Maths is everywhere all the time!

The last day is here and I am kinda sad, well actually I am very sad! What am I going to do next term? I will miss the professionalism of this group and all the knowledge, fun, challenges and new stuff.  Although I can now see time on my hands to go back and re visit all the stuff, treasure, valuable goodness that has been shared....I wonder if I could still get a day off every three weeks to just explore and continue to learn?! Have a feeling there will have to be wine involved in that one!

I enjoyed today's morning focus and the share element of our world. I do enjoy sharing or watching the kids share. There is something special about watching engaged children chatting about an idea you have just given them. The way you can see the cogs in their brains turning over and connections being made, possible one of the true joys in teaching. I have enjoyed watching my confident maths goers share their learnings, especially when their learnings were not what they thought they were going to be. It has been great to watch the less confident mathematician share ideas that have surprised themselves, and the confident ones.  One of the biggest wins for me has been the doing the maths talk as a warm up and then getting the children to share their thinking on a slide show. This allowed my to front load, do a bit of explicit teaching, maths discussion and then see the children understanding through their reflections...oh and it ticked the blog box! My kids are very fast at blogging now too! Here are some examples...I will work on embedding!

No I have lost my chain of thought! been a bad day for technology - I was late arriving due to having to talk to boys about using a toilet - they are like ten - what is that about?! And I couldn't get into the breakout spaces, then my mic for the google vids won't work and now I can't work out how to embed a couple of my maths talk slide shows. Must be go drink a gin time.

I have taken away a lot of great things from this time, (planning, maths talk, digital activities, AI games that I created, TIP charts, curriculum knowledge, sharing, misconceptions, maths is everywhere all the time)  and am sad to see it come to an end. I am looking forward to continuing to grow as a teacher, especially when it comes to maths and feel an passion not to give it up next year. I am bidding farewell to some of my other responsibilities - I haven't told my boss that yet so let's keep that between ourselves - so I can make maths, my class programme and the team I look after my priority. I think there is too much here to just let go of and move on, I want to keep the momentum in my mind set going. Maybe I will even keep blogging....

Thank you ladies!

What's the chance?

 Well another MPI day has flashed passed in front of me. As I walked into the staff room at morning tea time, I sighed, a big heavy sigh. Another teacher commented 'Oh, another grumpy day at school'. I was quick to correct them and let them know I wasn't grumpy and that is was more a positive sigh as my head was filling up with more ideas about maths. I have always loved maths but this MPI course has supercharged that love and now, as a not so smacked on maths minded human, I can confidently say I don't only love maths I am beginning to live, breath and devour maths! I have always been a "I could teach art all day every day" kinda teacher. Now I am a 'I want to teach math's all day' kinda teacher with the underbelly of "Let's do it through art!" Now if that class was outside, I would be happy!

I had lots of fun over the last couple of weeks doing the maths talk in my class, I did target number and what doesn't belong. The children and well into the rhythm of how they work and we are blogging about it each week which tick that other box. The engagement has been great to watch, especially from those who at the beginning of the year firmly believed that they hated maths. Maths talk has opened a world to them that involves them and they succeed at.  When I presented Choral Counting at the latest MK Summit, it was a bit of a disaster as my slide show didn't work, so I winged it! It was great to hear the teachers say they loved the idea and were going to use it in their own class the next day. A number of them took away my examples to and genuinely  seemed to enjoy the session. I was chuffed, not because of me, but because of the enjoyment they saw in maths and how something so simple could help them. Thanks MPI!

Anyway - today - so much once again. Love the idea of data cards and the nz census site - I have already shared that with my staff and can't wait to get them into my class. Today was such a refreshing look at the statistics and how it can be in the class, I loved the slow reveal and the questioning, the PPDAC (which I had never heard of) and interactive sites and all the rest. Farewell to the simple bar graphs of how we get to school - they are as bad as the pizza and fraction nightmare!  

Thank you again ladies! You deserve a wine! 

Shape up or Shape out!

 Thank you ladies for another knowledge fulled day with so many avenues to explore. I often wish I had half the knowledge and expertise you all seem to have - little bit jealous maybe! There is always so must to go off and explore so thank you  for your work Elana, Georgia and Donna! 

What is even funnier - well for me anyway - is that at the end of the day when there has been so much given to us, I am still stuck on the first slideshow that Elana shared with us - Maths Talk. So much in there I am thinking it would be forever before I got through all that stuff. I love maths and making connections for the kids and teaching them it is everywhere all the time, that certainly gets my brain moving! Which it was connected directly to my planning so I didn't have to slow it down and produce the perfect plan! Thank you, for sparking so much - I will  hopefully find the time to implement that. Which brings in the next thought of planning - I commented last time about having to get that sorted and to a place that ticked all the boxes while not taking 20 hours a week to do and actually being of some use. A part of me wishes I was a beginning teacher again, and could start with all that energy and a clear mind, and not a million other responsibilities. Experience may not be my friend in regards to this.  

