(MA) Strategy 3 - Collaborative Student Conversations about Writing by DZPS

Consider the following areas:

dzpsofficial — 2021-06-15 06:27:15 UTC

- Nature of task

- Grouping

- Time

- Scaffolding required e.g. success criteria

- Monitoring (assessment and feedback)

- Student profile and differentiation

Edwin

dzpsofficial — 2021-06-21 03:45:47 UTC

The nature of task needs to be more open-ended, meaning to say that it must be one that allows productive academic discussion to take place among students in the group. Each group should consist no more than 4 students so as to allow student voices to be heard within the group. The time taken should be sufficient; there should be enough time for discussion, for the scribe to jot down the corrected response or answer as well as for the checker to finalize the group's answer. In terms of student profile and differentiation, depending on the task required, there could be a mix of students of different ability levels within a group so that students can leverage on each other's strengths and weaknesses when completing the task at hand.

Edwin

dzpsofficial — 2021-06-21 03:49:52 UTC

This strategy could be applied in the classroom across all subjects (core and non-core) or over Zoom during Home-Based Learning. For this strategy to be executed in the classroom, teachers will need to bear in mind the prevailing SMM that is to be put in place for collaborative student conversations about writing to take place in a safe and secure learning environment.

Humairah

2021-06-21 10:44:43 UTC

The nature of the task needs to be open-ended enough so that students have room to discuss with one another. There should be no more than 4 students in each group, so that each student has the opportunity to voice their opinions. For this strategy to be successful, it is important for the students to know how to raise their ideas in a respectful manner and how to engage in a productive academic discussion - this is especially so for lower to middle block students. The teacher can do this by modelling the way and providing some examples. It would also be good to have a few trial runs with the students and teacher should monitor and give students feedback.

Humairah

2021-06-21 10:46:22 UTC

This strategy can be applied for topics or questions that requires the use of problem solving skills. It could also be applied for topics or questions that involves multiple different answers.

Aidah

2021-06-23 16:56:32 UTC

This strategy could be applied across all subjects especially topics that require varied answers and reasoning to take place.

Aidah

2021-06-23 16:59:34 UTC

Nature of task:
More open-ended to engage the pupils in productive academic discussions.
Grouping:
Definitely not more than 4 pupils in a group. Else, there will be free rider(s).

Time:
Sufficient time/periods need to be planned carefully to achieve a productive academic discussions that will meet the success criteria eventually (not to digress).

Scaffolding required:

With given time (hopefully), establishing routines (expectation, sentence starter, questioning, checklist etc) are needed to model the way and guide them through the process of PAD especially.

Ananthy

Ananthy_leo31 — 2021-06-24 03:45:46 UTC

This can be a good idea for use when we get students to discuss over answers that has weak examples. Students can be placed in a group. During discussion, the weaker students can be taught by the better students in pointing out the errors and build on the existing answer to make it better.

Iris

2021-06-24 04:53:54 UTC

Nature of task:
Questions need to be open-ended to allow students to discuss.

Grouping:
Small size (< 4) to ensure that every member has the chance to share. Need careful considerations on grouping. Higher progress students will tend to dominate discussions.

Time:
Sufficient time needs to be allocated to ensure a productive academic discussions.

Scaffolding required:
Teachers need to guide students at the initial stage through the use of effective questioning to ensure that productive academic discussions can take place .For lower progress students or students who are weak in their language, more scaffolding (e.g. sentence starters) and prompting is required.

Iris

2021-06-24 04:54:39 UTC

LP: getting students to identify and explain errors in their peers work
MP/HP: Word problems, students can work collaboratively to discuss on possible solutions

Keith

dzpsofficial — 2021-06-24 05:18:15 UTC

- Nature of task
AO2 and above type of questions or questions that asks for reasoning instead of a solution.

- Grouping

2-4 max

- Time
More time is needed to ensure PAD especially with weaker students. They might even need to go through I Do, You Do, We Do scaffolding.

- Scaffolding required
Ground rules, helping words, sentence starters, prompting

- Student profile and differentiation
For HP, they need to be challenge and ensure that their discussion stays on course.
For LP, more scaffolding and even examples will be needed.

Keith

dzpsofficial — 2021-06-24 05:23:39 UTC

Error spotting and identification of misconceptions in example.

Providing rationale and reason for choice.

Aidil

2021-09-01 23:21:46 UTC

Nature of task
Nature of task needs to be open-ended for teachers to assess the students' understanding of the concepts taught. More often than not, students focus on the procedural aspects of Math. However, with more open-ended questions, students are able to think conceptually and relate to the procedural aspects of Math. Students will be able to deepen their understanding and apply the knowledge learned through varied questions.

Grouping
Each group should only consist of 4 students for effective exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Scaffolding
Teachers can give prompts for students to draw links and make connections to deepen their understanding.

Group 5

2022-06-23 06:11:54 UTC

HP:

I think this question has 3 students. Caili donated 5 out of 12 so she has 5 parts. Aini and Bala’s share is 3: 11 so the total units of them is 14 units. So Caili’s unit must double.

MP:

3u+11u=14u but that is the remaining 7p. So 14u=7p. So 5p=10u as p is the double of u.

LP:
I cannot catch any thing.

HP:

So I add on to what MP said. 24u -14u =10u. I can actually convert the fraction to ratio so 5/12 = 10/24. Then we can convert this to the ratio of A:B:C = 3: 11: 10

Teacher: Why is there a need to change to 24 units?

