Strength In Numbers

Challenges teaching at a culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged school, building an action plan, gathering quality data, and overcoming the language barrier with a universal language: mathematics.

Dandenong Primary’s Assistant Principal, Terri Truscott, and AAMT’s Education Specialist, Denise Halliday, explore lessons learned in the process of implementing concepts from Peter Liljedahl’s fantastic ‘Building Thinking Classrooms’, metacognition, inspiring rich mathematics dialogue, using pre- and post-assessments, selectively responding to student questions, and more.

Guest host Denise Halliday speaks with Leanne West and Vicky Schavoni, two passionate maths educators who joined the AAMT’s 2024 North American Study Tour. Together, they reflect on what they learned visiting classrooms in Chicago and Calgary, attending the NCTM Conference, and connecting with teachers and leaders across the continent.

From building thinking classrooms and vertical whiteboards to number talks and challenging problems, Leanne and Vicky share practical strategies that have transformed their teaching back home. They also discuss how strong school leadership, a spirit of collaboration, and international professional learning can reignite passion for maths education.

For Sam Ayre, mathematics isn’t just about numbers—it’s a language for thinking, reasoning and communicating. In this lively discussion with Allan Dougan, Sam describes how he helps students find confidence and voice in maths through classroom talk, group problem-solving, and conceptual understanding. He also offers advice for teachers wanting to make small, sustainable changes and highlights the power of collaboration through Tasmania’s Focus on Maths initiative.

Maths enrichment, identifying student progress, the YMSA competition, and early career challenges.

Trinity Grammar’s Mathematics Specialist, Jessica Zhu, joins AAMT’s Education Specialist, Denise Halliday, to discuss all things maths enrichment: open vs closed ended tasks, fighting against the forgetting curve, engendering maths creativity in students, the YMSA competition, Pi Day, and more.

The power of mini whiteboards, call and respond, quality multiple choice diagnostic questions, and other tools to gather reliable data from the classroom quickly.

Host of the 'Mr Barton Maths' podcast, Head of Education at Eedi, author of 'How I Wish I'd Taught Maths', and creator of countless mathematics teaching websites, Craig Barton, joins Strength in Numbers to discuss effective ways to develop and grow as a teacher, his excitement over the ‘pre-test effect’, atomization, how to craft a good multiple choice question, the importance of common wrong answers, and so much more.