Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30 th :00 – 8:30pm Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom

Danny and Tom Tom and Danny travelled from school to the shops on foot. Danny walked half the distance and ran half the distance. Tom walked half the time and ran half the time. They started at the same time, and walked at the same speed as each other and ran at the same speed as each other. Who arrived first, or was it a tie?

Special offer THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO The free pair is the cheapest one Special offer THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO The free pair is the cheapest one Virginia and Samantha go shopping for shoes. Virginia chooses one pair for $110 and another for $100. Samantha chooses a pair that cost $160. When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs. Give two options for how much Virginia and Samantha should each pay? Explain which option is fairer.

Option 1 split the bill - they pay $135 each Option 2 split the saving – Virginia pays $160 and Samantha pays $110 Virginia $110 + $100 Samantha $160 When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs. (the fine print says that the cheapest pair is the free pair) Now the total spend is $270

Special offer THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO The free pair is the cheapest one Special offer THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO The free pair is the cheapest one Virginia and Samantha go shopping for shoes. Virginia chooses one pair for $110 and another for $100. Samantha chooses a pair that cost $160. When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs. Give two options for how much Virginia and Samantha should each pay? Explain which option is fairer.

Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30 th :00 – 8:30pm Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom

Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30 th :00 – 8:30pm Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom Encouraging Persistence Maintaining Challenge

How much do you like doing maths at school? Great OK Not so good Terrible Don’t know

How much do you like doing maths at school? Great OK Not so good Terrible Don’t know 35% 40% 20% 5% 0%

Which type of lessons do you like? Give each a score out of 10 Which type of lessons help you learn? Give each a score out of 10 practice investigations games challenges

Which type of lessons do you like? Which type of lessons help you learn? Average score practice 78 investigations 77 games 87 challenges 88.5

I am prepared to have a go to work things out even when I am not sure. Always Mostly Occasionally Never Don’t know

I am prepared to have a go to work things out even when I am not sure. Always Mostly Occasionally Never Don’t know 48% 36% 8% 5% 3%

Some Challenging Tasks

1. I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

= = = 26

I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have? = = = 26

Challenging Tasks LaunchExploreSummarise

What ‘Challenging Tasks’ are NOT! Asking questions that are so easy that everyone can do them Lessons that are so hard that the students feel overwhelmed Setting up groups that might allow some students to hide Excessive repetition (although, some is needed)

Thinking about the lesson structure In this view, the sequence – Launch (without telling) – Explore (for themselves) – Summarise (drawing on the learning of the students) … is cyclical and might happen more than once in a lesson (or learning sequence) LaunchExploreSummarise

FABLE FOR SCHOOL Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of the new world. So they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, flying and swimming. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, ALL the animals took ALL the subjects.

The duck was excellent at swimming, in fact better than his instructor, but he only just passed flying and his running skills were very poor. Since he was slow at running he had to do extra practice after school and also had to drop swimming and take extra classes in running. This was continued until his poor webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average at swimming. But as average was acceptable at the school nobody worried about this except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but became a school refuser because of the stress caused by so much extra work in swimming. The squirrel was excellent in climbing but he developed behaviour problems in the flying class, where the teacher insisted on him starting from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He became so unfocused that he scored a C in climbing and a D in running. His doctor has diagnosed ADHD.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there. The school counsellor thinks he probably has Oppositional Defiant Disorder. At the end of the year an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well and also run, climb and fly a little had the higher average and was dux of the school

MESSAGE: The differences in students makes a major impact on what students need to learn, the pace at which they need to learn it and the support they need from teachers and others to learn it.

To the classrooms 4 tasks Prep level Gr1/2 level Gr3/4 level Gr5/6 level (library)

Choosing tasks and structuring lessons If we are seeking fluency, then clear explanations followed by practice will work If we are seeking understanding, then very clear and interactive communication between teacher and students and between students will be necessary If we want to foster problem solving and reasoning, then we need to use tasks with which students can engage, which require them to make decisions and explain their thinking