Singstar Competition

It's interesting to see those that are willing to put themselves out there for kids, those that aren't and those that can't.  I've run Singstar competitions at the end of term 1 for a number of years.  I do it for a number of reasons:

• We don't have a music programme at our school, and it gives kids an outlet to express themselves
• It encourages students to make a fool of themselves and know there is no lasting consequence
• It's an opportunity to teach empathy - laughing with, not at
• It builds confidence for shy kids, who over a number of years learn to have a go
• It's an opportunity to talk about why building confidence is important
• It's class building
• It builds school spirit
• Students I don't teach get to see us have fun and the learning environment I expect (mildly chaotic but productive).
• It's a but of fun

Bridges get built during these lessons where students that don't perform academically are allowed to shine and it provides a talking point with those that can perform.  There is a purpose to it, a pastoral care activity with real academic outcomes.  We know from past experience that classes that participate are more willing to ask seemingly "stupid" (to them) questions and resolve issues quickly rather than hiding at the back of a room.  If I can sing in front of peers, then I can ask a peer of the class a question that everybody might need to know.

Our principal had a go at David Bowie, TA's had fun (best Math's lesson ever supposedly!), one of the other maths teachers beat his highest score of 850 (he doubled his previous best), an English teacher was mildly inappropriate but very humorous.. and my poor prac student looked like she was going to die when she was gently "encouraged" to have a go.  Our chaplain went white as a sheet when asked by 60 students to sing.  One of the deputies ran in fear.  I don't know if that was the best role modelling - but it was funny.

I was giving rewards to students randomly, to those that wouldn't normally perform (although I endeavoured to not make this obvious).  One performing/drama student felt that she deserved one and had a wee tanty when I declined.  It's interesting that students still believe that they deserve a reward for doing something that they enjoy rather than for something that extends them.  I felt like quoting the workers in the vineyard parable to her.  They're my rewards, I can give them to winners, losers and anyone inbetween.  The tanty showed an area we can work on before they go into the workforce and forever feel hard done, yet not knowing underlying strategic reasons for rewards!  Take pleasure in what is given - enjoy the pleasure others get by being rewarded.  Resentment is not a good path to be on.

The great thing is, from year 8 to year 12, by the end of each period the majority of students wanted to have a go and it identified those that could benefit from some leadership training to extend themselves.  I was later told that you could hear the better part of 60 students singing, enjoying themselves from 50m away outside the school.  It's days like this that remind you of why you teach.

Five hours and five classes is a bit much to do on my own, with typically 60 students in a room each time.  By the end of the day my head was throbbing.  Being careful to limit the songs that students can use, I would heartily recommend it, though be aware it may take a couple of years to create groups in the school that can "get the party started", a PS3 and about $500 worth of songs/microphones/CDs.

Knowing the quality of the singing I would always suggest turning the mics down to zero ;-)

Welfare and schooling

I read this article today and wondered at the effect welfare has on education.  The article discusses how different areas have large welfare elements and inferred that it needed fixing.  The Balga area (30% on welfare) and the Girrawheen area (21% on welfare) were mentioned as two of the highest areas on welfare in Australia.  They also happen to be two of the areas that I grew up in.

The cost of housing drives the low/no income population into areas,  welfare and those on subsistence incomes. Both areas mentioned in the article were also state housing areas before policy distributed state housing across all suburbs.  This population will always be grouped to some degree.  The article identifies how concentrated the "have nots" have become in WA compared to other states.

Gentrification is the only thing that "fixes" an area.  As the area becomes more desirable (due to proximity to jobs in the city), low income earners will "cash out" and move further away or be forced out by increasing rent values.  Although it does just create a new area elsewhere with the same issues.

Low levels of education drives this segment of the population people into low paid/subsistence jobs or welfare whether due to lack of language skills, poor health and hygeine, poor diet and obesity, large family caring requirements (3+ children), poor financial management ability, low base EQ or IQ, low levels of schooling or mental health issues.  Many see the education system as failing them (and it does in many cases fail to provide them with pathways into the workforce) and pass this prejudice onto their children.  This article talks about the entry point of children into year 1.  In these areas it is not surprising that children cannot read, where parents cannot model these behaviours to children prior to school.  Thus the cycle occurs from generation to generation.

