Making a tivaevae

This week is Cook Island Language week! 

To celebrate this, my class learnt about Cook Island Maori words for our family members, and then made our family trees with labels. 

We are also making our very own tivaevae! 

"Tivaevae or tivaivai (Cook Islands Māori: tīvaevae) in the Cook Islands, tifaifai in French Polynesia, is a form of artistic quilting traditionally done by Polynesian women. The word literally means "patches", in reference to the pieces of material sewn together."

First, we looked at a movie made by Te Papa about the origins of tivaevae. Next, we looked at different designs for tivaevae, check out some examples here and here.

I gave the students some examples I had printed out, and gave them instructions to design their own 'patch' for our Room 6 tivaevae. It tells the story of our class - each of us has a unique contribution to make. Even if we used the same pattern or idea, we may colour it differently or use it in a different way to portray ourselves.

Here is my class designing our tivaevae this afternoon -

Will post an update on how it looks when we collate them altogether to make our class quilt!

Collaborative Planning in Maths

A real focus for TPS this year has been collaborative planning in maths. It is a focus because we are receiving Professional Development [PD] around the problem-solving approach in maths. 

This term, our syndicate has really taken the collaborative planning aspect on board. This means, that the whole syndicate, roughly 100 students, aged between 7-13, will be working on the same problem. The only difference between classes, is that the numbers in the problem may change to reflect the level of students, or even new and harder concepts may be added. 

This is the plan for week 2.

The yellow sections are for EVERY class. 

The green section is aimed at Level 2, year 3-4 in school (my class). These answers focus on using halves and quarters. 

The blue section, introduces fractions such as thirds and fifths, and are aimed at Level 3 of the curriculum (years 5 and 6). 

The red section is for the year 7 and 8 students. This question is even harder again, as thirteen students cannot easily share six chocolates - each person gets six thirteenths of a chocolate bar, which is way more demanding and difficult to figure out. 

As noted in the top of that image, we have a shared focus for the whole syndicate - "finding fractions of a region". This is what we are ALL focusing on for this week, just at varying levels. How this works, for example with my own class, is that they will start at the beginning. If they understand concepts around halves and quarters, and identify patterns about how many friends and how many chocolate bars, we will challenge them by asking them the blue questions (aimed at year 5 and 6). It pushes them to think beyond their year 4 knowledge, which reinforces a growth mindset. If they show understanding at this level, we will push them even more with the year 7 & 8 section. Each section is not exclusive to its own year group - each teacher can take the parts of the question their students need and use it. 

Today we used this question with our class. 

They originally only received the top yellow, and green sections. 

Lets see what they did..

Cutting the chocolate bars in 'half'

Some misconceptions evident very quickly..
(It is actually 3/4, and the opposite to groups)

Giving one 'half' and one 'quarter' to each of the four people.

One student drew the three chocolate bars, then straight away cut them up into quarters, giving three pieces (coloured) to one person. Note - this is what I would have done as an adult!

Then we came together as a class and talked about how to solve it. Students gave Archana their ideas and she recorded them. Here you can see some confusion about how to add one half and one quarter - she had to reiterate that one half IS the same as two quarters, therefore you are just adding three quarters.

Students who don't typically engage with maths tasks getting involved - YAY!

For the second green question, students think about how six chocolate bars can be split equally between eight people. Again, they cut up the chocolate bars and give each person one half and one quarter each.

Each of the eight people receiving one half and one quarter. 

This group drew the chocolate bars, cut them up till each person had half, then two bars were left over. As the question clearly says that no chocolate can be leftover, they cut the leftover bars into smaller pieces and shared these out as well. 

A bonus question - how much chocolate does each person get, if there are 12 chocolate bars shared between 16 people..

12 Chocolate bars shared between 16 people - one half and one quarter each.

A different group, again showing one half and one quarter for each person.

Tomorrow we will give harder questions (the blue ones, aimed at years 5-6) to most of our class, who clearly showed they understood how to find fractions of a region. With the others, who did not show the same understanding, we will have in small groups with both myself and Archana, and use DATs (Direct Actions of Teaching), to help them fill in those gaps and get them to the level of understanding they need.

Updates to come!

Taking a Toolkit - Eeeek!

This term, as we are under the 'share' branch of the Manaiakalani Pedagogy, the MDTA's were asked to take a toolkit. A toolkit is a Professional Development [PD] session based around a particular objective, skill, event (etc) that teachers within the cluster can sign up for and attend. 

