TBCS - Craig - Reflection on Teaching Math with Math-Buddy

Maths Buddy

Where I come from.

I come from a background of teaching Math from a textbook. I must admit that I loved it and would not hesitate to go back to that way because it ensured I taught the whole syllabus and, with the addition of weekly revision test and the strick focus on learning times tables, my students became very good at Math. It's success spurred me on and I became very confident at teaching Math. Any of my students who left my class to go to another school were considered exceptional at Math in the schools they went to.

It worked because all my students had been taught the same way in year groups and were reasonably similar in ability. Repetition and Revision along with teaching the best way to do something instead of 5 different ways, enabled my students to have confidence in their ability as Mathematicians.

Where I am now. 

I now find myself in a fantastic little Christian School and in a lovely class that has three year levels and abilities ranging from year one to year seven.

My normal approach to teaching Math will not work in this environment.

Fortunately, someone before me has had the foresight to purchase the Mathbuddy programme for the use of all students in the school.

Maths Buddy

Mathbuddy is a New Zealand created, curriculum-based programme that is constantly updated and research-based. It covers students from Year 1 to Year 13, including A Levels. Its strengths lie in the teaching videos for every lesson, the lesson summary available for each lesson, and the access each student has to every grade, not only their own.

Each learning area is broken into sections that have reviews to pretest and post-test. There are also weekly revision tasks that can be assigned. The work completed, progress made, and struggles encountered are easily identified by the teacher's console. You can assign tasks and give time constraints if you choose. A timeline history gives a breakdown of every lesson viewed and attempted with the resultant mark.

The students get instant feedback on whether any given answer is right or wrong and what the correct answer should have been if their answer was incorrect. There is an 80% pass level as standard so if a lesson is not passed, the student can rewatch the video lesson and attempt the lesson again.

Strengths of Maths Buddy

• It meets every student at their point of need. Nowadays, there is a big emphasis on individualised programmes for each student. Under normal textbook conditions in my class that would be almost impossible. I have, at the moment, students working at Year 1, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 levels. Each student is different. Each student works at a different speed and has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Maths Buddy allows for all of these differences and allows each student to be challenged at their level. It doesn't hold back the progress of more advanced students and conversely, it doesn't push students who struggle beyond what they can handle.

• Every lesson has a clear teaching element which is designed to give the students the tools needed to complete the task. This frees me as the teacher from having to give what would end up being 40-50 lessons every Math period.

• If you are struggling in a particular area you can, at the click of your mouse, jump down a grade and complete the lessons at that level, cementing the groundwork for the lesson you will jump back to. This access to all grades can be a great help.
• It uses lots of real-life examples and 

• It covers the whole curriculum.

• When you finish your grade level, you can move to the next grade level and carry on. You are always learning and progressing.

What does that leave me as a teacher to do

Maths Buddy, just like any textbook or programme is a tool. It is something employed by me as a teacher to reach the goals I have in the area of Math. How you use Maths Buddy is entirely at your discretion. At the end of the day, my job is to teach my students how to understand and apply Math...

I have chosen to get my students to do every lesson in order. They are to watch the video, open the lesson summary in a separate tab, and do the lesson. If they don't pass at 80%, they are to follow the first three steps again. If after two tries, they still have not passed, I will go over the lesson with them and allow them to try again. If this still doesn't work, I will get the student to check in with me for every question before they push enter to go through their workings and resultant answer. When I am not giving individual lessons, I roam the room and check on the progress of each student and lend a word of encouragement or help as needed. I tend to have a good grasp of every student's work.

Through my teacher console, I keep an eye on each student's progress and struggles. I log the students progress in an easy to read XL spreadsheet and write any student's name in my planning book that is having trouble and the area I need to help them with.

Conclusion.

I very much appreciate Maths Buddy. Both my students and I have a positive attitude towards Math. all my students have progressed well over the course of the year. many have made outstanding progress.

Student Voice

Positive

It is fun but sometimes hard. Jak

I like that you don't have to wait till the end until you know the correct answer and score. (Portia)

I like how it has diagnostic tests so you know which ones that you don't know. (Zach)

I like how there is a video so it tells you how to do the lesson. (Chanyn)

It's very educational (Jak)

It makes your brain work (Ella)

I like the way you can choose the background colour and when you get 100%, you get some ribbons and confetti on your screen. (Madelynne)

I like how some of the questions are challenging but when you start learning them, they get easier. (Raphael)

The order of the lessons is helpful like fractions and decimals. (Mercy)

I like it because you can go onto the next year. (Reuben)


Negatives and how to overcome them.


Sometimes it doesn't tell you how to do a question in the video. (Madelynne)
Ask my teacher how to do it.

Occasionally it takes a long time for the questions to load. (Portia)
Reload the programme.

Some questions don't get explained in the video so I don't really understand it. (Raphael)
Ask my teacher or someone next to me.

Design forLearning

• Structuring learning tasks so that all ākonga experience a degree of success, but also ensuring that they are required to stretch themselves to fully succeed.

Learning focused culture

• Effectively incorporating digital media into the learning environment.