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The Diocese of Wollongong has appointed Numeracy Instructional Coaches in all its secondary schools since 2019 to assist in the improvement of numeracy outcomes.

The Numeracy Instructional Coaches at John Therry (Mr Matt Muscatello and Mr John Greene) have a critical role in improving student learning and achievement in numeracy. The role of the coaches is to build teacher capacity and their understanding of instructional practices as related to Numeracy and Data Driven Instruction. 

The numeracy instructional coaches work collaboratively with their school staff members, leaders of learning, other instructional coaches, and the staff from the Catholic Education Office. The coaches promote reflection, provide guidance, and structure, and focus on strengths, collaboration, and common issues of concern in numeracy.

They are responsible for ensuring high-quality numeracy instruction in classrooms through modelling, co-planning, co-teaching, and providing feedback to teachers.

 Numeracy Goals at John Therry

• to identify the numeracy requirements of all subject areas
• to understand and appreciate that the teaching of numeracy is a shared responsibility - all teachers are teachers of numeracy.
• To incorporate numeracy activities in teaching programs and in learning group
• To improve the numeracy outcomes of students

WHAT IS NUMERACY?

In the Australian Curriculum, students become numerate as they develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics confidently across other learning areas at school and in their lives more broadly. Numeracy encompasses the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations. It involves students recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully.

ACARA Definition

NUMERACY IS ABOUT APPLYING MATHEMATICS TO REAL LIFE SITUATIONS

Here is an example of a Maths question vs. a Numeracy question:

Maths: 5 x 5+2= ?

Numeracy: Tony worked five hours each day during the week and 2 hours on the weekend. How many hours did he work during that week?

At John Therry in 2022, we have implemented Learning Group Numeracy Tasks which are completed on a Friday morning in Learning Group time. Each week there is a different Numeracy focus and students are encouraged to work together in order to complete the task.

An example of a Numeracy Task

The aim of these tasks is to regularly engage students and staff members in Numeracy and create a culture of student self reflection and improvement. Automatic feedback is given to students who answer incorrectly so that they can see where they made their mistakes. 

The data that we collect from these tasks provides our teachers with invaluable information about where their students are at in the different strands of Mathematics and allows them to adjust their teaching accordingly. 

We strongly encourage parents/caregivers to ask each week how your child went on the literacy and numeracy tasks during the learning group.

Mr Matt Muscatello and Mr John Greene
Numeracy Instructional Coaches