CAS Calculators Casio Classpad 330

Sat with the CAS casio classpad 330 calculator today. OMG.. what a learning curve, to face 3AB MAS MAT and learning how to use this new bit of tech.

We tried to use it to assist in solving an investigation. Took 3 mins on paper. 5 mins to setup on the calculator and 1/2 hour to find out why it wasn't working.

I think I'll need to post a few things on here about it as I learn more.

My advice to all - get the stupid thing out and start playing with it tonight if you haven't started already.

The first bit of useful content for learning the tool I've been given is http://www.classpad.com.au/. The videos are a bit of a help and look quite good. They may assist if you can take the students to a lab after introduction of a new topic.

The consensus is to get proficient to at least the level of graphics calculators and then the rest will follow as everyone gets more aware of their capabilities. I certainly miss not having certain buttons at easy range that I am familiar with such as trig functions and sqrt keys. I do like fiddling with technology though so I don't see it as too much of an issue for me.

oh.. and Rom Cirillo from the Curriculum Council (who has been a rather nice bloke throughout the NCOS fiasco).... of course if you ask us to vote whether we want CAS calculators now we are going to say yes... WE HAVE ALREADY TOLD PARENTS THAT THEY HAVE TO GET THEM FOR NEXT YEAR BECAUSE YOU/CC SAID THEY WERE REQUIRED, YOU DILL! Great idea to shift blame to teachers for any costs to date by shifting responsibility for calculator selection in 2AB back to schools. What happened to the equity issue for 2CD students next year (not to mention the need to buy a $175+calculator for use in 3 terms year 12)? When CC people (at the PD) were questioning the need for these calculators at all, I wonder how much thought has gone into the need for this planned, staged, implementation by CC (it seems another opportunity to ditch teachers into a hole and see what comes out). Is there any actual measurable improvement in maths by students expected by using these tools (especially as complex calculators are rarely used out of school)? Does anyone know where the broom is?

Click here for an index of CAS calculator posts.

Mock Exams

Mock results are in and they're looking good. You've all worked consistently and have performed above your indicated ability levels.

Well done guys!

Now is the time to examine those areas that were nearly there and consolidate them. Study hard, make sure that your time is focused on subjects that you need for your TEE scores. Enjoy the last two weeks with your friends, pick your study buddies well. Get stuck into those revision guides and past TEE papers. Soak up the last of school life.

Well.. don't just sit there.. get to it!

Tribute to a great lady.

Yesterday one of the finest people in the world passed away, 93 years old. Born Gertrude Whitmore on 15th February 1915 to William and Dorothea in Calcutta India, orphaned at a young age. Educated at Loreto convent Entally and on finishing school undertook nursing training and taught kindergarden children. She was introduced through her sister to her future husband Carl. She married him on the 2nd of June 1941 and together they had 4 children, Patricia, Roger, Arlene and Steven. She migrated to Australia in 1971 and although life was hard in India, it in no way prepared her for life in Australia. Here she had to learn how to cook, operate a washing machine, look after the garden, operate a vacuum cleaner.

Compared to Calcutta, Perth was a quiet place, she initially felt isolated and lonely, but with her indomitable spirit she made new friends and conquered all obstacles before her. Her 4 children eventually reunited in Perth, bore 8 grandchildren, Lisa, Russell, Andrew, Nicole, Sascha, Kym, Ashleigh and Corey. After a long wait during her 93rd year two great grandchildren were born Tani and Angeline.

She was caring, so very strong, happy, never had a bad word to say about anyone, was loved by everyone. She lived for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. This is how we remember her.

