Inquiry - Mixed Ability Groupings UPDATE

I am in my third week of doing the mixed ability groups with my students. The first week was really interesting. I grouped them boys with boys and girls with girls. This pairing worked ok but I felt like it was not the best for the students. They did work well together and knew what was expected of them but were not as engaged as I expected them to be. They began using the card that was given to them with questions and prompts that they could ask their buddy. They knew that they had to share back the following day. It was not about getting it right but talking with their buddy and working out how they could find an answer together.

The following day we went and shared back with some of the senior students. They modelled what was expected and used maths language with them. The senior students were great role models and showed them the process of sharing back and being accountable.

The next day as a class we shared back. The students used this card to help clarify any thinking of their peers as they were sharing back.

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After week 3, the students told me that they have really been enjoying maths problem solving and want to keep doing it. They are talking together, being cooperative and supporting each other.

The next part that I want to introduce is more maths talk and questioning.

If you have any suggestions on how I can get them to do this, I would appreciate you sharing.

Inquiry - Mixed Ability Maths Grouping

I have been thinking for a while how I was going to implement my Inquiry into my maths programme that we have in our hub. So after talking to my team leader and my tutor teacher I have decided to start problem-solving maths with mixed ability groupings.

I was lucky enough that I experienced how this works last year when I taught Year 7/8, so I am feeling confident about introducing it to the children. I did a pre-test with the children on Friday and have told them what will be happening on Monday.

I have ten problems for them to work through with their buddy. I will need to launch these to them well and explain clearly what they need to do with their buddy. I will be setting them up in an area of the hub where they will be able to have access to me. They will also have a card that they can use when talking with their buddy to clarify anything they are unsure of.

Before this session has finished I will bring them back and get feedback about how they felt it went. What did they enjoy? or not enjoy? Why?

 I will then explain that the next day they will be sharing back their answers and their maths thinking with the class. We are going to go to the Year 7/8 hub to watch them sharing back so they can model what is involved. They will have some practice sharing back to the Year 7/8 children.

After the sharing back has happened I will then decide what areas need to be covered so that they can successfully answer all of the problems.

I am really looking forward to introducing this into the Year 3/4 hub and I am looking forward to seeing how the children adapt to a new way of learning maths.

Mixed Ability Maths Grouping

This year I have moved year levels and we are looking at introducing mixed ability maths groupings in Term 2. I feel that this will be a good change for many of the students.

I know that I need some extra information to support me to use the right maths language, and to be more confident with what is involved in each maths stage.

I do think that the exposure that I had last year will be useful for my team when we are putting this into practice in the classroom. With year 3/4 students we will need to scaffold how they will do this and model good practice to them.

The evidence from EROs report about keeping children engaged and achieving in mathematics and the strategies that have been trailed makes me confident that this will be successful in the hub.

I want to be involved when this is shared with the parents and show them that this will be a positive change for their children.

Now, I need to find some more research and information to support me to be able to implement this successfully in the hub.


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Mixed ability maths groups

Last week, I was lucky enough to be able to attend some maths PD at Hoon Hay School. I found the ideas that Wendy shared something that I have been thinking about over the last week.

I loved seeing the children in action, showing us how they did their problem solving. I did think about how we had been doing it in Kaupeka from the beginning of the year and that it was similar to this, I just think that they were going that little step extra with their students thinking.

The students that I talked to were really engaged and could tell me their thinking on the problems. I loved when they both showed each other how they got their answers, and then trying to prove to their partner that their answer was right. The teacher had obviously thought very carefully with whom she paired up together, and it worked so well.

I did think, how will this work in the junior school, but it was amazing! The students in year 0-2 were so engaged, and they were so good at telling you what they were doing, and how the got their answer. It was really fantastic seeing these students getting great exposure to real life situations in their maths learning.

I still have mixed feelings about mixed ability groupings but I am going to look into it more, and find some readings and evidence that this is the way forward. I can see that all students would think that they are great mathematicians with mixed ability groups and really this is what we want for all students.

What are your thoughts on mixed ability maths groups? and do you have any readings that I could read about this?

Behaviour Management

Behavior management is something that I need to focus on in the classroom. I need to make sure that when I deal with a behavior, that I follow up on it. 

Last week there was a student who was on rubbish duty for bad language, but chose not to do it. I was informed later in the day that the student chose not to do this duty. This is when I should have followed through, made sure that they were set up with all the resources needed to do the duty and taken them out to the teacher on duty. If you are the one that has given the duty not following through is going to make the student think that they can get away with things with you. 

This is not something that I want with year 7/8 students, they need to know that you will follow up everything otherwise they will take advantage of you. I am going to make sure that this is something that I always do in the future.

I feel that a better relationship with this student will improve their respect for me. I need to acknowledge when I see them doing the right thing rather than always pulling them up when they are off task and not doing the right thing.

My professional goal this year is going to be focusing on behavior management within the classroom. I know it's something that I will always need to be working on and I am going to do some research and find out some different strategies that I can use to improve my practice. 

Do you have any suggestions for readings?

Peer Mediation set up

Week 2:
The last few weeks have been used for setting up the Peer Mediation program in our school. 

Alongside the Assistant Principal we have researched and set the students up to run this successfully in the school. The students have had one session talking about expectations and have been given skills to help them solve simple problems that they may come across in the playground. The students are aware that with bigger problems they need to get a duty teacher. 

The students will be out in the playground as of today and we are hoping that we have some positive interactions with the younger children. 


Throughout the year the students will be given many opportunities to show their skills and earn peer mediation badges.This will be set up over the next term and introduced to the students over the course of the Peer Mediation sessions in class.

Week 3: Update.
The students have had one week out in the playground, I have had some really good feedback about individual students who are doing a great job.

The Deputy Principal ran a session on Restorative Practice and the steps to use to resolve the problem. The students responded well to this and will be able to hopefully this week will put it into practice in the playground. This session was great for my own learning as well and well and made me think how important the Restorative Practice is to our school. 

I have learnt that this process is a great way to make sure that all students get to have their say and that they are heard. When I am out on duty now I will have more confidence using this process and this re cap was just what I needed.