Planning a Maths Programme
Vicki Archer opened with a presentation about making learning visible and rewindable. I reflected, on my learning journey at school, if I didn’t grasp it first or remember the strategy – tough luck! It was primarily on memory and if I was brave enough, ask the teacher for support!
Visible rewindable learning with the learning intention and success criteria clarifies students’ learning and enables the students to make connections by gaining ownership of their learning and the purpose.
Kiri Kirkpatrick shared the importance of knowing the NZ curriculum and learning progressions. I must know their prior knowledge, next learning steps, and progressions. otherwise, I am teaching blind! It’s essential to keep referring to the curriculum and learning progressions both within my learning hub and schoolwide.
I need to know what the learning outcomes are for year 6 students
Planning a Maths Rich Session
Elena Terekhina presented ‘Planning a Maths Rich Session.’
This was very interesting as I wasn’t sure what the term ‘Maths Rich’ was or how you taught and managed the session. These sessions allow students to think creatively and co-operatively in different ability groups. I am excited to introduce these sessions to my students. Elena suggested introducing the Maths Rich session with the whole class and monitoring their problem-solving.
When planning…
- Think about the learners when choosing a problem
- Not too easy – not too hard
- Is it authentic and interesting
- Not every problem will be a maths-rich task.
- Plan for a Thursday
- Students need time to turn and talk
- What are the important ideas in this problem?
- What materials or equipment needed to solve this problem
- Collaborative problem-solving – is important for mixed-ability student groups
I love Manaiakalani’s philosophy of sharing resources and sites. It’s like opening a box of Cadbury’s chocolates – which site to explore first.
Who is going to share back with the class?
It’s always a great strategy to give all students a role/job so they are all participating.
The Process of Sharing
Elena discussed the order of sharing, highlighting that I do not need to select the student with the most sophisticated problem-solving strategy. I can commence with the students who have a lower level of strategy.
I must teach the students that they are not all going to share! Some students feel it’s their right to share first as they perceive their strategy is the best! As Elena stated there is always another day!
An alternative method of sharing is splitting the range of the class –
Another strategy for problem-solving is to write up the problem with the answer and the students have to select a strategy and show how they came to the answer. I really like this strategy as there are always students who immediately just want to write the answer and not show or share how they worked it out.
Follow-up Learning -Independent
Presenter Georgie Hamilton
Tailor basic facts – working on long-term memory – e.g. timetables
Georgie’s statement below resonated with me, students do need to learn basic facts and timetables so they have instant recall! This is how I learned!
We need to learn by rote repeated practice enables students to free up short-term memory for new information.