Her home was always open to all, food was always available in abundance, there were often kids scattered around the place. People were forever dropping by. We sat for many an hour in front of the tv cheering on the local cricket team or playing wheel of fortune. She was afraid of the electricity and I would tease her by sticking my head in the microwave. We would make camp beds on her floor, play hide and seek around the garden. She was a very ordinary scrabble player, would cheat constantly unless she had the urge to prove a point. We played Caroms, Ludo and Snakes and ladders. She would guess Jill first go in 'Guess Who' and be right. She played badminton with us at age 80. I would tickle her and she would pull faces. She would 'jarp' us up if we were being naughty (holding a fist in the air); 'chowkree' if we were barefoot; 'maraga sala' if we were cheeky (and we would chorus 'bleddy'); she'd tell us 'cul ma thow' if we hadn't been home for awhile. She made banana fritters, chow, fried rice, chicken curry, dahl, cutlet putlet and curry puffs that we all fought over. We'd make cul-culs at Christmas. We belted her ginger and garlic to a mash. She made the best tea in the whole world. It was safe in her house, I count many more hours in her home than my own.

She was a keen gardener, we picked her tomatoes, snow peas, grapes and lettuce from the yard. She had chooks and we ate the eggs. She would wake to a tap on her window at 6am every morning to make sure that I had breakfast before school. She would pack my lunch each day. We would rewrite her recipes for writing practice. She kept all my schoolbooks and reports. She was ever ready and never sat down. I went there for dinner after school. She always forgot to take out the salad. She saved her water from the washing machine long before it was fashionable.

She was four foot nothing. She gave and gave and gave of herself unconditionally unless Baileys was concerned (which tended to defy physics and evaporate at an alarming rate). More than once did she end up on her bottom from a bit of over enjoyment.

She loved her clubs and outings (the world would stop turning before Nana missed her club), she made friends at every opportunity. Gallivanting, gadabout Gertie from Girrawheen was always happiest when tripping here and there, coach, plane or train. She was game for anything, riding on motorcycles, loved going camping with Sascha and Kym, even finding a crab on the end of her hand when digging in the sand on a holiday to Wedge island.

It was fun going 'hopping with nan. We would have lunch in the old person canteen at Coles in town. She would sit at the local shopping centre with a gaggle of grandchildren (all sub 4 years old) and bags too heavy to carry. Someone unrelated would always miraculously turn up and take her and us home. She accepted help graciously. She knew so many people and they loved her as we did. She could meet someone and know their life story three minutes later.

She welcomed my future wife into the family with open arms. I have wondered who my wife fell in love with first. Every visit was an attempt to make her explode with food. It would only stop when Kendra would say I'm going to throw it all up again if I eat more. I think this became the challenge.

She would nickname everyone, Babu, Hooligan, Ahool, Tatto Meero, Putto to name a few.

She loved photographs of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We all fought to be the picture in the front. She would remind me that she still had a pulse and that I needed to visit her now. I'd say I'm coming soon. I should have visited more. I could never have visited enough.

She loved Grandpa and missed him greatly when he passed away not so long ago. She loved her two dogs, Scampy and Sam. Her love for all of us was unconditional and for her the gift was always in the giving (we often received our gifts back rewrapped the following Christmas - and only rewrapped because we would open them for her and rip up the paper). She claimed that she was a big Jonah, but everything she wanted, it seemed she already had. She valued what was important in life.

Nana would always say a prayer to St Anthony when we had lost anything and she would remind us to say a prayer before driving anywhere to be safe. She had advice on everything, never patronising, always said with a good spirit.

Towards her last days, even in great pain, to the point she couldn't talk and struggled to breathe, she would still indicate to nurses that they should rest, not fuss and have a sit down; or could kick my guitar album closed to say that she'd had enough of my woeful playing. She put her hand on Kendra's pregnant belly and smiled. She would try to eat just because she knew we worried but had no way to swallow. Visiting babies would smile and gurgle at her on her bed in the hospital. She never complained except to say it was terrible to get old.

We would get a cuddle, her hands were always warm and soft, just holding her hand was often enough to cheer you up.

Gertrude Fernandez passed away with family at her bedside at 4.30 pm.

