Garry Bell, Wade High School, Griffith, NSW has sent the following feedback on starting the year with a Year 7/8 Space & Logic kit.
Maths is progressing very well. We bought the Space & Logic package to 'cut our teeth on'. I programmed a four week unit for all Year 7 and 8 classes to do. Sandra and I have just finished our turn with our Year 7 and Drew and I have finished the first of the Year 8 classes. We have all raved over it and now wish that we had been game enough to have bought all four packages. The module is rotated through three sets of two classes - but working concurrently in both Years 7 & 8. Ideally I can see that we will need more sets of the same so that all can done at the same time in one year.We agree and would love to hear more from brilliant teachers about how they have integrated and documented MWA into the curriculum.I haven't taught year 7 for decades. I have loved it - and it has been such a wonderful way to meet a new bunch of kids fresh to the school. It has been interesting to see the little extra that Year 8 is able to put into it as well.
More importantly - the kids have taken to it like the proverbial 'ducks to water' (must be the brilliant teachers that they have of course).
Two more workshop days have been added to the bookings for 2006. See the Maths on the Move link on the left for our library of workshops.
The Documents link on the left has been refreshed and two new documents have been added. Support Services is a one page summary of our extensive list of professional development options. We have also added a 1-page document summarising the features and structure of Maths With Attitude kits. Both these documents are also available through the Resources link on the left.
Ian Menzies, HoD at Karingal Park Secondary College has asked if schools would be interested in sharing documentation showing how they have mapped Maths With Attitude planner weeks into their curriculum. We know this is happening, see Garry Bell's comments above for example, but Ian's thought was that perhaps it would save work if local documentation could be shared. We are happy to facilitate this type of communication between schools, so please send in your contribution.
Also on the theme of sharing to save work, there is sense in organising one team of teachers for the state to compare MWA to the official curriculum documents to publish once, for all, detail about which aspects of the syllabus is addressed by which kits. This idea has been informally floated in Victoria where the new Essential Learning Standards are currently the focus of attention. However, since each state has its own curriculum, the work needs to be done in each location, perhaps under the auspices of the local maths teachers' association. If you are interested in joining colleagues in such a venture, let us know and we will see if we can help to get people together.
The two tasks this month, may, at first glance, seem to be designed exclusively for infants. But look deeper. A good task is the tip of an iceberg and these are no exception. The questions which initiate further investigation in these tasks are also applicable to others. We begin to learn that as teachers we don't have to know the answer to every task; rather the questions to ask which are likely to take any task further.
Read about these Tasks of the Month in Task Cameos in the Iceberg Information link on the left, or click on a photo to go straight to printable information about the task.
If so you missed information about:
- Working Mathematically Scaffold
- Refreshing your Task Centre
- Iceberg Information about four Tasks of the Month
- ... and more
