<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expecting the most \u2013 where we should be aiming with Foundation students.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Generally, in life and in teaching, I reckon you\u2019re better off with having high expectations in<\/p>\n\n\n\n most situations. You can always adjust downwards but starting off with low expectations<\/p>\n\n\n\n and then trying to raise them later is a lot harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to expectations of prep\/foundation students perhaps this anecdote<\/p>\n\n\n\n illustrates a significant part of where I\u2019m coming from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was doing a modelled lesson in a prep classroom. I always ask what topic the teacher<\/p>\n\n\n\n would like me to model. I\u2019m not sure whether the teacher was actually asked or not but the<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numeracy Coordinator let me know that I was to model a lesson on fractions \u2013 a half. No<\/p>\n\n\n\n probs, I duly prepared a lesson with a warm-up, student activity and a share\/reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve turned up to the prep classroom the next morning \u2013 a school in the western suburbs \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n and introduced myself to the teacher and then the kids. You gotta love preps \u2013 they just<\/p>\n\n\n\n looked pretty keen and had a \u2018bring it on\u2019 vibe about them. The classroom teacher went to<\/p>\n\n\n\n the back of the room while I told the kids who I was and that they could call me Mr V or<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rob. My warm-up was a favourite of mine called Tell Me 10 Things About. It\u2019s a great warm-<\/p>\n\n\n\n up and I use it from Foundation to Year 10 and for everything from individual numbers to 2D<\/p>\n\n\n\n shapes to time to capacity\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So today I wrote the numbers one to ten as a list on the whiteboard and then told the preps they<\/p>\n\n\n\n were going to try to tell me 10 things that they know about half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As usual, I told the students that nobody in the room was allowed to tell me more than one thing. As<\/p>\n\n\n\n I explained to them, this would stop you \u2018bludging off\u2019 some kid\/s in the room that you think are<\/p>\n\n\n\n smart and letting them do all the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was about now that the classroom teacher started waving her hands \u2013 not waving but drowning<\/p>\n\n\n\n style \u2013 to catch my attention. I couldn\u2019t exactly miss it so I asked the girls and boys to hold on and<\/p>\n\n\n\n checked if everything was okay. \u2018\u2019No\u2019\u2019, she said. \u2018\u2019It\u2019s not! We haven\u2019t even done half yet.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay. Now this wasn\u2019t the first nor will it be the last time that a teacher will presume that their<\/p>\n\n\n\n students won\u2019t know something based solely on the basis that they haven\u2019t taught it yet. You can\u2019t<\/p>\n\n\n\n know about subtraction because I haven\u2019t taught it yet \u2013 you may not have \u2018taught\u2019 it but almost<\/p>\n\n\n\n every toddler knows full well the concept of subtraction \u2013 give a 3 or even a 2 year old some of their<\/p>\n\n\n\n favourite treats and then take some away \u2013 the reaction will let you know \u2013 loud and clear – that<\/p>\n\n\n\n they knew they had some stuff, someone took some of their stuff and now they have less stuff than<\/p>\n\n\n\n they started with \u2013 not happy! Subtraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hardly any concept we teach is new. Terminology may be new but most concepts are well<\/p>\n\n\n\n established – we just need to find out what the students already bring to the table \u2013 hence my warm-<\/p>\n\n\n\n up of Tell Me 10 Things About. It\u2019s really saying, what do you already know about this topic. Bring it<\/p>\n\n\n\n on \u2013 and I\u2019m going to record here on the whiteboard what you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, back to the preps and their teacher. I stayed calm and suggested that even though it hadn\u2019t been<\/p>\n\n\n\n taught yet we give it a go anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of them actually recognised the word HALF. Good effort. Alright kids, who wants to start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well let\u2019s just say 10 individual kids contributed quite terrific statements\/drawings\/comments about<\/p>\n\n\n\n half and there were still hands up after I had recorded 10 things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018things\u2019 put forward by the kids included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as part of a whole (complete with illustration drawn by the student)<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as part of a collection (complete with illustration drawn by the student)<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as it related to age<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as it related to an AFL game<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as it related to time<\/p>\n\n\n\n – half as it related to capacity<\/p>\n\n\n\n I glanced fleetingly at their teacher at the end of the warm-up and her look said it all \u2013 \u2018\u2019I didn\u2019t know<\/p>\n\n\n\n they knew all that.\u201d As teachers we won\u2019t know unless we ask. Kids are smart. Preps are<\/p>\n\n\n\n exceptionally smart \u2013 they\u2019re regularly immature, lack structure, lack social graces, lack resilience<\/p>\n\n\n\n and persistence but they\u2019re smart (and they do make you laugh!). They\u2019re small in stature but not<\/p>\n\n\n\n relative intelligence!