She was an amazing person, I was her favourite and baby (at age 34), I loved her, she always made me feel special. Nana you have always been my inspiration. Your life has made the world so much incredibly brighter but the tears still well, although I treasure every second you spent with me, it makes it that much harder not being able to hear your voice and having to spend days without your support. I wish you could have stayed and met our first baby. You were an inspiration to all you raised and taught. Yet, know all your favourites miss you dearly and we will carry you with us always. I still feel you with me.

This is my tribute to you nana and to all those that have made differences in our lives. May we look to your example and seek to do likewise.

Russ

EducationWA milestone

A bit of posting trivia.. reached the big triple... 100 blog items, 500 visitors and the 1000 page hit mark..

I updated the header.. I had a bit of a dig at the edubabble acronyms usually pedalled out at uni and PD days. The fourth word in the logo is supposed to be 'ivaluate' - wen I lurnt my spellings we yewsd the hole of langwadge uprowch(sic) :-) I have no idea what the maths is behind the text - but it looked good!

Again.. thanks to all for their visits and comments... It helps keep the motivation up.. and promotes the thinking on how to do things better. It has been a great reminder to appreciate the profession we are a part of!

I'm organising a few new people to add their opinions, rather than just my ramblings.. so stay tuned..

Being paid less than a dog walker

-> November 2008 update: click here

The government has just announced a 6% pay rise backdated to September 2. I congratulate the Liberal party for 'making good' on an election promise in the limited time frame stated. I await rather cynically to find out how long it takes to move through parliament and the DET paymaster.

Much fanfare was made by the media that this makes WA teachers the highest paid in Australia. Again we have clear misleading of the public through indirection rather than an investigation of the underlying issues and the reporting of a clear opinion based on a justifiable set of associated facts. Lazy journalism rather than investigative journalism relying on media releases rather than reasoned facts.

Why boast about teachers being the highest paid.. it's like waving a red rag at bull. My wife made the comment, "highest paid what? Dog walkers??" She earns considerably more than I do in an occupation where typically there is no educational requirement. There is clear inequity in teacher salaries and it needs redressing - not window dressing.

A forum entry on the Plato website lists wages in WA to be:

"The six per cent increase would see a first-year teacher’s annual salary grow
from $48,425 to $51,331, a senior teacher’s salary from $70,868 to $75,120,
a principal of a small school (under 100 students) from $77,744 to $82,409
and a principal of a large school (more than 700 students) from $114,593 to
$121,469."

After the increase a teacher salary is about $24.70 an hour for a 4 year degree trained graduate or $36.12 an hour for a senior teacher (salary ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 5 days ÷ 8 hours). My last car service (on a Camry) was $427. I don't even want to think what that apprentice doing my oil change was earning. In the gap between uni and teaching I was earning $30 per hour shifting boxes from one site to another.

ABS stated on the first of April 2008, the average wage in WA in 2007 was $1185.80 pw or $61,000 per year (this includes an adjustment for gender). If we are trying to attract people from industry into teaching, they will (in an average case) take at least a $10,000 pay cut on entry to the profession.

In international terms teacher wages would be 31, 216 USD (21,109 Eur) for a graduate and 52,792 USD (38,825 Eur) for a senior teacher with at least 7 years experience that can get their accreditation granted and credited in WA. "Move to Australia, have sub-habitable conditions in inhospitable regions and take pay just above the cost of living. It's a great adventure, you should do it now!!" Strangely this campaign failed to attract the number of teachers required in the short to medium term.

We expect teachers to take full responsibility for classrooms in their first year out and this responsibility does not change significantly throughout their career. For this they are paid $10,000 under the average wage. I can't imagine the financial strain some are feeling starting a family and getting a mortgage on a teaching salary especially when you consider repaying HECS fees, recovery from the loss of income during study and the distance/support issues with potential country postings. Each year we see TEE scores for teaching drop and pre-requisites fall by the wayside for specialist and core subjects (who remembers the 3 month bridging course idea that thankfully was dropped!).

