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    

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.

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!

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....

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.

I was forced to eat my words

I often say to my learners, "You either do or you don't, there is no TRY". Well I was forced to eat my words as one of my learners did TRY and with much success. I have a learner who had been attending school part-time for 3 weeks due to personal and wellbeing issues before we went into Lockdown. He said that he had never passed a single maths assessment in his life, is no good at maths, does not understand maths, does not like maths… and all the other negative self-talk that goes with it. I told him that I had already planned his success and all he had to do was TRY. I soon realised that we had another hurdle to overcome; the language he was using. When he sought feedback he would ask “is this wrong”, so I made him unlearn that phrase and taught him to ask “is this right” and I immediately noticed a quiet confidence. One day, while looking at the tracking sheet, he commented that he was surprised at his progress in my class, he was actually understanding the work and enjoying learning maths (remember this was within a 3 week period). I was so impressed by his change in his attitude to maths, work ethic and overall demeanour, that I emailed his mum who was super pleased and impressed.

Culture of success: the numbers don't lie

 

After consistently bringing my learners back to our "Culture of success" focusing on what success LOOKS, FEELS and SOUNDS like, I have some data to share:

There is an overwhelming increase in the number of learners who were successful in completing their course in term 1 and then took on additional NCEA standards.

11MAT - additional stds 1/15 = 7%

12MAT - additional stds 1/17 = 6%

11ELE - additional stds 3/12 = 25%

12ELE - additional stds 1/8 = 13%

It is evident which class was used to pilot our "Culture of success". That's right .....11ELE.....the numbers don't lie.

Post Lockdown data of menteees

After an abrupt end to term 1 due to COVID-19 and an attempt at distance teaching and learning for all staff and learners for the first half of term 2, we were all keen to get into a familiar routine when schools reopened. Our learners did not adjust well to distance learning as we were in unchartered territory, so how did that impact learning and academic achievement? I will share term 1 and 2 data from my mentor class who seemed to do remarkably well post Lockdown.

Each term our learners select courses that are different from the previous term; so term 2 learners did courses that were offered to their peers in term 1. Teaching and learning resources were similar and allocated timetabled periods were the same. A few teachers created rewindable learning resources in the form of  videos during Lockdown which term 2 learners could access. The marked differences in term 2 post Lockdown were:
the reduced time spent onsite and
students being fed hot meals DAILY.

Well what a difference a satiated belly makes


Student:                           A         B         C        D        E         F        G        H
Term 1 credits gained:    18        3          4         0         7         0        24       5
Term 2 credits gained:    24       21       32        17       24       30       34       2
Credit shift:                   +6     +18     +28     +17     +17     +30     +10     -3

7 of my 8 mentees (88%) gained more credits post Lockdown compared to credits gained in term 1.

Time flies when you are having fun

There is a saying, "Time flies when you are having fun"........ I am going to be bold and assume that my 12MAT class has had fun while learning this term as an analysis of their data is quite pleasing; thanks to the foresight of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and supportive staff who organised a "Catch Up" day for senior students. As a result of the"catch up" day, 90% of my 12MAT students have credits this term with 100% achievement for assessments sat.

We are ending the term strongly and with a sense of achievement which should hold us in good stead for a promising term 2. "Success breeds success" ......watch this space for term 2 updates.

The final analysis

As I sum up my two-year inquiry on "Raising Maori Achievement", I noticed an increase in engagement as well as an increase in the quality and quantity of work produced.

The evidence that I have, shows that in 2017, 39% of my students got numeracy from achievement standards compared to one of my classes this year where there was a significant 77% increase from the previous year. My final analysis showed that in one class 94% got numeracy and 100% in the other. Particular mention needs to be made for the quality of grade for a Statistics achievement standard worth 4 credits that has both a literacy and numeracy component.

National statistics show that 27% of the students who sat the assessment got a merit grade, national decile 1 statistics was 17% and in my class, 85% of the students got a merit grade.



What did I do to make this happen?
Well, we started with the basics to build up learner confidence.
Maths is like a foreign language so each standard had a list of subject-specific vocabulary which learners had to explain AND in most cases, find an appropriate image to reinforce their understanding.

Achievement criteria and Teaching/Learning Strategies were explained in “student speak” and each standard had an accompanying CHEAT SHEET with Achievement Criteria, subject-specific LITERACY STRATEGIES and learning strategies needed for success.

Prior to any learner evidence being gathered, goal-setting was done where learners had to choose an achievement grade; either Achieved, Merit or Excellence so that they had something to work towards.

Whole class teaching was replaced with conferencing which was done at the learner’s request and
questions were answered with questions to promote independent thinking and proactive learners

Academic achievement was celebrated with phone calls and/or postcards sent home and the use of a wall of fame in the classroom.

Digging deep to find gems

In the table below there is a comparison of my 2017 Data with my two 2018 classes this year. A huge improvement is noted in 11MAT 4 where 69% of the class have numeracy compared to 39% the previous year and 45% in my other class.

