
This overarching question helps us to inquire through a spiral of enquiry, Stoll, L., and Temperley, J. (2015):
- “What’s going on for learners?”
- “How do we Know”
- "Why does this matter”
Figure 3: Rolfe’s Model of Reflection (Otago Polytechnic, n.d.)
Our school goal was to increase the student’s engagement and achievement in mathematics. On reflection, the initial actual impact did not affect my target group of students which was the intended outcome, however it did improve learning outcomes for most of the class. We changed the ‘Take Action’ plan to close this gap by adding in buddy helpers. Stoll, L., and Temperley, J. (2015).
The evidence from the ‘Take Action’ phase shows that this peer-to-peer learning has proven by the formative data assessments to show progress by students achieving their specific learning outcomes after two weeks, from daily practice and tutoring with their peers and being able to progress onto the next learning outcome in mathematics.
It was also anticipated that teachers would work more collaboratively together and while it is still a work in progress, small groups of staff have been working more closely together in groups of two or three on their respective levels.
The impact of this on future inquiry practice would be to consider the impact of mixed ability groups on student engagement and achievement to see if a more informal process of peer-to-peer tutoring would close the gap between the intended and the actual outcome.
Future focused questions around teachers as stakeholders from, Table 1: Questions for further discussion on Spiral Inquiry (Adapted from Stoll and Temperley (2015)).
“Are there other teachers in your school that you could work with on future Inquiry? How would you get others on board?”
I will continue to work with my two colleagues and continue to build working relationships with other teachers across the school that could strengthen my own teaching practices.
Please comment below if you have had any success with mixed group abilities.
References
Halbert, J., Kaser, L., & Koehn, D. (2011). Spirals of Inquiry: Building Professional Inquiry to Foster Student Learning. Paper presented at 24th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Limassol, Cyprus. Retrieved from:
http://www.icsei.net/icsei2011/Full%20Papers/0053.pdf
Ministry of Education (n.d.). Primary school teachers use maths assessment to increase student agency. Retrieved from:
http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Snapshots-of-Learning/Spirals-of-inquiry-Maths-assessment
Ministry of Education (n.d.). Stories from the field. Retrieved from:
http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-learning/Spiral-of-inquiry-leaders-leading-learning/Stories-from-the-field
Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from:
https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf
Stoll, L., and Temperley, J. (2015). Narrowing the Gap with Spirals of Enquiry: Evaluation of Whole Education’s Pilot. Whole Education, UK. Retrieved from:
http://thesendhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/narrowing-the-gap-with-spirals-of-enquiry.pdf