I was honestly so nervous to be asked to do this, but lucky I have wonderful supportive people around me who are always ready to help. At a syndicate meeting, the Manaiakalani facilitator at my school, Maryanne, was discussing the toolkit she was planning to present about the film festival/how to make movies, so I asked if I could join her, and of course, she said yes!

I was so relieved to be able to do my first toolkit with somebody who had experience and confidence in doing them, rather than having to fumble through nervously on my own.. I have always found it so difficult to present and be in front of people in this way.

Maryanne was amazing as always, and prepared the resources for the toolkit - 

Note - This Google Drawing can also be viewed here


She made an entire video with some of the seniors students to use for the toolkit - 

When it came time to actually present the toolkit, I felt so nervous and shy. Maryanne stayed confident as she talked through the presentation and after a little while I was able to pull from her confidence and share some thoughts and ideas as well. 

Everyone discussing our ideas for the Manaiakalanai Film Festival

Even though she will hate me for saying this, Maryanne did all the planning for this toolkit and I was more of an assistant than an equal partner, I still think was the best way I could have been introduced to toolkits, doing one together with someone I know and trust. It was definitely a modelling situation and I learnt so much just from being a part of the process.

I now feel more confident and prepared to present a toolkit on my own next time! 

Thank you so much Maryanne!

Tuakana Teina (Term 3)

Today we had Tuakana Teina and spent a lot of time with Sue Pine, the maths PD facilitator. 

We first discussed how we form OTJ's. 

I created this DLO to illustrate our discussion about the types of data, its purpose and how each type of data should be apart of the OTJ.

Sue discussed with us how we shouldn't be focusing on rote-learning basic facts, and how we should be teaching multiplication facts through contextual learning, otherwise students won't/can't use the facts when they really need to solve a problem.

With arrays, we are actually teaching multiplication basic facts but within contexts of splitting up numbers. Sue's example was 12x9, but splitting into 10 and 2 x 9, then 10 and 2 x 4 and 5, and discussing how splitting 4 and 5 is 9, so its the same.

Her example was this - she asked us to memorise this and then she will test us tomorrow. Asking students to memorise stuff without understanding why or showing them how to use it in a mathematical context is not helpful. 

We then talked about OTJ's, and this is how Sue explained how we should best form our OTJ's. Using the national standards, we 'mark' where the student is working at, for each of the different categories. She overall OTJ should be where the student is MOSTLY working - so this student is mostly working in 'at stage 6, end of year 6' so she will be at the national standard. 

Sue also gave us this document, which shows different ways arrays can be used to teach different strategies. 

Digital Immersion Day #1 (Term 3)

Today, as the first week of Term 3, transitioned into the 'SHARE' part of the Manaiakalani pedagogy. 

We talked a lot about how we share, the purpose of sharing our learning and where/who/how we share. We used padlet to record some ways that we share in our classes.

We discussed having an authentic audience for students. We then looked into creating Sketch-notes as  a form of sharing, so decided to share about sharing. Sketch-noting is a form of visual note-taking, that is more focused on recording key points using text, images and different structures. 

Here is an explanation

And a example I found

From http://seeyourwords.com/new-gallery/

Here is my sketchnote - 

I used the app Explain Everything [EE] on one of my school Ipads, one because I wanted to learn how to use it, and 2 because the school security settings wouldn't let me download any new apps (fair enough!)

I spent a long time just playing around with EE, just learning how to use it, what buttons do what, how to undo mistakes, change colours etc etc. It was a learning curve! 

Here is what I created just as a way to play with EE and organise my thoughts. 

Digital Immersion #20

Today I used my 'wild card' and skipped the Digital Immersion day - to join my class on a trip!

We went to the Pumphouse Theatre in Takapuna to watch the stage show of Badjelly the Witch (based on the book by Spike Milligan).  We chose this trip as our inquiry unit was 'Reading for pleasure, writing for leisure'. 

It was a great show!

Class photo by the lake

My wonderful class walking down to the theatre.

TPS filling up the theatre.

A junior student hugging Lucy the cow!

Meeting the actors!

Archana and myself on the bus ride back.

When we got back, we had lunch and then whole class assembly. As it was Maori language week, we learnt a poi dance/song and made headbands using Maori patterns. 