Credits	2017	2018 MAT 4	2018 MAT 5
0 credits (Maori)	0%	0%	70%
1 std away from Numeracy (Maori)	0%	0%	0%
Numeracy (Maori)	100%	100%	30%
Numeracy (Whole class)	39%	69%	45%
Numeracy cross curricula (Whole class)	47%	69%	48%

I dug a little deeper into the data and found a few gems which I am happy to share.

In my y11 class, for Algebra worth 3 numeracy credits, 50% got a MERIT grade compared to 27% Nationally and 19% across decile 1 schools.

For Bivariate statistics worth 3 literacy/numeracy credits, 36% of my students got a MERIT grade compared to 27% Nationally and 19% across decile 1 schools. Quality of grade is definitely on the increase and is a result of goal setting prior to learning about each standard. Most students chose to work at a merit grade and they have reaped the rewards. In addition, the deliberate use of literacy strategies and teacher-created teaching and learning strategies have all helped reach this success.

Homework for teachers (given at our staff meeting)

All this technology is making us antisocial......


I totally disagree with this provocation.
Firstly, the definition of "antisocial" is not wanting the company of others
Posting on Social media is an efficient way to interact with a wider audience and reduces anxiety for those who feel unsafe in the physical presence of others.

Raising Maori Achievement mid term 3 - The bottom line

This is a snippet of my inquiry to date.

The bottom line is:
Arriving at the college in year 9 at curriculum L4 seems to have had the highest impact on Maori achievement as 100% of them have NCEA L1 Numeracy compared to those who arrived pre-level 4 (10%)

Pre Test confidence - Multivariate Statistics

Prior to learners sitting their Multivariate Statistics assessment worth 4 credits, they had to complete a programme showing evidence of their learning /understanding as well as a  Google Form. Their responses are shown below:

With our L1 Multivariate assessment a few days away, how much effort have you put into your learning?

None - 0%
Not achieved - 0%
Achieved - 25%
Merit - 63%
Excellence - 12%

What can your teacher do differently, to assist you in becoming successful?

Explain to me about how to get a excellent.

nothing, everything is good the way it is

She is already doing a great job at helping me become successful in my learning.

leave more comments

Keep supporting me.

Explain what we have to do properly

Nothing

She is already good

What can your whanau do differently, to assist you in becoming successful?

Make sure I come to school everyday.

nothing, everything is good the way it is

Always asking or reminding me if I have revised or finished off my maths tasks.

have wifi at home

Keep supporting me.

Spend some time with me so they can help me if i need it.

Nothing

Help when i'm stuck

What can your friends do differently, to assist you in becoming successful?

Also be successful.

let me focus more, and less talking

Trying not to distract each other, but help each other when we are both stuck.

stop talking so much

Stop me from going off task.

They can be more quiet so i can do my work.

Nothing

Focus

What support or encouragement has your teacher given you for this standard?

She would always help me get a merit.

good support always making me confident to complete this standard and to try my best

She has given kind and amazing encouragement that boosts up my eagerness to finish all the tasks.

she has shown me how to do things more easily with little confrences

My teacher has supported me and had faith in me that I could accomplish my work successfully.

she's explained the activities really well and she also gave me some advise to stay off my phone in class so i can finish my work and be sucessful.

good encouragement

100% best teacher

What can you do differently, to maximise your learning?

Come to class every day and be on time.

stay focused and ask for help when I don't understand something

Staying focused on the work, trying to get as much work done for the periods.

learn the next level. merit

Aim higher than my initial goals and potentiality.

I can ask my teacher for more time in class and during class i can move away from my distractions (Friends, Phones) so i can hand in my work, get the credits i need so i can be sucessful.

stay focused

Come to school and focus more

Developing teacher knowledge and cheats to improve instruction

For our linear algebra standard, I had to

-have a clear understanding of content requirements for the standard

-understand achievement criteria by accessing standard clarifications

via the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) site

-make Algebra exemplars accessible to learners via my teaching site

-join online communities/teacher organisations to gain further

professional development

Whilst planning I had to consider culturally responsive practices to

support the achievement of all students by providing effective teaching

and learning in a culturally supported, learner-centred context.

This was done by chunking achievement criteria (Achieved, Merit, Excellence)

so that learners knew what evidence was needed to support their learning/success.

All teaching/learning was done in context to support “language in abundance”

and learner responses/explanations had to include the context. The detailed

learning programme for the standard was available via the

teacher’s Google calendar/Google site from day 1, so that learners could

access their learning at any time and work at a pace that was pertinent to them.

A tracking sheet was used to help with the Key Competency, “managing self”

as learners were accountable for their own learning journey/success.

For learners to comprehend the systems/strategies that I had created,

I had to be very explicit about the purpose and desired outcome for each

of them and this was reinforced almost daily until learners trusted my intentions.

A few of our contexts included comparing costs of:

Pizza prices - Learners were familiar with the context as we have a few pizza parlours in our community. Cost per pizza had to be explained.

