to share their ideas and talk in mathematics. 

My students have gained confidence to share their ideas in mathematics and speak up when they don't understand. When I say it's time for maths, you hear an outpour of 'YAY' filling the classroom which is a huge change! Students are able to understand a range of mathematical language and are beginning to notice these words when appearing across all curriculum areas, eg diagonal and recognizing this, understanding the meaning. Students can confidently attempt to answer word problems as they understand the language and can then decide the best strategy to implement!

I am still working on getting the students to use this vocabulary themselves, rather than just hearing it from myself which is a work in progress and a goal for term 4. Some learners are doing incredibly well and are able to articulate their sentences to have an educational argument about the maths where they are using the terms 'I agree with ___because/I disagree with ___ because' and are now learning that it is ok to disagree with others respectfully.

Participation:

Last term I had a huge focus on getting the non-talkers talking, which were the students that find mathematics a struggle, meaning the added pressure of sharing their ideas becomes overwhelming and they seem to shut down. I have been giving these students materials to support their thinking and sharing of ideas which has had an awesome impact. These students are now engaged during the beginning of the lesson where they try their best to implement the correct strategy.

During Dr Cynthia Greenleaf's Professional Development session based on 'Developing in Digital Worlds', she discussed to get the reluctant/shy learners to share others ideas rather than their own. This results in the students feeling like they're under less pressure because they aren't sharing their own thoughts, but the thoughts of others, allowing the students to have a voice. This has been very useful and I have noticed these particular learners are blossoming in confidence.

Looking at this data and how the students are doing, my end of year goal is to see majority of the learners listening and adding ideas within their groups/class.

Vocabulary:

Blue = Students understand it when said.

Yellow = Students speak it in context.

At the beginning of this year, this graph was looking very empty with not much colour at all, so I am very happy with how the students have progressed. Students can now understand word problems and identify the strategies to use based on the words in the problem.

As I reflect on this data, I am very aware of the gaps needing to be filled which will be a focus moving into the final term. Although the students may be understanding the context, majority of the students are unable to speak it in context.

Term 4 Goals:

I will be looking at a selected number of students who are still struggling to engage and participate - focussing on how I can get these students communicating.

Although I previously mentioned, students are recognizing these words used across curriculum areas, but they are still learning to speak these words themselves, as you can see in the image above. This is a goal I hope to achieve in the final term as I support them to speak the words in context during Word of The Week, asking the students to put it into a simple sentence.