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

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.

Brief update on our Culture of Success

 After my previous post about modelling and celebrating what success LOOKS, SOUNDS and FEELS like, I have a brief follow up to share:

Level 1 Physics 

67% of my Pasifika learners and 50% of my Maori learners have sat their assessment long before the due date and 100% of them have gained NCEA L1 credits. One of my learners stopped by after school today to let me know that he was going to sit his assessment later this week...not sure if he had an inkling that I was analysing his class data

Level 1 Algebra

100% of my Pasifika and 75% of my Maori learners have sat their assessment before the due date and 100% of them have gained NCEA L1 credits. A few learners have sat 2 assessments and have been successful

Level 2 Networks

33% of my Pasifika learners 100% of my Maori learners sat their assessment before the due date and 100% of them have gained NCEA L2 credits. A few learners have sat 2 assessments and have been successful

After their success, I was pleased to hear them ask for an additional standard to attempt. I am going to be bold and say that they know what success looks, feels and sounds like.

Creating a culture of success in our learning environments

A recurring theme at the start of each year, is my learners total disbelief in their ability to be successful in maths, let alone enjoy learning maths. With that message playing in their minds year in and year out for most of their schooling lives, it is no wonder they switch off as soon as they enter a maths room.  

Over the years, I have tried a variety of strategies to persuade these impressionable minds and after a comment from one of my learners, I thought it was worth sharing.....it is based on sound, look and feel.

SOUND - When I hear a learner verbalise their thinking, explain a concept to a peer or even ask a question, I will respond by calling out the learner's name and saying, "this is what success sounds like, thank you". "I love it when smart students make smart choices". On the other hand, off-task chatter gets a response of, "this is not what success sounds like"...."it saddens me when smart students make poor choices" and it seems to work every single time as learners soon get back to the task at hand.

LOOK - When everyone is on task and engaging with their learning, I will comment loudly enough for all to hear, hopefully without disrupting the learning environment, "this is what success looks like, thank you"....."I love it when smart students make smart choices".

FEEL - When a learner has completed a series of learning activities, requests feedback or suggests their confidence to sit a practice assessment, I comment "this is what success feels like"....."I love it when smart students make smart choices".

One of my learners went back to their previous high school to tell their maths teacher that since leaving their school, he is now smart in maths and went on to share his success at getting NCEA L1. His version of events is that his teacher did not believe him but he was ok with it because he knows that he is smart.