Dr Ange's Blog

NAPLAN results are dribbling through at the moment so I wanted to share some thoughts on the new reporting system, from a parent and educator perspective.

As you may know, the 10 bands that were previously used to report student achievement in NAPLAN have been simplified into 4 proficiency 'levels'...

One of my top 5 TV shows of all time is Season 1 and 2 of Ted Lasso (I found Season 3 a little disappointing!). Originally I thought Ted was a sports related TV documentary. I think if I knew it was a drama I might not have watched, so it was fortuitous that I was misinformed!

The basic plot is tha...

I love to read! I have many many books on the go at once. Most are related to the teaching of maths, some to sport, and others to 'self-improvement'. I love books written by experts in particular fields. So basically, as soon as I see something written by someone with a PhD, I am in!

I know first h...

My favourite children’s TV show (and quite possibly favourite show, (apart from Ted Lasso) is ‘Bluey’. It is an Australian animated show that illustrates family life in the most beautiful way. The characters- adults and children- speak to each other with love, respect, humour, and a genuine sense of...

You may be aware that my PhD research looked at designing an assessment for whole number place value. At the end of the four years I had created a valid and reliable paper and pen (and online) assessment called the Place Value Assessment Tool (PVAT). In many schools I am introduced as "This is Ange....

If you have been reading my blogs this term you may remember that I wrote about a great family night out playing Bingo at the local bowls club. if you missed it, you can read this blog here.

Bingo has always been one of my favourite maths games to play with F–2 students in the classroom. It provide...

Yesterday was a very hot day in Melbourne. It reached 41 degrees. I have recently purchased from Facebook marketplace 2 hydrangeas. They have to be one of my favourite plants… they can produce pink, white or purple flowers depending on the soil acidity! Pretty amazing!
Another thing I have noticed a...

My six year old daughter has been going through the right of passage that is learning to ride a bike. People use the phrase “it’s like riding a bike” meaning that you never forget it once you learn the skill. This may be the case, but every time one of my children goes through the process I am remin...

This summer we have been playing a few games of backyard cricket. Everyone gets involved and it is lots of fun! We have a wide range of abilities in our cricket game. From my 3 year old son who is lucky to hit the ball in 1/30 attempts, through to my husband who seems to take great pleasure in hitti...

I believe that having an explicit focus on vocabulary in our maths teaching is of critical importance. There are so many words that we use in our descriptions and explorations of maths concepts and more often than not these are words that the students would have never come across in their life. In m...

On the holidays, my 14 year old had a photography assignment where she was required to take a number of different photos. There were different requirements: one had to include people, one needed to be at night, one was a landscape and one needed to involve symmetry.

I found this to be a really enga...

In January my husband and children packed our bags and headed on a lovely holiday to Queensland. On the first day we drove past the local bowls club and my ‘Maths Eye’ was drawn to a sign stating:

 “Bingo 7pm this Thursday night, all welcome”.

I was very excited and suggested to everyone that Bing...