I loved the web sites especially Polypad. I enjoyed the iknowit site too and while exploring noticed you had to pay for it. I often wonder how school manage all the sites. In my head it would be great for the same sites to be used by year group - say 4, 5 and 6. This would cut back on the actually teaching on  how to use the sites and probably getting the best from each one. Then there is the cost - do school pay for whole school subscriptions or teaching teams pay for subscriptions. I can actually see you face reading this and you thinking - is she really asking that?! Obviously it depends on the school and how they operate. I like the idea of teams getting subscriptions so the whole school isn't committed to a site they will not use. There I have answered my own question, I should comment on that! 

We have just started the journey of refreshing our planning to ensure we are covering everything and our planning contains all that it needs across the school. A difficult journey as you are stuck between that place of this is what is needed and we respect you as an individual therefore allowing you to have your own style - a style which must fit in with our planning template - and there in lies a sphere of a problem. 

I am now going to leave it there and go sort my planning, I have a funny feeling the heater in this fabulous new building has finally kicked in and the heat is starting to get to me - it's only taken 5 hours.

Lets finds a funny picture to brighten up this blog post!

Well that is interest - I asked AI to create a picture of a frazzled teacher with 3D shapes and this is what I got - I think AI might be a bit sexist!

 Thats better - she looks in control - now who is being sexist?!

Enjoy the week!

Well lets hope this will measure up!

 Today's MPI was all about measurement now measurement is all around us all the time and possibly the one area of maths that gets forgotten. I am loving how the approach from MPI is presented in a way that clearly shows the connections across all the areas in maths. I am loving sharing with the staff, the importance of seeing maths as an every day thing, and not compartmentalised boxes which I feel it has been seen as in the past. Thees presentations are taking the guess out of how to see all the strands and elements working together and I hope my understanding and workings with it will enhance my teaching and that of the staff too, especially be ticking those boxes two or three at a time! 

I can't wait to use the number stings in my class as there are a few children who struggle with maths, but are visual and once they see a pattern are off. I find the maths talk parts very empowering for me as a teacher and my children which has been very rewarding in class.  It is amazing how something so simple can be so effective. 

Planning for me and getting all this knowledge functioning in my class in the biggest struggle. I use to be very good at planning but have found this year a bit of a show and not a good show. I am not sure what it is, maybe I have thrown the baby out with the bath water and need to go back to working with what I know has worked and changes smaller bits instead of the whole thing.

I

 need to embrace the technology side more. I find in my class that anything on the chrome book means children will muck around and nowhere near as much work gets done, compared to book work. That is possible me not laying the foundation down properly and something I would love advise on.  I am old school to and find marking a book as I roam around the class easier than check online stuff after school - is that what other teacher do with online work?   

I greatly appreciate having more time to explore so thank you for that. I admire all the teachers here and inspire to be half as good as them ... that is one thing I find with PD, you can be trucking along thinking you have nearly got this and then after a day like today feel like a beginning teacher again!  Thank you ladies - another information packed day!

The X Factor: Demystifying Algebra or is it?

 

MPI today was a much more stress free day for me this time round, I didn't feel as rushed and appreciated the thinking time we were given to process the information. The slides seemed to flow better for me too while the knowledge shared made clear sense. Not that I think any in the past haven't made perfect sense so maybe its me who is in a better space! The most exciting development about this experience is .... I have a much better understanding of algebra and how to present it to the children in a way that makes sense. I have loved maths all my life and watching children 'get it' fulls my heart. With the Numeracy Project my mead went round in circles and tired itself in knots sometimes. This new curriculum with the science of learning behind it and the scope and sequence has cleared things up for me and made me believe in myself as a teacher again ...well that and these MPI sessions. We have been told to insert picture to make the blog more interesting so here is a photo of some wool - I come from a long line of knitters and have a knitting club at school - the children are into finger knitting at the moment and groups of children frantically knitting can be spotted all around out school. What maths would you do with this picture?

My class and I are just beginning to look at multiplication and division. A topic that terrified them last week. So five days into it they are all loving it, with pattern spotting being the main drive. I can see how clearly this will fit into algebra and solving number problems which I cam excited about. I have used the maths talk approach and estimation learning from last week and children are really thriving with the wondering and discussion.

I share a lot with the staff and hearing there feed back has been great. So another photo of a quilt I recently made - I started this year off with the goal of making sure the children in this school know that maths is everywhere. I had a laugh the other day as I was chatting to some kids at lunchtime and one mentioned something which I quickly turned into a maths question....'No, I'm done with math's today, its not math time!" she responded.

