Masterclass and Instructional Lead Fellowship Alumnus, Jade Foster, has recently been awarded a national Commonwealth Bank 2023 Teaching Fellowship for her incredible work as a primary school teacher and Instructional Coach at Mount Tarcoola Primary School in Geraldton. Jade was one of the inspiring educators recognised and rewarded for their dedication to their students’ education at the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards, presented by Schools Plus, at Parliament House in Canberra. We recently had a chat with Jade about the award…

Congratulations, Jade!

Thanks! It’s an honour to be recognised as a winner of a Commonwealth Bank Teaching award, supported by Schools Plus. Schools Plus is a national education not-for-profit that believes that every child has the right to the same opportunities, no matter their background or postcode.

You were one of 12 teachers nationwide to receive the 12-month Teaching Fellowship. Which part of this opportunity are you most excited about?

I’m excited about quite a few opportunities over the coming 12 months. Firstly, it has been inspiring to network with like-minded educators from all over the country. I have met and keep in regular contact with the other teaching fellows and we are already sharing resources that would benefit each other’s schools.

I’m looking forward to planning and implementing a strategic project worth $25 000 at my school. The project is still in its planning phase, but it will most likely focus on continuing our journey in improving student outcomes by cultivating a high-impact instruction culture. This could look like developing an instructional playbook, so all staff have a shared understanding of teaching and learning across the school, as well as developing a fine-grained, low-variance mathematics curriculum. I’m also keen to refine our assessment procedures to ensure we are tracking data effectively and making data-informed decisions. It’s been a rewarding experience being mentored by Dr Stephen Brown who is working with me to fine tune my strategic plan to ensure the best possible results for students.

Finally, I’m excited about the study tour in Singapore in 2024. Singapore’s education system is among the top-performing globally, so I’m looking forward to observing classrooms and learning from teachers in Singapore to bring new ideas back to my school community.

You have had a truly transformational impact in your school and the surrounding community, what do you believe helped you grow most as a teacher?

When I graduated as a teacher, I worked at some of the lowest socio-economic schools in my town. Recognising the need for improved teacher efficacy to support the students has been a significant driver for my growth. It has motivated me to continually seek out evidence-based teaching strategies that will positively impact student’s lives. Witnessing the tangible benefits of evidence-based strategies on student performance evokes a profound sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. The Teach Well Masterclass has been invaluable in making that happen!

Feeling valued and respected by my colleagues and executive team throughout my career has been a powerful motivator in helping me grow as a teacher. Their appreciation has reinforced my sense of purpose and has encouraged me to keep striving for excellence.

The constant expressions of gratitude from present and past students and their parents have been a tremendous source of inspiration. This positive feedback reinforces that the work I do is making a positive impact on students’ lives, and this encouragement drives me to continue doing my best.

10 teachers were also recognised at the ceremony with Early Career Teaching awards. What advice would you give to early career or pre-service teachers looking to follow in your inspirational footsteps?

1. Remember your passion and purpose.
We are here for the children – “Every child matters every day.” If something isn’t positively impacting your students wellbeing or academic outcomes, it’s not worth doing.
2. Be a lifelong learner.
Stay up to date with the latest evidence-based teaching strategies, trial them in your classroom, and share them with your colleagues.
3. Build strong relationships.
Building strong relationships with students, parents, colleagues and administrators will positively impact your teaching experience. Be kind, listen without judgement and speak with authenticity.
4. Choose your attitude.
The power to influence your own experiences and outcomes lies within your control. I always approach situations with a positive mindset.

We look forward to continuing our work with Jade and her brilliant colleagues across the Mid-West region, and couldn’t be happier to see her well-rewarded for her incredible hard work and pursuit of excellence.

 

Photo credit: Geraldton Guardian

On the 16 August this year, I had the pleasure of attending the ‘Mastering Maths Facts Webinar’ run by Teach Well for their alumni.

As a secondary teacher, I’m sure I’m not alone in the observation that it is a rare student entering high school that has instant recall of their basic multiplication facts.

I’ve always been of the mind that instant recall of those basic facts is vitally important for advancement and actual enjoyment of Maths but have been guilty of the “there’s too much in the curriculum, I don’t have time to teach these in high school” mindset of a secondary teacher. I have tried in the past to get them to make flashcards and practise at home but have never had any success with this working.

That all changed the day after the webinar – as when I was introduced to the full participation techniques and how to use them effectively – I was motivated to immediately have a go.

I was excited to implement a Peer Assisted Learning Strategy (PALS) the next day. The strategy I used was heavily based on one provided as part of the webinar.

I decided to use flashcards, with the times-tables 2×2 to 9×9 on them, 36 in total. I just do these ones as then they can use the distributive law to work out the bigger ones – these are just the ones I want instant recall of. After explaining the new focus to the students and explaining the reasons for it, we took that lesson for them to make flashcards, ensuring they were all correct!

The next day, we began. I started by creating a worksheet with 40 questions (2×2 to 9×9) on it with the intention of giving them 60 seconds to complete it all. When I tried it though, it took me 68 seconds to physically write all the answers on it, so I decided to give them 90 seconds to do it. Every student did the quiz, self-marked (with me reading out the answers) and handed the sheet back to me. Later, I recorded the results in a simple spreadsheet to give me the baseline.

Students then carried out the PALS which involved the students working in pairs (I don’t do the ‘stronger with weaker student’ part of the strategy, I find this isn’t necessary in my small class context). For 3 minutes, one student shows the other a card, if the receiver gets it right, the card goes to the back of the pack, if they get it wrong, they get told the correct answer and the card goes 3-4 spaces back from the front, so they get it again soon. At the end of 3 minutes, the students swap roles. We then do the 90 second quiz only once a week, on a Friday generally, after doing their PALS that day. We do our PALS at the start of every Maths lesson and/or it is part of the Daily Review on the days we do those.

I’m actually surprised, the students are really enjoying it and they will remind me if it seems like I’ve forgotten! Tracking their scores is showing that they are markedly improving with each class having an at-least 10-mark improvement over 4 weeks and individual students going from well under 20 correct to the high 30s. I even had one girl remark after the last 90 second quiz, “Oh, there were lots of the easy ones in this set this time.” What a pleasure it was to explain to her that the questions weren’t getting easier, it was that she just knew more of them. It takes 7 minutes at the start of each Maths lesson, and wow, is it time well spent!

Challenges? In all honesty, nothing really. Creating the quizzes could be an issue, but I would absolutely recommend the website: https://www.math-aids.com/ as it allows you to create almost any worksheet you could want. It has made it so easy to create the quizzes.

So, to finish up, I’d absolutely recommend secondary teachers take the time to get more of their students instantly recalling their basic multiplication facts, it is time well spent in my classes. Thanks to the Teach Well team for again changing my teaching and therefore my students’ learning for the better.

– Chris Buckland, Secondary Maths Teacher