How do my students know what they are learning in Mathematics

This term I have changed up maths in my class to make it more realistic for my students. I have given each student a copy of the Numeracy progressions for Geometry (What we are focussing on) and have got them each to identify what they are able to do. This actually took a lot longer than I thought as some students we very careful about what they put. Once they identified their gaps, I then put on some workshops for what I thought were gaps in their learning. This was working okay, but I wanted to see what I could do better and how I could make maths more engaging.

Thus I decided to get students to give me workshop topics on a Friday about what they needed run. As a class we then select four options, and then the students sign up to these. I have seen a real growth in the few weeks I have been doing this. Students are relating back to their Numeracy Progressions and really thinking about what their next steps are, and what they need to work on. Some students are signing up to more than one workshop and are very engaged when they come.

By getting students to select on a Friday what they need workshops run on, means that I have the weekend to plan for maths, and can start Monday running. Maths classes have a real buzz, and students are engaged with their learning.

Currently my maths programme is Monday - Thursday Workshops and activities and Friday is whole class problem solving. In whole class problem solving students are put into mixed ability grouping and given a level 4 problem from the NZ Maths website.

Next Steps: Start getting the students to design their activities when they are not with me, currently I assign work that they need to do. I am going to start looking at Number Strand, and run workshops on Geometry. I would also like students that are more confident to start running workshops too.