Maths at School A

It was great to go and visit School A today - always so refreshing seeing a different school in a different context and how things roll!

What stood out for me?

  • Ease of teachers planning - maths boxes prepared and ready to go.
  • Engagement of students
  • Whole class teaching, but students often working in mixed ability groups - still the risk of the best mathematician doing all of the maths - how do you eliminate this?  Imperative for students to ask questions of each other. Why did you do that? Explain to me how?
    • This is a culture that would be prominent in many NZ schools - how do you break it?  
      • How do you ensure understanding at ALL levels?
      • All about teacher questioning - working in pairs - ask the student who has less understanding to explain - Dinah's "We thought/We did"
  • Maths books with no lines or squares
  • Look into
    • Maths 300 - this looks well worth the subscription fee!  $400Aus for the first year, $200Aus every year after that.
    • Mathematicscentre
    • Poly plug?  Junior maths?


Questions?

  • How can we use some of these ideas but incorporate student voice and choice?
  • How does agency come into this?




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