I have also seen two friends and great teachers in the last two years quit teaching for financial reasons. In no industry are you expected to get a four year university degree, on starting work be directly responsible for the management of 30 (potentially aggressive) people at once (and 150 over the year), be expected to drive the formation of the social fabric of a community, take leave when suitable to your employer, potentially move away from home for years at a time to inhospitable regions and be paid well below the average wage. Teaching has been made an undesirable occupation for too many.

If you have survived financially after working in your subject area for 7 years, becoming a specialist in your field, you may get a premium of $10,000 over the average wage. If you are any good you may be encouraged to take an administrative role and be promoted in many cases to incompetence. Or you could spend two years going to courses learning how to submit an application for level 3 promoting yourself. Whoopee! It is just as well those remaining in the profession are as dedicated to the students and social good as you would think, otherwise you would suspect that they are of sub-par intelligence for putting up with all this.

We need to forward plan for the shortfalls in teaching staff projected for 2009/2010 and arrest the increase in resignations (graphs taken from PlatoWA website). Teachers have low morale at present and need a positive outlook in order to work effectively. Any real benefit must be sold to both teachers and the community through the media to make both appreciate the needs and benefits of change.

It is quite clear that to regain the position of teachers as professionals in the community and rectify morale issues, there needs to be a 10K increase now and another 10K in 3 years time with CPI increases in the interim. The issue is that it will cost an extra $523 million dollars p.a. It is money that must be spent to preserve the state school system. A monitoring system could then be instigated to ensure that the wage position of teachers in society does not change (with periodic reviews against top 10 occupations - similar to the politician wage fixing system). This is a minimum negotiating position for the restoration of the status of teaching as an occupation in society and could be sold to teachers.

Society values the dollar more than any factor when setting status and only when it is fought for. I fear the only effective method available for teachers to fight with at present is for strikes during TEE to create an understanding for the need for change stemming from the community. If society believes that state education is a requirement but does not believe teachers do a required job, then it should be reminded - if teachers stop working when it will hurt most - society may realise the critical role they play and the lack of alternative courses for students that are effective.

Teachers being caring and nurturing want to avoid this situation at all costs, even to their own detriment; because of this they are constantly taken advantage of. To avoid the strike action (that no-one wants - but clearly is in the best interests of teachers and society) there needs to be a media campaign with discussion of the worth of teachers; establish fair monetary value of their sacrifice in becoming teachers and value their contribution in the community over and above contributions of other occupations - teachers ARE an exception (this is what lifting the status of a profession entails). This would restore morale in the teaching sector, improve recruitment and justify/allow/promote some levels of rationalisation in the short term to correct perceived deficiencies in classroom teaching and school performance. This is something political parties, the business community and the media has to support.

Make the change and attract real teachers. Reward those within the system that have striven to keep standards high. Create a situation where sub par applicants can be redirected to other occupations within or outside education.

From dire times have always come great leaders. Let's hope that leader is going to stand up soon.

Establishing performance criteria for teachers

I have commented on how difficult it is to produce meaningful performance criteria for schools and discussed how poor an idea 'performance pay' is for schools as an incentive. One would think that you could use graduation data as a key performance indicator. It could be used very effectively as a media "beat up" story.

The table shows that in the 2006 census, 55% of 20-24 year olds proceeded to yr 12 (or equivalent) in Girrawheen/Koondoola/Balga. In contrast Warwick/Greenwood/Ballajura had percentages on average of 73%.

Let's suppose an increase in graduation rates was a key performance indicator for teachers and schools. After all the only real gap between Warwick (77%) and Girrawheen (57%) is a 5-10m strip of Wanneroo road.

Over the next 20 years the 20% gap will reduce but I doubt schools will get the credit - and nor should they, it will be demographic change that drives performance not school performance to any great degree. All schools teach basically the same curricula (guided by DET and the curriculum council), have very similar students in terms of IQ and have the same quality of staff. These factors in combination are not enough to justify the 20% difference today. There must be other issues at play outside the control of schools.

