Category: education
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Do you teach rules and formulas that students can follow, but are frustrated by students forgetting the rule or formula?
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Do you ever feel like you are doing all of the right things when teaching doubles, but you’re not seeing transfer? A student can know their doubles facts and still not use doubling as a mathematical strategy. But what does it actually mean to know doubles? Because these are not necessarily the same thing. A…
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When planning a mathematics unit, what is the hero of your planning? Is it the problem or activity? The worksheet? The lesson sequence? Or is it the mathematics itself? From surface level to mastery, to what extent do we plan? Or are we simply assembling a sequence of activities that align with the curriculum outcome?…
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Differentiation isn’t three worksheets. It’s one worthwhile mathematical experience with deliberate supports, constraints and extensions.
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In many classrooms, mathematics quickly becomes all about getting the right answer. How often do students come to you to simply ask “Did I get it right?” If yes, they are ecstatic, if no they can often give up on the spot! But what if we thought about the process: before students can confidently apply…
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There seems to consistently be so much debate around the best practices in Math teaching. We can always seem to find research that supports different pedagogies, but what if at the end of the day it all resolves around teacher judgement, teacher skillsets, within particular contexts and within diverse student cohorts. Class complexities include an…
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‘I don’t know what to do”, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘It’s too hard’! Sound familiar in your maths lesson? As teachers, we can give into productive struggle and guide children explicitly through the maths process all the time and often we regularly need to. But what about problem solving and students sitting in the uncomfortable…
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How much time do we waste in interpreting the Australian Curriculum and pitching the learning at the appropriate balance? I mean, getting the pitch absolutely right for the year level intended and yet being responsive for the class cohort! How do we revise content without lowering expectations? How do we challenge every student without losing…
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In a maths professional development one day, I remember the instructor discussing assessments and data with classroom teachers and I raised my hand to ask “What about student wellbeing?” My question was quickly shut down and dismissed. With much maths anxiety existing in our classrooms and the prevalence of maths anxiety being well researched, I…
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It’s Week 10, and you glance at the untouched strand of the curriculum, you realise time is running out! At the conclusion of Term 3, the feedback from teachers was that they must move on with their maths curriculum content. They struggle with knowing that their students need responsive teaching and consolidation, but how to…
