Cluster presentation at the final MIC Conference in Sydney 2012

1. Make it Count 2009 – 2012

2. • SECONDARY
• Nerang State High School
• St Peter Claver College
• PRIMARY
• Nerang State School
• St Brigid's Primary School
• William Duncan State School
• Gilston State School

3. • Establishment of Cluster
• Appointment of Indigenous Education Officer – Jay McQueen
• Cultural awareness training
• Maths Camp Planning

4. • Each school undertook:
• Dare to Lead ‘Snapshots”
• Cultural training with staff
• First Steps in Number training
• Indigenous Student Maths Camp
• A 3 day 2 night camp for students from Years 5-9 focussing on
engaging maths activities that take students out of the classroom,
developing positive relationships amongst campers, creating links
to culture and engaging students in hands on investigations that
make use of the local environment and develop positive attitudes
towards Maths.

5. • Each school undertook:
• ‘Leading from the Middle’ projects with key staff
• A project where curriculum leaders work with staff on action
learning projects, using pre intervention data, coaching,
mentoring and post intervention data follow up
• Indigenous Student Maths Camp
• A 1 day camp hearing about how the Titans League coach
uses maths to train players, maths activities and investigations

8. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
KU 5 –There are patterns in the way we write whole numbers that help us remember their order.
Pre Test
10 of the 24 children started with a clear understanding of the processes of making whole
numbers.
A further 8 had a very limited understanding.
The children particularly enjoyed the process of bundling a variety of materials and at the time all
became confident in verbalising what they were doing and why.
Post Test
The children were given the post test with out explanation and were left to complete. They then
discussed their answers with the teacher and explained what the lolly roll meant.
Most children started counting in 10’s then on in ones to get to their final answer. This was
something none were able to do at the start.
The children were assessed on their verbal understanding of the concept and how well they could
explain what they were doing.
17 of the 24 children showed a very clear understanding of this concept – a further 3 were well on
the way to competency.
Indigenous Perspective
Joseph started with a very limited understanding of the idea of bundling but was able to
demonstrate a clear knowledge at the post test discussion.

9. • Maths Conference for Staff - January
• All teachers attended a conference for 1.5 days on Maths and
indigenous learners. Key speakers Dr Tyson Yungkaporta & Dr
Peter Grootenboer
• Each school will undertake:
• ‘Leading from the Middle’ projects with key staff
• A project where curriculum leaders work with staff on action
learning projects, using pre intervention data, coaching,
mentoring and post intervention data follow up
• Indigenous Student Maths Camp
• A 1 day camp using maths activities and investigations

10. • The importance of connectedness between teachers &
students
•
•
•
•
•
Relationship
Safe & no put downs in a class
Importance of success
Fun
Non threatening
• Gathering pre & post data
• Collegial mentoring (‘Leading from the Middle’)
• Teacher knowledge