Whanaungatanga

Of my 6 Maori learners

• 2 have sat an assessment and gained credits 
• 4 have not sat any maths assessments 
• 5 have at least passed 1 assessment in another subject 
• 1 has not passed any assessments in any subject

I had contacted whanau (family) earlier in the year about the lack of progress and that is where the conversation ended, so I had to come up with a better plan if I wanted to see a change. My recent conversation with whanau was more explicit. For students to get NCEA L1 they need 80 credits of which there are 10 Literacy credits and 10 Numeracy credits. Without numeracy, a student cannot get NCEAL1, so I encouraged parents to help me, help their child by encouraging their child to attend after-school study classes. 2 of my parents responded to my request, but only 1 was favourable, so out of the blue this week, one of my little treasures turned up and worked on their maths for just over an hour.

I contacted their mum with an update that afternoon to say "thank you for helping me help your child".
Mum was thrilled for 2 reasons
1. Their child's renewed interest in learning and
2.........................................wait for it......................................that she gets to have a relationship with her child's teacher (whanaungatanga).

Monitor and adjust

"There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction." –John F. Kennedy

To avoid complacency,  a few key moves were trialled to improve learner commitment and raise academic achievement.

The table below outlines the achievement criteria, in "student speak", for the Number Achievement Standard worth 4 numeracy credits. 

Number - Internal  4 credits - Numeracy
Fraction, Decimal, Percent, Integers, Ratio, Rounding (in context)
ACHIEVED	any 3
MERIT	Answer the question
EXCELLENCE	Provide reasonable alternative answers
Literacy Strategy:	Chunking
Teaching Strategy	Association: Look for the Fraction, Decimal Percent or Integer, link it to a number and a keyword(s). For ratio, find the relationship between numbers. Statement                          Working                        Answer (what are you finding)       (+, -, x, )                  (solution with units)

Action	Learners had to READ what was in the table EXPLAIN using prior knowledge what Fraction, Decimal, Percent, Integers, Ratio and Rounding meant to them and an example was done collaboratively. Integers and Ratio seemed the least familiar, so that was the start to our whole class discussion.
Literacy Strategy “Chunking”	The literacy strategy "Chunking" had an unusual meaning for some, like throwing numbers together......as in chucking, so Chunking was explained as having a plate full of food where we had 2 options: option 1 - stuff as much as we can into our mouths until we choke/get sick OR option 2 - take bite-sized pieces of food, chew and swallow slowly before taking another bite. So chunking took on a new meaning for learners in maths. It meant reading the contextual question slowly and highlighting bite-sized pieces of important information
Teaching Strategy “Association”	Find the Fraction, Decimal, Percent, Integer or Ratio, link it to another number and to a keyword(s). That number becomes part of your working and the keyword(s) become your statement.

Number Cheat Sheet

Number - Internal  4 credits - Numeracy
Fraction, Decimal, Percent, Integers, Ratio, Rounding (in context)
ACHIEVED	Calculate any 3
MERIT	Answer the question
EXCELLENCE	Provide reasonable alternative answers
Literacy Strategy:	Chunking Break up WHITE hat information into bite-sized pieces
Teaching Strategy	Association: Find a number, link it to a word and another number Statement        Working           Answer (what are you finding)   (+, -, x, )                   (solution with units)

Bitter pill to swallow

Today was our Level 1 maths exam where a total of 7 credits were up for grabs, 4 for Statistics and 3 for Linear Algebra.

25% of my priority Maori learners sat an assessment
25% were absent
50% showed up without a device. 

After an intense week of revision, 75% of the learners were not prepared for success - what a bitter pill to swallow.