Review of Mass Unit in Year 2 Classroom

Numeracy is a hard concept to teach for a predominately Humanities Teacher in the

Secondary School context.
This Mass unit took some time to plan and implement and organise. Ultimately, I wanted to
try something a little different with this unit and being on placement allowed me to do this.
I wanted to have a mini lesson (Introduction) to the lesson as a whole group (two classes
together) and then I wanted to split the class into different groupings and complete the
following:-

1. Ms Wilson (not real name): These students would work with Ms Wilson on
completing the task. These students needed extra assistance and it is a relatively
small group. These students would work through the work together.
2. My Group: This group would work through the work at their own pace. If a student
has a question about the work, then they can come and see me and we would work
through it together.
3. Self-Directed: This group would work independently on the floor separate to the
above two groups. If they had a question they needed to ask another student from
the list on the IWB. If they both could not get it, they could come and see me. When
they finished their work, they needed to have someone from their group mark the
work and if there was an issue with the results they needed to explain the answer to
each other and figure out the answer. If they then cannot get the answer they can
then come and seek assistance.

My supervisor was hesitant about this approach, but in the end it worked out brilliantly. The
bottom group got the support and assistance they needed (because the top group was
asking each other for assistance) and the middle group also had more time with the teacher.

I then collected the work (especially from the top group) and marked the work again to
make sure it was correct.

The students loved this approach as it allowed them independence and allowed them to
work at their own pace and get the help that they needed. I was really excited by how it
worked (especially the top group). They had a sense of pride because of this independence
and did not gloat to others about it.

I look forward to trying this approach with numeracy and potentially literacy classes in the
future.