This website is for my Year 9 and Year 10 classes of 2018. In the past I have taught Year 13 Calculus, Year 13 Statistics, Year 12 Mathematics, Year 12 Statistics, Year 11, as well as Year 9 &10. 2018 is my second year of exclusively teaching junior classes.
My goal is to engage students through play with rich mathematical tasks which:
build the required mathematical foundation for their future learning
develop the Pakuranga College learning habits of Strive, Connect, Reflect, Respect and Create
are low entry and high exit so all students can learn and be challenged
allow students to experience struggle and success
teach BIG ideas (and often multiple ideas at once)
have the potential to be highly enjoyable and satisfying
encourage students to learn together and experience the joy of teaching and learning
Quote: Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat. (Brain Based Learning)
I am influenced by Early Childhood Educators, Growth Mindset theory (Carol Dweck & Jo Boaler) and like the idea of Building Learning Power (Guy Claxton). I am a fan of Dan Finkel, Sal Khan, Dan Meyer, Gerd Gigerenzer and Daniel Karaman to mention a few. I am also a fan of Demos, Geogebra, Virtual Sharemarkets and Data Visualization. I am constantly looking for new exciting ways of playing with mathematics and connecting classroom learning to real life applications.
Each student will create their own google site and use it to record their mathematical journey, goals and reflections.