Digital Fluency Intensive 1 - Living local, learning global

The first day of the Digital Fluency (DF) Intensive for Term 3 has been jammed pack full of useful content. Our group of 11 teachers from 6 different schools across the Manaiakalani cluster have spent the day learning practical tips including how to better organise our GOOGLE Drive and exploring different formatting options within GOOGLE Docs.

We also had an opportunity to put our new found skills to the test with a poster based on the Manaiakalani kaupapa. Looking forward to spending each Friday for the next 8 weeks at DF sessions to learn more from our expert trainers and the other participants.

Term 2, 2017 Inquiry Update: Taking Stock

Taking stock of Term 1, I have come to really appreciate just how fluid the inquiry process and that it unfolds in a non-linear way, prompting a changes that initially were not on the radar.

Term 2 started with a clear goal - I needed to collect and analyse more data for my target students and continue on my inquiry journey. I had expected to do a round of IKAN and GLoSS testing and be on my way.

In the real world, however, my inquiry process stalled for a couple of reasons. Firstly, completing the testing was incredibly time consuming. Secondly, the results brought an unexpected outcome - four of my original group of 6 students tested at “well below”  i.e. 2+ years behind their required level. The immediate implication of this was that I needed to choose a new priority group at the 'below' level. The logic, as outlined in a previous post, being that it is easier to shift students at the ‘below ‘ (i.e 1 year behind their required level) than those who are under performing  at ‘well below’.

Looking head to Term 3, I will use the recent data to identify a new group of 'below' students. I can then proceed to test out my revamped focus question - the extent to which the format of maths problems will influence the problem solving abilities of my target students.