Our Steps to Success

This term Ben and I have been working to have our students track their progress in Maths Problem Solving. 

We created these Steps to Success which we have embedded in a subpage on our students blogs.
The students reflect with teacher support about where they are working and post a link with the date under the column. The students then highlight what they are currently focusing on with their Problem Solving.

We have also used a create a word problem task that can be used to link as evidence of where they are working. We have brainstormed some ideas and would like to get into recording explanation videos as well.

PD: Jannie van Hees "Developing a Dialogic, Orally Expressive Classroom"

This term, the year 5-8 teachers are participating in Professional Development with Jannie van Hees. Last week we had our first session where Jannie van Hees facilitated a discussion on Oral language within the classroom. She encouraged us to encourage more oral out put within our rooms. Below are my notes from our first session.

Conversational Teaching and Learning

How do you explicitly grow the oral expression of our students?

Discussions, talk moves, repeating, rewording, Think/Pair/Share, Backing Up View Point/Answer, Individual Conferencing.

Students need to be encourages to “output” more orally in order recognise more complex language features. They need to have “gifted” words provided multiple times a day in order to effectively receive a high level model of appropriate language features. The need to be continuously fed in order to lift their language readiness.

When students are acquiring language knowledge there are three major gains that happen for them.  

1. Deeper Knowledge: Structure and Grammatical Language
2. Fullness of Expression: How to deeply engage and talk with others using rich vocabulary
3. Extended Language Growth, Vocabulary and Repertoire

This supports them to become effective communicators. Our role when communicating is to minimise the work for others while maximising the meaning.

Ideas for how to acquire language knowledge

• Pre peer share gift the students rich text so they have a higher level to peer share from.
• Lots over verbal peer share with others before tasks are written etc.
• Shaping, orally holding on.
• Show students video or listen to news- recall what they remember (helps to hold knowledge mentally.)
• Contributor and Receiver- engagement. 
• Students to pre gather information in their head, T to gift high level text, T elaborates with more ideas and complex expression. Must be done regularly and not once a fortnight!

Point to ponder: How many questions do you ask your students on a daily basis?  Questions do not provide opportunities for students to expand their thinking and language. Instead Jannie suggests to respond to meaning and purpose as they provide a way for students to expand their thinking and engage in understanding.