- ZAPPAR -

What do your students do when they are ‘stuck’ with their learning in Mathematics?

We ‘ZAP IT’!! 

We are so excited to be using this new and innovative approach in our classrooms. Using ZapWorks Studio we have created video tutorials and step-by-step instructions to model problem solving strategies in math. 

The idea came about when I was reflecting on my math teaching practice. I began thinking about the structure of my math lessons: after explicit teaching and modelling of a concept and/or strategy as a whole class students disperse to complete independent, partner or group activities for problem solving. It is during this time teachers I aim to work with a teacher focus group that targets individual needs…key word AIM! Mathematics and problem solving can be challenging and requires lots of hands on materials, modelling and repetition. As a classroom teacher and Math Leader, I am aware of the difficulties in being able to work with different students each day. After whole class teaching some/most students need to be brought back to the floor to be guided through their problem solving as there are sooooo many steps to remember when applying most math strategies. The teacher often models the same whole class teaching at the beginning of the lesson to those students who need extra support (which means we sometimes never get to the children who need extending). Modelling of the same strategy is repeated and repeated to enable students to continue building an understanding of the strategy and the confidence required to apply these strategies in problem solving tasks independently. This then stops the teacher from being able to complete teacher focus groups targeting individual student needs.

BUT…what if you had that exact tutorial that you model over and over again using hands on materials filmed and readily available for your students at the drop of a ZAP! 

Using ZapWorks we have created Zap Codes for specific strategies to be laminated and put up on Math Walls in classrooms. Each Zap Code has widgets with videos and steps to problem solving strategies. 

If students require extra support or modelling of the strategy that has been taught that lesson (or previous lessons) they simply ZAP it with their iPad device and take it back to their work station to watch the tutorials and use the step-by-step instructions provided on the Widget.

This is not a new learning approach for children of this generation. These children are already You-Tubing video tutorials to learn how enhance their Minecraft worlds and characters or learn to draw their favourite animals or to learn a new gymnastic trick. 

Children know how to watch a video, pause, complete a step and then continue watching again to learn the next step in the sequence. This is 21st century learning. Our new approach allows teachers to conduct a teacher focus group targeting student needs then roam the room and intervene or extend where needed and where possible! 

Feedback from the students that have used the app say:

“Wow that looks so cool” - engagement 

“I felt confident because if I forgot a step I could watch the video again” -empowerment 

“After the 2 digit video I watched the 3 digit one to challenge myself” - extension 

“I liked it because I didn’t have to wait for my teacher if I needed help” - independence

“I was away yesterday so the video helped me catch up on what I missed” - no student left behind!

Communicating with Digital Technologies!

This term we are learning about Indigenous Australians. Today, the children were immersed into an exploration of Aboriginal artefacts, books, symbols, pictures and more. The children we encouraged to generate questions or wonderings about what they saw. We shared our wonderings through a digital platform called Padlet.

As the teacher I created the Padlet platform. The students then logged on with their iPads and began to use this to communicate their wonderings. They explored the objects around the classroom and took photos and typed in their questions. These are then loaded onto our Padlet webpage and projected onto our Smartboard like a ‘news feed’. 

At the end of the lesson we sat together as a class and read through our class wonderings. We now have a record of the students questions to drive our Inquiry unit. 

Making the Writing Process Concrete!

If you teach writing and you haven’t read the ‘6 + 1 Traits of Writing’ do yourself a favour and get reading! This concept gives teachers, students and parents a platform and universal language to talk about writing. It helps to break writing down into parts and gives a success criteria to creating an amazing writing piece EVERY TIME!

Beginning the year with making the writing process concrete is crucial and this activity is such a fun way to do just that!

Today we explored the stages of the writing process through PLAY DOH! This lesson is inspired from the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing - my bible for teaching writing!

The children were asked to ‘create something’ with the play doh. As the children brainstormed their ideas and how they were going to create their work piece we connected this with the PLANNING stage!

Next, the children began creating their piece with just one colour. Just like writing your first rough DRAFT with greyed pencil. It’s not pretty or perfect…YET!

