Month: May 2012

Learning Design Part 1

Published by Nick

My intention is to present a series of posts on the topic/process of Learning Design. Hopefully these posts will give you an understanding of the process. The resource for these posts will be the Australian Curriculum Leaders Resource ‘Getting Started’ DVD (developed by DECD Learning Services). This resource provides information including Power Points and short video on 4 areas – 1. Australian Curriculum 2. TfEL 3. Learning Design and 4. Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s). The Australian Curriculum Leaders Resource can be accessed online by clicking here or see Nick for the DVD if you are interested in looking at these topics in more depth.

Rather than try and spend large chunks of time in meetings going through Learning Design I thought it might be useful to do small snippets from the DVD over a period of time to introduce Learning Design to teaching staff.

Learning Design is the term used for combining the ‘What’(Australian Curriculum) and the ‘How’ (TfEL) in a way that will assist teachers with their programing and assessing of student learning. Learning Design encompasses the following (click on the diagram below to enlarge it and view it clearly).

 

 

 

Teachers – Productivity Commission Report

Published by Nick

I thought staff might be interested in this report by the Productivity Commission into Australia’s school workforce. Some points from the article:

“It recommended governments use a program to give principals more autonomy to trial pay incentives to attract teachers.” – for rural and hard to fill positions.

“The report also criticised efforts to reduce class sizes over the past 50 years as “a costly policy that has not translated into a commensurate improvement in overall student outcomes.”.

“The commission also said principals should be given the power to discipline or fire underperforming teachers.”

“It said efforts to improve teacher quality should not focus on the payment of bonuses.”

Click here to read the full article.

Parent Review R-6 Reports

Published by Nick

I have started to put together a process for discussing R-6 reports with the parent group. I would really like feedback from R-6 staff and leadership. By no means is this a final copy. Any feedback would be appreciated either through the comments or come and see me face to face.

Some formatting lost and writing looks average. This is just due to uploading the power point to Slideshare so please ignore this.

R 6 reporting parent review

View more PowerPoint from 13nick

Differentiation For High Ability Learners

Published by Nick

I have not had a good look through this site but what I have seen looks useful. If you are looking for information and resources around differentiation then this site offers a range of information on the topic. There is also a link to this site on the Pedagogy page under Domain 4.

Click here to go to ‘Differentiation For High Ability Learners’.

Year 9 Mathematics Parent Teacher Interview handout sheet

Published by ed

Hi Guys

Not sure if this is useful or wasting your time, HOWEVER, thought I would share with you what I am providing the parents of my Year 9 Mathematics class during Parent Teacher Interview. I am trying to very quickly establish an understanding from them the different way in which I approach my Mathematics teaching – which can be difficult for students (but more importantly, parents) to come to grips with.

Anyway, thought I would share that two page document below.

Would be interested in your thoughts – does it achieve what I am trying to do?

Cheers


Ed

Year 9 Mathematics – Learning to Learn philosophy

  • Head to the website: http://www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk/
  • Head to Professor Guy Claxton (Author of Building Learning Power): http://www.guyclaxton.com/blp.htm
  • The world is changing at an incredible rate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emx92kBKads
  • With this in mind, traditional teacher holder of all knowledge; student sits; teacher speaks and directs is gone
  • All students learn at different rates and commence their learning from different points
  • Consequently, all students do not need the same amount of explanation with new learning
  • Students cannot be treated the same – nor do they expect to be treated the same à individual learning and teaching is the key element of this style of teaching.
  • 3 groups of learning

o       BLUE

o       GREEN

o       RED

Students have different learning to get them to different points

All learning is matched to the Australian Curriculum which can be viewed at: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Mathematics/Rationale

Students lead their own learning with some direction

Students are strongly encouraged to utilize different methods of solving problems other than direct access to the teacher in the first instance.

Learning form previous years is solidified via Homework Sheets (Term 1) and Football Directed Investigation (Terms 2 & 3).

Predominant assessment items include:

  • Tests
  • Directed Investigations

These are assessed using the attached rubric on other side of this document.

 

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR YEAR 9 MATHEMATICS

 

 

Maths Knowledge/Skills and their Application

Modelling learnt skills and Problem-solving

Communication of Mathematical Information
A Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Appropriate selection and use of maths formulae and techniques (implemented electronically where appropriate) to find solutions to complex questions.

Highly effective and accurate application of knowledge and skills to answer questions from the applied setting.

 Effective application of mathematical models.

Complete, concise, and accurate solutions to maths problems set in applied settings.

Concise interpretation of the results in the context of the problem.

In-depth understanding of the reasonableness and possible limitations of the interpreted results, and acknowledging the assumptions made.

Constructive and productive contribution to group work.

 Highly effective communication of mathematical ideas/reasoning to develop logical arguments.

Skilled and accurate use of maths terms, representations, and terminology.
B Some depth of knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Use of maths formulae and techniques (implemented electronically where appropriate) to find some correct solutions to complex questions.

Accurate application of knowledge and skills to answer questions from the applied setting.

 Attempted and appropriate application of mathematical models.

Mostly accurate and complete solutions to maths problems set in applied settings.

Complete interpretation of the results in the context of the problem.

Some depth of understanding of the reasonableness and possible limitations of the interpreted results, and acknowledging the assumptions made.

Productive contribution to group work.

 Effective communication of mathematical ideas/reasoning to develop mostly logical arguments.

Mostly accurate use of appropriate maths terms, representations, and terminology.
C Generally competent knowledge of knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Use of maths formulae and techniques (implemented electronically where appropriate) to find mostly correct solutions to routine questions.

Generally accurate application of knowledge and skills to answer questions set in applied settings.

 Appropriate application of mathematical models.

Some accurate and generally complete solutions to problems set in applied settings.

Generally appropriate interpretation of the results in the context of the problem.

Some understanding of the reasonableness and possible limitations of the interpreted results, and some acknowledgement of assumptions made.

Some productive contribution to group work.

 Appropriate communication of mathematical ideas/reasoning to develop some logical arguments.

Use of generally appropriate maths terms, representations, and terminology, with some inaccuracies.
D Basic knowledge of knowledge and some understanding of concepts.

Some use of maths formulae and techniques (implemented electronically where appropriate) to find some correct solutions to routine questions.

Sometimes accurate application of knowledge and skills to answer questions set in applied settings.

 Application of a mathematical model, with partial effectiveness.

Partly accurate and generally incomplete solutions to problems set in applied settings.

Attempted interpretation of the mathematical results in the context of the problem.

Some awareness of the reasonableness and possible limitations of the interpreted results.

Superficial contribution to group work.

 Some appropriate communication of mathematical ideas and reasoning.

Some attempt to use appropriate maths terms, representations, and terminology, with occasional accuracy.
E Limited knowledge of content.

Attempted use of maths formulae and techniques (implemented electronically where appropriate) to find limited correct solutions to routine questions.

Attempted application of knowledge and skills to answer questions set in applied settings, with limited effectiveness.

 Attempted application of a basic mathematical model.

Limited accuracy in solutions to one or more problems set in applied contexts.

Limited attempt at interpretation of the results in the context of the problem.

Limited awareness of the reasonableness and possible limitations of the results.

Attempted contribution to group work.

 Attempted communication of emerging mathematical ideas and reasoning.

Limited attempt to use appropriate maths terms, representations, or terminology, and with limited accuracy.