Number Agents

The Present We Didn't Ask For Non-contact time allows my mind to wander—to seek new understandings, refine current ones, and, most importantly, reflect. Lately, my mind keeps circling back to one thing: the state of our education system here in Aotearoa. Have you ever had a birthday or Christmas where you receive a pile of presents, but not one resembles what you actually asked for? Of course, you're grateful. The people giving the gifts have clearly put thought into them. But you're still left wondering whether they actually know you—whether they understand what you need or whether maybe, they were actually buying something they themselves wanted.  Or perhaps it's that present, you didn't know you needed, but others obviously wanted to give you a great big hint, like that cake of fancy soup, or that gym membership. That's what education feels like right now: the present we didn't ask for. And I use the word present deliberately. It refers both to the endle...

The Importance of Teacher Understanding Over the past few years, I have continued to advocate for the importance of teacher understanding. In my view, it is the single most significant factor affecting the achievement of our learners. Unfortunately, in the current pressure cooker of curriculum development, building genuine teacher understanding—which takes time—has too often been replaced by reliance on scripted programmes. Scripted programmes are not inherently negative. In fact, they can serve as training wheels, providing structure and support until teachers gain confidence. The real risk, however, is that those training wheels never come off. In a climate where teachers are overwhelmed by constant change, there is a danger that these programmes become the only way we teach, rather than a temporary scaffold. Teacher Understanding: More Than Just Academics Teacher understanding should not be limited to academic content. Don’t get me wrong—I absolutely believe teachers must understand...

If you follow my blog or Facebook page, you will know that in 2023 I moved away from grouping my children for reading and started using whole class texts. The Rationale Behind Whole Class Texts These whole class texts were born out of my learning around the role of repeated reading, the importance of fluency, and sentence-level comprehension. Our Reading Routine Over the last three years, these texts—while they have changed in content—have followed a set routine. Each day, we read, a new part is added, while the part we have already read is retained. Once there are three parts to the text, a new one is begun, keeping the last part read and making it the beginning. I have written before about our reading routine with these texts, so I won't go into this again in great detail, only to say we use echo reading, choral reading, fill-the-gap reading, partner reading, and independent reading. We explore unknown vocabulary and decode new words together before reading. The Characters and Se...

The Power of Simple Organisers: Building Independence in Young Writers, Intentionally linking Reading and Writing Why a Basic Organiser Struck a Chord Recently, I shared a very basic organiser for reading comprehension on my Facebook page—something I have used frequently in my classroom. I was genuinely surprised by how popular the post became. It’s clear there’s a real hunger among teachers for practical ways to foster writing independence in young learners. With that in mind, I wanted to share the reasoning behind this organiser and how it fits into the wider journey of developing independent writers. Laying the Foundations: Sentence-Level Understanding My class of six- and seven-year-olds are building solid foundations as writers. We’ve invested a lot of time working at the sentence level, using Colourful Semantics to help children understand how sentences are constructed. From there, we began to add greater detail using planners inspired by Colourful Semantics, linking this with th...

The Weight and Urgency of Educational Change Yesterday, I blogged about the sweeping changes currently overtaking education—changes implemented rapidly, often without genuine consultation with those of us on the ground, and with an overt agenda. The weight of these changes is palpable. In fact, I found myself spending this Sunday reminding myself of all the reasons I love being a teaching principal, trying to restore the spark before stepping back into the classroom tomorrow. There is no denying that change is essential. We must improve outcomes for our learners in literacy, mathematics and wellbeing. The need is real and urgent. However, it is equally important that the process of change prioritises teacher understanding and involvement. Only then can educators become the greatest advocates for real, lasting transformation. The Importance of a Thoughtful, Staged Approach Starting Small: The First Year Change should begin with small, intentional steps. Those leading change usually know...

When Change Feels Like a Weight  Trying to Prove a Point – But Missing the Heart Right now, we are facing a government intent on proving something—determined to make sweeping changes in the name of a “world class education system”. Yet, there seems to be little understanding that true, lasting change requires teachers to be at the very heart of the process. Instead, change is being thrust upon us, as if to say, “Look what I’ve done!” without considering the people who will actually make it happen or even realising that this should be about the needs of the children. Replicating, Not Respecting It appears that our Minister has seen other education systems she wishes to emulate. Rather than recognising that real change takes time, she is intent on pushing these changes onto an already change-weary system—all to be able to declare, “See, I did it!” But simply flooding us with pages of fancy rubrics and polished reporting templates, bundled with a curriculum that feels like overpacked ...

In The Beginning When I first started whole-class teaching a few years ago, I began to think more about connected texts. Many of the texts that were promoted as connected texts for use were simply connected based on the sound pattern being learned. I understand this focus—the point is practice, and practice is important. However, the texts were often simplistic and, honestly, made little sense. Again, I get it. Those early texts for novice learners are important. With limited sounds, it is hard to create texts that are both relevant to learners’ needs and genuinely interesting. These decodable sentences absolutely have an important role to play when it comes to practice, as do word ladders and similar word-reading tasks. I still use these regularly as part of my literacy sessions. However, when it came to whole-class reading, I wanted more of my “connected” texts to have a real connection to what we were learning—not just connected through sound patterns, but through meaningful conten...

The narrowing of the curriculum "winners and losers" Over recent years, significant changes have taken place within New Zealand’s education system under the banner of improving “achievement.” These shifts—often framed around The Science of Learning and promoted as best practice—have driven widespread curriculum reform and reshaped and narrowed professional development. While we all would acknowledge that change in pursuit of improvement is both necessary and expected, concern arises when its direction is leading us down a path where only certain achievement is valued and the gap between those winning and losing only widens. It is very apparent that these reforms appear to be influenced by perspectives that prioritise standardisation, comparison, and measurable outcomes over the complex realities of teaching and learning.  I know that many educators (myself included) who put their hands up to be part of this conversation were ignored in favour of those with little understand...

One of the important elements of the scope and sequence is the intention to correct students' understanding of the equals sign, or hopefully even prevent the need for correction in the first place. For many children, the equals sign is mistakenly perceived as a directive to perform an operation, commonly interpreted as "add it up." This misunderstanding becomes evident when students encounter equations such as 5 + ? = 7. In these instances, many students mistakenly add five and seven, as they have been conditioned to see the equals sign mainly in its typical position—preceding the final result of an operation. The Equals Sign: A Relational Symbol What these students often miss is that the equals sign is fundamentally a symbol of balance and equivalence. It serves as a relational symbol, indicating that the quantities on either side of it are the same, or "equal." This concept is not being explicitly taught, leading children to fill in the gaps with the simplest ...

Addressing the Educational Epidemic Recognising the Crisis - We are at tipping point We are facing a significant educational epidemic that has been quietly developing over many years. Over a decade ago, when we first embraced play-based learning, we began to notice alarming declines in oral language skills among children entering school. Initially, it was just a few children; now, it affects more than half of a class. Worsening Symptoms This epidemic extends beyond oral language. Over time, we have witnessed a decline in social and emotional skills, and more recently, in motor skills—both fine and gross. Shockingly, children who arrive with movement skills, good social and emotional abilities, and a keen interest in learning, are now considered advanced. This was once the norm. The Tipping Point We have reached a critical tipping point. At least half of new entrants are unable to form sentences, lack social skills and emotional understanding, and struggle with basic motor skills like h...