My reflections on my inquiry - Phase 1 (Noticing)

What did I notice at the beginning of the year?

Students were continuously achieving low in writing in their previous years of schooling. This was partly because students did not believe in themselves. They had very low self esteem and had continuously been told to work hard in writing but perhaps not shown how they could be successful.
Statements like " I am bad at Writing" said D. " I don't like Writing" said M. " Writing is boring" said X, were enough evidences for me to know that these children were not motivated enough to write because they found it difficult. The question for me was to see how I could change their views on writing and encourage them, and even more, get them intrinsically motivated by realising that they were well capable of becoming good writers.

What did I needed to change in my class?

Class Climate
"We all can do this" had to become the mantra of the class. Everyone including the low achievers and the high achievers were truely seen as people who can achieve. I believed in them and was a bit annoyed at how children can be labelled as low achievers so easily.

Mixed ability grouping
All students got opportunity to work with each other. This fostered more congruent classroom community in which students developed relationships with a range of peers and learned of each other. Activities were not differentiated and emphasis was on engagement and learning.

More Positive ( warm Relationships) classroom climate
It was okay to make mistakes. Students felt comfortable making mistakes, asking questions and support one another with their learning. Teacher scaffolding played a vital role. Opportunities were provided for students to learn through their mistakes. This was also done through lots of group work.

A climate that provided Intrinsic motivation
The psychosocial climate in the classroom also depends on the way teacher communicates with the students. I had to create this psychosocial environment that provided challenging learning experiences and clear goals. Students were expected to respond with high intrinsic motivation and a determination to be successful in their learning.  It was a climate that emphasised on cooperation rather than competition. I had high expectations for every student and all students were well aware of this.

Noticing and investigating for effective internal evaluation

It is the beginning of the year and I am finding out where my students are in their Reading, Writing or Maths. I am on the noticing phase of the evaluation cycle given below.

Initial testing results in Maths showed

The graph above shows that more than 50% of students were below or well below in Maths. I also noticed that these students were the ones who were very disengaged during Maths times as well.
I had no clue why they did not like doing Maths and so I collected some student voice.
This was mainly based on their past experiences in their previous classes.

I asked them if they liked Maths and if no why? 
These were their reasons -

7 out 10 said that they did not like it
7 out of 10 said they find it hard.
It's always a catching up with their peers and it seemed that they knew very little.
They were kind of scared that they might not understand and get into trouble for that.
because they were shy to ask if you went wrong.

When I asked the similar question of my Stage E5 and 6 students they said that-

Maths was like a good challenge
When I go to the shops they could count the money to give to the shopkeeper.
because it's fun.

What does this mean for me as a teacher? because I need to tip the way the majority of students respond to Maths learning. So here is my plan-

• Talk to the class and tell them that Maths is no ghost.
• Tell them that anyone can do Maths
• Support them and show them that I care when they get stuck.
• Slow down when they do nor understand.
• Celebrate when they accomplish.