MaST

Mathematics Project - MaST

At last week’s staff meeting we focussed our professional learning around the importance of providing opportunities for students to ‘warm-up’ their mathematical minds prior to launching into each lesson. WHY? ‘Athletes do it, musicians do it, and so do chess players. They all engage in some form of physical or mental warm-up activity prior to the their speciality. A teacher’s success - a good learning experience - depends on a warm-up activity. They get things started and they set the tone. The warm up should be in some way connected to the focus of the learning experience’ (David E Williams). All classes at St Joseph’s engage in Mathematics warm-ups on a daily basis. Warm-ups are always followed up by student and teacher led discussions to enable students to articulate their mathematical thinking

Maths warm ups are:

• the opening routine that leads into your math block; 
• engaging — and pack a lot into a short time (10 minutes or less); 
• connects prior learning with current learning;
• promote participation, provide practice for skills you are currently working on, and review previously taught skills and concepts. 

Below are a variety of examples of quality Math's warm-ups: