I am having more success by doing less and I love it

 In 2024, NZQA introduced new standards for NCEA L1 and maths was hit hard as 13 achievement standards worth over 40 credits in total were reduced to 4 worth a total of 20 credits. The workload was unmanageable for most learners as they struggled with both the quantity and quanlity of evidence needed to meet the standard.

I created CHEAT sheets for each standard with:

*achievement criteria in "student speak" so that learners could interpret and understand the standard 

*research-based literacy strategies to equip learners with the necessary skills for the standard

*learning strategies to assist them with learning and understanding  

The programme for each standard had a selection of:

*rewindable learning resources

*apps to draw graphs and/or do calculations

*online quizzes with immediate feedback

*exemplars 

In the first term of 2024, only 2 learners were able to complete the 5 NUMERACY credit standard, so I reviewed and redesigned the course slightly in the second term and had a similar result which was quite alarming. 

What I noticed was that I had to sometimes go as far back as curriculum level 3 to help fill the gaps so that learners could work their way with more confidence to work at curriculum level 6. That was my mistake as my programme was too long and learners were giving up before completing the course.

When the revised progamme did not have the desired effect, I shifted my focus from "what can I do" to "what can my learners do" and that made all the difference. At the end of 2024, I set a goal for myself to turn students into curious learners, where they would check online for resources (either videos or images) to complement already-existing resources and take more responsibility for their learning, as opposed to being so reliant on me.

Below is a visual of student engagement using a tracking system.

                         2024 after 10 weeks                                           2025 after 5 weekes

                                       

standard met (move on to the next activity)

standard not met (work is incomplete or needs some editing)

 no evidence of learning 

standard met due to prior knowledge

My learners are engaging more with their learning by taking more responsibility. I am having more success by doing less and I love it    

This will knock your socks off

 I was recently introduced to NotebookLM and WOWWWWWW.

I uploaded our Staff induction Booklet and it converted the doc to a Podcast with 2 AI hosts. Most interesting and quite entertaining. Much better than having a read, that's for sure. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures

 I have attempted something that I would not have ever dreamed of doing. Not sure if I am being brave or foolish.

I noticed that while a few of my learners were engaging well with their learning, a core group were struggling with integrity and behaving like part-time learners where they would switch between their work and MAJOR DISTRACTIONS which included social media, gaming, videos and movies.  As a result, their work was suffering. Just as I could feel my frustration rising, I realised that if I was waiting for my learners to make the change, I would probably run out of patience, so I rolled up my sleeves and took action.

I rearranged all my tables so that they were against the walls. This meant that I would be looking at their backs and would have a perfect view of their screens. I explained the reason for the rearranged tables to them when they first entered and to my surprise, they were all on board with the idea. This has been the case for about a week and within that time, more learners are asking for help and/or feedback and a few have even sat assessments. 

I am not convinced that this is the way to go, but will keep it going a while longer.

Tuakana-Teina at its best

 Last year while we were doing introductions, one of my learners mentioned, among other things that she HATED maths and then apologised as she thought that she had hurt my feelings. I quickly cleared that up by thanking her for her honesty and telling her that my job was not to make her LOVE maths; instead I just needed her to try.

I provided her with teacher-created CHEAT Sheets as well as short videos with teaching and learning strategies for each standard and also taught her thinking strategies. The latter would help in all classes and even at home/work. She ended up being a top achiever in MATHS and now claims that MATHS is one of her favourite subjects.

I bumped into her today and she mentioned that her year 5 sibling (aged 10) was struggling with maths homework and no one at home was able to help, not even her parents. She remembered the thinking strategies that I had taught her and she used them and what do you know.................it worked. Tuakana-Teina at its best.

Student voice

 I have been perusing student voice about what support/encouragement I have given them and here are a few responses, verbatim.

a lot of support and help if something needed to be clarified

Helping me when I need it.

