More Rob Profitt-White

Creating Rich Routines

In pairs, give out dice - 2 dice to some, 4 to others, 6 to others. 

1. Pairs create either ones, tens, or hundreds depending on how many dice they have. 
2. What's one more, what's one less?
3. Add them together, subtract one from the other.
4. Show them both on a number line.

Lucky Dice Game

100s board. Dice. Select a number. 

Roll a dice. Question to pose - will skip counting in that number you rolled land you on that number you select? If it does land on their number, they get a point. If it doesn't, I get the point.

Notes to my future forgetful self

- a notebook where kids can write things to job their memories - non examples etc.

Resource books are procedurally based!

Elements of a good maths programme - Knowing (blue) Revisiting (yellow) Doing (green)

Knowing (blue) - procedural. Worksheets. Oxford books.

Doing (green) - DMIC 

Revisiting (yellow) -moveNprove, revisitNretrain, discussNdefend, recallNreason

moveNprove is related to the unit - linked to the anchor task.

revisitNretain - scrap paper question. Short, purposeful, fluency quiz

discussNdefend - other strands

recallNreason - academic games to monitor fluency

Where are we at at HPS

2026 - Perfect the yellow!  Have our negotiables - what must we do? How? When? 

DMIC with Massey University

We covered a few basics today. This was a great session - perfect timing for my intro back into teacher maths after a year off on maternity leave. 

Groupings

A few good reminders here... when we group children by ability they often raise (or lower) themselves to those predetermined levels. For example, the 'lower' ability children stop trying so much - "Why should I? I'll most likely be wrong anyway, and my peers and my kaiako probably expect that of me too." The more able tamariki puff their chests out and compete to see who can finish first - often quite loudly. This is an exaggeration, but you'll understand what I mean.

Grouping children completely randomly is a new concept to me. We discussed how random grouping can eliminate social barriers, decrease reliance on the kaiako and increase reliance on co-constructed answers, and increase enthusiasm.

A suggestion was to try a computer generated randomiser. You could also use cards, sticks with names or numbers, shuffled photos. So many options! I'm looking forward to giving this a go.

This quote from the presentation really struck a chord with me, and is something I've spent years trying to address -  In order for group work to be effective and meaningful the teacher needs to stop asking questions and students need to stop asking the teacher questions. 

Assessment tasks

There has been a massive misconception with these! We’ve been doing it incorrectly the whole time! 

Launch the task as you usually would.

Read, discuss, use talk moves, “what do we have to do here?”

Children work on the tasks individually but can share their ideas.

It is not a test! Repeat, IT IS NOT A TEST!

No time limit - IT can be worked on over a number of days.

I am be looking forward to getting our latest assessment back and having another go under these more favourable conditions. I think the tamariki will really thrive from being able to bounce ideas off each other.

Knowledge/Hotspot/Warm-up ~ Number Strings 

Some great ideas here that i look forward to trying with my tamariki during our warmup.

I know some of my tamariki would love looking at problems like these.

Really interesting that Number Strings don't need to use numbers. Why had I never thought of that? 

I believe this was our last lot of Professional Development with Kelly and the team. Though there are still aspects of DMIC I'm on the fence about, I see a lot of benefits and am keen to renew and strengthen my maths programme. 

DMIC Math PD with Jon and Monique

Our session began with a 30 minute run down on developing knowledge skills. Even though we are moving away from the rigid nature of the Numeracy Project, Monique stated that knowledge still needs to be taught. We know these foundation skills pave the way for strategy thinking. I think a number of staff were relieved to hear this as we had been under the impression that learning basic facts was no longer en-vogue. 

Here's an example of what this could look like in your daily math session (Thankyou Abby Frost for creating and sharing this mahi with us) - 

1. Choral counting using a hundreds board.
2. Choral counting in 2's, 5's, 10, odd numbers, etc...
3. Number of the Day - before and after, how to represent with materials (tens frames, tally charts, find it on a hundreds board...)

Then, choose something...

1. Subitizing dots (ability to instantly recognise how many). Dice, Numicon shapes, arrays...Youtube has lots of videos! 
2. Odd one out. 2 X 2 grid with random numbers. Tamariki has to turn and talk then justify which one os the odd one out.  Can use shapes too (eg. misconceptions of triangles).
3. Number strings. If 3 + 2 = 5, then 13 + 2 = ? 23 + 2 = ? 73 + 2 = ? Why? Use ratio tables, look for relationships. Look at what we know to find out what we don't know. 
4. I have ...., what do you need? I have 10. You have 2, what do you need?
5. True/False questions. Placement of the = sign. Eg 10 = 7 + 3, rather than 7 + 3 = 10. Misconceptions of = sign.
6. Decide, decode, defend - see picture below. This activity looked fabulous for older tamariki.

