About Structured Maths Approach

Explicit instruction is something specifically woven into New Zealand Curriculum with clearly sequenced curriculum progressions, learning that is a focus and steps on how they are able to build success. Furthermore, explicit instruction means that teachers are being intentional with their delivery of lessons and learning, with modelling, guiding and facilitating; ensuring progressive mastery. 

Structured Maths Approach is built on a progression of clear learning lessons covering its unique scope and sequence to support New Zealand Curriculum knowledge. This allows for regular opportunities to be engaged in explicit instruction through the gradual release of responsibility and Science of Math key concepts. Building mastery and practice following explicit instruction happens naturally in the lesson, which is essential for developing automatic recall and working memory. 

Read more about explicit instruction from Barak Rosenshine (2012); covered by Jamie Clark. 

The New Zealand curriculum refresh brought out many new changes to maths in NZ, with the main being the change around to curriculum levels. Typically, the NZ Curriculum has had curriculum levels with achievement objects for students to achieve in those levels. With this refresh, the levels have been taken away and reworked into the 'understand, know, do' through progress steps and outcomes. 

Structured Maths Approach is aligned to the progress outcomes, covering number know hows. Featured and covered in the lessons Phase 1-7 are:

• subitising
• number structure
• operations: addition and subtraction
• operations: multiplication and division
• rational numbers

Read the comparison between The New Zealand Curriculum refresh and Structured Maths Approach which you can find here on the resource page. 

Structured Maths Approach provides you with everything you need to get started with a structured scope and sequence. You don't need to go out and purchase additional materials or resources; it can be used alongside what you have already. Users praise how this resource is made with teachers in made, making it easy to implement and incorporate. 

Structured Maths Approach comes with: 

• lesson plans 
• teaching slides
• follow up checks
• assessments
• assessment snapshots
• anchor charts and wall visuals
• progressions trackers

Once you have made your purchase, there are no additional purchases required making sure you have everything you need for a successful mathematics programme. 

The 'I do, we do, you do' model is based upon the gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student. This encourages all students to master what they need to learn, nurtures elf-efficacy and reduces anxiety from students within lessons. 

Structured Maths Approach uses this model in learning lessons to allow students to successfully follow, increase their confidence and allow for the teacher to differentiate based on needs. Whether using Structured Maths Approach as a whole class or group approach; the lesson sequence allows for them to build success and conceptualise the learning. 

Download this freebie help sheet to have this next to you in your teaching practice. 

The Science of Maths is a movement focused on using objective evidence about how students learn maths. It talks about blending of key concepts woven together to build maths proficiency. These are: 

• concepts - understanding concepts, operations and relations
• procedures - using procedures flexibly, accurately and efficiently
• strategies - formulating, representing and solving problems
• reasoning - reflecting, explaining and justifying
• disposition - seeing maths as sensible, useful and worthwhile

In addition to this, The Science of Maths talks about teachers using a progression of maths learning, using multiple approaches to meet the needs of students, using explicit regular instruction and formative assessment on a regular basis to assess student learning. 

Structured Maths Approach is built on a progression of clear learning lessons covering its unique scope and sequence. It strives on the importance of having regular and explicit teacher instruction from assessment and knowing your students needs. Structured Maths Approach builds on knowledge prior and provides a wide range of learning concepts and procedures  that blend those skills together. 

Find out more about the Science of Maths here. 

For Structured Maths Approach, it was vital that the lesson sequence for teachers and students to follow was an opportunity to bring explicitness, systematic and sequential opportunities of learning. Research indicates the need for this in building explicit instruction and as a key principle of instruction in the classroom.  

This lesson sequence was adapted from a 'structured literacy' lense, inspiring the creation of a layered building block of knowledge for students to grow and learn and have opportunities for that 'high stakes' ceiling learning. It was extremely important that Structured Maths Approach offered that same consistency for teachers to build confidence with using mathematics and for its success.

The lesson sequence is used in every lesson, whether you are using Structured Maths Approach in whole class, small groups or workshops. This helps build routine, consistency and strong instructional practices that offer daily review, small steps, guided practice and support with cognitive load theory. 

A copy of the lesson sequence is in the front of each Structured Maths Approach resource.