General motivation

Noelene has been a huge help during during lesson time. I have learnt a lot of nothings whilst working on this standard.

all the support I need

Zoom calls to re go over what I was unsure about and leaving comments to help me know where ive gone wrong

She checked my work fast so I could correct everything I needed too.

positive rienforcement

🤷‍♂️

A lot of encouraging words and lots of help.

Corrected me with feedback, given encouragement, showed me the standard

She's Nice and is a great teacher

lots of verbal encouragement and great environment to achieve independently.

When she called my work beautiful

Word bank resource to support literacy

I have spent waaaay toooooo mannny hours trying to source an interactive online word bank resource until I stumbled upon this! 

Just thought I'd share to save you the hassle. If you have one of your own, I would love to hear from you. Enjoy!

Going BACK in time to move FORWARD

 

One of my lovely NCEA L2 students who is making excellent progress this term asked if I could teach her how to tell time once she completes all her assessments. She was able to articulate that fractions stress her out and she has heard about quarter past and half past with regard to time and has no idea how to read it on a clock (analogue time). She has a cell phone and knows how to tell digital time. Will be an interesting lesson going back in time in order to move forward and I am excited for her. 

I love it when a plan comes together

I have been trying to maximise learners potential through the use of MASTERY and VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES.

MASTERY (move forward at one's own pace as they master knowledge/skills) and to date every student in my 11MAT and 12MAT classes have gained NCEA credits as they felt at ease with their learning journey which was done at a pace as determined by them.

VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES (gain self-confidence while watching others successfully performing). I had a new student recently join my 11MAT class and he has already completed 2 assessments and has moved onto a third standard. One of his friends who has been working at a leisurely pace all term has suddenly come to the party and as soon as he walked into class this morning, he asked me for feedback on work that he had done overnight. 

Now.....let me pause a while............there is no expectation for our learners to engage with their learning after school hours, and this student has never done so in the past, so when I checked version history on GSheets, true enough ...... he was engaging with his learning till 11.15pm. I love it when a plan comes together.

Success for all

I recently had an encounter that forced me to PAUSE, REFLECT and ACT.

One of my capable learners was getting extremely frustrated with their maths and despite all efforts from me to explain and re-explain several times, he eventually walked out. Some time later, we tried again and I realised that not only was my learner getting frustrated, but so was I; we were like hamsters on a wheel. 

I knew that I had to do things differently if I wanted to help my learner regain his confidence and enjoy his learning.

I PAUSED and took a few deep breaths to assess the situation.

Upon REFLECTION, I asked myself a question, "What will help this learner be successful?" 

I then ACTED by getting him to write down a step by step guide from start to finish as to how he needed to set up his learning evidence.

What a difference that made! My learner was happier and managed to complete all aspects of his learning without any frustration. Yesterday he sat his assessment and was successful. He now has NCEA L1 NUMERACY!

THANK YOU Manaiakalani and Tamaki College

Following on from my previous post about a learner who moved to the South Island and wished to continue her academics with me......she continued to engage with her learning while working from home by accessing all the resources online via my teacher-created Google site which gave her access to the programme, tracking sheet, CHEAT Sheet, exemplar, rewindable videos and practice test. We met online a few times, at her request, while she worked through her NCEA L2 Probability standard and I am pleased to say that she successfully completed the summative test as well.

This remote teaching and learning was only possible through Manaiakalani and Tamaki College investing time, expertise and support when we went digital circa 2010. The rewindable teaching and learning resources created by me, were a great help as my learner was not totally reliant on me and it encouraged her to "self-manage", one of the key competencies from the NZC and one of my goals this year.

She is now keen to attempt another standard and has already reached out to set up an online meeting for tomorrow. Hopefully I can keep up with her as she tries to gain NCEA L2 this year

I am blessed

 
Like most teachers, I have learners with diverse needs and I am so fortunate and blessed that my treasures feel safe enough to articulate their needs. 

