When things don't go to plan.

End of term and I have spent some time reflecting about the classroom.

What I have noticed is that most of the class are very independent in their learning. They know what to do, when they need to do and where they like to learn/work. The only frustration I had were a small group of students that still couldn’t complete all the week’s task in the allocated time span. To be honest it was driving me mad. When I started this ‘independent working hour’ I set the week’s task pretty much the same, so routines were set and then expanded on that. I explained orally and in written form so they heard and could visually see what they needed to do. Each day I reminded them as well, yet I still have this issue.

I felt like I was hitting a brick wall and began to question what I was doing wrong. Why couldn’t this small group of students complete their set tasks? The tasks themselves were not difficult and were set for them as individuals. They had over 5 hours in the week to complete them therefore time allocation and the amount of tasks were not an issue. So where was I going wrong?

It was in a staff meeting where we were learning about another school and how they approached this that it finally hit me. I naturally assumed by the end of term 3 everyone would be independent learners. Not once had I thought that I should still be directing some of them still.

The next day I decided to experiment with this idea. I had started to think about next term and how I was going to approach the idea of allowing individual students the freedom to work inside or outside. This was a great opportunity to introduce this and discuss again what an independent learner was. We talked about what the word independent meant and how this related to the classroom and their learning. We discussed how we could’ see’ and ‘hear’ an independent worker and what ‘self-managing’ their own time was about. I then asked them to reflect and decide if they felt they were independent learners. As I expected most agreed that they were and a few felt they were not yet there.

Looking back now, I should have spent more time teaching this phase at the beginning of term 3 but as I was taking time off work I rushed through this part and assumed those in question would soon ‘get it’. Although I knew everyone was going to become ‘independent learners’ in their own time, I guess I never assumed that it might take a few students a lot longer than the rest. This small group have now become my ‘directed’ learners where I tell them what they have to do in the allocated time slot. They understand that until they can self-manage their own time they will stay on this level. And it is working!

My ‘independent learners’ are now working on their next level of being given the opportunity to prove they can self-manage their time in a responsible manner to be allowed the choice where they can work which will included outside the classroom. I have decided to create lanyards for them so they are easily identifiable to other members of stuff. I am thinking that on the back of them it will outline what they should be doing therefore teachers can see this straight away.

So what have I learnt about myself?  I need to remember to give my students time and to realise that they all won’t get there together.

Maths Outside

Sometimes when I finish a unit of maths, I tend to find or develop a mathematical scavenger hunt in the classroom. This is a fun way for me to see whether or not they have understood what we have been learning.  It allows me to listen to their conversations, thought process as well as their written work. And it is so much better than doing a test!

I tend to do ‘loop’ questions. This is where they read a question and work out the answer. Their answer will lead them to the next question and lead them back to their starting question. This way they automatically know if their question was right or wrong. It also gives me insight into how they fix/change their mistakes. And it makes students realise what mistakes their making.  

This time I decided to let them develop their own scavenger hunt. We talked about all the mathematical vocabulary that was around the room and how we could use them to create questions relating to objects inside the classroom.

We looked at a range of questioning techniques and went back through our maths book to view our next step questions, question we had asked and set questions we had worked through in our lessons. Giving us an idea of what ways we could ask a question, how to incorporate two step questions and how to make sure our questions were going to extend our thinking.

In pairs the children set off and explored the school environment to develop their questions. I set a few ‘musts’ to keep them on task. From there the students set off and got created. After a set amount of time we gathered back together and discussed ideas and thoughts.

While I had been walking around and prompting ideas, I also set some of my own questions to model with them. I develop some very simple questions and we discussed why these would not be suitable for us (aiming for stage 5/6 questions) and how we could change them to meet the criteria. I also gave them questions that met our criteria and we discussed why these were suitable.

Students then spent time editing and working through their ten questions with their partners so they meet our ‘success criteria’. Once finished the students them typed their questions and answers up. On Friday, my actual class will use them and feedback to my maths class about them.