Towards the end of last term, I felt like I wasn't getting enough quality teaching time with my students in maths. I was running four maths groups and seeing each group for 20-25 minutes every second day. Due to the constant interruptions the Year 6's have with extra curricular activities, responsibilities within the school etc, I found that for many students, the number of times I saw them was actually much less. I was also finding that many students would just start to grasp the concept I was teaching, then have to move onto their next rotation and wait until the next day to practice that concept independently. For my top maths students, this was working ok, however there are a number of students who were feeling rushed, and weren't overly confident working independently. I was noticing that their confidence towards maths was dropping, and the quality of their independent work was not flash either. So rather than continue teaching my maths program the way I had done for the last few years, I felt a change was needed in order for my students to get the best possible outcomes in maths.
It was time for a change so on went my thinking cap. I began by talking with the students about what their thoughts were with maths. Many of them felt they needed more time to work with the teacher so they could really grasp the new concepts, rather than a quick example and practice of it, then off to doing it independently.
Sometime ago, I had also read about processing difficulties and the fact that many students require a lot of repetition of the same concept, before they can commit it to memory. After talking with some colleagues as well as students, I decided to re-arrange my teaching rotations.
Changes that I made:
- Merged my two groups who I felt would benefit from a longer teaching session, and instead of having two 20-25 minute sessions, I now had 55 minutes to work with them. The group was now of semi-mixed abilities.
- I introduced the WALT then gave the students a problem to solve by working together. Materials were also available for those who wanted to use them. (In the past - I would introduce the WALT and give the students and example by working it through with them. This tended to be more about me showing them, rather than the students taking time to think and process the concept. The students would then copy the example given into their books).
- Once the students felt they had an answer, they all shared their thinking. Many had the correct answer, however hadn't used the strategy they were going to be learning. Rather than say they were incorrect, I asked them to take a look at the WALT and see if they had solved their problem using the strategy we were going to learn. Many said no and could answer they had solved it using addition rather than multiplication.
- From this point, I then used the materials to talk through each of the steps to solve the maths problem and achieve the WALT. While I was modelling the steps, the students were following me with their own materials.
- Because I now had longer to spend teaching, I could now spend time with the students co-constructing the success criteria for their learning. Because time had been spent manipulating materials, talking about the WALT and practising an example, the students were able to clearly identify the steps they needed to take, ignored to solve their maths equations and achieve their WALT. Below is the success criteria we constructed. The pink shows our first go at it. The black was added after we had worked through a question and then realised that some more information was needed to make the success criteria clearer.
- Now that the students new exactly what they were learning and how to achieve success, they all began working through the next two questions I had given them. If a student felt they were stuck, their first port of call was to go back to the success criteria and check they had followed the steps. For many students, this was enough to continue working independently. I was now freed up to rove the group and monitor their learning. Once the two questions were completed, the students shared their answers and their working out. If they were correct, the students then carried on solving the remainder of the questions independently. If a student felt they required additional support, they chose to come and work with me on the mat and we did another example together.
This maths session was hugely empowering for all of these students, as they were all feeling success and had me to support if needed. Because we had a longer maths session, students felt they had time to properly grasp the new concept and achieve success because they had time to go through the whole process, rather then it being rushed through. Because the group was now semi-mixed ability, the students tended to ask their peers for help a lot more then in previous sessions, as well as opting to come and work with me if they felt they wanted further support. For the students that chose to receive further support, it wasn't always because they got previous questions incorrect, but rather because they wanted the comfort/reassurance of having the teacher available to double check they were on the right track, rather than struggling away independently. For the students who chose to continue working independently - because the questions were all their for them, they were able to carry on solving equations and practising the new concept, rather then having to wait for other students to catch up and finish. This then helped accelerate those who grasped the concept quicker then others as they were able to carry on independently.
How do I know the session was successful?
At the end of the lesson, the group all came back together to mark their work and reflect on the WALT. By the end of the lesson, every single student had achieved the WALT and had at the very least, managed to correctly answer their last question correctly and independently. The students were smiling, and many said, "Can we do maths like this all the time?".
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