Here is a snippet of a lesson with a learner who has moved to the South Island and still wants to continue her learning with me for NCEA L2. In addition to access to rewindable teaching and learning resources and communicating via email/GDocs, we also meet online.

The second photo is of a young lady who last attended a mainstream school in year 9. Since joining me this term for NCEA L2, she is flourishing and confident enough to work on the board for all to see her learning.

Providing outlets for learners to express themselves is certainly building their self efficacy in this subject; especially for my learners who often tell me that they HAAAAAATE maths. They are usually met with a standard response of, "take a breath or two and and at least TRY....that is all I ask of you".

They certainly try and it is paying off.

I am BLESSED!

Sharing Good Practice

 We were privileged to be part of/hosting the inaugural conference for Education ministers and staff from 18 Pacific countries. It is always energising to share what we do in the hope that it helps our neighbours.

Feel free to click this link  to hear the impact our school has had on some of our learners.

Goals created out of chaos

Our start to the school year has been craaaazzzzzyyyyyy and that is no exaggeration. 

We delayed our start by a week because of the Auckland floods which were soon followed by another delay with Cyclone Gabrielle; then.....wait for it...................most of our students' school accounts were disabled because they had not been used for 6 weeks. As accounts were being reinstated, we realised that most learners could not access GOOGLE; oh dear, I could feel the grey hairs and wrinkles forming while my frustration grew by the hour. 

During that period of limbo, we managed to have in-depth learning conversations and used a combination of mini whiteboards and hard copies together with a few non-Google online games/activities which learners participated in with much confidence. 

I kept reiterating to my learners that we needed to manage our behaviour and levels of frustration during that time and to focus on what we could or were willing to do regarding our learning/progress (but that was more for me, to be quite honest). 

By Thursday of week 4, all students were able to access online resources and they sprang into action with much enthusiasm, so I was not too surprised when one of my NCEA L1 and three of my NCEA L2 students told me that they were confident enough to sit their first assessment. 

"Managing self" is one of the 5 Key Competencies in the NZ curriculum and my learners did that so well during that chaotic time, so it seems only natural that I make "Managing self" a goal this year (for learners, not me).

Humble brag

I have always been of the belief that my responsibilities as a teacher include:

*cementing meaningful student-teacher relationships

*providing learners easy access to a variety of meaningful resources to help build their knowledge and confidence in the subject

*creating a class culture including high expectations regarding both behaviour and success

*allowing learners to work through their learning programme at their own pace while asking for help/feedback when they see fit 

*empowering learners to track their progress and not be solely reliant on me and

*sitting assessments when the learner is ready as opposed to being dictated by a year planner

I do not usually claim learners' success as my own as it is up to them to manage their behaviour, progress and subsequent success after I have provided the tools to help them be successful. I also involve the whanau by sharing progress or lack thereof and below are a few responses from my parents after only 2 weeks of their child being in my class.

Parent 1: Happy Friday and thank you for your email. I must say though, all credit goes to you with Trinity's work ethic. She has always struggled with maths and finds it even harder when she can't connect with her teacher, or get the help and support she needs. After her first maths lesson with you, she told me about how amazing you are as a teacher and your determination to get all kids to pass. Thank you for helping 

Parent 2: Thank you for this email Nolene. I have always had faith that Zayn can achieve amazing things if he had the right people around him in education to support him. So I thank you so much for the care you have shown my son. We have been battling the education system since he was in pre-school and are finally gaining some benefit from all of the headaches. He is now seeing that he is more than capable too!

Parent 3: You have no idea how delighted I am to hear this …always knew there was great potential there .. Just the other day he told me his favourite teacher was maths teacher because no matter how hard it is you always have a shortcut to do it. 

Thank you for this amazing feedback.

Have a great weekend

Parent 4: Awww 😥 Noelene, words are not enough to express how happy I am. Thank you so much for this amazing news and the process Elijah has been working on towards his learning.

Thank you, so much for teaching and helping Elijah with his learning and may God's blessing be upon you and all the teachers.