Check them out!

End of term 2!

The same as last term, I sent my students a survey to find out their thoughts and feelings about their learning this term.

It becomes obvious who really thought about the questions and who just wrote anything. 

You can read their responses here.

For a quick overview, I have taken some screenshots.

For the questions 'what was something Miss Ashley was really good at?', and 'what is something Miss Ashley can get better at?'

Things I was good at - soccer, growth mindsets, helping, reading with the students, helping them with maths and teaching them how to tell the time. 

Things the students think I can better at - learning other languages (this has been a focus this term and I always say "I'm trying, I'm only learning!" when pronouncing other languages). Discussing with Archana, we think the students didn't really understand what this question was asking them, but that's alright.

It was awesome to see most of the students thinking hard about what they have learnt throughout the term. Lots of students learnt doubles, how to group numbers (i.e. 2 lots of 3 is 6, which is early multiplicative thinking), what a half and quarter is, equations with blocks (using physical materials to help him solve problems), skip counting and times tables. Yay!

We have had a real focus this term on making connections between the text and their own lives, using powerful words to describe characters/settings in details, and sounding out unknown words and learning their meaning.

Kiwi-can is an outside provider who comes into the school and teaches students values and some life-skills. A lot of my students remembered learning about integrity, taking ownership of their own actions and being held accountable for their own learning and actions.

I also put in a couple questions to get their thoughts about what they want to learn about next term.

We did a two week unit on plants this term, and myself and Archana want to do the same again next term. I asked the students to vote out of a given list which things they wanted to learn about (green column) and then if they had anything else they wanted to learn about (blue column). 

My students are getting better and better at thinking about their own learning, and they enjoy having their voice heard and being asked what they want to learn - having some of the control back. 

Definitely some food for thought in here!

My observation of Archana's observation

This morning Sue Pine came in for Archana' observation/co-teaching session. As I her co-teacher and always in the class, I was just helping out with the lesson whilst Archana ran it and was discussing everything with Sue.

This was our problem - 

Our students are very used to solving open-ended maths problems by now, as we have been doing them for most of this term. 

While Archana was introducing the problem, I noticed that she

-asked the students to read it themselves first in their heads

-then read it aloud herself

-then ask students "is there anything you don't understand?"

-after discussing, asked "what do we know? (e.g. we know that there is only 60 kids)

The students spent 30 minutes working out different answers in their mixed-ability groups of three.

We came back together and the students gave their different answers (in the middle of this photo).

Archana wrote on the board the way the first student said their answers '10 kids in 6 cars'. Sue quickly pointed out that that would later translate to 10 kids in 6 groups, whereas the 'groups of' should come first, as 'groups of' leads into multiplication, and this will cause problems there.. 

So this is something we as teachers should be careful of..

Archana and Sue talked the students through how to re-word their answers, from written ''6 vehicles and 10 kids in each', then changing it to 'groups of', for example "6 groups of 10 kids equals 60", finally to an equation '6x10=60'.

Sue also spent five-ten minutes trying to get students to understand the difference between 5x12 and 12x5. The students are very new to the concept of reversibility, so only some of them understood the difference here.

Sue then wrote these onto the teaching station (copied from the students answers on the whiteboard).

She asked the students 'what do you notice'? An open-ended question, it encourages students to look for any possible thing they might see, and it lets them know there may be more than one answer as well. 

The students noticed that 6 was double of 3, and 12 was double of 6. Sue then took it further, and pointed out how as one doubled (3, 6, 12), the other 'factor' halved (20, 10, 5). 

Some students did not really understand this concept, however some did which was awesome. 

Sue then drew this diagram - another visual representation of the concept she had extracted from the students responses. 

As she was talking to Archana about how drawing it in a diagram might hook in other students who previously didn't get it (visual learning preferences), one student almost screamed I GET IT NOW!

She didn't understand how they all equaled 60, but once this diagram was drawn, her understandings clicked into place and she got it. (and was delighted about it too!)

Afterwards, Sue and Archana discussed how some of the students approached the problem. One pair of boys, who are below the National Standards tried to find factors of 60 using an array diagram (shown above). We were all quite impressed with these particular boys using this strategy, and highlighted it to the class to remind them there are lots of different ways to solve problems.