Taxi fares - all were familiar with paying per km, but flagfall was a new word for most learners

Airline baggage costs - all seemed familiar with this context

Landscape costs - a consultation fee was foreign to all

Effective teaching and learning  was done through a teacher-created

cheat sheet where learners were guided how to form and solve equations

and the introduction of a few literacy strategies like

-“chunking” (break up the context into bite-sized pieces)

-“word definition” (per, flagfall, consultation fee, flat rate)

-“3 level guide” (read on the line as evidence of substitution - Achieved,

read between the lines as evidence of explaining/interpreting for Merit and

read beyond the line as evidence of creating and solving new equations

as evidence for Excellence.

Teaching/learning strategies included

-Looking for secret words like: each, every, one, single per

to identify the variable and form equations

-Using the =SUM(.....) formula to solve equations

-Colour coding cheaper options to build confidence and then explaining in context

Tracking progress/achievement

The college’s ViTaL tracking sheet was used where learners were given a green square for work completion for each activity and orange for incomplete. This system not only encourages self-management but to also prompts learning conversations about specific needs which are often easily addressed/resolved as learners can articulate their needs.

Summary of Raising Maori Achievement in Maths

Quick Read of my year-long Inquiry about Raising Maori achievement in maths by making teaching, learning and feedback visible and by discussing data with learners
	Making teaching, learning and feedback visible and sharing NCEA L1 data with learners to inform my teaching practice so that there is a shift in academic achievement of Maori Learners
	50% of our Maori Learners achieved L1 Numeracy the previous year compared to our national decile equivalent of 68.7%. 2017 school target is 80%.
	NCEA L1 Maori learners in 1104MAT
	VTaL framework          Google calendar       Sharing data with learners       Goal setting        Literacy Strategies Teaching and learning strategies        Achievement objectives in “student speak”         Positive conversations Appreciation postcards                Communicating with whanau about how WE can best support the learner TOGETHER
	Communication with whanau about how best we could both support the learner for success. Both teacher and whanau had great faith in their ability to achieve. Learner efficacy improved as the quality and quantity of work met the requirements for NCEA L1 Constant reinforcement of teacher belief in learner ability
	"Every time you called my mum whether it was something good or bad it motivated me to do better in maths. The calls my mum received also helped me work harder to ask the teacher for help instead of acting like i know what im doing" Teacher Whanau Learner -talk less and give us more time to do our work -let me listen to music -Shes so positive and supports us better then most teachers. -keeping the wifi on at night so I can do late night studies -offer more support -do work -focus more -sit in the front of the class
	The end is now upon us and so I face the final analysis comparing 2016 NCEA L1 Maori data with that of 2017. Credits 2016 2017 0 credits (Maori) 33% 0% 1 std away from Numeracy (Maori) 50% 0% Numeracy (Maori) 17% 100% Numeracy (Whole class) 26% 39% Numeracy cross curricula (Whole class) 38% 47% My takeaway (using data of learners who completed the school year): Maori learners exceeded the college’s target of 80% getting numeracy There was a 13% increase in numeracy for the whole class (from 26% in 2016 to 39% in 2017) and for Maori learners, there was an 83% increase in numeracy (17% in 2016 to 100% in 2017) What did we do differently? Teaching and learning was more visible using ViTaL sheets and Google calendars and feedback was based on effort using NCEA achievement criteria The use of standard-specific literacy strategies were more explicit and deliberate: Chunking Word definition 3 level guide Mnemonics Donut Give one, Get one Academic achievement data conversation (both across all curriculum levels and for mathematics, for the year level, were shared and discussed at regular intervals)

What happened for the learners	Each learner had access to a teaching and learning Template for each Achievement Standard Algebra - Internal  3 credits - Numeracy ACHIEVED Form equations, Solve equations (line graph), Substitute MERIT Interpret data (in context) EXCELLENCE Create and solve your own equation Literacy Strategy: Chunking 3 Level Guide Achieved - Read on the line Merit - Read between the lines Excellence - Read beyond the lines Teaching Strategy Forming equations: Look for secret words: each, every, single, one, per; that number gets the letter Solving equations: =sum( Interpreting tables: Colour code cheapest prices and explain in context The Key Competency “managing self” encouraged learners to work at their own pace choose their desired achievement level for each std complete their learning programme by tracking their progress on a ViTaL sheet before sitting summative tasks Conferencing was done at the learner’s request and feedback encouraged learning conversations about how to progress to the next level Questions were answered with questions to promote independent thinking and proactive learners
What evidence do I have for this	Credits 2016 2017 0 credits (Maori) 33% 0% 1 std away from Numeracy (Maori) 50% 0% Numeracy (Maori) 17% 100% official Numeracy (Whole class) 26% 39% unofficial Numeracy cross curricula (Whole class) 38% 47% unofficial
What did I do to make this happen?	Teaching and learning was more visible using ViTaL sheets, Google sites and Google calendars Achievement criteria and Teaching/Learning Strategies were explained in “student speak” The use of standard-specific literacy strategies were more explicit and deliberate and understood and used by learners: Chunking Word definition 3 level guide Mnemonics Donut Give one, Get one Academic achievement data conversation (both across all curriculum levels and for mathematics, for the year level, were shared and discussed at regular intervals)
Wonderings about what next	Students - Can students continue to self-manage next year with a different teacher? Teacher - Strategies to engage more Maori whanau so that we can best support the learner together