Then, the children were invited to think about REVISING their work! Think: ’READ’ Rearrange, Exchange, Add and Delete! They swapped colours, added more detail, took away parts they didn’t like.

After that, it was time to polish off our creations! Get rid of any unwanted pieces and clean our work spaces. This is the EDITING stage!

Before the final stage, the children gave feedback to each other as well as myself. This is the CONFERENCING stage. Any last minute changes (based on the feedback) were made. 

Finally, it was time to PUBLISH! The children came up with a title for their creation and a sentence or words to describe their final piece. They had so much fun!

To demonstrate what they had learnt about the writing process through their play doh creation, the children completed a sequencing activity (created by myself) to show the correct stages of the writing process and write a few words about what happens during this stage. 

I have posters up on the wall in my classroom (shown in this blog) which are used by the students to signal which stage they are up to in the writing process. 

Now that we understand the stages, we are now ready to become real authors and go through the writing process to create our first written piece in Grade Two!

The Learning Pit

This year my students in Grade Two have been developing their understanding of 'The Learning Pit'.

Over the year I have created a giant wall display of a learning pit and captured actual thoughts and feelings of the children as they experience being 'in the pit'. I took their photo as they staged out an action to show what stage of the learning they were in. The children absolutely LOVE this display! They get so excited when they see their picture and experience on show and how they have used strategies to conquered the pit! This wall display has enabled my students to deepen their understandings of The Learning Pit and how to get 'out of the pit' based on real life experiences.

The Learning Pit is not a real pit. It is an idea about facing a learning challenge. It is important for students to understand that learning is challenging and if it is not challenging then you are not learning. My students now understand that you go through stages in the pit and will experience mixed emotions and that is normal. Through their understanding of The Learning Pit, my students have developed a range of strategies to get themselves out of the pit which in turn has enabled them to develop the skills to become independent and capable learners.

In my classroom the children use the 'Cups Feedback Strategy' to provide feedback to their teacher and peers on how they are going with their learning. This is a non speaking system which students can communicate and provide feedback on where they are in The Learning Pit. Each student has three cups; one green, yellow and red cup. The children keep their cups on their table and change the colour to signal how they are going with each learning activity.

• If a student is on green cup this means they are confident in their learning, they know what they are doing and they can teach others
• If a student is on yellow cup this means that they are heading down the pit or facing a challenging part of the activity. At this point the children begin a trial and error phase whilst working through a range of strategies to achieve the learning and get themselves 'out-of-the-pit'. When a yellow cup student needs help they may ask a green cup student for assistance.
• When a student is on red cup this means they are STUCK! Red cup means the student has tried all the strategies they know, used resources around the room, asked three green cup students and still not able to achieve the learning activity/success criteria. This signals for the teacher that this student needs the teachers help urgently.

We spend a great deal of time reflecting on our learning in my classroom. The students use a range of self and peer assessment tools (success criteria, rubrics, error clusters and more) to identify what they are doing well and what areas they need to improve on. My students set learning goals, identify their strengths and the strengths of their peers and use their knowledge and skill set to teach one another and learn from one another whilst all progressing together.

I use our classroom 'Learning Pit' display as a teaching tool for when children are facing a learning challenge. The students' documented experiences highlight that we all go into the pit at some point, we all feel mixed emotions and that there are many ways we can get ourselves out of the pit. I often encourage children to go to The Learning Pit display to identify what strategies other children used to conquer the learning pit so they can try those strategies too.

Together we made a 'language experience' book (which the students illustrated) to further educate the children about the concept of 'The Learning Pit' and continue to expose them to a universal language to talk about how they are going with their learning and what they do when they are stuck. Each child has a chance to take the book home for the night and read it with their family. This enables parents to stay in touch with what they children are doing at school.

If you are interested in reading the book, follow this link to download it for free!
The Learning Pit
Written by Miss McVeigh and Grade Two Blue


We also made a language experience book about our 'Cups Feedback Strategy'!

The concept of 'The Learning Pit' has helped my students connect this with their knowledge of growth mindsets and assisted them in becoming visible learners!!

Here are some close ups of the children's experiences in The Learning Pit: