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You’ve heard it said that differentiation is essential for developing deep understanding as it allows each student to learn at their leading edge. But how can we make embed differentiation seamlessly into our everyday teaching? Step 1: Know the levels of understanding that children go through. Research and curriculum-based Concept Sequences are freely available at www.alearningplace.testsrvr.com.au for every teacherYou’ve heard it said that differentiation is essential for developing deep understanding as it allows each student to learn at their leading edge. But how can we make embed differentiation seamlessly into our everyday teaching? Step 1: Know the levels of understanding that children go through. Research and curriculum-based Concept Sequences are freely available at www.alearningplace.testsrvr.com.au for every...
read moreUpgraded site
Greetings Fellow Mathematicians! We are excited to launch the upgraded website! Upgrades include: All Number and Algebra concept Teaching Resources are streamlined! The Teaching Plans have been divided into segments. Each segment has its own Video, Investigation, Reflection and Problem. Each segment has its own level on the Student Tracking and Reporting. The sliding banner allows us to communicate with you, to share research and tips for making the most out of the website! The blog is interactive, allowing you to contribute to existing blogs, or to submit your own! We’re excited about the upgrade and would love to hear what you...
read moreHow can we embed differentiation into every lesson?
You’ve heard it said that differentiation is essential for developing deep understanding as it allows each student to learn at their leading edge. But how can we make embed differentiation seamlessly into our everyday teaching? Step 1: Know the levels of understanding that children go through. Research and curriculum-based Concept Sequences are freely available at www.alearningplace.testsrvr.com.au for every teacher to use to identify every student’s current level of understanding in every area of primary school mathematics. Step 2: Identify the level of understanding of every student. Open-ended assessment in Number concepts are easily planned and implemented allowing students to use playing cards as number generators. Select your concept, for example, Addition and Subtraction. Ask students to select cards to make numbers that they are ready to add. Some students may select single-digit numbers, some students may select two-digit numbers, some students may select three-, four- or five-digit numbers, some students may select numbers with decimals. Ask students to record their addition strategy. Step 3: Match the student work sample to a level on the concept sequence. The students who successfully added two-digit numbers using place value have demonstrated their understanding at Level 17. The students who successfully add three- or four-digit numbers using place value have demonstrated their understanding at Level 21. The students who successfully added five-digit numbers using place value have demonstrated their understanding at Level 24. The students who successfully add decimals using place value have demonstrated their understanding at Level 30. Step 4: Use the Concept Sequence to identify the subsequent level. The students who successfully added two-digit numbers using place value are ready to begin investigating adding three-digit numbers (Level 21). The students who successfully add three-digit numbers using place value are ready to begin investigating adding four-digit numbers (Level 21). The students who successfully add four-digit numbers using place value are ready to begin investigating adding five-digit numbers (Level 24). The students who successfully add five-digit numbers using place value are ready to begin investigating adding decimals (Level 30). Step 5: Students differentiate their own learning using playing cards.Vygotsky called this learning within your zone of proximal development. The students who successfully added two-digit numbers using place value select cards to make three-digit numbers (Level 21). The students who successfully add three-digit numbers using place value select cards to make four-digit numbers (Level 21). The students who successfully add four-digit numbers using place value select cards to make five-digit numbers (Level 24). The students who successfully add five-digit numbers using place value select cards to make decimals (Level 30). Step 6: Students sit with others investigating at different levels. Students sit with other students who may be investigating at a different level. Vygotsky called this learning with others within your zone of proximal development. As they investigate. students share their new understandings. This serves to both deepen their understanding, and develop their capacity to explain through increased metalanguage. Vygotsky’s research on Thought and Language demonstrated that to learn, we need to think, then talk, then write....
read moreEinstein – school failed me, and i failed school.
Great Einstein quote – need I say more? ‘…School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. What I hated most was the competitive system there, and especially sports. Because of this, I wasn’t worth anything, and several times they suggested I leave. This was a School in Munich. I felt that my thirst for knowledge was being strangled by my teachers; grades were their only measurement. How can a teacher understand youth with such a system? . . . from the age of twelve I began to suspect authority and distrust teachers. I learned mostly at home, first from my uncle and then from a student who came to eat with us once a week. He would give me books on physics and astronomy. The more I read, the more puzzled I was by the order of the universe and the disorder of the human mind, by the scientists who didn’t agree on the how, the when, or the why of creation. Then one day this student brought me Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Reading Kant, I began to suspect everything I was...
read moreDara o’briain’s maths show – school of hard sums
Just discovered this absolutely brilliant series – full of problem solving ideas for you to engage your children in investigation! Would be great for Gifted and Talented too!!!!! Check out the videos before showing them to students – some are better described by you rather than allowing students to watch the video! Here are links to 2 of them on YouTube. Others are YouTube too. Also currently screening on SBS! ...
read moreProfessional learning resources right here!
Good News Everybody! The Professional Learning resources at A Learning Place A Teaching Place are growing! Check out the Professional Learning page for a list of current Professional Learning resources. As new professional learning resources are added, we will notify you on the Professional Learning...
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