Back to the drawing board - My new wondering

As mentioned earlier my Manaikalani COL inquiry wondering was "How can I use Developing Mathematics Inquiry Communities (DMIC) pedagogy to develop the vocabulary of my kids? The focus was on developing my kids general vocabulary using DMIC maths.

Having done some research into vocabulary development I have since decided that trying to develop general vocabulary requires different pedagogy to that of  DMIC maths. I was also challenged by Dr Rebecca Jesson to think more about the problem I'm trying to solve before I think about how I'm going to go about solving it e.g vocabulary development pedagogy or DMIC maths. This was great advice and I have now identified the problem I wish to inquire in to.

PROBLEM: My kids struggle to explain and justify their thinking and reasoning in maths.

In fact the struggle to do this in other areas too however it is particularly poor in maths (my hunch is if it improves in maths it will also improve in other areas). This lead me to a new wondering. 

WONDERING: How can I develop the mathematical dialogic discourse ability of my children?

This year I will be endeavouring to find a solution to this problem. Any thoughts/ideas you have on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Venturing into DMIC maths

I have taken the plunge and have introduced DMIC maths in my class. DMIC maths sees the students actively engaging in problem solving and taking more responsibility by actively listening, justifying their thinking and inquiring into others thinking to help them with their own understanding.

DMIC maths has every one as participating equally as part of the community or whanau.  Every one shares their thoughts, every one asks questions and everyone is in charge of developing their own mathematical understanding.

Venturing into DMIC maths has been a challenge for both myself and the kids. The kids have been used to the teacher telling them how to do things, which strategy to use and when to use it, so to turn that upside down, having the kids being active participants rather than a passive sponge, is foreign to them. They have been reluctant to talk, share their thoughts or challenge other's thinking but the good news is we are seeing progress.

Equally I'm used to teaching specific strategies for specific problems. I'm used to telling them the information I think they need to know. So to take a back seat and actually listen to what the children can work out together without jumping in with my way of doing things is a struggle.

We're into our 3rd week of using DMIC pedagogy and the kids are slowly getting use to it (as am I). Discussions are being had and mathematical thinking is starting to be challenged. I have seen glimpses of what it could look like once our mathematical community/whanau is alive and thriving.

Manaiakalani COL Inquiry 2018

“Recognising and spreading sophisticated pedagogical practice across our community so that students learn in better and more powerful ways...”

The Manaiakalani Community of Learning is working together on this task using the expertise existing in of our community of learning.

Like last year I have selected the following CoL achievement challenge for 2018.

#6. Lift the achievement in maths for all students years 1-13.

More specifically my focus question is : How can I use Developing Mathematics Inquiry Communities (DMIC) pedagogy to develop the vocabulary of my kids?

The teaching as inquiry framework I will be using in 2017 has been specifically co-constructed for Manaiakalani schools using our familiar Learn Create Share structure.
The elements in this framework share close similarities with other models New Zealand teachers use.

I will be labelling my posts as I update my inquiry throughout the year to make the content easy to access.

Labels:

LEvidence, LScan, LTrend, LHypothesise, LResearch, LReflect,

 CPlan, CTry, CInnovate, CImplement, CReflect,

SPublish, SCoteach, SModel, SGuide, SFback, SReflect

Label Key:

LEvidence	Learn - Gather Evidence	CPlan	Create - Make a plan	SPublish	Share - Publish
LScan	Learn - Scan	CTry	Create - Try new things	SCoteach	Share - Co-teach
LTrend	Learn - Identify Trends	CInnovate	Create - Innovate	SModel	Share - Model
LHypothesise	Learn - Hypothesise	CImplement	Create - Implement	SGuide	Share - Guide
LResearch	Learn - Research	CReflect	Create - Reflect	SFback	Share - Feedback
LReflect	Learn - Reflect			SReflect	Share - Reflect

Dr Jannie Van Hees and Dr Bobbie Hunter PD

Today Dr Jannie Van Hees talked to the COL teachers about how to better develop the language acquisition of our children. She had a lot of great things to say but what really stood out for me was closely it aligned with Dr Bobbie Hunters PD on Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities DMIC. DMIC see's the children doing the speaking, explaining and justifying their thinking.

Both Dr Jannie and Bobbie had these goals as part of the social norms of the classroom:

 - Every contribution is valuable
 - No hands up
 - Everyone's effort is honoured (by teacher and children)
 - Children valuing/taking seriously/actively engaging with other children's thinking.

This Year I will be endeavouring to make these social norms part of my classroom as I explore DMIC maths with the lens of language acquisition.