The DMiC lessons have been a great way to encourage the use of language. Not only do the children have to work collaboratively to solve a problem but they have to communicate their thinking to a partner or explain their solution to the class. This means they have to understand what the question is asking them to do, as well as being clear in their own thinking what the series of steps were that they took to reach a solution. They need to ask questions to seek clarification and understanding.
We have been very fortunate in having DMiC mentors visit the school to help the teachers implement this new method of problem solving. They are able to help us use appropriate "talk moves" and to discuss techniques that might work for our particular children.
When thinking about how my class is tracking I find they fall roughly into three groups. There are those who are enthusiastic and attempting to participate fully in the lesson. They are trying to use the correct language and put their thoughts into a logical order. The next group are still observing and will occasionally participate but have difficulty in forming questions to increase their learning. They are still learning how to work as a group and how to find out and remember what the question is asking them to do. Lastly I still have some children who will not engage at all.
Trying to measure or quantify this shift (or lack of shift) into some visual form has proved challenging. Two other colleagues were also trying to come up with some form of measurement and together we came up with a rubric that the children could also use to see what the expectation was in speaking and participating in Maths.
Based on the colour coded 5 levels of participation I then made up a spread sheet of my class.
This gives me a clear visual indication of those children who are speaking and attempting to participate in maths and for those that need further help to engage in the programme. It is a broad indication and priority learners are monitored more closely by trying to look at talking, listening and responding.
There has been some movement but not as much as I would like to see. Each day we use our maths wall in our daily Maths warm up as a reference point with discussions arising from changing displays such as subitize dot patterns, tens frames, finger patterns, shapes and so on. Some of the comparative language of size has been used in their stories but it has been disappointing to see it used sparingly other than at Maths time.
During DMiC maths the use of questions is limited. Even with constant modelling this is something that our children find hard. When working with others, some groups get bogged down arguing about what drawing they will use to represent the numbers in the question instead of thinking about what the story is asking them to find out.
I am also finding it hard to use the correct "talk moves" to illicit thinking which will help the children see a method of solving the problem without giving them an answer. We as teachers so often "teach", so it is hard to let children explore options.
We are still at the beginning stage of our maths journey but we are learning so much along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment