Co teaching with Sue Pine

I feel more comfortable using talk moves when working with small groups for maths. The children have become more familiar with this style of teaching and now know that it is expected that they will need to talk about their answers. Today Sue Pine came into my class to observe me teaching a small group of students. Our key math idea was making groups. The biggest challenge I have found when using problems is that my students do not understand the problem. We now take at least 5 minutes unpacking the problem. We break it into parts, we talk about whether the number will get bigger or smaller and we use equipment to act it out. The children are becoming more familiar with problems and we are now spending less time unpacking the problem.

Today during my lesson Sue stopped and asked a child why they had made that mistake. This child seemed a bit embarrassed but was able to say why he had made the mistake. The group were very supportive and helped him which made his slight embarrassment disappear.  I loved this and I can see how much he learnt from being able to describe why he had made the mistake. The learning from having this conversation with him is far greater then me telling that the answer is wrong.
I am going to make a conscious effort over the next few weeks to highlight when children have made mistakes and help them to discuss why.

Teacher feedback for students

Do students receive regular, specific constructive written and oral feedback about what they have successfully learnt and what they need to work on next?  

This is an area of my teaching practice that I have been thinking about lately because with my students now working 1:1 on the iPads the way I am giving feedback has changed. 

I am going to look at the way I give feedback specifically during writing. Each day I see most of the students writing becuase I need to help them save it. I have time for a quick conference with each child. Most of the children in my class will remember the four WALTS when asked and I have been helping them to highlight things they have done well and things they need to work on. For example- A full stop and capital letter. 

I then take the time to mark work at a later time and put a visual representation of how the students are achieving in regards to the WALTS. 

The yellow is the children highlighting aspects she has achieved. At the I have drawn the visual representation of the WALTs. For this child we also need to add another picture about writing more then 1 sentence becuase today she has achieved her 4 goals. 

I think that this feedback is beneficial, but most of the children will have forgotten the specific feedback they received the day before. This is where the key difference is between having books and iPads. The children in my class share the iPads and they generally work on a different iPad every day therefore they cannot flick back and look at the feedback from the day before. To improve this I think that each child needs their own goal card with the WALT pictures on. Instead of marking their work on the iPad we will do it on their goal card. The students will then get and iPad and their goal card each day. 

This is a way of giving my students regular and constructive feedback which encourages them to reflect on their learning daily.