Week 25 - Act on your plan (Taking Action)

The action plan - Week 1 

How can the use of robotics and learning with collaborative groups, be used to promote student engagement and have a positive impact on mathematical outcomes?

• Inform senior management during a team meeting before school starts back
• We will inform students 
• Parents - newsletters 1:1 
• Student baseline data - number knowledge test

So far I have informed the senior management team during our team planning meeting prior to school starting. I have explained to the students that I am doing some research and I have collected baseline data through a number knowledge test which has been marked and shared with the students so they know what their starting point is, which relates to Tino Rangatiratanga - which enables students to know what their starting point is and what their next steps are. 
I have highlighted in green the questions they got incorrect and pink the questions they got correct to reinforce this concept.

What I have not done is inform the parents. I will endeavour to do this by the end of this week through the weekly newsletter as well as an individualised letter to the parents of the specific children I am targeting. 
I am also meeting with parents next Wednesday at Meet the Teacher evening. I will target specific parents to talk to about my research project. 

Step 2: Reflect on the actions

• How do you feel about the actions you have taken? 
• I feel that the management team is excited about the area that I have chosen - robotics and maths and improving student outcomes as it is a school wide goal. The students seemed indifferent about the idea of the research. I think this is because I haven't built a relationship with them. I also feel disappointed that I have overlooked informing the parents as whanau is such an important aspect. Katoa website

• What works as expectation and what doesn’t? And why? Building student/teacher relationships should be my first priority. (Ministry of Education, 2014)  I would normally never give students a math test in the first week of school. I would wait until I have built a relationship with the students and I know the students feel comfortable and safe in their environment. As a result collecting marking and analysing the baseline data has taken a lot longer to do than first thought. 
• I started with the first lesson using Beebots and discovered that 4 of them don't work and some of the batteries are flat and need replacing. Out of the 10 Beebots only half of them worked. So I had to rotate the groups which gave each group less play time to learn how to use the robot. 
• What should be done differently? How would you justify this? In the action plan when informing the parents I discussed using meet the teacher evening, newsletters and parent interviews as a way to communicate with parents, however on reflection I feel it would be more personal and build better relationships if I was to write a letter to each parent and discuss their child as an individual rather than as a member of a group. It is also a good way of getting to know the parents on a more personal level. I will also invite the parents in to have an informal chat regarding their child's progress and the process they are going through. Katoa website

Step 3: 
Looking at the Spiral of Inquiry and my original 'Hunch' I still believe that I can improve student outcomes in maths using robotics, however I feel it will take longer than the course dates to achieve and I will need to continue long after MindLab has finished to see real improvement. I also need to build relationships with my students as well as parent/whanau throughout each phase of the spiral of inquiry.

Ministry of Education. (2014, April 18). Setting the direction. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Reviewing-your-curriculum/Setting-the-direction/Know-your-learners

Kaupapa Māori Research [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori