The Fear of Uncertainty

Our world is filled with uncertainty: climate change, war, the decisions of the US president, the results of football finals… the reality is there are many things we cannot control, and that can feel unsettling.

Human brains are wired to prefer certainty, pattern and routine.

I once read that research showed most people would prefer to wait longer for a delayed flight if they knew the re-scheduled flight time, compared to having a shorter wait time, but not knowing the flight time until the last minute.

I agree with this research!

I remember sitting in Newcastle airport on the way home from our family holiday last year. Our flight was delayed an hour (weather), and then it was delayed another hour (it was a new plane and the crew had to wait for an engineer to come and check a warning light, and as a side issue there was a snake on the runway- it was such an 'only in Australia' moment!).😉

By this point most people (me included) had the 'just tell us what the plan is' look on our faces.

Eventually we were told we would all be moved to another flight, but we would have to wait another 2 hours for it to arrive. We were given food vouchers and even though there is not a great deal to do at Newcastle airport, at least we knew what was happening! Everyone seemed much more at ease with a full belly and a known flight departure time.

This experience made me reflect on the importance of teachers having a sense of routine, certainty and structure in our maths classrooms (actually, not just maths classrooms, classrooms in general).

One of the reasons I like structure and routine is that you don't have to think. Our brains have so many inputs and stimuli to make sense of everyday in the classroom, anything that can lighten the load is welcomed.

Over and over the schools who have implemented my Number Fluency Program report that this has been an unforeseen benefit of the program.

For the daily 15 minutes that the Number Fluency Program runs, teachers, ES staff and students ALL know EXACTLY what they have to do*. The NFP follows a repeatable pattern and structure that leaves no need for guessing.

From a teacher's perspective, the only thinking required is when they are individually assessing selected students (the aim is to assess every student once a week/fortnight depending on your class size). Teachers are required to decide whether each student is accurate or fluent in the skill (and even this process has standard guidelines to ensure consistency across the school).

By taking the hard thinking out of the equation (pun intended), teachers have the cognitive space to focus on what the assessments are telling them about their students, and how they can use this information to target their needs. For example, in this video sample, I am assessing a Foundation student (my son) on Set 0, Skill 13 which requires students to identify the 'number between for numbers 1-10'. As you watch the clip, you will notice three important things:

1) He is completely accurate with the skill (he answers every item correctly).

2) He is fluent (answers within 3 seconds) with identifying the number between when the numbers are less than 5.

3) He is not YET fluent with identifying the number between when the numbers are beyond 5.

This assessment was completed in less than a minute, but because the content was so clearly defined, it allowed me to identify a VERY clear target for him to work on for the next week in his independent fluency practice. His focus was to work on 'between' for numbers above 5.

By whittling down the NFP assessments to focus on critical mirco-skills**, I believe it allows teachers to focus on what exactly is the issue at hand. With many assessments, there are SO many things that could be the issue, but the NFP provides teachers with the time, opportunity and importantly, the cognitive space (because the rest of the class is independently working at their own point of need, so there are almost no interruptions), to identify and then remedy the 'real' issue through specific feedback.

We all know that feedback is one of the most important parts of the formative assessment process. However, it is also one of the most challenging things to 'get right'. With mirco-skill assessments your focus is narrowed, and it is very clear whether the feedback has been actioned the next time you assess the student. 

I was at a NFP school the other day and the leaders explained they had noticed a clear change in the level of detail teachers were able to share about their student's mathematical understanding and fluency. They attributed this to the niche nature of the NFP assessments.

Teacher capacity was being built through practice.

When we think about ourselves teaching in the maths classroom, there are a huge amount of decisions to make. Everything from what materials to use and how to hand them out in an orderly manner, to what we need to say to best scaffold each of our unique learners. Plus, everything else like who is feeling lost/bored/distracted/dysregulated and what action might be needed to 'remedy' these feelings.

It is no wonder that people find teaching maths challenging.

This week I encourage you to think about some ways you can leverage structure, repetition and pattern in your classroom and free your own cognitive bandwidth, so you can provide meaningful feedback to students through assessment. It may be that you start thinking about micro-skills and breaking down your assessments into smaller more manageable pieces, or simply setting up a routine that will allow you to be truly be 'in the moment' when assessing your students.

I hope you have a great week and if you are travelling, may it be free of the uncertainty of plane delays!

Ange🎓🎲

*of course, it takes hard, intentional work for a few weeks to set up these 'watertight' expectations and routines.

** In my Number Fluency Program, I have identified 20 key micro-skills per year level that students need to be fluent in to support the development of their Number Sense. If you want to find out more about the Number Fluency Program click here or email me at [email protected] to hear about NFP trial options.