This is most obvious in our indigenous or welfare families.  Those students not affected by alcohol and drugs in vitro, have difficult home environments in which to learn.  We need to rethink "quick fix" solutions and focus on long term measures.  Schools are succeeding across the state if with every generation (16-20 years) one level of schooling is achieved.  Education to year 7 and wishing for higher schooling, education to year 10 and work ready, and finally the holy grail of education: education to year 11/12 and achieving TAFE or  university entry.  This is not shown in NAPLAN results.  Furthermore, the problem doesn't go away with each generation, as the next wave of immigrants will have the same issues.

I don't know if any amount of "fixing" can actually correct this number of issues.  Certainly lack of public transport as mentioned in the first article is not a major solution.  Breaking up public housing was certainly a start as it gives families better role models than was available by grouping them together in state housing slums. 

The message that "education" is the only way out of the rut will not work until educational equality is again established for this group from a very young age.  This has been lost as many schools have a pastoral, rather than academic focus - attempting to ensure happy environments rather than taking a narrower focus and focusing on the long term issue of education.  Pastoral approaches need to be tied closely to curriculum success. To reach parity, students that start at a lower level, have to work harder and/or smarter.  They don't need pampering, school will not be the best time of their lives (if it is then it is to the detriment of their adult life).  Eggs will get broken along the way and they need caring for by a different system outside of schooling. 

Schools cannot be a catchall for social change.  They are one element of a big picture that can work for the majority of students.  If we allow diminishing returns (increasing support to students that cannot be supported without additional funding) then we will fail the majority of our students.

Where parents cannot provide adequate support, the welfare state must step in to assist and parents must support this assistance. It is a public service message that needs to be supported with real results for the majority of students and ultimately for Australian society as a whole.

Otherwise, sadly, a two class system (with the "haves" in private schooling and the "have nots" in underfunded public schooling) will be the result as opposed to the "occassional" problem family causing issues for society.  Creating and promoting a two class system through education would be a sad event indeed.

Hello out there!

Last month we hit 1000 visitors in a month for the first time (1111 in fact).. which is a fair bit for my little blog.. hello to everyone out there.. I hope there's a snippet you can take something from.

I'm sure that there's a few teachers looking forward to the holidays and wondering how we can finish off the mini term and get into exams before starting semester 2.  Gathering up the last of my tests for the term has left a load of marking that needs to be completed next week.

It's usually about this time that I reflect on the term and try and figure out how I could do it better next time.    I'm very cynical about NAPLAN and can see on a daily basis the negative side of it.  There is pressure being put on administration to make difficult cohort's perform.  There is pressure on teachers to put curriculum aside to teach topics out of sequence to "optimise" student NAPLAN results.  There is pressure on students to learn techniques to optimise their performance as it is a significant factor during their subject selections in year 10.

I tried to analyse NAPLAN pre-tests this year to get an indication of expected NAPLAN results.  Having done the analysis myself, I have confidence in my analysis but comparing results to past years makes me question the validity of the data or the value in repeating the exercise next year.  After looking at individual student performances in year 12 and their NAPLAN results, I see little correlation between the two - in fact in many cases the results are contrary.  Comparing year 7 results with year 9 would indicate that many students are in fact going backwards during their transition to high school.  Performances in individual outcomes is disturbing, with some areas of the syllabus lacking depth to any level.  Some individual student results were bizarre to say the least, with some very high results in some classes from some students that had no opportunity or ability to learn the work that they managed to get correct.

Given the change in syllabus, this year I had the opportunity to align year 10 and year 9 coursework for a short period.  I noticed not only a maturity factor affecting performance, a cohort ability factor but also a significant NAPLAN factor.  Whereas the yr 10's were given a structured sequence of algebra lessons, the yr 9's were given a fractured course, interspersed with NAPLAN revision.  My feeling is that the 10's understanding is far greater and more likely to be retained than the 9's (both having similar backgrounds in the material presented) after completion of the course of work.  Given this I can only conclude that NAPLAN is disrupting learning in year 9 - potentially for a term and a half (which in any case has always been typically a slow group to settle) preventing them starting serious learning.


I'm sure we are not the only ones spending inordinate amounts of time on NAPLAN especially as the measure of a school's performance rides on the public perception via myschool.edu.au.  It seems a little unfair that the reputation of a high school rides on what can be done in 4 terms during year 8 and one term in year 9.  Sadly all the good in making students work ready, TAFE ready and University ready up to year 12 is disregarded and stupid charts in a stupid website designed by stupid people is used to measure a school instead.  More important is how many indigenous students are present, how much money the school is given for each student and whether the school compares with a dubious set of like schools.

I can say two things with certainty this term.  Firstly, teaching middle school is significantly easier than senior school.  I look forward to attacking it with gusto without the overhead of NAPLAN nonsense.

