2020 MTLC Master Class Webinar Series

Presenter: Matt Sexton

Audience: Primary maths leaders

Webinar Synopsis

Literature regarding mathematics leaders in primary schools focuses on their activity as professional learning (PL) providers. As a maths leader, you are responsible for leading PL of your teachers in mathematics education. Protocols are tools that maths leaders can use to help teachers focus on understanding their teaching practice through dialogue and decision-making processes. In this webinar, Matt will share several of his favourite PL protocols that could form the basis of a maths leaders’ toolkit for leading professional learning strategies in primary school settings.

Presenter: Matt Sexton

Audience: Foundation to Year 2 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Traditionally, it was thought that algebra was a mathematics topic that was left for high school teachers, with the possibility of upper primary teachers exploring algebraic ideas with their students. Laying the foundations for algebraic thinking can happen in the early years when we choose to use tasks that have the potential to engage young learners in that type of thinking. In this webinar, Matt will share three tasks that can support F-2 students’ learning of algebraic ideas and how teachers can engage our younger learners with algebraic thinking and encouraging those students’ reasoning skills. 

Presenter: Leonie Anstey

Audience: Years 4 - 7 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

The use of questioning is a fundamental tool that we know can enhance thinking and student engagement in mathematics learning. If you have wondered about what are the types and styles of questions to support student understanding, then this webinar might be for you.  In this webinar, Leonie will share starter questions, questions to deepen conceptual thinking, and final discussion questions within the context of fractions as part-whole.

Presenter: Doug Clarke

Audience: Foundation to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Number sense can be thought of as thinking of numbers in a sense-making way. Many children develop creative and efficient strategies when operating on numbers, but a focus on formal algorithms too early may deter students from using their number sense.  In this webinar, Doug will explore ways of using mental computation and number relationships to help young children deal with numbers strategically and flexibly. Doug will actively involve participants in some engaging activities and ideas, which he has found helpful in building number sense. 

Presenter: Leonie Anstey

Audience: Foundation to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Dialogue is an important vehicle for facilitating student learning to be able to think and reason mathematically.  As teachers. dialogue enables us to develop classroom learning that is flexible, instructional, collaborative, and rigorous. In this webinar, Leonie will explore a range of tools that develop mathematical reasoning. These tools can be adapted and used across many stands and aspects of the mathematics curriculum.

Presenter: Michael Minas

Audience: Foundation to Year 8 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

One of the greatest challenges confronting teachers is how to best cater for the wide range of abilities in mathematics.  In this webinar, Michael will explore how learning can be enhanced while also increasing student engagement, simply by changing the type of questions that teachers pose. Michael will investigate the benefits of using open-ended tasks by taking participants through examples that have been successfully implemented in classrooms.  We also outline some simple design principles that will allow you to create your own open-ended tasks across all of the strands of mathematics and for all year levels. 

Presenter: Matt Sexton

Audience: School Mathematics Leaders, numeracy coordinators, year level coordinators

Webinar Synopsis

Nurturing relational trust is critical in the leadership activity of middle leaders in primary schools. Relational trust is vital if school mathematics leaders are to lead professional learning that impacts on teacher disposition, practice, and knowledge. In this webinar, Matt will share aspects of his research in this area of relational trust in mathematics leadership in schools. Advice and strategies to build relational trust with teachers will be explored along with a protocol for having “genuine conversations” with teachers. 

Presenter: J Munro

Audience: Foundation to Year 10 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

The webinar will begin by describing dyscalculia and its cause.  Most infants develop the ability to enumerate and compare small quantities in the first two years of life. Dyscalculia occurs when this doesn’t happen. It leads to difficulty learning maths at all year levels: the ability to count and use place value concepts,  whole number algorithms, recall number facts, form part-whole relationships, use number to measure, and to solve word problems.

The webinar will describe how you can use tests, error analysis of classroom tasks, and dynamic assessment to decide whether a student may have dyscalculia.  John will also recommend ways in which you can modify regular mathematics teaching and implement interventions for dyscalculic students.

Presenter: Jill Brown

Audience: Year 3 to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

The Australian Curriculum highlights algebraic thinking in the Number and Algebra strand, within the Patterns and Algebra sub-strand. Algebraic thinking includes a focus on number patterns (whole numbers then extending to fractions and decimal fractions), equality, properties of numbers (odd or even, prime, composite, square, triangular), describing ‘rules’ to create sequences, the order of operations, and representing points on the Cartesian plane. Research shows that these ideas are best taught and learnt using a “multiple representation approach”. In this webinar, Jill will focus on this approach and share some key algebraic thinking tasks that require Grade 3 to 6 students to engage with and use language, visual, graphical, and symbolic representations as ways of demonstrating their algebraic thinking.

Presenter: Ann Downton

Audience: Foundation to year 3 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Challenging tasks can be adapted to a variety of levels and provide opportunities for all students to engage in mathematical learning. Multiplicative thinking is a critical stage of students’ mathematical development during their early primary years of schooling. In this workshop, Ann will share multiplicative tasks and some experiences of how early primary aged students applied themselves when solving these tasks. The important role of the teacher in encouraging productive struggle, as an important aspect of learning, will also be highlighted.

Presenter: James Russo

Audience: Foundation to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of teaching mathematics to children of any age is the range of abilities present in a classroom. One means of addressing this issue is to teach mathematics through problem solving, and use enabling and extending prompts to differentiate instruction. However, how should such prompts be used? How much consideration should be given to matching prompts to particular tasks? What are some tips for developing or sourcing appropriate prompts? In this webinar, James will share ways to engage students with several challenging tasks, and develop prompts that could effectively support or extend student learning using those tasks.

Presenter: Aylie Davidson

Audience: Foundation to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

As we head to the “pointy end” of the year, we start to think ahead about planning mathematics sequences and units of work for 2021. In this webinar, Aylie will share practical approaches and resources that participants can use to make planning purposeful and build important mathematical and cross-curricular connections. Participants will also have an opportunity to explore a planning model and planning proforma that supports teachers to focus on what matters when planning – the maths!

Presenter: James Russo

Audience: Foundation to Year 6 teachers

Webinar Synopsis

Looking for some new mathematical games to begin the new school year? In this webinar, James will introduce a variety of recently developed mathematical games consistent with good practice educational design principles. For each game, he will highlight opportunities for differentiation, modification and explore how these games can be extended into investigations. The webinar will be ‘hands-on’. Participants are advised to attend in pairs, if possible, and have ready access to playing cards, dice and a number chart. Educators will leave the webinar with some rich activities they could implement in their classroom immediately or in the new school year.