Start of year:

• Website was easy to do.
• Prime Climb was hard to learn. We need more time. To early to tell if it will be used all year.
• Desk setup works for now - rows. We moved chairs to play Prime Climb.

Suggest next learning steps:

• Equivalent fractions, percentages & decimals
  • I need to bring the fraction game to school

Explanations:

• Slow down and go into more detail.

• Plus: It was good to have time to work in our learning workbooks and help each other. Nice to have time to struggle rather than rush.
• Minus: Mixed fractions have invisible plus signs. Algebra has invisible multiplication signs. Confusing. Math is not perfect!
• Interesting: Different teachers have different ways of explaining things and this can be challenging at times. It can be confusing.

Joyce:

• Plus- We got extra time with which we could do our new workbooks
• Minus- We didn't have an explanation for the HCF and LCM- as some people didn't understand.
• Interesting- Fractional Exponents

• Plus: Learning about GST. Learning about rounding, decimal places & significant figures. Good to feel like we have learned new things. Enjoying using calculators to work out problems.
• Minus: Prime Climb was switched to Wednesday, but that is athletics day so we miss out. (Might change this and do half a lesson on Thursday). This is also seen as a minus, because a full lesson on Prime Climb it better than half a lesson on Prime Climb.
• Interesting: Prime Climb actually helps us learn about factors, primes & times-tables. Some students talk a lot in class, and even blog in class. This can be distracting. Some students are struggling to keep up with the work as they lack prior knowledge. They do not understand. Some students are better at asking the teacher for help than others.

• Good: To have time to study in class because some us do not have time to study at home. Some do not have the motivation to study at home.
• Not so Good: Still a few things some students do not get, even though they have been taught and could do them before.
• Interesting: Some students are surprised how well they are doing. They could do more questions than they expected to be able to do.

• Good: Prime Climb is fun. Study helped in the test because some questions were the same or similar.
• Not so Good: Level 3 questions in the test seemed harder than level 4 questions in the test.
• Interesting: We feel like we did better in the test than I expected.

• Plus: Learning new things - Algebra. A bit of a challenge.
• Minus: Getting tired of working.
• Interesting: Prime Climb half a lesson due to conference day and we like it. It is a great break from book work and listening to the teacher. Algebra was interesting, lots of formula and can be confusing.

• Plus: Learning new things felt good. Getting better at factorizing helps us feel good about mathematics.
• Minus: The paper check up test stressed me out. Makes me kind of anxious. However, it did help me know what to study.
• Interesting: Students are more chatty, less focused on their work. They do not listen to the teacher then complain they do not know what to do.

• Plus:
  • Prime Climb is like snakes and ladders but more complicated, it helped us learn, it was challenging, and fun.
  • The work is not too hard and I felt I made progress with number and algebra.
  • I liked working with my peers to solve problems.
  • I enjoyed doing work in mathematics. I enjoyed learning new things and getting good grades.
• Minus:
  • Some students are off task on their devices or talking about non mathematical topics and disrupt others learning.
  • Some students think they are entertaining and funny but they are actually disruptive.
  • Algebra was hard to learn and sometimes I had no idea what the teacher was talking about.
• Interesting:
  • There is a big step up from intermediate mathematics.
  • Some people get really high grades whilst others get low grades. The students with low grades act like they do not care about mathematics but I think they do care.
  • Some people do not play prime climb according to the rules. Some people cheat or knock down the pawns over with the dice. Some groups put the dice in the plastic container to stop the dice flying around.
• How can we become better leaders?
  • We should be the good role models for our class. The "Role Model" leader could work really well in this classroom.
  • When one person does something that undermines learning, this can cause others to follow their bad example.
  • We want to lead people in the right direction.
  • The "Boss" leadership model does not work in this classroom, it just adds noise.
  • Aim to quietly direct others in a positive direction.

• Plus:
  • Having time to study and revise before common tests was good. This helped us prepare for the test.
  • Everyone is friends with everyone.
  • The help desk at the back worked well. This personal support was easier than listening to the teacher.
  • I like it when the teacher explains things on the board.
  • Working in groups and getting help from peers was great.
• Minus:
  • Teacher goes too fast for some people, others enjoy the speedy approach.
  • Some level 6 algebra was a bit too challenging for most students.
• Interesting:
  • Learning new aspects of algebra.
  • The teacher explains methods well.
  • The two brackets are easy and then the three brackets is also easy, because it is broken down to steps.
  • The "cross over" factorizing method for quadratics was good.
• Leadership: "Reflection".
  • The teacher observes quiet leadership by example. "Respect".
  • We help our peers to learn. We learn from our peers. "Connect".
  • We ask questions when the teacher is at the board.
  • We are on task most of the time and model enthusiasm for mathematics.
  • Leaders are determined to learn, so model "Strive".
  • We "create" our own study schedule and Thursday student choice is about us creating our own pathway.
  • Created a 10mm group chat on Instagram to support struggling students.
• Next Steps:
  • Identify off-task students and encourage them quietly to get back on task.
  • To help support this, leaders have the right to awards positive behavior slips.

"The Facilitator" Not "The Boss".

The aim is empowerment, not control. The aim is to help students develop goals and work towards them, not to impose targets and tell them to 'try harder'. The aim is to discover the barriers to learning, and to work out ways to overcome the barriers, rather than blame, make excuses or deny there is an issue. The aim is that all students love coming to mathematics class, even if they really do not like mathematics. The aim is success for all, not for some or most.

Research is the result of searching for relevant readings to help guide my path.

• Plus: Help Desk: Our leaders did not use it, but it worked for others. There were people at our table that could help.
• Minus: The algebra assessment on Thursday is a source of stress. We miss prime climb. It is a bit serious.
• Interesting: Tuakana-teina is a buddy system, we had not heard the term before.
• Advice for next term: Get the two male leaders to meet with us in class time. This will ensure a more diverse student voice is heard.