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Showing posts from 2019

Teaching approaches that work

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"Excellent maths teaching requires good content knowledge, but this is not sufficient. Excellent teachers also know the ways in which pupils learn mathematics and the difficulties they are likely to encounter, and how mathematics can be most effectively taught. " EEF 2019 Following on from Education Endowment Fund's (EEF) email series on  improving literacy in secondary schools  comes a new  email series  offering eight practical, evidence-based recommendations that are relevant to all pupils - but particularly to those struggling with their mathematics.   They have made recommendations where there are research findings that schools can use to make a significant difference to student learning. The content is drawn from the EEF's recently published report,   'Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3'. Sign up to receive the 8 recommendations to your inbox The  Education review office also published a report last year that outlines  practices and stra

5 things Shared in October

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The Education Hub  shared The Gift of Teachers Time  Professor Susan Moore Johnson's research on how school leaders can make the most of teachers' time. "Teachers’ time is one of a school’s most valuable and scarce resources, yet it’s often wasted because of poor leadership and management."  Read Here Why am I not curious about the things I want to be curious about?  Daniel Willingham's opinion piece in the New York times exploring the power (and pitfalls) of curiosity has some great lessons for educators.  Read Here Pull Up nets  - made a comeback - these are a engaging way to look at  nets, surface area & volume while  doing a bit of engineering of 3D shapes Download an ATM article here  or  another here  simply google pull-up nets to find more  American Stats Association - Lesson Plans I liken myself to a magpie always on the lookout for shiny new things and inspiration the following year. THe AMerican Stats Association(ASA) has a  col

High School maths should be about data science

Fun Fact : 90% of the data created by humanity has been generated in just the past two years. Yet the math taught in U.S. schools hasn’t materially changed since Sputnik was sent into orbit in the late 1950s. Jo Boaler & Steven Levitt claim  Modern high school math should be about data science... not Algebra 2   Explore more about the place of data literacy  here

Maths Posters

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When will I ever need maths? What's the point? Answer these questions using posters designed in UK and adapted for NZ Posters available to order until 25 October from the Auckland Mathematical Association Order 1 or 2 or Order the full set of 36 posters for $43 A2 sized Posters are $3.00 each A3 sized Posters are $1.50 each View posters and place your orders here Thanks to Rachel Passmore and Nicolette Rattenbury for brokering the deal to bring these posters to NZ and the NZ Maths Trust for their sponsorship.

Youcubed kete expands

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Everywhere we turn, data is telling and weaving stories about our world. Youcubed have recognised the growing importance of being able to work with, understand, and use data by launching a data literacy section to their kete https://www.youcubed.org/resource/data-literacy/ Jo Boaler and her team have started working with Steve Levitt and his new initiative at the University of Chicago:  The Center for RISC . Together they are thinking through the changes that need to happen in maths education to build data fluency. Jo also argues that US curriculum standards are over packed with content, and teachers find it difficult to teach ideas in the depth that is needed. The same could be said for NZ. Mathematics in the 21st century requires a different approach and Jasmine Hall this years Bevan Werry speaker challenged us to think about this in her address at NZAMT 16. Youcubed's  21st Century maths page  has links to videos, and podcasts including a discussion with Keith Devlin, "The

nzmaths & ARB's linked to learning progression framework

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Why use the Learning Progression Framework (LPF) to map students progress ?  Look here  How do I learn about PACT?  Start here  and then have a go with the  PACT Demo site  The PACT tool sits alongside the LPF and supports teachers to report student progress against the curriculum. The secondary case studies to date in have been mainly around reading and writing across English Science and Social studies but still provide useful reading for mats & stats teachers. Support is available  for schools to get started through  Education services  and  Centrally Funded PLD  (also known as locally focussed PLD). Sitting alongside the LPF and often overlooked resource by secondary teachers are the Assessment Resource Banks ( ARB's ) - a huge collection of activities aligned to the NZC which can be used to support learning. NZMaths resources have been recently linked to the Learning Progression Framework and you can now filter resources based on an aspect and a curriculum level

Learn to love learning

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Can the 3 C's be taught? Kathryn Ryan's guest this morning was neuroscientist  Dr Jared Cooney Horvath . He says the most important skill our students should be learning is how to love learning and a similar message from Seek in order to be ready for the  jobs of the future . 30 minute listen https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018717603/learning-to-love-learning

Judy Patterson Award

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The Judy Paterson Scholarship supports graduate level professional development for a teacher from a decile 1 or 2 school in the wider Auckland region who is studying at The University of Auckland. If you know of someone who might be interested or is already studying encourage them to apply. Applications close November 1 2019. The value of the scholarship is a fees credit for up to 30 points of study. The Scholarship was established in 2014 in recognition of the contribution made by Dr Judy Paterson to Mathematics Education and especially her work with secondary school mathematics teachers in the Auckland region. Read details here

