Maths PD 2020 #1

We began our school year with a Maths professional development session run by Marie Hirst. It was a great way to begin our 2020 journey as we heard a shared message that helped us unpack what an effective balanced maths programme looked like.

My big takeaways from the day, apart from some awesome ideas to use in my programme were:

• Mathematical communication is using the language in context deepens understanding so need to provide opportunities for this to happen
• Arranging for learning
• Students learn best when they are mixed with students of different abilities
• Mixed ability problem solving + needs based ability workshops
• Needs based groups mean groups are not labelled
• Flexible grouping allows the focus to be on the learning goal that meets the needs of the students who need the information
• Have 'teams' not 'groups' for collaborative challenges
• Unpack 'team' roles one at a time to strengthen connections to what is expected of that role
• Teacher content knowledge is critical
• Equipment allows for visual connections but we need to be able to use this effectively

                                    
Jo Boaler

• Fixed mindset happens with ability grouping when students develop fixed ideas about their learning potential and affects ability to learn.
• Loose confidence.

John Hattie

• Tracking progress sets expectations to students that this is where you perform.
• Teachers tend to teach to that level which locks out components of the curriculum.

Christine Rubie-Davis

• When students have more advanced opportunities to learn they make more progress than they expected they could.