This video presents an initiative that could change how a school approaches Mathematics, and thus how the teachers approach it. The idea is built around collaboration in creating job-based inquiry units to teach Mathematics by, in place of traditional worksheets and tests. This video is not a "how to" accomplish this idea, but rather aimed to summarize the rationale, research & support, the interactions the initiative has on a community level, and the initiative's implementation & evaluation. Therefore, this persuasive piece's audience target is the administrators whom decide whether they would allow the initiative to move forward within a school.
Audio TranscriptAuto-generated
good afternoon. Thank you for offering up your time to let me present my initiative
back to their future. Teaching math through real world inquiry.
These initiatives aim is to further develop
confidence and comprehension and all learners.
For years,
I have heard three streams of student thoughts surrounding their learning of math.
One. I love math.
Two. I hate math. I can't do this. Three. What's the point of this?
I'm never going to use it in my future.
What's worse is that these dreams of thoughts are commonly repeated
by teachers of all grades when reflecting upon their students.
So how do we change from the negative streams of thought of
I hate math? Or what's the point
to a love math, or at least a curiosity about math?
In other words, a growth mindset towards math is lacking in many of our students.
To correct these fixed mindsets,
this initiative uses the idea of instructing through inquiry,
using real world job and career positions that require
math in the place of traditional worksheets and tests.
Okay,
you may find yourself asking
why, specifically authentic job based inquiry?
Well,
this initiative is already being supported by Ontario teachers Federation,
which is another Canadian province, noted for their strong education.
Also, through my research,
I have discovered that inquiry instruction during
math has demonstrated further student engagement,
comprehension, confidence and motivation.
Students need to engage in real work that reflects
the work someone in the field might tackle.
This leads to authentic learning and skills
that serve students well into the future.
Of all the research I have sifted through,
the information presented here best sums up my findings.
Number one United States Studies note an increase in
standardised test scores when math was taught through inquiry.
Two.
Ontario is investing into like initiatives and has been since 2015.
Furthermore, on their website,
they quote,
We want our students to understand that math is all around
them and a part of everything they do in life.
End quote.
Thirdly,
inquiry Mass is a website like many,
many others that I found that uses teachers units.
In other words,
there are so many teachers discovering the success of
inquiry in math that this site and many others
were created to feature their units and lesson plans
for other teachers to take and go with.
So how can such an initiative be accomplished
Well, collaboration is key to the success
of this initiative is built off the idea of teacher collaboration as a school,
as intermediate and primary groupings and as grade specific groups.
This complements the this sorry.
This initiative also complements the way First peoples teach math,
thus integrating first peoples Learning creates even further inquiry tasks.
Lastly,
this initiative can bring in the school community through
creating a job census that goes throughout the community
and thus highlights those associated positions that make use
of math and bring them in as presenters.
Speaking of the community, how does this initiative fit,
given our specific makeup,
with considerations such as modified programmes,
intensive math needs and English language learners?
Is this initiative a good a good fit? Well, yes.
For example, with modified learners,
this initiative would introduce alternative careers
to discuss and educate them on.
Furthermore, job Inquiry has multiple entry points, making it accessible to all.
For example, if a modified learning programme had a student
using
are sorry learning from a lower grade level,
they might be learning how to add and therefore they could be doing inquiry
into the job of a cashier as they add up the totals of products
with part of me with intensive math learners.
They're like I mentioned just a moment ago. There's multiple entry and exit points.
Additionally, using inquiry integrates other subject content,
which increases the confidence of these Children and therefore makes
them more willing to learn and comprehend the mathematics.
Mhm
with English language learners,
this initiative would allow exposure to
additional visual representations of math as well
as new job vocabulary to add to what they're already learning about.
But what about the cultural backgrounds?
Well,
this community is predominantly South Asian Filipino
with a small mix of Caucasian,
Asian, first peoples and African Canadians.
As I mentioned before,
we could be creating a job census that brings in people from the community
to present.
Thus,
this initiative brings in careers and presenters from
the multiple cultural backgrounds of our students,
um, including, and especially for first Peoples learning
Well, what about the socioeconomic status?
Well, with varying incomes,
the community needs an affordable solution that is available to all,
and not one that just
targets those that have more money, like
tutoring or private tutoring, for example.
Lastly,
this is a needs focus initiative,
we would focus on lowering the percentage of developing an emergent learners,
which currently sits at 32
and look at increasing the comprehension of all learners,
including the 9% that are already extending in math.
So what does this look like in action
beginning at the start of October,
allowing teachers to de stress from startup routines?
This initiative would last the year,
and the change in instruction would last for years to come.
Moreover, this initiative requires two workshops to get up and running.
The first focuses on the what and the why of the workshop that I previously discussed
during my rationale.
Also, during this time,
teachers would collaborate to create and adapt inquiry units and adapt the
already available assessments of the initiative for their given grade taught.
The second workshop is for data analysis.
In this workshop,
teachers analysed data to firstly identify
needed adjustments to assessments and teaching.
The data is then used to assess the initiative through identifying trends,
declaring these trends as positive or negative,
and then determining any further adjustments needed.
I'm going to pause for a moment to let
you read through the timelines of both workshops here
and await your questions.
At this point,
I would like to mention that I am equipped
to offer an additional workshop for teachers needing to be
further educated on the importance of data and the
cyclical process that data where data informs the teaching.
So
how do we determine the success of this workshop?
Firstly,
let me be clear that the validity of this initiative relies on data analysis.
You can see the types of assessment on the left hand side.
The first assessment requires students to self assess their
feelings before and after the new inquiry unit.
The second assessment requires a teacher reflection by
comparing a unit that they had previously designed
on the same content to the new inquiry version that they've created now.
The third assessment requires frequent self assessments by students
that evaluating their ongoing comprehension and feelings about their learning
bonus. This one can also be used as a formative assessment for teachers.
Well, they're teaching.
The last assessment is teacher observations. This is to gauge whether students
are experiencing engagement, motivation, confusion, etcetera.
As you can see,
this is a long term initiative that requires
plenty of analysis to determine its effectiveness.
But when correctly applied research states that there will be an
increase in our comprehension and confidence in our mass students.
After all, what's likeliness when we are talking about deeper numeracy,
comprehension and appreciation?
That is the focus,
their future numeracy comprehension. So
please get on board, Let's get back to their future.