Assessment in this subject is staged to allow your growth as a teacher of mathematics to emerge throughout the duration of the subject. Assessment Task 1 provides the opportunity to think about how you have experienced mathematics learning and teaching and to consider how those experiences may influence the way in which you approach teaching the subject, in relation to the way in which it is recommended to be taught
Describe personal experiences in mathematics and make connections to contemporary mathematics teaching practices Articulate implications for student learning and teaching practice
Apply academic writing skills to communicate in a structured, cohesive and ethical manner
This task involves you reflecting on your own experiences of learning and teaching mathematics and considering how those experiences align with best practice and how the experiences have influenced your emerging mathematics teacher identity.

AT1 is a personal account of your experiences of the learning and teaching of mathematics throughout your education - primary to tertiary. AT1 is likely to have looking back and looking forward perspectives. The looking back perspective comes from you reflecting on your experiences in terms of the ideas about teaching and learning of mathematics in this subject. Your reflections do not have to be related directly to specific content, just the ideas about learning mathematics from a student perspective. The ideas about contemporary learning and teaching of mathematics and best practice are detailed in the texts used in the subject, primarily Booker et al. (2014) and Van de Walle et al. (2019). In the first instance, check out Section 1: Chapter 1: Approaches to mathematics teaching and learning in Booker et al. (2014). The looking forward perspective will come from reflecting on the ideas about various types of mathematics teachers described by Askew et al. (1997) reading (Week 3) and what it is to do mathematics highlighted in the Ernest (n.d.) reading (Week 2).
There is no expectation you will discuss the learning and teaching of mathematics from experiences as a teacher. Your assessment task should focus on what you would like to occur.
Be thinking about the assessment task having three parts, What was my mathematics education like? How is that related to the way in which mathematics should be taught? What does that now mean for the way in which I want to teach mathematics and the way in which I want my students to experience learning in mathematics?
When writing AT1 revisit the ideas about the learning and teaching of mathematics outlined in the Ernest reading included in the Week 2 tutorial.
Ernest (n.d). What is the philosophy of mathematics education? Retrieved from https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/education/research/centres/stem/publications/pmej/pome18/PhoM_%20for_ICME_04.htm
Ernest poses four key questions with multiple sub-questions that relate directly to AT1.
WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?
HOW DOES MATHEMATICS RELATE TO SOCIETY?
WHAT IS LEARNING (MATHEMATICS)?
WHAT IS TEACHING (MATHEMATICS)?
Be thinking about these ideas in relation to your own experience and how the ideas in the article have made you think about your emerging primary mathematics teaching practices, selection of activities and resources, ways of working, and communication of ideas within the classroom.
You do not have to cover thoroughly the four questions posed by Ernest when writing AT1. The answers to some of the questions are likely to be reflected in your decision about what sort of teacher you want to be and the way in which you want students to experience mathematics in your classroom.
When writing AT1 revisit the ideas about the different types of mathematics teachers highlighted by Askew et al. (1997) in the reading from Week 3.
What sort of teaching would you like to dominate your teaching practice?
What is required for that to come to fruition? What would you like to do in the classroom? What would you like students to do in your classroom?
Summary:
This task involves you reflecting on your own experiences of learning and teaching mathematics and considering how those experiences align with best practice and how the experiences have influenced your emerging mathematics teacher identity.
information may need
week 2 reading
1. A vital task for the teacher is motivating children to solve their own mathematical problems.
2. Ignoring the mathematical ideas that children generate themselves can seri- ously limit their learning.
3. It is important for children to be given opportunities to reflect on and evaluate their own mathematical understanding.
4. It is important for teachers to under- stand the structured way in which mathematics concepts and skills relate to each other.
5. Effective mathematics teachers enjoy learning and “doing” mathematics them- selves.
6. Knowing how to solve a mathematics problem is as important as getting the correct solution.
7. Teachers of mathematics should be fascinated with how children think and intrigued by alternative ideas.
8. Providing children with interesting prob- lems to investigate in small groups is an effective way to teach mathematics
anther information
1. Mathematics is about connecting ideas and sense-making.
2. Mathematics is fun (in the sense of playful confidence with and enjoyment of mathematics).
3. Students’ learning is unpredictable.
4. All students can learn mathematics.
5. The teacher has a responsibility to main-
tain ultimate control of the classroom
discourse.
6. The teacher has a responsibility actively
to facilitate and guide students’
construction of mathematical knowledge.
7. The teacher has a responsibility to induct students into widely accepted ways of thinking and communicating in
mathematics.
8. The teacher is the authority with respect
to the social norms that operate in the
classroom.
9. Teachers have a professional responsi-
bility to engage in ongoing learning.