Secondly, middle schooling has lost its way and needs to refocus around curriculum rather than pastoral care.  The lack of programming and consideration of actual learning (especially in the mid to top students) is frightening.  I don't claim to be a genius at planning but I can show at all times what the intent is of my teaching, have it vetted by a teacher in charge and supported by text and resources.  I can't and don't condone the time wasting that is done with rewards programmes, homogeneous programmes in heterogeneous classrooms, mental mathematics and the general avoidance of teaching, assessment and grading standards.  With the loss of staff that can measure the effectiveness of learning programmes and the movement of responsibility for curriculum to administration incapable of monitoring progress, middle schools are languishing in apathy and poor performance.

I don't think I am alone in this thought.  I love the idea of middle schooling but am yet to see it work in any but very affluent schools.  Maybe, as I was informed early in the year - as a "classically" trained teacher I lack some flexibility in this regard.

I'll try and keep a more open mind.

Outstanding Teacher... Nonsense.

I was in school.  I had an English teacher that was rude, abrupt and many students couldn't stand him.  He changed my life in that he found issues with my essay skills and fixed them.  Every Friday afternoon for two years we wrote essays.  On the day before we finished he said to the class.. whatever you do.. leave the creative question alone in the university entrance exam.  After class he took me aside and said.. do the creative question.

Despite being a Mathematics teacher, it was my English score, followed by my History score that lead me into university.  My Maths and Science scores came next.  I attribute my success to him.

I remember another teacher in primary that let me get away with murder in the classroom because I always finished my work.  I needed to be mobile, so she let me, on condition that the same work was completed that all other students did.  Over time, (and after some work on diet), I settled down and was able to work with others.

Yet, on another occasion I had the lead English teacher, who was adored by my peers that I couldn't get along with at all and I failed her class.

By declaring "outstanding" teachers we fail to recognise that it takes a variety of teachers to raise a child, especially those with different social, emotional, physical or intellectual needs.  Sadly, generally the rule is that an outstanding teacher is one that sings their own praises loud enough or one that creates the time to write spurious documents about what they had achieved.  Not the one that knuckles down and gets the job done (or the experienced teacher that has done the hard yards and makes it look easy).

An outstanding teacher (in a student centred world) is someone that makes a lasting difference to student lives, something that is not often measurable until after students have left school.  I'm not sure what is hoped to be achieved by awards such as here except another media release for Peter Garrett in the future.  Parents certainly don't want to know that a great teacher is in another state and teachers know that the odds of being recognised for doing their job well is highly unlikely especially in difficult environments.  Students would likely dispute it even if it was won.  There really is very little upside for the majority of teachers short of political posturing.

I remember the year a teacher won the award for taking her class on 400 (exaggeration) field trips.  One wonders how direct teaching requirements were met?  Same could be said for excessive IT, collaborative learning and any one of a hundred "innovative" approaches.

If awards are an attempt at raising the profile of teaching, the idea fails as it only rewards a few - creating an elite rather than a college or fraternity.  It really is a daft idea.

Quick and easy game to promote retention

I gathered up some practice for students and was thinking about how I could get them to do some revision.  I hated revision as a student as I had a quick memory and remembered things fairly easily.

It's not true of all students though.  So I found 300 questions on the topic (simplifying and balancing equations) and made up an A5 booklet of 12 pages.  Then I made up some little reward packs and said that the first three students that completed page 1 with 100% accuracy would get a pack. Whatever revision work was left at the end of the period would be done for homework over the next week (to give encouragement for those that for a second considered loafing).

In the past marking of each page has been an issue.  To get over this I combined two of students favourite things - writing on the white board and finding errors in each others work.  Students wrote their name on the board and had to mark the work of the previous name on the board. Five students (randomly chosen from the rest) that had completed a page of work and had marked another students work would also get a reward.

We all had a laugh when the last and hardest question was repeatedly incorrect so that the 3rd place prize was ultimately won at student 15.  The random draw was good incentive to keep going.

All in all students completed about 75 questions each in an hour (writing the question and answer for each sum).  At the end of the lesson we talked about how it was important to develop concentration for the full 60 minutes in preparation for 2 hour exams later in the term and the need to strengthen muscles in the hand to withstand the onslaught of essay writing.

I tried it with both 9's and 10's and had success in both classes with 90% of students engaged and only a couple of students needing to "have words" with at the end of the lesson.  Many students asked if they could complete the remaining questions over the weekend and I supplied answers for them to check as they progressed.

