Debrief 

On your own; 

• Read through your notes
• Star the observations that seem relevant to the problem of practice
• Select 5-10 pieces of data. Write them on individual post its. 

As a group;

• Share observations​
• Identify patterns across all observations
• Group observations into patterns and label

Key Observations
Teacher

• All teachers moved throughout the room to different student groups, sitting/kneeling and talking with students
• One teacher checked in with a student's confidence: 'How are you feeling about this? Would you like to work closer to me?'
• Teachers modelling tasks using manipulatives (most classrooms).
• All teachers modelled use of materials (eg holding and flipping a material or gesturing where to write.
• Teachers facilitating explicit instructions and focus groups all classes.
• Most teachers used metacognitive questioning: 'What is the question asking you to do?', 'How will you use what you know?'
• Teachers questioning to support and extend understanding.
• Teachers asking a combination of open and closed questions during whole class/small group.
• Language used when student struggling with task: 'Just do your best', 'that's OK', 'this is why we practice'.
• Positive reinforcement quick and appropriate to task: 'Good job', 'I love that', 'nice work'.

Students

• Most students working with mini whiteboards and/or concrete materials (eg play money).
• Students knew what to do as they listened and followed instructions set by teacher.
• Students identified asking a peer or teacher as a common strategy when they feel stuck/confused.
• Most classes had students working in groups.
• Younger children counting out loud while physically manipulating materials.
• In some classes students attempted to solve the problem in front of the class while the teacher asked other students to talk through what that student was doing.
• 'We're using the most efficient strategy for ourselves'.
• Students identified re-reading a question or using a different strategy as an easy way to find answers when they are stuck.
• Students' initial response to 'are you being challenged' was 'no' but students then went on to describe the challenging parts of the work.
• All students questioned were able to identify and share the learning intention of the session.

Task

• All classes had differentiated tasks. Differentiation was subtle.
• Are all levels of differentiation adequate?
• All classes had tangible resources available.
• Flexible learning as a pedagogy enabling teaching and learning.
• In most groups students were working on different tasks, eg not the whole class completing the same task.
• Concrete materials/scaffolds all classrooms.

Content 

• Most classes had learning intention displayed on screen.
• LI, EQ, SC and vocabulary referred to and shown.
• In most classes teachers rephrased student ideas in a concise way, using mathematical language (modelling correct language).
• Differentiation within and across the syllabus. 
• Students using vocabulary to explain thinking in most classrooms.
• Teacher asking students to model problem during whole class explicit instruction.
• Cross-stage content differentiation.

Differentiation

• Extra differentiation happening on the spot based on needs of the children.
• Teacher using formative assessment during whole group then placing students in differentiated groups for activity as needed.
• Age appropriate.
• Low floor, high ceiling.
• Student choice and teacher identified.
• Teacher adjustments to extend and support
• Concrete materials organised, differentiated and being used by students.
• What are you learning to do? 'I'm working on these problems - I chose them, my teacher gave me' (differentiation).
• What are you learning to do? 'We're working together to round numbers', 'to find what makes..', 'share equally' (ability group).
• Teacher moves between students or small groups asking open-ended questions and checking in before moving on.

Students explaining the task:

• It's half/half challenging. The next task will get harder.'
• 'We slide the beads to show all the ways we can break numbers.'
• 'We share the counters into jars to find the division sentence.'
• Students being able to record number sentences but getting stuck when it came to working out the answers. 
• Students recording working and answers on mini whiteboards or worksheets/learning templates.
• What are you learning to do? 'We are using this to add/share' (hands on materials).
• What are you learning to do? 'I know I'm right because - I check back, I check with my group, I know this makes x or y.'

Lesson Structure

• Key vocabulary to assess understanding.
• Activity displayed on whiteboard with LI and SC.
• Students using concrete materials to help work out questions (numbers, bey-blades, beads) depending on their needs.
• What are you learning to do? Specific answers. 'We're revising addition', 'we're using this strategy to..', 'we're learning to share' (LISC). 
• Referring back to the LI: 'Who can remember our LI?', 'what is our goal, what are we trying to do today?'
• Materials - lots of hands-on materials (K-4), lesson resources linked to materials.
• Teacher working with small groups, individuals.
• Teacher moving around the room to support.
• Teacher engaged in a modified version of the task.
• Students talking to a LP to help work out the answer.
• Engagement - stadiums, bey-blades, menus, fishbowl.
• Fishbowl demonstrated by teacher and re-modelled by students.
• Revising together the + and - algorithm to solve word problems.
• Formative assessment - open-ended questioning, prompting questions, students demonstrating.
• Prompting cues, checking in. 'Can you double-check that?', 'do you remember?', 'what comes next?', 'how are you going over there?'
• Classroom displays - number lines, 100 charts, student work samples.
• LI and SC displayed in some classrooms (task, demo).
• Organized structure of lesson and resources.
• Activity/task evident, LI and SC not always seen/evident.
• Students working in pairs or small groups and discussing their thinking.
• Teachers consistently on student level, crouched or on floor with materials. 
• Hand on tasks.
• Students used recording templates (diff in two ways).
• Students showing how they would work out a problem.

Prediction

If you were a student at this school and you did everything you were expected to do, what would you know and be able to do?

We would be learning to:
Sharing equally 
find number combinations
use mental strategies top add and subtract
use Newman prompts
articulate what they are learning 
Justifying strategies
collaborate
Use the space to help learn - resources etc
Take risks, not afraid of getting it wrong 
Number talks, fish bowl 
love maths
solve a problem in multiple ways 
solve problems with a friend 
source resources 
explore real world problems 
peer assess and check strategies 
explain their understanding 
seek teacher support 
answer open ended questions 
use math vocabulary 
draw on prior knowledge 
​We wonder:
How are the students choosing the right activity for their level?
What are the resources being used for? 
How we are programming around differentiation? 
How can we get high level students into activity faster? 
is there confusion around difficulty of task or time spent on task? 
How can we use the new 3-6 syllabus to program maths? 
​

The Next Level of Work

Based on our wonderings, what do we as a staff want to learn about next?
What changes to our practice do we think will cause the learning that we want to see? What will address our PoP? 


If these changes take place, if we refine our practice in the above identified areas, what impact will we see and be able to measure?
​