Monday, December 27, 2021
'Merit based' in DOE, permanency and retirement
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Boardgame update 2022
Each year I go through the successes in my boardgame collection with students at school. This will support the majority of students in a high school and most classes that I have introduced them to. If you were looking to set up a boardgame collection for a library or department, you wouldn't go far wrong.
None have a huge ruleset and can be self taught by most groups (other than the adult ones at the bottom).
Dexterity Games
* Rhino Hero
* Tumbling Dice
* Looping Louie
Hamsterrolle
Klask
Puzzle Games
* Blockus
* SET
Kaleioscope
Turing Tumble
Strategy
Connect4
* Santorini
For Sale
Social/Party
* Anomia
Murder in Hong Kong
* Spot it / Dobble
Spicy
Spyfall
** Crappy birthday
Uggtect
* Uno
Cooperative
* 5 Minute Marvel
Traditional Board/Card Games
Citadels
Ticket to ride
Elfenland
Games most played with adults in 2022
Gloomhaven
Darksouls
Warhammer Killteam
D&D
Imperial Assault
Indonesia
Space Hulk
Staff often ask me how I hear about games and where I get them from. Stand up and sit down on youtube is a great channel for board game information, as is the hottest list on boardgamegeek.com. Student favourites are marked with a *. The favourite by far marked with **.
Most games can be bought locally in Perth from Tactics or Gamesworld at a premium. Harder to find games can be found from Milsims.com.au in Melbourne, Amazon online or sometimes Gamesempire.com.au.
Thursday, December 2, 2021
Changes in 2022 and beyond in Upper School Mathematics
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Maths as a Mixed Martial art
Entering a Year 7 classroom can be quite daunting for a student. I'm reading a few dystopian dramas and imagined a parallel universe with traditional classes mixed with mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts - a child entering a high school classroom for the first time. It's all a bit dramatic but typical of my sense of humour.
“Jonny enters the Octagon being unable to count the sides, knowing
that he is about to take a beating. He
hasn’t done the work required to be at this level. Every previous outing he has failed. He seeks
to distract his opponent by avoiding work set, breaking the rules and getting
thrown out before his lack of competence can be identified and ridiculed. Against all odds he attempts to answer the
first question and it beats him to a pulp.”
“Mary enters the Octagon full of confidence. She struts around the room announcing to
everyone how this is too easy, she has the answer for every problem, being well
prepared through her summer programme and her University educated parents. She sees others in the room similarly
confident – is she really the best in the room anymore? Her confidence
falls. Her first answer is wrong and now
she is no longer the no.1 contender.”
“Harry walks into the Octagon. He has worked hard but never found the
success that warrants the work that he has put in. Every step forward is difficult and he envies
those that make it easy. He timidly lifts
his hand to give an answer. He is
ignored for a student that is actively seeking to give theirs. His answer is correct but nobody knows. He fails again.”
“Jill enters and listens to the instruction before the match. She has heard it all before and could recite
it before it is said. She drifts off and
starts thinking about fairies and unicorns.
The match starts, the test given and it is all over in a moment. She has defeated each question and can return
to the unicorns, with no idea of what she is capable of.”
“The teacher stands in the middle of the ring again as
referee, coach, mentor, instructor. Full
of enthusiasm at the start, waning over the course of the match as the level of
focus required and the challenges faced start to wear her down. Will she do a good job or will the
commentators attack her for not being all that is required?”
“The crowd stand on the edge of the ring, each encouraging
their contender despite all odds. Every parent
is different – some on phones watching Netflix, others actively denouncing the
referee despite all evidence, others taking notes of what needs to be done in
the next match, others confused unable to comprehend what is happening.”
In hindsight after writing this in the shoes of each participant, I realised learning should not be treated as a combat sport but often has elements of it. I think I traumatised some of my staff when I read it to them. We need to be mindful
of what we are expecting of students, making it into something that is wonderful to experience and not what is written above.
Friday, October 22, 2021
Long term improvement in Mathematics classes through an evidence based approach.
The health of a faculty can be measured in a number of ways:
- Student Behaviour
- Staff Morale
- Student Achievement / Student Progress
- Engagement
Measuring these is a complex and time consuming task.
- Student Behaviour (no. of behaviour reports)
- Staff and Community Perception (perception surveys, anecdotal evidence)
- Student Achievement / Student Progress (student class results, standardised testing)
- Engagement (student perception, participation rates, student success)
Each term, we focus on one of the measures and identify where focus areas are, possible measures for improvement and where success has been found. Currently we are working on engagement in classrooms. The chosen metric is success that a student is experiencing.
For instance, a class with an average of 50 under assessment conditions has half of the students in the class feeling unsuccessful as they have not been able to complete half of the assessment set. Given that 50% is a common indicator of where minimum performance is expected, it is a fair indicator that engagement rates are poor and/or declining.
To drive improvement and increase engagement, a target of 85% of students achieving at least 50% on assessment tasks was set for the team. Classes and teachers reaching this target were identified and then examined for practices that could be developed across the team.
Eyebrows were raised that such a high percentage was set as the target off a relatively low base. Students entering high school experience success in Year 7 & 8, as work becomes more difficult and adolescence in Year 9, engagement can fall if not attended to and then lead to Senior school where students are placed in courses doing work predominantly covered in Years 7-10 and engagement rates rise. Achievement of WACE is a siginificant motivator for staff and students given it is a highly monitored metric.
