Next, he presented the anchor task by showing them the concrete object (currency note). He also assessed whether his students could multiply by 5, 10 and 20. (eg. US $1 = 12 Rand. If this is 12 Rand, what might $10 be? What about $5? What about 20?). I feel that students need to know how to multiplying by 5,10 and 20 before they can proceed with this lesson. It is an important pre-requisite for this lesson. 

Dr Yeap also built number sense by asking them what might cost that much in the USA (eg. I wonder what did he buy? Is it reasonable?) Based on the students’ facial expression, I could tell that they were excited to share their stories with their friends.  

The author managed to nurture self-awareness in the classroom. There were many instances where students practiced metacognition. For instance, he asked, “Do we all agree that to find out the answer, we should multiply? Why should we multiply? Why would multiplying be reasonable? Why not divide?” This is supported by the Cambridge Curriculum. According to Cambridge, when learners are thinking and working mathematically, they actively seek to make sense of ideas and build connections between different facts, procedures and concepts.

Based on the evidence, I observed that the presenter also reinforced his instructions. This is necessary because some students might not know what to do. 

There was self-paced learning and exploration. The students shared their methods on how to calculate 132x12. Student was able to use number bonds to split 132 x 12 into 100 x 12 and 32x10+ 32x2. Student B shared another method (132 x 4). Dr Yeap did not ask the student to elaborate his answer. Instead, he asked the class to participate in groups to find out how to calculate the product of 132 x 12 given 132 x 4. 

In conclusion, this lesson was a good opportunity for students to learn different methodology of problem solving. The discussion was very rich. Learning did not come from the teacher alone. We must provide opportunities for students to surprise us and make space for them to be creative. This methodology can be applied to my Year 1 and 2 by encouraging my students to think out of the box. My lessons can be more student-centric.