Prime Ministers Science prize

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Maths & Stats teachers are a talented lot - do you know anyone who would like an extra $50 000 no strings attached. Nominations close   5pm (NZST), Thursday 10 October 2019   for   the NZ Science (& Maths) teachers prize. This Prize will be awarded to a permanently appointed registered teacher who is teaching Maths & Stats or pāngarau in a primary, intermediate or a secondary New Zealand registered school and who has been in the same role at the same school for at least 12 months prior to their nomination. The   Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize   is worth $150,000. The recipient will receive $50,000 with no expectations and the recipient’s school will receive $100,000 to use for the development of Maths & Stats. Read more

NZAMT Writing camp

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Would you like an all expenses paid trip to Auckland in January? Stay in accomodation, set in three hectares of park-like surroundings All meals included Great company Awesome PLD Writing Camp runs from Tuesday the 7th to Friday the 10th of January 2020 Over the 4 days you will work with a team of people to write assessment tasks for a year Level. Level 3 is split into Calculus and Statistics and one team focuses on a Level one alternate maths programme based around the numeracy standards. Knowledge of mathematics in the NZ curriculum is essential. Some experience in the areas of writing is beneficial but NZAMT welcome newcomers with curriculum knowledge. If interested please fill in the below google form by the 14th of October. If you can’t make it to the camp and would like to gift us resources or starter ideas that would be most appreciated.

The Sneddons

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Jamie & Liz Sneddon are stars. Check out their websites that are open for us all to use. Remember to attribute their work and follow the conditions of use. Jamie is also the driver behind   Calcex .  If you would like to host a  Calcex  competition in your region in 2020 contact Jamie directly. His email is on the Calcex site. SnedMaths A fully resourced site for lots of Level 2 & 3 standards Liz Sneddon   Statistics resources NCEA Level 1 to Scholarship

New NZ Stats Journal for teachers

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This is  a new  online stats journal  written for NZ teachers by NZ teachers launched yesterday.  Jump in and have a look.  If you have a favourite lesson the editors would love to  hear from you. Read here 

The Art of Statistics

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RNZ's Kim Hill interviewed David Spiegelhalter on nine to noon - worth a listen " In a time where anti-vaccination campaigns and climate change sceptics are gaining attention, it’s become more important than ever to distinguish the truth from the myths. Sir David Spiegelhalter has built a career sorting the lies from the statistics.  In his new book, The Art of Statistics, he shares his passion for data, scientific evidence and risk, and how it's reported to us. ....." Read More and Listen to the full interv iew

#MathsChatNZ

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During his address at  AMA HOD day  @elsubash laid down the wero for us to join the twittersphere and take part in NZ's rebooted MathsChat. And guess what happened ... MathsChatNZ  trended #1 in New Zealand on the night! The next MathsChat is coming up 8.30pm Tuesday July 2nd Wondering what goes on in a Twitter chat ? Its a straightforward model - questions are posed to the group and then people answer them starting with Ax (x being the question number) and adding  #MathsChatNZ at the end. Here is a snapshot of the 2019 reboot on June 4th. To see the whole chat jump onto Twitter and search MAthsChatNZ. Theme - Being a connected maths teacher Q1: How many Maths PL days have you had in the last 12 months and what has been the best PL for you in the last 1 and a half years? One day - Stats day. My best learning is from student voice, this drives my new learning. I am a very online learner. Sadly 4 replied none 5 days AMA Sept Saturday 2018, AMA Stats D

Helen's day with Professor Jo Boaler

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This post is from Helen Teal the Kaiārahi for Northland Maths Association. Helen was one of the 520 teachers who spent a day with Jo Boaler and Cathy Williams from Youcubed.com  during the April break. "Jo & Cathy kept us engaged for the entire day as they shared ways of developing a growth mindset with students and setting up positive norms in the maths classroom . They inspired us to think about how we could teach maths in such a way that gives students mathematical freedom.  Using low floor and high ceiling tasks was recommended as it makes mathematical learning accessible to all while providing scope for extension and the opportunity for students to seek connections and develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.  They suggested planning lessons around big ideas rather than methods. Ideas like Number Sense, Learning to Generalise,  Maths as pattern seeking,  Algebra as a problem solving tool and that you can teach the content/methods as

Unpacking Standards

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Over Term 1 in Auckland we have been unpacking the external Level 1 standards. Both new and experienced teachers have found unpacking standards useful. New teachers found it useful for developing a deeper understanding of the New Zealand curriculum and for experienced teachers it has provided a checkpoint to ensure teaching and learning is still relevant for their learners, connected to the curriculum and meeting the requirements of the standards used to assess the learning. Unpacking standards provides a checkpoint to make sure we are not teaching what we are teaching because "this is the way we always do things around here  ,TITWWADTAH, but are focusing on the wider skills of solving problems, and understandings so that students can apply their learning and adapt when faced with different problems and challenges. Upgrade your Teaching ASCD Webinar Mctighe & Wills 2019 Unpacking template for  External Assessment I have found the template  we used, adap