Welcome

Hi, my name is Stephen Bevan and I am Principal at Tuart Hill Primary School in Perth, Western Australia. Research shows that open and clear communication between home and school is important which is why I have created this blog. As Principal of Tuart Hill Primary School I value your opinions and encourage your comments. Feel free to comment on any of the posts.

I will endeavour to provide you with regular and informative posts about our school and its activities. I ask that your comments be constructive and positive with any concerns or complaints directed to me personally at school.

Tuart Hill Primary School prides itself on the positive, open and friendly culture that has been established. Our vision is to raise the literacy level of all students through the provision of quality teaching and learning opportunities.

Thursday 21 June 2012

WAPPA Conference Day 1 continued


The concurrent session that I attended on day 1 of the conference was presented by Dr Paul Swan who is a senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University. He is an expert in Mathematics education with his recent focus being on early childhood education. Dr Swan presented a concurrent session on the importance of 'Getting children off to a good start.' In this session Paul talked about the changes in education in Mathematics that has come with the new Australian Curriculum.

I had recently heard Paul speak on the same topic so this presentation helped clarify some important points when it comes to the teaching of mathematics.

  1. It is important that teachers think carefully about the mathematics content of their lessons. The question that Paul suggested teachers ask themselves is: 'nice activity but where is the mathematics teaching?'
  2. A whole school approach to mathematics teaching is essential for sustained whole school improvement. Planning should begin with the Australian Curriculum as the scope and sequence it provides clearly outlines the developmental progression of mathematics learning. The development of a common language for teaching mathematics is essential at a whole school level.
  3. Intentional teaching is the key to success. The interactions and conversations that a teacher engages in during a Maths activity is more important than the activity as it is these conversations that guide, direct, confirm and embed learning.




http://members.iinet.net.au/~markobri/Paul_Swan/Paul_Swans_homepage.html

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please feel free to post a comment. All comments will be moderated prior to uploading to the blog. Concerns, issues or complaints should not be posted on this blog but should be directed straight to a member of the school admin team.

Thanks for your interest in our school.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)