LP: How did you get 24?

HP: 5/12 = 10/24, the denominator is 24. Also, the ratio of A:B:C = 3: 11: 10 has a total of 24 units.

MP:

11-10=1

1u=$150

3u=3x$150

LP:

I can read part b.

HP:

We calculated the total units which is 24u , we get 24 from the denominator of the fraction.

So 24u = $150 x 24 = $3600

==
Largely HP student-led; and HP student asked for opinions from MP and LP students. MP and LP students collaborated and contributed where they could to add on; minimal pointers given by Teacher to steer the conversation (only when stuck or students unsure to continue).

(Ma) Group 4

dzpsofficial — 2022-06-23 06:18:35 UTC

Teacher informs students to look through the workings and see if there is any improvement to be made to the workings. LP asks the team to start by annotating the question first, and is supported by the HP that it helps to understand the problem. MP asks how did the student get 10/24 (confused by the working). HP explains to the team what the working means (5/12 is the equivalent of 10/24). Teacher reminds HP to write the workings down so that the team has something to refer to. LP is confused and could only catch the word ‘equivalent’. HP comments that the student has good understanding of the question but needs to show clearly where did the ‘10’ come from. Teacher asks HP for opinion on how to improve the question: show 10/24 = 5/12 (LP struggles with the handwriting of the HP). Why choose 24? Because 3+10+11=24, which is the denominator. HP asks if LP understands. Teacher informs LP to add in: total number of unit = .. to help him in the understanding. HP says that it is important to show that Caili has 5/12 and A+B = 7/12. Total number of units of A and B is 3+11=14. MP agrees and says that the corresponding fraction will thus be 14/24. HP states that 11-10=1 can be clearer.

[MA] Group 6 observation

dzpsofficial — 2022-06-23 06:23:42 UTC

Articulate Thinking: LP not sure what is going on. Everyone is helping each other to understand the respond by the student. MP and HP tends to be more vocal and provide more suggestions. Teacher had to assist when the students were stuck.

Brainstorm ideas: Students mentioned that it is better to use a visual representation.

Discuss choice of language: Students were able to mention that it is important to annotate on the number sentences.

Co-construct the best response: Students tried to use the ‘correct’ content vocabulary by checking with one another.

Evaluate written responses: Not enough time for students to evaluate the responses

Group 5 [MA]

2022-06-23 06:45:03 UTC

Instructions [At the start of the lesson]:
- Teacher will need to state the success criteria of the lesson.
Teacher Talk:
-You are supposed to improve on this solution of the word problem. What is the missing method? What is missing from the working?
- All students are supposed to try and solve the question first (before your group improve on the given solution), you willl have to present your own solution to your group members.
- There can be many ways to solve this word problem: Fraction or Ratio.

Guidelines:
Here are some rules:
1. Everyone has to share.
2. Take turns to share.
3. Ask questions if you do not know or understand. It is alright if you do not know. It is a chance for the rest to learn as you clarify your doubts.
4. Respect one another.

Scaffolding [In the midst of the lesson]:
- You will need to connect between the fraction and the ratio. If total is 12 u, C = 5u, it means A+B should be 7u. But 7u will not tally with the ratio A+B=3u+11u=14u. So what should you do to make them tally?
-When you present your working, you need to ensure clarity of your working and show UNITS in your working clearly. For instance, here is a possible error: 1=$150. Does it make sense?

(Ma) Group 4

dzpsofficial — 2022-06-23 06:48:34 UTC

Teacher:
1)To start the lesson with the success criteria and group norms of the lesson so that the students are clear of what they are expected to do. (either flash the SC in class or have a checklist). PAU- practise recap.
2)Go through the task with the students to clarify any words that they may be struggling with (may hinder understanding when the students are discussing). Can use a wordwall after that: so that the words learnt can be subsequently used for other activities.
3)Organising the oral discussion: Post-its of different colours can be used as a form of annotation (eg. red post-it for students to write down their questions and clarify their doubts, blue: room for improvement). Impt as some students may not be comfortable speaking out their queries/inputs, or may forget what questions they have.
4)Giving concrete manipulatives for visual aids (eg. giving fraction bars. Appeals especially to LP students who may rely more on visual representation) - however, this may be time-consuming so this needs to be taken into account so that students can still meet the SC at the end of the lesson.
5)Guiding questions/prompts can be provided to aid discussion (eg. if you do not understand something, use the red post-it..) - teachers need to anticipate the questions that students may have when attempting the question.
6) Accepting culture in class: Teacher needs to emphasise the point that if students have any questions, they MUST voice out (either verbally or through the post-it, etc)
7)Teacher-modelling: Teacher to demonstrate how the team can discuss using one question before giving them another question to discuss.

MA GROUP 6

2022-06-23 06:51:24 UTC

1. Basic Rules (safe learning environment): No wrong or right questions asked. Be respectful. Take turns to speak.

2. Everyone has to be on task and constructive.

3. Build on peer's suggestions (leverage on response).

4. Discuss using Math vocabulary
- Examples: Equivalent fraction, common denominator.

5. Time management using ABDCE as a guide.

6. Provide sentence starters.

7. Provide questions for each ABDCE stage to scaffold

8. Lower primary scaffolding strategy: - specific questions/steps to guide them at each stage. Certain students may need sentences to start off
- model the way. ICAN (I do we do you do).
- use manipulatives

9. Upper primary:
- grouping of students (mixture of HP, LP, MP)
- Providing opportunity and platform for quieter students to speak up