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

MPI Day 2

Well we have made it to day two! Another good day of receiving copious amounts of information. Found this session or should I say lesson, very useful although not as heavy as I thought it was going to be. What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Programme ? I was lucky enough to have had Sharon come in recently and chat to our staff about RAT E - not rate but rat -e! the importance jof data and how we can use it came back to the forefront of my mind and I loved knowing that everyone has the chance to be great.

“If it’s worth TEACHING, 

it’s worth capturing.

If it’s worth LEARNING, 

it’s worth capturing.”

This is possible the biggest take away and the importance of rewindable teaching. This is something I have never really mastered. A few seeds have been planted on how I can do this better! I am hoping screen cast or google record will be my next best ...tool!

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

I have heard Elena say often that we are not throwing out the old which rings very true to me. I love math's, am no expert although I certainly have experience that allows me to be successful. I have taught to the whole class for a few years now and feel that groups within any area have to be fluid and change at the drop of a hat. I feel I can take new ideas on and keep developing my teaching pedagogy and style. What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  I will continue to fine tune the maths talk - loved seeing the subitising activities in the sessions today and that will become a part of our daily routine for the coming week. A refresh on looking at the DATA and sharing tis with my team will be a focus too while making sure the LI and SC are clear.

What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga?  As mentioned I will share the subitising with my team and the planning also - just as a thought! As the maths lead, I will also share the PAT data slides to help our team reflect on their DATA.

I am now going to try and attach what I made from last week.....this is a screen shot of the ground rules that have been adapted to fit in with our PB4L-SW explicit teaching program. Till next week!

Well I am back - I haven’t grasped this professional blogging thing, to be fair, I haven’t really given it a chance. I have always found it difficult to express myself to other and reflect on what I have done or I'm doing. I tend to do it in my mind ...late at night! I am a processor sure and need that time to go away and reflect. By which stage the moment has gone and my input not needed! So now I am back, trying to reflect now...so the rest of my life doesn't get in the way and I miss the post! Yes I will use the questions as my prompt - let see were they lead me!

What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Programme? it is always a treat to listen to Dorothy and todays take way for me was the revisiting of the pillars of learning - there always seems so much with the MK pedagogy so it was great to have a refresh with the pillars - my ain mow is to put them in my planning more!

What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching maths? The biggest learning is although I know lots, its ok to be an experienced teacher here, as there is still so much to learn. I love that about education - the learning never stops.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners? I love the survey - something I have done in the past but not for a few years, that is will be on next weeks plan. I also enjoyed the use of pictures. I have always used everyday pictures in maths but never with such open ended questions and thinking - can't wait to give that a go.

What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? There was a lot to share, as the WSL I like to share one new idea a week so this week I will share the new curriculum info to help the teacher check their planning. Then it will be the video Boosting Maths.