Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it.
Focus area 2.5: Literacy and numeracy strategies
Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas.
Focus area 2.6: Information and Communication Technology
Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.
During Service Learning, I was teaching a Mathematics Transformations unit to Year Five class in a school in South-East Queensland. My mentor teacher gave me brief outline for her expectations for the unit, based on what she had taught the previous year. She also said that the assessment had been updated recently by the Year Level Leader. The updated assessment included many short-response written components that required students to justify their answers. Therefore, I was required to combine mathematical knowledge with literacy as a general capability (ACARA, 2014-a)(2.5).
Some students in the class had confided to me that maths was “boring,” a sentiment common amongst some school students (Putwain et al., 2018). I needed to present my information in an engaging, meaningful way that ensured students were learning in accordance with the Australian Curriculum and were ready for assessment (2.5). However, as is common among pre-service teachers (Kajander, 2010), I was not entirely sure exactly how to meet this challenge. Thus, I conferred with my mentor teacher, an educator with more than 15 years’ experience (Chase, 2016).
After consultation, I decided to present my lessons through a series of PowerPoint slides. Not only would this provide colour, animation, and visual stimuli to engage students, it also helped enabled me to incorporate interactive ICT elements into the lesson. This was particularly important given ICT is a general capability in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2014-b) (2.6).
Each lesson, students were required to write down the learning intention, definitions, and their reflections on the lesson, as evident in this sample of a student’s work. All worksheets used for the unit were accessed from math-salamaders.com (Math Salamanders Ltd., 2021). I took turns reading aloud from the PowerPoint (2.6) and supplying comments or questions on the slide content (2.5). As noticed by my mentor teacher, having everything pre-planned on the PowerPoint meant that I did not need to turn my back to the class to write on the board. Problem-solving activities that enforced mathematical terminology were also planned and implemented (2.5), as well as question and answer class discussions games that were organised using the interactive online platform ClassDojo (2.6) (ClassDojos Inc., n.d.). Thus, students not only were learning writing skills in a maths lesson; they were practicing listening skills and communication skills (ACARA, 2014-a; Clarke et al., 2007). The enjoyed their work so much, compiled a wall display of their symmetrical drawings.
The students were engaged in the mathematics lessons and were able to recall content from the earlier lessons when each lesson was reviewed at the beginning of a subsequent lesson. The assessment results indicated that students had been able to justify their mathematical thinking through the written word, as can be seen in this two students’ responses here and here. Games that reinforced mathematic terminology and developed listening skills were so enjoyed by the students that they mentioned it on a thank you card they gave me when I finished the practicum. I learnt from this experience the importance of incorporating ICT into my lessons (Markauskaite, 2007). I also improved my practice of integrating literacy as a general capability (ACARA, 2014-b); a skill I intend to improve in the future.
References for Standard Two
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2014-a). Literacy Learning Continuum. ACARA https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2014-b). Information and Communication Technology Capability learning continuum. ACARA https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/General_capabilities_-_ICT_-_learning_continuum.pdf
Chase, L. (2016). Collaboration and the power of team teaching. SCAN, 35(1), 13-19.
Clarke, D., Goos, M., & Morony, W. (2007). Problem solving and working mathematically: an Australian perspective. ZDM, 39, 475-490.
ClassDojos Inc. (n.d.). About Us: Product Overview. https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/about/
Kajander, A. (2010). Elementary mathematics teacher preparation in an era of reform: The development and assessment of mathematics for teaching. Canadian Journal of Education, 33(1), 228-255.
Markauskaite, L. (2007). Exploring the structure of trainee teachers’ ICT literacy: the main components of, and relationships between, general cognitive and technical capabilities. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55(6), 547-572. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-007-9043-8
Math Salamanders Ltd. (2021). Symmetry Worksheets. Retrieved from https://www.math-salamanders.com/symmetry-worksheets.html
Putwain, D.W., Pekrun, R., Nicholson, L.J., Symes, W., Becker, S., Marsh, H.W. (2018). Control-value appraisals, enjoyment, and boredom in mathematics: A longitudinal latent interaction analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 55(6), 1339-1368. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218786689