Social change is the key driver - not educational inputs. Nutritional awareness, social attitudes, pre-school learning, ESL requirements are all key factors other than schools. In one family the first student in a generation will make it past yr 10, then the next generation past yr 12, then another generation to university. In another family, the family home is sold and they move deeper into surburbia removing themselves from the local statistics.

Julia Gillard has stated that underperforming schools will recieve $500,000 to rectify deficiencies. It would make a squidge of difference but not much more than that.. The idea of putting this money to finding and paying "super teachers" shows a clear lack of understanding in the sector and huge pressure on the teacher - to my mind these teachers are being set up for failure. After all, a 'super teacher' in one school can be a struggling prima donna in another demanding of resources to get the job done. What works in one location does not guarantee success in another. Horses for courses!

Typically large amounts given to schools are earmarked for infrastructure or very narrowly focussed programmes with short term outcomes to measure the impact of the funding. It is deemed impractical to wait 5 years to see if long term mainstream programmes have truly worked, evaluate flaws and modify the programmes; or wait a further ten years to see if the programme has provided benefit in finding employment.

A less attractive suggestion to 'powers that be' is to have more hands on deck and create more developmentally appropriate classes (eg. specialist upper school subjects or sports/arts/dance/T&E programmes) and smaller class sizes available for enrolled students. This would make upper school more attractive to students and would in most cases produce higher yr 12 graduation figures. Our school does this quite effectively for challenging students that would have finished school in yr 10 in past years.

Even this approach for using graduation figures as a KPI is fraught with danger - as I pointed out in earlier blogs, students are fickle and tailoring courses to students may work to increase graduation one year and be an absolute failure the next due to changes in the directions of courses (eg. with the implementation of NCOS), changes in teaching staff or student whim. The recent mining boom is a great example of 'uncontrollable factors'- students graduating year 12 will drop as a result of the 2006+ boom as the lure of the mining labour exceeds the desire for schooling. It is poor planning to decrease school capability(losing the capability to offer subjects in the future due to staff losses from decreased funding or losing incentive funding due to lack of perceived positive effect) purely because of financial trends in the marketplace.

I have only used one statistic as a possible measure of performance, imagine the complexity of a full blown model evaluating schools including academic, emotional and social factors drilling down to individual classrooms. A teacher is deemed to have done well because they have been provided a well prepared class from previous years (or vice versa). Performance pay lifts the blame game in the primary-middle senior school to a whole new level.

To my mind it is not possible to do accurate performances measurements to the degree necessary and any attempt would be largely ineffective due to the differences across schools/classes and the lack of fine grained control over these factors throughout Australia.

That data used has been taken from the ABS (here).

Topics for next term

It is always useful to examine what is to be done in term 4 as there is often time to do something special.

Yr 10(focus) - 10 weeks
Perimeter and Area of composite shapes (L4)
Construction and Identification of polygons and angles in polygons (L4/5)
Operations with fractions (L5/6)
Area of circles and sectors, arc length (L5/6)

Yr10(advanced) - 10 weeks
Series (L6,7)
Basic statistics and CAS calculator use(L5)
Regression, residuals and moving averages (L7)
Theoretical probability (L6)
Exponential and other functions (L6)

Yr11(MIPS) - 6 weeks
Networks
Finish incomplete assignment work

Yr 12(Discrete) - 2 weeks
TEE exam preparation

Yr12(MwM) - 2 weeks
Finish incomplete assignment work

Other
Plan for 1B,C 2A,B,C,D 3A,B (MAT) 3A,B (MAS) - courses running 2009
Review 1D,E 3C,D (MAT) 3C,D(MAS) - courses running 2010
Prepare materials for yr 6/7 courses 2009 - courses running 2009
Reports

Newspaper reporting

I had the unfortunate experience today of reading the Australian and again finding an article that showed little research and was basically just a beat up bit of sensationalist nonsense. I am happy to beat up the union under normal circumstances but this article in my opinion is poor journalism as it uses emotive language and unsupportable assertions.

