Evidence Post

Last June, following our staff-wide exploration of data and conversations, the FESL committee met to determine our new school goal. We narrowed it down to “Building confidence through numeracy”. This new goal was proposed to and accepted by staff at our first staff meeting in September. As Mitchell started a new school year, it was important to start planning around our new school story right away!

Therefore, we have been working hard since September, in committee, to collaborate on:

• Gathering more data around numeracy at Mitchell
• Planning professional development opportunities for staff around numeracy
• Planning numeracy activities for students

As the goal is to build confidence, we decided to start by looking at confidence levels in staff teaching Math/Numeracy. We understand that teachers’ learning will have trickle down effects to student learning, and the FESL committee had a hunch that professional development would be the right place to start with our new goal. The surveying of staff was necessary for the committee to know what to target when planning for staff-wide professional development opportunities. We asked teachers:

• How comfortable are you in teaching Math?
• What resources do you use/know how to use?
• How would you describe your understanding of the BC Math curriculum?
• How comfortable are you in assessing Math?
• What would support your work in teaching Math to the diverse learners in your class?