Teaching Linear Equations and Functions

Linear "anything" can send chills down the spines of many adults.  For many students it is an exit point from mathematics.  The inability to grasp the connection between an equation and its graph can mean a student languishes in any but "maths for living" type classes.

Yet there seems to be different reasons why students don't like linear algebra and linear functions.  My top ten suspicions why students don't understand linear topics is listed below.

Mum says its hard
We should not estimate the impact we have as parents.  By placing the kernel that we found it hard, our students will have to face the likelihood that they have the potential to know more than the most respected person in their lives.  It's ok for it to conquer them because it conquered you.  As an adult it really is rather easy to learn!  Before passing on our prejudices, we need to find time to grab a text and figure it out from a worked example.  It will make you feel good and your student will benefit from someone that can help too.  Excel books can be found at booksellers for around $15 and can be a good starting point.

Girls can't do Maths, Boys can't be neat.
BS.  I don't accept this from students and nor should you.  Girls have outperformed boys for many years in mathematics, (esp. up to year 10).  We have to be careful to walk softly when girls start noticing boys and don't want the nerd slur.  Similarly, boys seem to think that sloppy work is acceptable - it's not and they can do better when monitored and prompted.  It also improves their accuracy and notation.

Lack of primary algebra & directed number knowledge
This is not a dig at primary teachers, but it is a dig at the Curriculum Council.  The lack of a syllabus has harmed education in WA and the implementation of OBE failed our students.  In saying that, the CC is trying to make amends with the new courses in senior school and if the do-gooders don't get started again, we may have some reasonable curriculum reform.  The trick will now be to get year 7 out of primary and get students into the hands of specialists in mathematics, whilst upskilling secondary teachers in ways to deal with younger students.

Lack of sufficient practice and connections to context
Many students grasp the major concepts quickly (like finding an equation for two points) but lack scaffolding in their understanding to establish lasting recall.  Those eloquent in eduspeak will know the edubabble for this concept but the idea is sound.   The motivation for this blog entry was a group of year tens currently struggling with remembering how to create a linear equation.  In after school classes we have worked to connect the idea to shooting aliens (with an equation driven gun), distance time graphs, ice cream sales (using tables and difference patterns), intersection points, changing slope, y intercepts and x intercepts over a three week period.  With a solid understanding of linear, extending concepts into quadratics and other functions is considerably simpler.  These simple (but growing in numbers - we're now over 30 students) after school classes are leaving students enthused and ready to work once classes start.

Limited value seen in abstract knowledge
Sadly, many students are unable to see value in abstract algebra in year 10 and this limits their development.  Without rudimentary skills in linear algebra much of the senior courses in mathematics are inaccessible by our students.  A lack of rote learning and a focus on problem solving has reduced the ability of students to value skills based work.

Lack of connection between reward and effort
This is a huge concern not limited to linear algebra. The year 9 C grade standard lists linear algebra requiring fluency by year 9.  If students don't meet this standard - their grade in year 10 will be a D or worse, even if developmentally they are finally able and work hard to understand abstract algebra.  This lack of reward for effort will start to be seen throughout the mathematics course if we (and our regulators) are not careful.

Poor environment to complete assignment work
Many students in low socioeconomic schools do not have home environments conducive to homework.  This is especially prevalent in at risk students.  Schools need to encourage usage of safe areas to complete such work either under punitive (which can be more socially acceptable) or extra curricular environments.

Lack of study
An average student will not gain a lasting understanding linear algebra if they do ten questions and then move to the next topic.  Given that the key concepts need some level of memorisation (how to collect like terms, establishing the equation of a line, the connection between an equation and a plane, creating ordered pairs, plotting them, difference tables etc), students needs to spend some time considering what they know and what they would like to recall freely.

Lack of in class revision
It is a topic that must be revisited over and over again throughout the year until it is as fluent as order of operations or times tables.  It is the next key plank after basic numeracy is established.

A reluctance to start early
We need to ensure that linear algebra is introduced as soon as directed number, fractions and place value beyond thousands is understood.  Those capable of dealing with abstract knowledge need it and we should not delay because heterogeneous classes typically teach to the middle.  We need to challenge ourselves and seek to find when students are capable of starting algebra and find ways to provide opportunities to these students to advance.

There we go.. It's everyone's fault - students, parents, teachers, administration, regulators.  Now let's get out there and fix it!

