The readings and lecture made me think about the provocation "Should we teach students or subjects".
The Australian Curriculum in Mathematics has a clear focus on content. For example, one objective for year 7 is "Calculate volumes of rectangular prisms".
When thinking about unit planning or lesson planning, it is necessary to consider the pedagogy that supports the content-based objective. As students learn in different ways, the curriculum planning must cover content but must also look at ways to make the content engaging and accessible to as many of the students as possible. I think this is especially true in mathematics.
My take on the provocation is that, in mathematics, we should teach the subject to students.
I am interested in how much direction or structure that a school provides in the way of curriculum planning for a new teacher. Coming in to teach year 7 maths, will I be given the Australian curriculum and a blank sheet of paper, or will I be given unit plans and asked to developed lesson plans within unit plans? This topic was discussed in our tutorial and our tutor Rebecca stated that it will vary from school to school.
I found the broader discussion of pedagogy and culture in Yates heavy going.
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