"How will it wangle agreement on education reform from state Labor governments beholden to teachers unions? When the West Australian teachers union won pay increases of 21.7 per cent earlier this year, union boss Anne Gisborne boasted that "one of the strongest elements behind this has been the political campaigning that our members have had on track for eight to 10 weeks".

If Janet Albrechtsen had done her research she would know that the 21.7% was not seen as a win, nor was the main push by the union (the push was from state government onto the union to resolve the agreement to the satisfaction of the state government to prevent the wage claim being an election issue). The offer was seen as so poor by union members (don't get me started again on how misleading it is to call it a 21.7% increase without clarification that it is over 3 years and that only a small percentage of teachers would receive that amount.. blah.. blah.. blah..) that it was rejected despite direction from the "union boss" to the contrary. This is hardly the stuff of a powerful union and more of a union boss beholden to state government.

More so it is bizarre that she has chosen WA today as the example of a Labor government/union impediment to federalism as WA now has a Liberal government.

"Consider the union reaction to the Rudd Government's education revolution outlined last month by the Prime Minister and his deputy, Education Minister Julia Gillard. Reforms to make education more transparent by mandatory reporting of student results, allowing parents to compare school performance? Opposed by unions."
And rightly so. Anyone working within a school would know that socioeconomic factors influence the ability of students to perform. Yes, students are as bright in low socioeconomic areas as in other areas but the effect of poor environment and lack of parental support cannot and should not be discounted. This affects school results greatly. Comparing school results puts undesirable pressure on schools to focus on measurables and not on the best possible education of a student. One only needs to look at the effects of league tables in WA and the outcome of students being discouraged to take TEE subjects as a key negative outcome of mandatory reporting.

"Transparency and accountability reforms that will enable the most disadvantaged schools to be identified and receive extra funding of $500,000 for your average school so that they may improve? Opposed by unions."
How will comparable schools be identified and how will improvement be defined? Provide a reasonable workable model and there would be support for such measures. Make overarching statements with deadlines for implementation that can only produce wafty goals and of course there will be opposition. The major reason for the reduction in educational results in WA schools is OBE and the rise of the heterogeneous classroom. In disadvantaged schools this has been a disaster as teaching 4-5 different levels in a classroom has resulted in dumbing down of curriculum. Government fault yes, school fault no.

"Moves to give greater autonomy and flexibility for principals to hire staff? Opposed by unions."
Ok. I agree with Janet here. Permanency is an archaic concept as is the indenture model inflicted on teaching graduates. A move to a currency based economy where scarcity drives salary is desirable (but can the state afford it?).

"Moves to introduce performance-based pay for teachers to encourage better teachers? Opposed by unions."
Performance management in schools is non-existent/ineffective. Fix this first and then introduce performance based pay. With the limited management skills and time available in schools today, the introduction of another layer of administrative requirement would take time, money and skills the sector clearly does not have.

"Moves to introduce a national curriculum so that students moving between states and territories can access a seamless education system? Opposed by unions."
Yes, and it is no wonder given that we have just overcome the last educational fad. The ability of government to deal in 3 to 4 year terms does not equate to the requirements of educational facilities that run to 12 year periods. Bipartisan support is required from both sides of the political fence to adequately trial and research the effects of a curriculum in a range of schools across Australia before implementing in all schools. This is of course politically unacceptable as the completion time is greater than one political term.

Thankfully blogging is an outlet for opinion and the need for accuracy is lessened as by definition and intent it is a discussion between the reader and writer on a topic. It is scary when journalists are allowed to present poor research in the form of fact within traditional media. The public can be given the completely wrong impression through faith in journalistic integrity. I must admit, like many readers, my faith is dwindling faster in media news outlets with each year that passes.

The full article can be found here:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24427663-32522,00.html