The forgotten middle is another area to target as often high achieving (and motivated) students and low ability students are given additional attention. Students at a C level are often banded together and reinforce average performance with lower expectations (and subsequent class averages) experienced. By encouraging higher levels of success (by increasing expectation and modifying grade cutoffs/assessment difficulty) it is hypothesized that higher overall achievement can be achieved (a concept at the heart of pathway grades in public schools).
Classes averages of 65, with SD of 12 indicate success levels commonly experienced in Methods and Specialist classes. Averages of 60 with SD of 10 indicate levels similar to Applications classes. Low SD indicate that assessments or instruction may be too narrow and skills based, pedagogy change may be required, wider may indicate that sections of the class require additional attention. Both cases may indicate that streaming processes need review.
Given 85% of students achieving passing grades is difficult to achieve, it requires attention at a student level, analysing individual student performance/underperformance, how it can be measured and how it can be improved. This can be done vs standardised testing or class averages longitudinally by teachers to identify students that require additional attention.
Where students experience legitimate, well explained succcess, senior school Mathematics participation, retention in courses and course achievement should improve. The cycle of improvement is long, with 5-7 years to see significant change in results and culture of achievement. Short term gains at a year or class level need to be celebrated to maintain the focus on improvement.
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Nearly end of term
It's nearly end of Term 3. Time to thank everyone that has helped get this far.
Students that are looking forward to the holidays but are tired and ratty.
Teachers that are dragging their feet into work and are looking forward to the recharge that is coming.
Principals and admin that are dealing with all the complaints and grizzlies that are occurring.
Student services that are just trying to hold it all together.
It's not a nice time but if we are all understanding we can make the most of it. Not everything that happens in the next few days will be rational - put decisions off, understand that people can be emotional and these next few days will be fairly painless.
Get the last bit of content and marking done and we are on our way.
Sunday, September 12, 2021
High School Board Games 2021 edition
My most recent plastic box filled with boardgames in the high school classroom (in no order):
Anomia (party) - 4 players
For Sale (auction) - 6-8 players
Citadels (strategy) - 6 players
Hamsterrolle (dexterity) - 4 players
Five Minute Marvel (action) - 4 players
Dixit (party/deduction) - 6-8 players
Rhino Hero (dexterity) - 4 players
Turing Tumble (problem solving) - 1 player
Murder in Hong Kong (deduction) - 6 players
Santorini (strategy) - 4 players
SET (trick taking) - 6-8 players
Blockus (abstract) - 4 players
With the exception of Hamsterrolle (out of print) and Turing tumble (expensive), they are all usually readily available, most fairly cheaply. I try and keep 6-8 games going concurrently thus it is important to have games of 6-8+ players for larger classes.
All can be taught or learned from the instructions, played and packed up in less than an hour. I have a second box of different games I use for younger or less mature classes.
Previous success has been found with but have been replaced by the games above:
Ticket to Ride (trick taking)
Carcassonne (tiles)
Coup/Resistance/Avalon (strategy)
Spyfall (deduction)
Apples to Apples (party)
Kingdomino (tiles)
Splendor (strategy)
7 Wonders (strategy)
Love Letter (strategy)
Pitchcar (dexterity)
Lupus in Tabula/Werewolf (party)
Azul (tiles/strategy)
Dominion (deckbuilding)
Machi Koro (dice)
There are many games I enjoy more, but won't work within the hour constraint common in a school period.
Friday, September 10, 2021
Support vs intervention
Mainstream and extension classes are able to access the year level curriculum as set by the Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). Some students for a range of reasons are unable to access this curriculum. To assist them requires a level of differentiation either through ongoing additional support or intervention.
Reasons for requiring differentiation are extensive. Gaps in conceptual understanding happen for many reasons - illness, teaching quality, taking holidays during term, sporting commitments, lack of ability, mental health, lack of cultural support, lack of confidence, peer conflict, family conflict.
Whether a child requires ongoing additional support or intervention requires careful analysis to see if it is feasible to bridge the student back to the year level curriculum or if they will require ongoing additional support throughout schooling.
Support classes acknowledge that students are unlikely to access the year level curriculum and are typically assessed against what they can do through procedures such as SEN reporting. This allows the student to achieve success in the classroom and promotes engagement. Parents need to be informed and on board with the decision if students are moved to supported environments. It is not a decision that can be made lightly.
Intervention is different, is less frequently done during normal classroom time and typically done through tutoring and outside of the classroom. When done in the classroom, interventions are measures introduced that assist students learn the behaviours and techniques known by mainstream students whilst preventing the student from falling further behind. This means that students that are behind, have to work harder in class than students on syllabus, to catch up, something difficult to achieve with struggling students. EALD students and highly motivated students are groups where catchup is possible, particularly where literacy is the inhibitor.
Streams encounter the issues solved through intervention frequently as behaviours required in higher streams need to be taught to students in lower streams to increase the chances of success prior to transition. Where this is not done effectively, students are less likely to find success in classes that they are moved to and transition takes longer to achieve. Typically intervention during transition is required in the form of encouragement, academic assistance and peer alignment to bridge students to the requirements of the new stream.