Developing deeper understanding

Progress maps and outcomes have damaged mathematics in WA. By making distinct learning points without a web of links to outcomes, mathematics in WA has become disjointed and subsequently students lack fluidity between topics.

I doubt this is a new complaint and has been a fault of many attempted curriculum reforms, but it has been exacerbated by a renewed focus on assessment and the lack of credible assessment performed in early years.  In many cases a year 10 student can perform a percentage calculation if (and only if) it is preceded by 10 examples of exactly the same type.  A student can get 80% in their test by teaching study skills for a percentages test and by creating decent notes... but do they have an understanding of proportion and how it applies to percentages?  In many cases they do not.

As a teaching group we have been talking about percentages (as OBE pushed many decimal concepts into high school and they are now being pushed back by national curriculum). It is important to learn how to teach it more proficiently in lower school and to our lower ability upper school students.  One of the more successful ways we have encountered is to use relationships with ratios.

Problem: Find 50% of 50.

Using a ratios approach
100% of an object is 50
50% of an object is x

To get from 100% to 50% we have to divide by two (100% ÷ 50% = 2)

100% ÷ 2 = 50%
thus to stay in proportion
50 ÷ 2 = 25


Using a paper strip it is easy for students to see the proportions in action.

They can readily see that 50% is between 0 and 50.  It's easy to experiment with a wide variety to proportions and it readily extends to percentages greater than 100%, percentage increase, percentage decrease, finding percentages given two amounts and negative percentages.


Using a formulaic approach
Take the percentage, divide by 100 and multiply by the amount.
or
Take the amount, divide by 100 and multiply by the percentage.

I know which of the two approaches is quicker and easier to teach.. but to extend the formulaic approach to other types of problems requires new sets of rules to remember and apply.  Without a basis of understanding it becomes difficult to know which formula to apply and when to apply it (unless it was proceeded by a worked example - which leads us back to the original concern).


Using ratios and an algebraic approach
x ÷ 50 = 50 ÷ 100  (rewrite ratios as an equation)
x = 50 x 0.5  (multiply both sides by 50)
   = 25

Once students understand some basic algebra and proportion, the solution becomes trivial (as it is for many of us).  Sadly many students today do not reach this level of proficiency.  I'm sure there are other more effective and efficient ways to teach proportion and percentages (and even some that don't use pizzas) but I think my point is fairly obvious.




I think sometimes we can get carried away by the need to meet an outcome and teach the how (as is driven by a packed curriculum) rather than using an exploratory approach that provides students with understanding which can have lasting consequences (often unseen by those that don't teach senior school topics).  I originally saw the paper strip approach (or something similar) done by Keith McNaught at Notre Dame university.  It has stuck with me throughout my teaching.  When I am tempted to get curriculum dot points completed and tested (disregarding deeper understanding), it is always a good reminder of what should be done.

As a final note.. I do believe that nothing replaces practice and students need skills based work that requires rote learning (such as what is done with the formulaic approach).  Which means as teachers we have to get better at providing pathways through the why (such as via the ratio method and with formal proofs) into the how (such as with formulaic approaches) and then making connections to other techniques (as seen with the algebraic approach) - always remembering that students shouldn't have to re-invent wheels which in many cases took millenia to form.

Review of material written

Well, one thing was obvious.. the 3A MAS kids aren't quite at the level expected yet.  We barely reached unit vectors which meant that we didn't get to the meat of the topic.  This was a shame as the helicopter example is a great example of how vector topics fit together.   It has indicated next time I need to go a bit further backward and put a few more examples in for unit vectors.  We also need to look at the difference between adding and finding the difference between two vectors.  Possibly also looking at examples of each in action. Easy fixed.  The year 9's and 10's were comfortable with Linear functions and could use difference tables capably according to the tutor, if anything the work was a bit easy!  This is good news and unexpected! 

Unfortunately the 2C finance EPW was as expected and underlines that the group is a bit weak.. the students stopped after they thought they had learned something, which meant that they didn't get to the meat of the assignment (rookie mistake!).  I think in more than a few cases social life and sporting interests come first.   One student had done the work.. the rest were a bit of a shambles.   My feeling is that the EPW is right, we should be able to make an assumption that year 10's have done compound and reducible interest and (with a bit of revision on their own) should be able to answer reducible interest problems with a calculator.  One in the 80's, a couple of high forties and that's about it.  Very disappointing result but hardly surprising given the incomplete take home sections.  Hopefully what they have done will help them understand it properly when the topic arrives.  These are students entering 3A and they can't be spoonfed and expect to do well.