Doing Maths

This chapter describes a methodology for apprenticing students into the knowledge structures of mathematics, by giving them control over the elaborate procedures of maths processes. The method has been developed in partnership with primary and secondary maths teachers, as part of the Reading to Learn (R2L) action research program, informed by the models of pedagogy and language in genre-based literacy pedagogy (Rose & Martin 2012). The method has been shown internationally to achieve rapid improvements in students’ maths outcomes (Lövstedt & Rose 2015). The approach is demonstrated in training videos and resources on the website of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA 2018) and is a part of the R2L teacher professional learning program. The method involves close analysis by teachers of the steps they use to model maths processes, and close analysis of the spoken and mathematical modalities they use to guide their classes. This chapter presents the theoretical principles that inform the methodology, with analyzed examples from a secondary classroom.