Assessment 1: Teaching Plan Current practice in mathematics education: what it looks like, sounds like and feels like
The purpose of this assessment task
This assessment task is focused primarily on developing your ability to articulate, communicate and demonstrate what Mathematics teaching and learning 'looks like' in primary school mathematics classrooms today. It has two parts - Part A - a discussion about what constitutes (or what should constitute) current, best practice in primary mathematics classrooms; Part B - planning and teaching two mathematics lessons and a discussion/reflection, demonstrating your understanding of current teaching practices in mathematics.
Background scenario to Part A of the assignment
Some of your school parents have been discussing how different mathematics is from when they were are school. Your principal brings you the article "Parrot Math" by Thomas C. O'Brien. He says that some parents had read the article and had been commenting about it. The principal asks you to read the article then write a response that explains what mathematics teaching and learning should look like in today's classroom.
Part A
Part A will contain a carefully crafted description about today's primary mathematics classroom. The discussion should address the issues that are raised in the article. It should discuss the merits of a constructivist approach as opposed to a more traditional approach based on rote learning and learning of procedures. You should also address the importance of helping children to develop rich understandings of mathematics concepts as opposed to solely learning procedures. You should also address other aspects of current practice that you have learned about from tutorials and key readings within this unit.
Part B
You will need to work with at least two children of primary school age to complete this section.
You are required to create and teach two lessons from the Mathematics: Geometry and Measurement strand of the Australian Curriculum. The lessons should be for a group of at least two students of the same age and need to cover different content. You may wish to use the First Steps in Mathematics (FSiM) materials for ideas(det.wa.edu.au/stepsresources/detcms/navigation/first-steps-mathematics/?oid=MultiPartArticle-id-13603817).
This section will start with an introductory statement about the ages / year levels of the students that you will be working with and a general context for the mathematics lessons. You are to record the required information on the template found in the Assessment link and paste it into your assignment. The mathematics lessons and discussion should provide evidence of your understanding of current, best practice in primary mathematics education.
Additional Discussion / Reflection
o Describe how the activities were conducted (using constructivist techniques) and what the children did, that is, a summary of your observations.
o Describe the mathematical learning that the children showed during the activities and show how that learning relates to aspects of the curriculum.
o Describe the resources that were used within the lesson/s and give reasons for their use - in line with research and current practice.
o Explain how the activities fit in with what might be an overall plan for the children's learning (i.e., what might be done next and why)
o Show how the activities relate to your discussion of current, best practice.
o Include examples of comments (written or oral) made by children about what they learned from doing the activities and how they liked working on the tasks.
Your paper should be written as a typical assignment and use language and structure appropriate for that purpose. It should be written in third person. It is not to be written in ‘parent speak' but should incorporate a discussion of the O'Brien article and current practice in mathematics teaching, and should be well linked to source material to support your claims. Although they are not prescriptive, these points represent the sorts of things that should be included in some way or other. Headings may be used to separate the different sections of this assignment.
Part A - Describe current teaching practice in mathematics
Address the main points of O'Brien's paper and provide an overview of the key principles and ideas that guide current practice in mathematics classrooms. Include justifications for your approach and practices regarding primary mathematics education (you will need to use scholarly mathematics education references here).
Part B - Discussion of Activities
Create and teach two mathematics lessons from the Geometry / Measurement strand of the Australian Curriculum, followed by a discussion about what was observed when teaching the lessons. The discussion / reflection must relate to the key points addressed in Part A.