What’s “new” for Secondary in the redesigned curriculum? What kind of mathematics and what new pedagogy is our curriculum calling for? This session will focus on the mathematical curricular competencies, how to elicit, identify and assess the curricular competencies. One of the things I spend time on in my sessions is working with teachers to develop routines, activities and expectations that support the curricular competencies. The content column of the mathematics curriculum is specific and, traditionally, relatively easy to measure. The curricular competencies are vague, broad and not as easy to measure. In a sense, mathematics teaching and assessment has shifted from the right column to the left. What does that entail in terms of pedagogy and assessment? This session will first focus on the philosophical and research-based rationale as to why the curriculum changed and why focusing on competencies is beneficial for educating our students. The second part of the session will explore some examples of how to mobilize the curricular competencies and how to assess them.
