Dr Ange's Blog

When I was a classroom teacher, most of my teaching was in the junior grades. I spent many years in a Year 1/2 composite class and I loved every minute (for the record Year 1 is still my favourite year level to teach).

Imposter Syndrome

When I took on the role of numeracy leader for my school, I f...

I'm always on the lookout for routines that are simple and effective in the classroom. Notice and Wonder is one of those. Basically, all you need is an image to project on the screen, and you ask the students “What do you notice, what do you wonder?”.

These prompts invite amazing discussions and bu...

Next week is the beginning of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (United Kingdom). The games take place from the 28th of July to the 8th August.

For those of you not familiar with this event, it is held every 4 years and athletes from the Commonwealth Countries are invited to play 26 individual a...

We have recently moved house, and I am just getting to ‘know’ my new oven.

I am pretty confident with technology and appliances so when we arrived and the oven didn’t work, I didn’t panic, I simply googled and discovered that it was most likely because the digital clock was flashing. Apparently, mo...

We have just gone through the process of selling our house. Part of this process involves 'preparing' your house for sale. I have discovered this basically means doing all the jobs you have avoided doing while you were living in the house, so the people who buy your house can enjoy it more than you ...

Thinking Mistake: Independent Column Thinkers

When I work with students, I love to celebrate mistakes and promote a growth mindset (Dweck, 2016). I encourage all students to see that through mistakes comes learning. I like to label misconceptions as ‘thinking mistakes’. ‘Thinking mistakes’ are in d...

When I work with students, I love to celebrate mistakes and promote a growth mindset (Dweck, 2016). I encourage all students to see that through mistakes comes learning. I like to label misconceptions as ‘thinking mistakes’. ‘Thinking mistakes’ are in direct contrast to ‘silly mistakes’- ones which ...

Place Value Thinking Mistake: Name/Record

When I work with students, I love to celebrate mistakes and promote a growth mindset (Dweck, 2016). I encourage all students to see that through mistakes comes learning. I like to label misconceptions as ‘thinking mistakes’. ‘Thinking mistakes’ are in direc...

This week I have been thinking about growth mindset because I have been re-reading the “Limitless Mind” by Jo Boaler. If you haven’t read it put it on your list! It is life changing!

I really admire Jo Boaler’s work and I think that we can learn so much from her, both as teachers but also as leader...

Book Review: Math- Positive Mindsets: Growing a Child’s Mind Without Losing Yours.

Author: Dr Carrie Cutler

If I had a dollar for every parent who shared with me “I wasn’t good at maths” I would be much further along in our mortgage payments! I am sure you all feel the same. As teachers, we collec...

My thoughts on NAPLAN…

NAPLAN is something that I am asked about a great deal. And my opinion on the test may be somewhat controversial…

Interestingly, while I was on maternity leave with baby #1, 12 years ago, I wrote items for NAPLAN- so I would like to share the insights that process provided.

In this blog post I wanted to share some thoughts on Professional Learning Team (PLT) meetings.

Now they may be called something else in your school, but essentially as Numeracy Leader I had the responsibility of leading approximately 3 PLT’s per term. 

I remember always trying to rack my brain fo...