Key ideas we revisited today -

• Low floor/high ceiling = everyone can get started and everyone can get stuck! 
• Look for ways to raise the status of all students! Eg, look for opportunities/interests/anecdotes from children who might not always have a voice in maths.
• Students should not be grappling with both the difficult numbers and unfamiliar contexts
• Anticipating possible solution strategies is so important.
• Groupings/pairs - strategically engineer who will be with who. Quick responders can be paired together to see how many ways they can answer specific questions. Change pairs frequently.

Today was a more valuable DMIC session and I feel a renewed energy towards beginning a fresh math programme with my cherubs this term.

  

A dry day at the office...

Developing Mathematical Inquiry ~ Session 3

Professional development certainly makes you appreciate what our children go through each day. Too much talking/death by slideshow can be painful and sends me straight to day-dream land. Today was certainly a full on day, with a lot to take in. I find this kaupapa really interesting, so there was no time for day dreaming! Keeping track of my thoughts here is a great way to stay focused. 

The jury is still out when it comes to DMIC at our kura. Here are my takings from the day...

Practise justification and argumentation 

88 / 4 = 44 / 2 + 44 / 2 

Look at the elements involved in solving the problem. In this case, there are 3. 

1. Understanding the meaning of the '='. Means, 'is the same as'.

2. BEDMAS - understanding the order of operations.

3. Knowing the divisor can not be halved, only the dividend can be divided.

When children are sharing their ideas, call a pause frequently and ask other groups to repeat, agree/disagree, ask a question...  

Justifying and Arguing Mathematically

What is the difference between an explanation and a justification? An explanation might be incorrect, there is room for error. A justification dives deeper and proves beyond doubt that the explanation is correct. 

Explicitly model ways to justify an explanation. Use 'because'.

Always call a pause after an explanation! 

Prepare students of justify and argue

Build the expectation that all children need to be able to prove with a why. Build resilience.  The whole group needs to function together.  Prepare collaborative responses. 

Stand back from groups - monitor. Ask yourself - if I have to go to that group, why am I? Ask a question that's going to stimulate thinking.

Pre-warning - make sure kids are clear with what they're going to share back to the group. "What will you say next? Then what? Then what?" Set them up for success! 

Encourage kids to unpack their thoughts. Can they use a visual representation? Can they explain it in another way? Can they number the steps in their process?

Strengthen students to respond the challenge

Explicitly use wait time. Encourage the use of so if, then, because.  Pre-warn, "I'm going to ask you to repeat just one idea." Know when the right time is to call on a child who might not usually contribute. If they're struggling with a response - "Do you want think time in order to revise your thinking?" Have a signal so a child knows when you're going to call on them.

What are the norms in the classroom? Have high expectations from the outset. "You will listen the first time so you don't need to ask for a repeat!"  

Good questions to ask 

• Can you convince us?
• How do you know it works?
• Why does it work like that?

Develop a generalisation

Big Idea - is like your Achievement Objective.

Generalisation - Success Criteria.  

Find your big idea, then look at what generalisations come out from that. 

Find teachable moments  - Know the difference between a misconception and a gap in foundations. Gaps can be parked and addressed as a group at a later time. I'm not going to use the words 'ability based groupings'...... but I just did. Misconceptions might be addressed at that moment.  

Think about the entry point of the task. Can each child enter at their own level? Low floor, high ceiling.  Is there a place for extension? Challenge more able learners to share in different way, eg. visual representation. If the task is solved too quickly, it's an issue with the task. 

Examples of questions - create a wall of questions. Add to one at a time, not all at once!

Developing Proficient Leaners

Attend to the culture

Choose high-level problematic tasks

Anticipate

Select and sequence

Allow student thinking to shape discussions

Plan for a connection

Intentionally lift the Status of the Tamariki

Point out the status of all kids, especially those who might not usually contribute. 

All kids need to see what 'smarts' they bring to their group.

Make the problems relevant to their lives (cultural context).

There are no passengers on the waka - everyone is paddling!

We make decisions about other people's ability on the basis of certain characteristics. Don't under estimate the impact of teacher body language/reaction to kids responses!

Conjecture ~ an opinion without sufficient proof. 

What does being smart mean? Ask the kids to tell you what they think!

- I'm good at asking questions?

- I never give up!

- I can explain my thinking?

My next steps

1. In planning - give more thought to relating the possible generalisations to the big idea

2. Refer to the framework more often.

3. Embed the norms - lift the status.