Thoughts and Reflections

I liked the way Sue used many different ways to try to explain the mathematical thinking at different levels/points in time, and how each way obviously worked for some learners and not others. Archana and I talked about making this a goal for ourselves in term 3 - trying to use a variety of ways (multiple visual, multiple oral) to explain the mathematical concept. 

I also found the questions Archana asked the students BEFORE they went and solved the problems very helpful. 

-asked the students to read it themselves first in their heads

-then read it aloud herself

-then ask students "is there anything you don't understand?"

-after discussing, asked "what do we know? (e.g. we know that there is only 60 kids)

It took only a few minutes, but gave the opportunity for students to think, ask, answer, pull apart the question before they actually went away to try and solve it. I will be using these in my future practice. 

Sharing the knowledge!

As it nears the end of term 2, it dawned on me that I have not shared anything with my colleagues, from the extensive Digital Immersion I get as an MDTA, that they do not get.

I decided to make a few videos to share with my team, who can chose to watch them or not,

(at least I am putting it out there) :)
I chose to start with Google Forms, as this is the least used Drive tool in my school, which got some exciting new updates this week.

Here are the ones I have made so far

An intro to Google Forms

Even if you are familiar with Google Forms - still watch this video, but just watch 2.40-6.30 to see how to split the form into different avenues of answers

Using Google Forms to create self-marking quizzes

Check out the quiz itself (from a student POV) here


I plan to add to this little series, showing other ways to mark tests, and how to include videos/resources into a form (to then use it as a learning activity rather than a post-test). 

Digital Immersion - day #19

Today the MDTA's spent the morning visiting Manaiakalani schools, observing and seeing how other schools do things. 

I visited Stonefields School and Point England School.

Stonefields School

What was I looking for...

I wanted to focus on the 'create' part of the learn create share pedagogy. This is because I have gotten bored this term of giving students follow ups on their Google Drive - docs, slides etc. I have been feeling that students aren't getting the maximum they could out of their learning, as some of the things they are doing are very individualistic, very one person on one computer no talking allowed, and I want to change up my programme.

What I saw...

At Stonefields, it was breakthrough time and so students were working in groups on a project of their own choice. It was awesome to see them working towards something real - one group was planning their fundraising, aiming to get enough money to buy a defibrillator for the school and community. Another group was designing beanies, gloves and scarves with the school logo on them because they identified that students came to school very cold in the mornings, but aren't allowed to wear non-uniform items. Another group was making a to-scale model of their field, with rugby posts, a cricket pitch and soccer goals on it. That was their proposal for the principal to purchase the posts/goals/build the cricket pitch on the school field which is currently bare. Each group was making a proposal for the school principal to buy/do/support their cause, so they could be empowered to make positive changes in their own community.

It was awesome to see students working towards something real, where they could see real results. They had power in their own school environment, which is rare. They also got to chose what they wanted to do the project on, under the umbrella on 'giving back to the community'. 

At Point England School, I focused on how they use their Chromebook's for learning. The students gave me some of their favourite learning websites, maths games such as maths-whiz, pobble365, and other Chromebook extensions. 

Talking with the team leader, she discussed that the best way to have interesting 'creates' is to use a mixture of Macs, Chromebooks, Ipads and non-digital aspects. She kept saying "Chromebooks are boring" - which in this context, I agree with. Using them by themselves is boring - using different ways, a combination of different products (Macs/Ipads), each for a different purpose etc, that is interesting.

Overall reflections

I was really inspired by the level of choice at Stonefields, within breakthrough and in learning tasks. Students are often given the framework or structure, and given choice in how they approach it. For example, they could chose a book to read (at their reading level) and then use that book to answer generic questions, practice getting the main ideas, summarising etc. They also did things in a real context - making the community a better place, having a reading/writing focus about real topics such as should zoos exist? They had power.

Another thing I want to pursue more is getting and using Ipads for my lower learners, or maybe an suitable app or extension for their Chromebooks that would do the same thing. These particular students (almost a third of my class) can barely read, and do not understand what they can read. This limits them in accessing and using the class site, and using their Google Drives independently, literally because they can't read what they are clicking on. I want to try and source some Ipads to use with these students, in the same way the junior school uses them. My aim would be to improve their reading ability, and their ability to work independently and help each other in a group situations. 

It was very helpful and refreshing to visit other schools, get new ideas and get encouraged to open up my reading programme more as well.