The IMPACT Procedure*
      1. What was the best thing to have happened in maths in the last 
        two weeks?
      2. Write down one new problem that you can do now.
      3. What would you most like more help with?
      4. What is the biggest worry affecting your work in maths at the 
        moment?
      5. Write down the most important thing you have learnt in maths 
        this week?
      6. Write down one particular problem which you found difficult.
      7. How do you feel in maths classes at the moment?
      8. How could we improve maths classes?
     * Clarke, D. (1988). Assessment alternatives in mathematics. Mathematics Curriculum & Teaching 
                 Program (MCTP). Curriculum Development Centre. 
          What else might you be teaching?
          •   Everything that a teacher does conveys a message—words, 
              action, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice and body 
              language are just some of the ways teachers intentionally or 
              unintentionally convey messages to students. 
          •   Negative messages about mathematics and/or about students’ 
              abilities to learn mathematics, in particular, can be extremely 
              damaging (e.g., see Boaler, 2005). 
          •   How might teachers inadvertently communicate their own 
              anxieties about mathematics? What might a teacher say or do that 
              could make a student feel that they are not good at mathematics?
          •   Maths anxiety is real. It has its origins in stress created by timed 
              tests and competitive recall of number facts, but there are 
              resources to help (e.g., Askew, 2018, Boaler & Dweck, 2015) and 
              a growing list of literature to help create a growth mind set in your 
              classroom.
               Siemon et al. (2021). Teaching Mathematics: Foundation to Middle Years 3rd Ed. (p. 
                                       20). Oxford University Press.
               ADOLESCENT LEARNERS
        •  Experience profound physical, social, emotional and 
           intellectual changes
        •  Increasingly focussed on peer relationships 
        •  Becoming more complex, capable thinkers
        •  Have unique and diverse learning needs
        •  More inclined to engage in risk taking behaviour
        •  Tend to respond emotionally
        •  May misunderstand adult communications and 
           reactions
        DEECD (2007). Understanding Year 9 Students: A theoretical perspective and implications 
                         for policy and practice. Melbourne
    Adolescents learn best when they:
      •  have high levels of confidence and self-esteem, 
      •  are strongly motivated to learn,
      •  are able to learn in an environment characterised by 
         ‘high challenge coupled with low threat’, and they
      •  are able to exercise some choice and have a say in 
         what they learn, when, and how.
           What does this mean for the teaching and 
         learning of mathematics in the middle years?
             OECD. (2002) Understanding the brain: Towards a new learning science
                       (Bishop & Pflaum, 2005; Sagor & Cox 2013)
    In Their Own Words
      “Change the way it’s explained, they need to think about how you 
      understand, not how they explain” (Vincent, Year 9, MYNRP, 2001)
     Disengagement has as much to do with student perceptions of how 
     they are treated by their teachers as the teaching practices used.
     A sense of cultural connectedness and mutual respect appears more 
     likely to encourage constructive, risk-taking, explorative behaviour than 
     feelings of alienation or uncertainty.  
       Engagement comes with self-esteem, identity and 
       agency. It is a consequence of success not a pre-
       requisite for success.
        It requires sufficient time with students to develop trust 
        and supportive relationships and the flexibility to spend 
                time with those who need it the most. 
         Siemon & Virgona (2001). Final Report of the Middle Years Numeracy Research Project 
                                (1999-2000)