Justification- Zeb Martin-Teale

All group members worked as an effective unit to develop a mathematical

term plan while using relevant and required resources and documents e.g.
Australian Curriculum And Reporting agency (ACARA) mathematics strand.
Then to provide effective mathematical learning experiences that allowed
the group to address the mathematical learning concepts, likely issues
that may arise and in depth understanding of the learning and teaching
process of mathematics over the course of a term. This would be guided
by the pedagogical approaches of everything involved in teaching a child
mathematics. Also the diverse needs of every learner were considered
and this was considered in the group planning and resides under the term
differentiation. The assessment requirements were planned to utilize
authentic and meaningful learning experiences where students got to
build on their prior knowledge in many aspects of the subject. At the end
of the term planning process the group came together and decided about
the relevance and importance of the subject matter; this would in the end
make the teaching more effective for the teachers and more beneficial for
the learners.
To begin the term plan there was a review of the ACARA (2014)
Mathematics Curriculum, from this document it was decided that the focus
would be on the year two. The group specifically chose the second term of
learning as this tends to be where the fundamentals of mathematics are
further developed; this is also where authentic learning experiences
provide a sense of belonging and want to learn. Furthermore, students
need to be engaged in mathematical learning experiences that allow the
students to activate their prior knowledge and be more confident in
learning Siemon, Beswick, Brady, Clark, Faragher, & Warren (2011). In
addition ACARA (2014) Mathematics Curriculum aims state that to develop
a learners confidence for mathematical concepts; there has to be real life
connections in the learning; the learning experience not only have to be
enjoyable but also challenging. To follow on from number and place value
was chance, this is where students tend to have more ability to

experience real life applications of mathematics and have more of a want

to learn the content, this are presents some challenging concepts. Then
the number and place value was revised; followed by two dimensional and
3 dimensional shapes.
To organize the mathematical areas and concepts to be taught they were
organized into three different levels of planning. First of all there was the
term plan, followed by the weekly plans and finally down into the lesson
plans. ACARA (2014) utilises three content strands that when spread into
the sub-strands this is to helps teachers to scaffold authentic teaching and
learning of mathematical concepts. Throughout the planning process the
four mathematics proficiency strands were considered for the use of
developing understandings, procedural fluencys, problem-solving and
reasoning throughout the planning construction (ACARA, 2014). Through
number and place value students are able to understand conceptual
understandings; by using Chance and Data children are the exposed
mathematical problem solving; finally shape is a great chance for students
to use the proficiency of procedural fluency (Siemon et al, 2011).
The needs of every learner were considered throughout the process;
adjustments were made to make the learning authentic and meaningful
for all students. The activities used ranged from whole class to individual;
small groups were utilized to create a social setting and the sense of
helping other in a team environment. It has been mentioned by Siemon
(2011) that social context of mathematical learning is an integral part of
teaching instruction and learning behavior. So when teaching numeracy it
has been suggested that it be concerned with using, communicating and
making sense of mathematics in everyday applications (Booker, Bond,
Sparrow, & Swan, 2010). So the choices that teachers make in regards to
pedagogical processes and how they implement them will be one of the
biggest determining factor in the students understanding of mathematical
processes/concepts.
To plan for assessment there had to be a group consideration on ACARA
assessment requirements and what actually had to be assessed. From this

various diagnostic, formative and summative assessment tasks were used

to create learning experience plans. The collection of anecdotal evidence
was incorporated in the planning to watch the progress of the students in
regards to the concepts being taught during the week and term.
Furthermore, ongoing assessment has been said to be linked to students
academic progression (Marzano, 2007). To identify and bring forward a
students learning difficulties or misconceptions it is a must that teachers
incorporate a variety of assessment; this will in the end develop a
students understanding for the concept (Siemon et al, 2011).
To conclude, the process of designing effective learning for the 3 levels is
an onerous responsibility. Through the intertwining processes, educators
of all forms are able to get an overarching view for the requirements that
necessitate the building of mathematical knowledge and skill
development in the classroom. Every aspect taught in the teaching of
mathematics are connected between each other. This creates and
importance on constantly reviewing every students learning and progress
throughout the term. It was noticed that to be able to comprehensively
plan for a term of teaching mathematical processes there was quiet a
required amount of knowledge and understanding. Finally, learning of
mathematics is a never ending aspect of life the professionals teaching
mathematics and requires an in depth knowledge of the mathematical
processes etc. but also has a need for the professionals to understand a
continually changing world.

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting (ACARA). (2014). Mathematics.

Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/mathematics/Curriculum/F-10
Booker, G. (2011). Building numeracy: Moving from diagnosis to intervention. p.
93-160.
South

Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (with Arredondo, D. E., Paynter, D. E., Blackburn,
G. J., Brandt, R. S.,
Moffet, C. A., Pollock, J. E., & Whisler, J. S.). (1997). Dimensions of learning
teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Alexandra, VA: ASCD.
Siemon, D., Beswick, K., Brady, K., Clark, J., Faragher, R. & Warren, E. (2011).
Teaching
Mathematics: Foundations to middle years. Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford
University Press