In a recent class there was a timetable mix up so many students were late. There was a component of the class that involved numeracy. Many students struggled with this whilst others found it quite easy and the class became talkative and off task. Students who finished early would have been bored and therefore talked and students who couldn’t understand may have got confused and therefore talked.
On reflection I can see there are ways I could have taught it better. Next time I will need to slow down and dedicate more time to that part of the lesson and not rush to get through the planned content. I will have to use more repetition of concepts and processes and go through more worked examples. I will have to find some engaging real world examples and use students’ data as an example.
A technique that I could try would be the folded line. The students would line up in order of how competent they feel they are after they have attempted the first activity. I would then fold the two ends of the line together bringing the most competent and the least competent students together. The students could then work in pairs to complete further exercises thereby utilising the expertise of the more ‘competent student’ to help the student who is struggling.
The students who finished early would have a task to carry on with and the students who were struggling would have a tutor. Hopefully the talking in class would then remain on task and we would get a better result.
Some of the students appeared to have the preconception that they wouldn’t be able to complete the numeracy aspect of the task before they even saw it. Samson, a colleague from a different department who teaches Maths told us he took over a class that was struggling and underachieving. He told them that he expects that they all will pass if they do what he tells them. He found that his expectations have positively changed the results his students are obtaining. Next time this is a technique I could also use.
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