Running out of time!

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This term I've been trying out my maths intervention. I have been using more materials/ songs etc. - a variety of modes of content and different teaching practices. This has been targeted specifically at my groups operating at level 1 and 2 of the curriculum.

It has been hard work.  The gaps of my learners are very broad, so while they are technically around the same level, they have different strengths and weaknesses. I think having the span of level 1 - 5 has been a little too much to cater for effectively - I take my hat off to teachers in rural schools who have this span. I expect you would get accustomed to it, but also I think a smaller class (less than 29) would help greatly!

The activities have definitely paid off - I can see how teaching using multi-modal offline/online experiences is especially important when learning the initial maths concepts. However, I think it's quite engaging for all learners, even those working well above. The problem lies with the time it takes to plan various activities for such a diverse class - it's not really feasible for a large/varied class like mine. If I didn't have release time to work on my inquiry it realistically wouldn't happen very often, or I'd only be able to cater for a few students.

I think if I had more time, at this point I would pivot my intervention again. I would create three workshops a day tailored to different skills with some 'must do' activities related to the workshop and then some optional activities that cover a wider range of concepts - e.g. basic facts practice, maintenance of skills learned previously etc. I would also work on getting the students to recognise their own strengths/ next steps so that they could effectively select tasks and workshops.

Frustratingly, this is very similar to the intervention I came up with in 2017. I was reluctant to go back to this as I felt I could add more elements to it and wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone more. In hindsight I should have just started by unpacking this intervention (from my dissertation that was fully researched and had expert help with) and following it before adapting/ adding new elements. 

I think this has been a good piece of learning for me though - sometimes we learn more from our failures and by pushing ourselves. I have a lot clearer picture of what I would do were I setting up a class from scratch in 2024. Instead, I will be on maternity leave, which will also be an educational experience as I learn from my number obsessed toddler!

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