NZL One - Two - Three

As we embed the changes to 91027 and prepare for a changed format in  91028 I wondered how things used to be... From the 1996 School Certificate chief markers report. In the first paragraph it was noted  that there was a " continued requirement for candidates to interpret information,  to explain, describe and justify their mathematics clearly and concisely" I discovered investigation tasks in exams are not new - In 1996 candidates had to  carry out an investigation to discover what length and width of a box would give the greatest base area. To find a solution they could chose their method and were offered a table or grid as a guide. School Certificate 1996 These investigative type questions first appeared in 1995 and these was one in each paper up to the introduction of NCEA. I have scanned the questions and put them in the shared 91028 folder   You will see there is a folder called GIVE ONE GET ONE that all teachers can add a questio...

Each winter the stars of Matariki and Puanga signal the end of one year in Aotearoa, and the beginning of the next. Traditionally Mäori have recognised the rise of Matariki as a time to celebrate and prepare for the new year. Matariki  takes place on the  25th June however  the Matariki celebrations have begun. To see what's on check out the  Matariki Festival  website. Matariki gives us an opportunity to enrich students’ mathematical experiences in a meaningful context Click here for a an integrated unit from NZMaths  The unit begins with an investigation into some of the mathematics of astronomy associated with the rising of Matariki and learn where to look for the stars at the beginning of Matariki. As students work through the unit they learn about the significance of whakapapa, our family tree, and the mathematics of our descendants as they go back generations.  They discover the algebra behind a famous tukutuku...

What do you do for students who arrive with significant academic gaps? How you will identify them? How you will you know you have made a difference? This post highlights a recent discovery that will help  address question 1, that is a book written by Suzy Pepper Rollins,   Learning in the Fast lane, 8 ways to put ALL students on the road to achieve academic success. Suzy argues that we spend too much time focussing on  filling the gaps rather than  moving forward. In otherwords we spend far too much time remediating rather than accelerating students.  " instruction that aims to catch up lagging students or fix all their past problems ends up providing classroom experiences that are not compelling, rigorous, or engaging. Such instruction may inadvertently widen rather than close achievement gaps. " How do students feel? sourced from http://cpl.org.nz/Our-services/Accelerated-Literacy-Learning-ALL/Northern-region A colleague ...

A new year is synonymous with New Years resolutions that are never followed through. This year I came across the #onewordtrend2017. Rather than a a new years resolution i would find a New Years word. One of my words for 2017 will be resilience.  Resilience because I believe it is one of the most important things we need to teach our students  Resilience as the new PLD environment means navigating uncharted waters. Jo Boaler's setting up positive norms in the maths classroom offers a kete of ideas for building belief and developing resilience in students.  In the document these 7 key ideas are shared with supporting strategies to help set students up for a year of successful learning 1. Everyone Can Learn Math to the Highest Levels. Encourage students to believe in themselves. There is no such thing as a “math” person. Everyone can reach the highest levels they want to, with hard work.  2. Mistakes are Valuable Mistakes grow your bra...

The personal financial management unit standards have been reviewed and are now found under Financial Capability. Read the review here What's happening in NZ Schools around Financial Capability ? To find out I attended Sarah's workshop at the BOPMA conference day:  At Sarah's school they have trades & services academies however there was still a group of students who were not well catered for.    I ntroducing..... Maths for Life, a Level 2 course is based on the Financial Capability standards. Maths for Life students completed the following standards from t he framework to credential their learning US 28094 – produce a balanced budget US 28092 – analyse states of personal financial income US 24695 – taxation US 28093 - describe financial responsibilities of utilising tertiary study funding option US 28097 Banking ( didn’t get to this) US 24699 – smart goals US 28095 - investment US 28096 – insurance there were 17 studen...

"Giving students the information they need to pass exams is the beginning of the process" Christine Ward In preparing our students for exam we  tend to focus a lot of attention on preparing students with the content  but often pay little heed to how they feel and how we can help alleviate the stress. Where will they be sitting the exam? Will they be in a familiar classroom, the hall, gymnasium at another school? How do our students practice for the feeling of sitting in the space they will be sitting the exam in? How do we prepare them for the unfamiliar? Reading time Once upon a time exams began with 10 minutes of reading time where pens had to be left on the desk. My observations of students beginning exams these days is that almost all pick up their pens and begin answering question one as soon as the supervisor says they can start. Taking time to read the entire paper before starting to write can give students the time they need to become calm and cle...

... Gone. It seems hard to believe that three quarters of 2016 is behind us. As I look back over the year there are so many things I planned to do and didn't quite get to. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1003733/images/n-STRESS-TIPS-628x314.jpg Planning for the last quarter includes completing some new learning. Here I have highlighted some of the more popular online courses that are relevant to us as maths & stats teachers in NZ. For Students As senior students head into exams its worth having them think about how they learn best. The most popular MOOC on Coursera is  Learning How to learn.   The course started this week  (September 12) registrations are still open.   https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn 5 options for teachers  1. FutureLearn: Data to Insight https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/data-to-insight This course is presented by Chris Wild from The University of Auckland. It is full of really powerful ide...