May the love keep coming I say and empowering all those around us!

Thank you ladies for all the hard work! I'm off to do duty again!!

A fraction of the day .....Day 4 of MPI

 Oh my gosh. my head hurts and its not even lunchtime yet! And now it's time for the blog post. As much as I enjoy all the incredible information that is given in these professional development days, I struggle with the shortage of time to between ideas and tasks. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" rings loud in my ears as I have to drop what I was doing and flip onto something else. I am having flash backs to university days when i worked on the belief that 1 hour in the lecture was two hours in the library - I have a funny feeling I may have said that in an earlier session.... and if I did well so be it...I now have 20 hours to find so I can get my head around all the information given today. I am trying hard to work out how to access all the resources already made and created by the thousands of teachers in our country - I would love the ministry to have lesson plans and activities linked to the  AO's so I could spend less time creating stuff. Now I am feeling that someone is going to come forward and say - here are the links - they have been here for years!  Now it is confession time - I have used the ARB's but find them, at times, out of date and not at all useful. Eako drives me nuts - I think the idea is great but as a teacher I find it annoying and time consuming, thats confession 1. Confession two - we were shown the link to Spring in to maths - a very useful site I think after the brief look I had at it - I have never seen or heard of it before, which as an experienced teacher and lead in maths, scares me. I never thought I was a teacher with my head in the sand but am now feeling that I most certainly am.  Or is it that so much information is thrown at us we miss the important or most useful sites and concepts? Then my mind goes to the fact that everyone is different, what works for one, won't work for another.  It has to at some stage become simpler! I spoke to a teacher recently, who is in their 4 year of teaching, and asked her if she uses base ten blocks. Her response was "I use to have them in my class but don't know." I asked why and she responded that she had no idea how to use them. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" we have five minutes left and I am thinking this blog post isn't really what I should be doing!

I have had a mixed week this week in my class, I am struggling with fine tuning the planning, I feel like I am juggling a hundred ideas and none of them are sticking or working together - the need is to simplify and know I have got it. I spend time creating lots of thing but they never seem to get used to the depth they deserve. And now I have duty ........

Numbers adding up or are they?! Day 3 descends...

Well today was hard work. We started off this session with home work - to be honest, home work has never been a highlight for me, in fact I am not keen on it at all. So I have decided to make a stand and change the word from homework to .....Consolidation Time or Strengthen It or maybe Stabilisation Requirement! Sounds way more fun than homework! I din't really do the Stabilisation Requirement time well this time so it will be more of a focus this coming time!

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria - I love this part of my lessons and think it is one of the most powerful parts of a learners journey. I think I really started focusing on this when my son and daughter were is high school, they would bring home an assignment and ask for help, the first question I would ask them is 'what is the LI and SC?" They would just look blankly at me! Which I then reflected through my own teaching. I often ask myself 'How can a child succeed if they don't know what they are to do?'

Pilars of the maths - I am enjoying learning more about this and hope to explore it more. I need to make this part of my daily planning. mental note to self - print it off.

Class Site - Dorothy was wonderful as always. It was great to get a reminder of the class sites and has made me think about how I can improve that and get it up running. I use it more for reading but need to refresh how it can and probably have virtually everything on it. I feel that has fallen off the plate and needs to be rescued.

Stock Take - what a great way to reflect on what has or hasn't been happening. In an ideal world most of the elements have been present at some stage. This term has been a crazy term, yes I can see you all going "When isn't it a crazy term?" and I don't like using that as a reason why things aren't being done. Within that though, I haven't had two consistent weeks this term which makes planning, routines and embedding a foundation a tad difficult.  I feel like I have constantly been chasing me tail not just with maths but everything else we are doing - I know I am not alone in this emotion! The detailed information shared has given me hope and excitement of getting things back to were they need to be. The resources and ideas are useful on so many levels. I have to get my head around them, and then, allow the team to embrace them. I feel good about this and know that in time we are going to be amazing. Thankful for all that you have given us this time and all the times before.

As it draws to an end....my head is swirling! During these sessions, I often find myself four slides behind the speakers as I am still engrossed or processing that slide! Thats a me problem - very much a processor.... I did have a light bulb moment today in the midst of it all, I remembered from varsity that we worked on the belief that '1 hour in the lecture meant another 2 hours in the library'. The only way to really get your head around what was being taught and offered to you. So with that in mind, its 5 hours in front of the screen is 20 hours exploring and consolidating! Thank goodness I have 3 weeks in between! Oh and we have the holidays this time!  

Feeling good, exhausted but good!

Use these prompts to get you started (Note: the prompts are not prescribed questions and should only be initial fuel for a wider reflection).

• What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Maths Programme ?

• What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching mathematics?

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners? 

• What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? 

*Feel free to add images / slides to make your blog more interesting