Reflecting on a one-week journey that has been inspiring...

THREE things I have learned

1) Rebecca DuFour’s 4 Critical Questions

Questions that I need to ask continuously as I focus on student learning:

·          What do we want students to learn?

·          How will we know when they’ve learned?

·          How will we respond when they don’t learn?

·          How will we respond when they’ve already learned?

      A shift in thinking is required – from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning…

2) I can do away with the structured lessons on TIME

It’s common sense really. Why have lessons to teach time when it should really be an everyday occurrence as children learn to connect time to their daily lesson times, routines, etc.

 3)   Language is important

The right terminology should be used to avoid confusion and mislearning. The language that we use must help children to make connections between quantity and number…

Example:

¼ is “one fourth”, not “one out of four”

The questions that I ask can effectively support learning…

Example:

Is there another way to make 10?

What do you notice about all these shapes?

Open questions encourage a variety of responses and allow for differentiation.

TWO questions that I have


1) Maths isn't about speed, it isn't about accuracy.. It's about understanding, reasoning, problem solving....... isn't it?


2) Who is a mathematics teacher?