Teachers, please read and share this exciting feedback with your colleagues!
“Hi Audrey, I attended the NZEI workshop in June and was so inspired by your presentation. I teach at a decile 1 school and all my year 7/8 students are performing below the National Standards in maths – whatever that means!
I just wanted to let you know that I went straight back and started teaching maths in a way that makes more sense to me – the way I have wanted to teach since the Numeracy Project started. Since the June workshop, my class have learned to use family of facts, including decimals, division of fractions, COLUMN ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION and we have touched on some basic algebra and they are loving it! I have just started a group on multiplication – we are up to three digits!
The children want to do maths above anything else now. In fact today I met with two presenters of an exciting new health/fitness programme and my class shrieked ‘Not now, we’ve got maths!’ I think the staff are getting a bit tired of me constantly raving about the maths in my room!
So, thank you for making it OK for me to teach maths in a way that the children want to learn it.
Also, the comprehension is coming from the children, not from me.”
This teacher has done something very special, possibly life changing, for her pupils. I hope that by spreading the word, other teachers will find the courage to do what’s right for the children in front of them. We don’t need to wait for the Ministry. Let’s just get on with it!
Dr Audrey Tan, Mathmo Consulting
August 2013
Mathmo Consulting 