My name is Michael Portaro,
I’m the Assistant Principal
at Melton Primary School.
My role is primarily curriculum,
so looking at assessment,
instruction and just basic curriculum design,
so looking at the ways
in which our staff implement that curriculum
to the best of their ability.
So there’s also a bit of coaching element
to my role.
Okay and the final one here.
I can
explain how I could use this
in everyday life.
So my vision is
that all of our students experience success,
so success at their point,
or at their
level of achievement.
So all of our students are placed
on a developmental continuum,
and our students are taught
to their point of need.
Every year, we’re challenged with
how we’re going to pass data
up to the next year level,
or even before that,
how we’re going to track student achievement
and growth.
These continuums were vital in that approach.
I suppose
it brings about a consistent understanding
and approach to delivering the curriculum.
So if our staff are using checkpoints
to deliver curriculum,
at what point
are they going to be teaching o’clock times,
the minute hand,
the hour hand?
These things are not articulated
in our curriculum.
So it’s really important for them
to understand all of those developmental points
along the way,
and where we need to be delivering
that curriculum to our students.
And so by
creating these developmental continuums,
we believe we haven’t missed any element
of that growth
or that understanding within each of the content.
There are
how many people?
25 people on the train,
something full carriages of the tens.
Two full carriages? - There are,
which equals what?
What do all these people equal?
20 - 20.
The first part of developing the continuum
was using multiple resources,
to fill in those gaps along the way,
and then looking at what overlaps;
what’s not appropriate
and what is appropriate.
Because there’s such breadth,
particularly as the students move through
year levels;
it becomes quite difficult for teachers to cater
and differentiate
within the normal classroom environment.
Particularly when you have students who are,
in some cases,
working out and identifying half of an object
or a group,
and then in the same classroom,
you have students who are multiplying fractions.
In terms of the professional learning
that is continued with our teams,
they’re given a session every week
to sit together and collaborate.
So during that time,
they talk about not just students,
and they don’t just examine student work
or moderate student work,
they don’t just talk about lessons,
but they share ideas,
they share resources
and we talk about strategies
and approaches to curriculum.
Have you looked at,
like, dice patterns,
so [sobotising 02:41] through dice patterns
and so forth?
So rolling dices
and that instant recognition that that’s five,
and that one’s two.
I could start to do that.
So, being the second year of our
PLC model,
our teachers are now are finding
areas to cover in the PLC model
that they are finding it quite difficult
to differentiate in their classrooms.
So at the start of the year,
we’ve looked at counting as the basis of all
number in algebra,
because counting leads into place value,
leads into addition, and subtraction.
Over the last week,
we’ve been looking at writing the numerals,
because we’ve found that that’s been
a real struggle and they're
They're quite good at recognising the numerals
and going, "Well, that’s a 9, that’s a 7," and so forth.
But in terms of correctly forming them,
that’s pulling them back.
No longer are our teachers hiding to their students
what it is they’re going to learn about
and what it will take for them to be successful.
So that’s articulated in all of their lessons,
through the learning intention
and the success criteria.
That way, students can then look at that success criteria,
and look at how - what it will take for them
to be successful in that lesson.
“We are learning to count a collection efficiently”.
I want you to have a think about,
what does that mean?
Wow-ee.
So have you been successful in our success criteria? - Yep.
What strategy did you use?
I used counting by tens.
You did use counting by tens,
so you could build to 10 and bridge.
Whilst a teacher is delivering the same content
within their classroom,
they’re actually roaming the room
and looking at the strategies
in which their students are achieving
those particular learning intentions.
So adding 6 and 4
is not just adding 6 and 4 anymore,
it’s about how students are doing that.
By roaming around the classrooms,
and having substantive conversations
with all of their students,
they’re able to ascertain their point of
understanding within that particular learning intention,
and move along the continuum of growth.
What are we doing here?
We're finding a quarter of 60.
Yes.
So how go we go about that?
First you need to figure out
how many times 4 goes into 60.
Is there another way we can do that also?
I think that the culture of mathematics
has changed at Melton Primary School.
Our students are really enjoying
what happens in a numeracy session.
So, there’s a lot of hands-on.
Students know what it is they need to learn,
so it’s identified
and articulated to those students.
Above all else,
I think it’s really important
that our students enjoy mathematics.