Noelene Dunn's Blog

“Explicitly model concise and consistent language so that learning is maximised.” My learning environment is about maximising learners potential through the use of: mastery (move forward at one's own pace as they master knowledge/skills), vicarious experiences (gain self-confidence while watching others successfully performing), social persuasion (intentional encouragement to adopt an attitude of success and emotional intelligence (ability to control one’s emotions and that of others).

Thursday, 19 October 2017

Literacy in maths

To sell the importance of literacy in maths, my students and I took a mock trip to China.

Once we landed in China, we discussed taking a shuttle or taxi to our hotel and realised that none of us could speak or read Chinese. This led to a healthy discussion about the importance of knowing the language, so getting learners to define terms like:
Transformations
Complementary angles
Supplementary angles
Invariant points
Types of angles
Polygons
Bearings, to name a few, had learners attempting to understand the language of Geometry with renewed vigour. To reinforce learning, learners explained the meaning of Geometry words and then copied and pasted an appropriate image. Their final challenge was to explain at least one of the words to their neighbour and vice versa.

Monday, 16 October 2017

DREAM BIG and ACHIEVE BIGGER

Day 1 of term 4 and we have 23 Days to go (including weekends and Labour Day) before NCEA exams commence, nationwide. My 11's have set themselves a goal to gain UE numeracy between now and then. We all need to DREAM BIG and ACHIEVE BIGGER, so once we have UE Numeracy, we need to aim for credits in an additional standard.