Thursday 8 August 2024

MPI - Day 4: Number

Today's focus was on knowing and understanding our learners as Mathematicians. We looked at the following areas:

  1. Maths Talks
  2. Understanding Place Value
  3. Fractions as a Number
  4. Fractions as Operators
  5. Decimals and Percentages
  6. Integers - Positive and Negative Numbers
Here are some of my reflections from today:

1. "Use materials and manipulatives to help develop a conceptual understanding."

Teaching place value is essential to ensuring the mathematical success of our students at PES. The slide on the right served as a valuable reminder for me, particularly when mentoring fellow educators in mathematics, of the critical role that materials and manipulatives play in helping students grasp complex place value concepts.

2. I found it extremely beneficial to revisit some of the fundamental concepts involved in teaching fractions. One key takeaway for me is to remind teachers to not only approach problems from whole-to-part but also to ensure that students frequently engage with part-to-whole problems as well.



3. Teaching fractions and percentages in authentic learning contexts is important because it allows students to connect abstract mathematical concepts to real-world situations, making the learning experience more meaningful, relevant and most importantly, fun!

Today provided me with valuable reminders into the key elements of effective place value instruction!

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2 comments:

  1. Oliver Trewin8 August 2024 at 14:07

    Kia ora Kent,

    I like your reflection of using materials. This is something that I often neglect to implement in my teaching so it's nice to see that you also were reminded how important these are in the classroom.

    I also found the idea of materials to teach place value vital and this is something that I am going to try and implement in my teaching moving forward in my decimals unit that we are currently teaching.

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  2. Kiri @ Manaiakalani9 August 2024 at 10:05

    HI Kent, I echo what Ollie said about manipulatives. Teaching older student this is something we sometimes overlook, but in terms of coming to grips with concepts around fractions and decimals, and place value this can be so important for our learners. I also liked that you were able to see the benefit in using practical situations to provide a context for learning. Helping our learners see where this is useful in their everyday lives is a great motivator. How are you sharing the resourcing with the staff at PES? Have your teachers found it to be relatively simple to pick up and use or do you need to sit alongside and unpack some of the content? Kiri

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