When students fall behind in mathematics, it can be difficult to know what to do.
This two-day course for primary teachers and secondary mathematics teachers focuses on evidence-based approaches for intervention in mathematics.
Involving students from the very start, it begins with a live lesson in which Tierney Kennedy diagnoses and fixes misconceptions in key number concepts using conceptual-change questioning. Teachers analyse both the understanding of the students and the questioning techniques employed before trialling the approach in real classrooms on the second day.
This course includes the following sessions and follow-up:
Session 1: Considering our current approaches
- What makes maths great?
- How does that align with our current intervention approach?
- What approaches are commonly used for intervention and what is the evidence for them? (withdrawal and small group tutoring, in class support, TAs, streaming, DI/Mastery)
- Effective use of EAs for intervention
- Introducing highly effective practices that are easy to implement. The following strategies are included: Formative assessment (adds 8 months), feedback (adds 8 months, but most effective student-teacher and with cognitive rather than emotional response), interleaving (increases retention by 60%), metacognitive strategies (adds 6-7 months), peer tutoring (adds 5 months)
- Identifying whether the underlying difficulty lies with fluency or understanding
- Introducing conceptual change and challenge as an effective approach (adds 12-18 months)
- Start with a challenge – formative assessment for identifying alternative conceptions and misconceptions
- Enabling prompts or lifelines as needed – maintain the challenge
- Conceptual change questioning to trial a student’s idea and help them realise that they are wrong, leading to cognitive conflict and changing mind
- Leave with an unanswered question to promote thinking outside of class
Session 2: Demonstration of challenge + conceptual change lesson
- Demonstration lesson for an hour, then debrief
- Observe the questioning
- Observe the misconceptions
- Observe the class culture: praise, risk taking, persistence and engagement
Session 3: Developmental sequencing and big ideas
- Five key concepts in number, simple diagnostic testing and sequencing
- Overall impressions can be gathered quickly as it is about an intuitive response
- Profile one student observed in the lesson: what do they understand / not understand?
- Developmental stages and sequencing of content
Session 4: Conceptual change questioning
- Deconstructing questioning and instructions sequence for a student from yesterday with a misconception, or use of video showing conceptual change questioning in Year 4 lesson.
- Question sequences (derived from Kennedy, 2019):
- Ok, let’s try it and see” – no harm for top students to test out wrong ideas
- Repeat their statement as a question
- Comparison and judgement ideas
- Try their idea – “Did it work?” Exaggerate their idea – “Did it work?” “Do you think it will work this time if you try the same thing?”
- Look for cognitive conflict. If none, check earlier concepts. If evidence of conflict, ask “Does that look right to you? Which bit looks funny? How come?”, then instruct them to try again
- Ask students to explain why they changed their minds – prove it wrong
Session 5: Profiling my students
- Listing names of students in our class from memory. Who did we forget and why? Common ways that students “hide” from teachers or avoid being noticed.
- Risk factors and profiling of specific students requiring intervention
- Strategies for mitigating risks – success criteria, learning intentions and surprise
Session 6: Measuring the impact and implementing change in your school
- Teacher beliefs, practice and results
- Effect size – what it tells you and what it doesn’t. Why effect size of 0.4 is not a year of growth – use University of Buffalo calculator to convert to years of gain for age group and subject.
- Analysing your school data
- What to work on first: setting priorities as a school
- Explaining follow up procedures
Follow up and mentoring
- Follow up email at 3 and 6 months to prompt teachers to ask their questions and provide advice. Unlimited phone and email mentoring for 12 months
- Option for feedback on improvement data after 3 months
- Inclusion in an online mentoring group to encourage questions and discussion for 12 months.
- 12 month access to 7 pre-recorded webinar videos on:
- Staff buy-in
- Getting the Balance Right
- Student Profiling
- When Student Plateau
- Questioning Techniques
- Appropriate Intervention
- Dealing with Data
Scroll to the bottom of the page to register
Attendee information will be collected during the checkout process
Cost: $550
Early Bird Pricing – $520
Includes:
Catering, training manual, training materials to use with your own staff,
your choice of 2 x Interventions books,
PLUS follow up and mentoring
