Designing learning with language in mind.

Often when I am planning maths for the week I am focused primarily on the mathematical concepts or strategies that I want the children to learner. However as a result of my inquiry I have been thinking a lot more about the language that is embedded in both my teaching and my tasks.

This term talked to my learners about their mathematical understandings and discovered some of the vocabulary and understanding around that vocabulary that was missing. One significant gap I identified was that most of the learners in my target group struggled to identify left and right.

As a result of this I made sure this was a focus on their coding activity this week. I have also planned a hand on physical activity for later in the week which will get learners moving and turning left and right.

My hope is that by exposing them to this language in these contexts and continuing to embed it in future tasks that learners will connect with the vocabulary and it will become a part of the way they talk in mathematics.

Below is a video of how I embedded the vocabulary in the coding task.