Thank you so much, Noelene.

I might juuuuust claim some of my learners' success this time; hence the humble brag, but still feel that it all up to them and their success is theirs alone....

Success with 24% attendance

One of my students with very poor attendance (24%) recently managed to work through her learning programme, sit the practice test and summative test and gained NCEA L2 mathematics credits. I was keen to hear how she did it so asked her to share her experience which I have pasted below.

The suggested videos were a big help because I was able to rewind or skip ahead basically learning in my own pace, I don't really like asking for help Infront of the class especially being called out to answer an equation on the board, and so learning in such comfort and stability made it so easy to focus.

Pink Shirt Day 21 May

Pink Shirt Day is an antibullying campaign that celebrates diversity and creates environments where all people can feel safe, valued and respected. RESPECT is our term 2 school value so Pink Shirt Day was an ideal way for us to live that value...... I'm sure your staff came out in full force and were all glammed up in pink - this was our contribution............small yet mighty.

High Expectations Pay Off Big Time

My term 2 Elective class usually does a Physics standard worth 4 credits. On the last day of term 1, we were given the go ahead to pilot the new NUMERACY standards in term 2, but the course preparation was not quite complete and I did not want to offer something that still needing major editing. I set a challenge for my term 2 Elective students......

Let us wholeheartedly commit to the Physics standard for 2 weeks, so that when we start the NUMERACY standards we already have 4 credits under our belt.

I was fortunate enough to have half my class in both my Elective course and Maths course, so we spent all our time on the Physics Elective standard and to date 83% of them have successfully completed the course and sat the assessment. They now know what happens when great things are expected of them, so hopefully we have similar success piloting the new NUMERACY standard

Going against the grain

Early in the term, we were advised to work from home as our community was hard hit by Omicron. My principal went against the grain and made the call for our campus to remain open for business as he felt our learners do better when teaching and learning is done onsite. Despite our attendance being low due to staff and students either isolating as close contacts or as a result of testing positive or for other reasons, we have managed to justify going against the grain and remaining open. I have done an analysis of term 1 attendance and data and we still have 2 more weeks to go.

11MAT Lowest attendance is 26% and highest attendance 85%

7 of the 9 students have sat at least one assessment (78%)

12MAT Lowest attendance is 44% and highest attendance 97%

6 of the 11 students have sat at least one assessment (55%)

11ELE - Physics Lowest attendance is 38% and highest attendance 46%

All 3 students have sat their assessment (100%) 1 has already completed an additional maths standard which was not part of the programme, the other 2 are still working on an additional standard. Attendance in this class defies success.

Success depends on the second letter

Due to students self-isolating, we have had small rolls this week. On Friday morning, two of my learners walked in and verbalised that they were not in the best frame of mind to commit to their learning. One of my learners had been upset in their previous class and the other said he was too dumb to do maths. After a general chat to both, I realised that a motivational talk would not cut it, so I wrote the word SUCCESS on my board and said "Success depends on the second letter" One of my learners got it immediatley while the other needed more time to digest it. It seemed to work a treat as both produced work to a high standard. My take away is that transferring responsibility onto learners usually ends with the desired outcome as smart students make smart choices - have a fabulous Friday

THANK YOU

To all my colleagues and students (both past and present) over the last 30+ years of teaching, I would like to THANK YOU for helping me live my passion on a daily basis. I was recently awarded the Teaching Excellence award at Manukau Institute of Technology and could not have done it without you. Special mention must be made to Tamaki College and Manaiakalani for being a leading light in education and to Manukau Institue of Technology for giving me permission to do things my way aka the DUNN Way. My application highlighted my use of rewindable learning resources in the form of short, teacher-created screencast videos which learners could watch repeatedly and at any time as opposed to being solely reliant on my physical presence if they needed help. If you would like to watch the video which was used as part of my application, please feel free to click on this link...... and THANK YOU, once again