Welcome to The Insightful Classroom
Practical, thought-provoking and easy-to-read articles, tips and techniques for primary maths teachers and HOCs – new issues also available by email.
Remember to tell us your ideas for stories!
Issue 1 – “ACARA, Problem-Solving and How to Grade”:
- Problem-solving approaches (including support students)
- How the Australian Curriculum changes grading
- How to….make pie graphs without equations
- Insightful Learner, Inspired Teacher
- NAPLAN – Evil, dirty, nasty – and surprisingly useful
- A Word to HOCs – on preparing staff for the Australian Curriculum
- Problem-Solving: Not just word problems or simple application
- Improving Student Reasoning: The antidote to “I just knew it”
- Ask the experts: Differentiation
- Teaching tips: Decimal Numbers
- AAMT branches endorse and promote Back-to-Front Maths
- A Word to HOCS – on chatting with Prof. Peter Sullivan about the efficiency and effectiveness of problem-based teaching
Issue 3 – “ACARA changes, Fixing Misconceptions and more”:
- Teaching Tips: Decoding Algebra
- Fractional Misconceptions
- Understanding vs Fluency: working out the differences that ACARA brings
- How to review mathematics resources using ACARA and a review of EQ’s C2C
- Interview with Richard Korbosky, president of Mathematical Association of Western Australia
- A Word to HOCs – on achieving change with resistant staff
- Understanding NAPLAN Trends – what you need to know before May
- Weird things that kids think… decimal numbers
- Teaching tips: subtraction
- Developing NAPLAN understanding through asking non-standard questions
- MASA president Carol Moule
- Expert Advise – on handling kids who just want to do worksheets
Issue 5 – “The School Issues…Issue”:
- Behaviour management in problem-based lessons – three simple principles to make behaviour management in maths a non-issue
- Using your classroom setup to create learning opportunities – make differentiation much simpler by just arranging your furniture differently
- Why gifted students end up in support maths and how to find them – with links to 7 simple diagnostic tasks for assessing Understanding rather than Fluency
- Training your staff: keys for implementing successful professional development for both whole-school and individual staff members
- Guest article by Margery Jorgensen: Great teaching and how to create it
- Number facts with a twist – simple ideas for making multiplication facts fun
Issue 6 – “The Technology Issue”:
- How the drive for interactive maths software is missing the mark
Part One: The problem with existing technology
Part two: Addressing the problem – a new model for new requirements
Part three: An effective solution - Great ideas sent in by you! – Multiplicative Thinking…and a collection of smiles
- Engagement vs. Entertainment – Maths and the YouTube Phenomenon
- Timely Thoughts on Teaching Analogue Time – It is not every day that I meet someone who seriously challenges my thinking…
Issue 7 – “The Assessment Issue – Part One”:
- Demystifying assessment
- What the policies say and what that really means
- Deciding on a grade
- Reader question: Are the proficiencies all equally weighted?
- Student sample work
Issue 8 – “The Assessment Issue – Part Two”:
- Final grading from different assessment pieces
- Moderating
- Fitting it all in
- Making line-calls on student work
- NAPLAN success stories
Issue 9 – “Our Favourite Things in Maths”:
- The favourite maths teaching moment – that didn’t happen in a maths class!
- Favourite way to teach coordinate geometry
- Favourite maths books
- Favourite iPad apps
- Games for teaching partitioning
- How to make an extra hour of teaching time (every week!)
- Two critical number concepts to get right in F-2 and how to do it
- Rotation groups and how to use them – including must-have resources to make now and use all year
- My Must-Have resources to make now and use all year
Issue 11 – “Middle Schooling”:
- Critical number concepts to get right in upper primary (including a common misconception many teachers have themselves!)
- Depression from a child’s perspective – Kathryn’s story
- Hand out for parents
- Awesome maths investigations for kids in the middle years
- Why Richard kept sneaking into my classroom: The link between risk-taking and engagement
Issue 12 – “The Intervention Issue”:
- Eight-Lesson Intervention Project – Results of a model project for rapid improvement
- Extract from the new “Fixing Misconceptions in Fractions” book
- A word to HOCs – how to build and use an extension box
- Making rotation groups work
Issue 13 – “The On-Balance Issue”:
- The danger of “either/or” teaching.
- Keeping life in balance
- Teaching ideas: length
- Tips for teaching multiplication and division
- This year in review
- A word to HOCs: The power of “yet”!