Nothing breeds success, like success

Tis a bit of a long story, so please bear with me. I taught student K last year when he was in year 11 and it was an uphill battle as any attempt at Maths was accompanied by a whinge and moan and then some. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he HATED maths. This year student K transitioned to year 12 and was attempting NCEA L2. He was timetabled to do maths only in terms 2 and 4, so after a lockdown period of 7 weeks due to COVID-19, student K walked smack bang into maths. While a few students had accessed their learning online during the lockdown period, student K had not; he was starting afresh while others had covered a decent amount of work. It is normal practice in my classes for students to work through their learning programme at their own pace, sit assessments when they feel super-confident and self-manage (one of the 5 key competencies from the NZ curriculum) their progress. Students also had access to a variety of  rewindable learning resources which they could access at any time.

The 12MAT students were making remarkable progress and within the first week back after lockdown, some sat their summative assessment and were successful and immediately started their next standard. Student K was amazed at the pace at which his peers were progressing particularly when one of the boys was finishing his second standard by week 2.  He soon realised that everyone around him was on the road to success and that success seemed to impact him greatly as out of the blue, in week 2 after lockdown, student K asked if I could share the assessment with him. By then he had covered sufficient work and had a good grasp of the standard. I continued conferencing with the class while student K sat his assessment and by the end of that period he had completed and was successful. When I asked him how he found the assessment, he complained (unsurprisingly) so not much has changed, but the success of those around him definitely spurred him on. So now, fingers crossed, it is onward and upward. Nothing breeds success, like success