TLI and High Ability @ HEPS
Maths Olympiad and AMC certificates
At one of recent Monday morning assemblies, we presented both Distinction and High Distinction certificates for the Australian Maths Competition, as well as badge and pin awards for those who placed in the top 25% and 10% in Maths Olympiad. Congratulations to those students who received one (or both) of these.
Maths Olympiad is an inter-school competition that has been specifically designed to stimulate and challenge high potential and high achieving students, Primarily, it is for Years 5 and 6, but here at HEPS we have also invited students from Years 3 and 4. The Australian Maths Competition is Australia's longest running, largest and most well-known maths competition for school students. The AMC contains unique problems designed each year by leading educators and academics to challenge and extend students’ problem-solving skills. This is open to students from Years 3 - 6.
With both programs, students are invited to participate, with selection based upon students' mathematical results, their attitude and dispositions for maths, classroom teacher identification and input, and other formal assessments. Given that some of these activities requires students to work with others, collaboration and social skills are also essential ingredients.
Differentiation vs Adaptive Teaching
Lately, there has been discussion around how to cater for students and their needs, and what this looks like in the classroom. Whilst, there are so many different needs within a classroom, fundamentally, all students have the opportunity to grow, learn and be given opportunities to do so.
Two different philosophies have emerged in education about how to help a large range of students: Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching. At a recent conference that Mr Corso, Mr Holmes and I participated in and presented at, highly regarded professionals and leaders in the field spoke about challenge in learning, vigour and adaptive teaching. Differentiation has been the trade mark and go to for challenging students and meeting their learning needs. A 'low floor, high ceiling' apporach is fundamental to this approach, where teachers plan for students below and above the expected level of learning. Adaptive Teaching and Differentiation, while both aimed at enhancing student learning and catering to individual students’ needs, diverge significantly in their approach and underlying philosophy. Differentiation is more about pre-determined variation in teaching, while Adaptive Teaching is about real-time adjustment.
Here at HEPS, there has been a strong emphasis on teachers delivering learning opportunities that have low floors and high ceilings - something that has been the norm for many years. Recent results with ICAS, Maths Olympiad, the AMC and our participation numbers in VHAP, as well as our success and recognition with the Excellence Award, reinforces the great work our staff do here to accommodate such diverse academic learning needs. Staff have also worked with Glenn Pearsall, Simon Brooks and other leaders around formative assessment (real time check-ins and how students are going right now), questioning and in the moment teaching i.e. adaptive teaching. Personally, these have been such rewarding opportunities which have shifted us all as educators. You can see that our approach has moved, quite naturally to, to this adaptive process.
We are lucky to have such adaptive educators, as well as a parent and student community that enjoys learning, school and one that clearly values education highly. Thank you for all the support this year with our TLI, Learning Enrichment and High-Ability programs. Both Mrs Haddad and I are very proud of all those students who have worked with us throughout the year.
Have a great break over December and January holidays, safe travels to those who are jet-setting across Australia or the globe, and for families and students who are not returning to HEPS next year, all the very best.
Jason Mulder
HAPL Leader, Learning Specialist and Level 5 Teacher