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many come to school with a wealth and depth of knowledge that is quite remarkable and too often<\/p>\n\n\n\n we give them inane tasks and lame worksheets. Colouring in frogs on lilypads is dribble. Busy work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should be challenging foundation students. We should have high expectations of them. How will<\/p>\n\n\n\n we know what they can do if we continually give them tasks that they can do. I start challenging<\/p>\n\n\n\n preps with open-ended tasks and problems as soon as they\u2019re ready. I\u2019ll try them in week 3 or 4 (or<\/p>\n\n\n\n earlier if they\u2019re a switched on cohort) and if the lesson bombs I don\u2019t catastrophise \u2013 I put it off for<\/p>\n\n\n\n a week or two and then try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our Australian and Victorian curriculums don\u2019t help or promote the discussion around high<\/p>\n\n\n\n expectations for Foundation students. I can\u2019t help wishing that the Foundation curriculum for<\/p>\n\n\n\n mathematics was more aspirational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can hear the counter points. \u201cBut I have kids who can\u2019t count or recognise numbers\u2019\u2019. Get those<\/p>\n\n\n\n numbers happening in meaningful contexts and those same kids come along in leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write out the letters of their name. Natalie. N A T A L I E<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now get them to place finger on each letter of their own name and watch that same child count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Foundation kids are all about me \u2013 make the maths all about them! And expect them to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Support, scaffold, encourage where necessary but don\u2019t tell!! Wait. Don\u2019t tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was mid-November this year (2020) and I was actually working in a classroom with real humans \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n yay! It was a prep class in a school in a suburb of Bendigo (low socio-economic area) and I was asked<\/p>\n\n\n\n to model a lesson for the Foundation staff. My warm-up was to hand out the cards 0 to 10 randomly<\/p>\n\n\n\n and not in any order to 11 of the kids and then asked them to stand out the front of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I checked that they all knew the number that was on their card [Each card had the numeral the<\/p>\n\n\n\n corresponding number of dots and the number name].<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n *****<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Five <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I just waited \u2013 with a very calm expression on my face. They looked back at me. I waited. They<\/p>\n\n\n\n looked back \u2013 smiling, some giggling. I waited (calm, neutral expression). Then a girl, let\u2019s call her<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ava (because that was her name) asked, \u2018\u2019Do you want us to get into order?\u201d My waiting for this<\/p>\n\n\n\n from one of the kids was all of about 30 seconds. I simply said, \u2018Great idea Ava. Off you go kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I reckon it took well less than a minute but in very quick time the preps \u2013 with no assistance<\/p>\n\n\n\n from me \u2013 had lined themselves up from 0 to 10. They were then given my well earned and sincere<\/p>\n\n\n\n praise with special praise for Ava on her initiative. Later I asked them to find a partner so that the<\/p>\n\n\n\n total of the numbers\/dots was 10 exactly. I gave no help \u2013 just waited. No problems. It was<\/p>\n\n\n\n November, they have a very good teacher and they\u2019re smart. I expected them to complete the line-<\/p>\n\n\n\n up and find their compatible number to 10. They did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If, as a collective of Foundation teachers, we all had higher expectations of children in their first year<\/p>\n\n\n\n of primary school what a remarkable and significant difference that would make. I have long<\/p>\n\n\n\n believed that Foundation students set the academic standard in a school \u2013 not Year 6. Get our 5 and<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 year olds off to a great start and all of a sudden the grade 1s need to take notice and lift<\/p>\n\n\n\n expectations accordingly and on it flows through the school\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re any teacher \u2013 but particularly if you\u2019re a Foundation teacher in 2021 \u2013 have high<\/p>\n\n\n\n expectations of your students. Find out what they already bring to the table. Don\u2019t tell unless you<\/p>\n\n\n\n absolutely have to. Challenge them. Their response is so often just wonderful. If you focus on having<\/p>\n\n\n\n high expectations of your Foundation students, you will be going a long way to ensuring that they<\/p>\n\n\n\n are getting the best possible start to their primary school experience. A really effective Foundation<\/p>\n\n\n\n teacher is one of the most valuable assets any school will ever have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Expecting the most \u2013 where we should be aiming with Foundation students. Generally, in life and in teaching, I reckon you\u2019re better off with having high expectations in most situations. You can always adjust downwards but starting off with low expectations and then trying to raise them later is a lot harder. When it comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1014,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions\/1014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/robvingerhoets.com.au\/maths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}