Our 1:1 programme has been well supported in Maths in the last 18 months with the introduction of Maths Whizz. We have teachers across six of the Manaiakalani schools from Years 5-10 using it as part of their Maths programme.
Ted Barks, a Year 7/8 class teacher at Pt England School, presented at the recent Ulearn12 Conference in Auckland how he uses Maths Whizz with his students to compliment his teaching.
Watch this video showing part of his presentation:
Hello my name is Meghan Brewer. I am studying secondary education at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed this video on Maths Wizz featuring Ted Barks. I think this program is wonderful and was very interested to see how Mr Barks is using it in his class. It is great how the program allows the teacher to see all of the students progress and know exactly why each student is performing the way that they are.
ReplyDeleteI liked when Mr Barks said that if his students are putting in way more than the required 20 minutes of work, that means that there is something else that they are not doing and he has a problem with that. That really struck me. I always hated when I had a teacher who acted like their class was the only thing in our world. I think it is very wise that he realized that school work has it's place, but it is also important that children are engaging in other activities like, playing outside, getting enough physical activity, and sharing meals with their families as well.
I liked seeing the student's use of the class blog. Our class also utilizes a class blog and we are encouraged to visit recommended sites and watch videos. I never would have thought of using this method for math though! It is a wonderful idea because, as demonstrated, it allows the students to work together on math problems to find the most effective way for them to solve and understand the work. Well done!
Meghan Brewer