David Morkunas
@DaveMorkunas
Teacher. Maths Nerd. Director of Explicit Mathematics Program. PowerPoint Warlock. For questions about EMP, please visit https://explicitmathematicsprogram.com
Imagine being this mad lad, leaving this cheeky comment and then shadowdropping the sickest MWBs in the business. Those number line templates are an absolute gamechanger.
Watch this space…
Take my MWBs from my cold, dead hands.
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Absolute "pinch me" experience getting to record with Ollie – I've listened to ERRR since its inception and was thrilled to have the chance to be a guest. Hope the discussion is useful to teachers and educators.
In the most recent ERRR Podcast, @DaveMorkunas describes the ins and outs of writing high quality mathematics lessons, and particularly how these principals are embedded into the Explicit Mathematics Program. Full show notes at ollielovell.com/davidmorkunas
Perth! Thanks so much for having me here for a whirlwind trip. I had a blast chatting to teachers and leaders about all things maths. Apologies for bringing the Melbourne weather over to your fine city!
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Multiple strategies in math is pitched as am inclusive scaffold, when really they are just poor design. The teacher doesn’t have to bring kids to mastery on an efficient strategy. They can just model a few different ways to do stuff and then say, “use the method you like best.”
"Make it easy for the kids to do well". That quote should be on the wall of every classroom in the country. Amazing episode with two of my favourite people in maths.
🎸 New Chalk & Talk episode with @BrunoReddyMaths creator of @TTRockStars! We cover: ✅ Motivating kids to practice ✅ Building fluency ✅ Variation theory ✅ Lessons from Shanghai ✅ Building math confidence & competence Fun episode w/ lots of practical tips! Link below ⬇️
Another day in paradise, designing problem sets for my absolute favourite algorithm – subtraction across internal zeroes! Very excited to have reached this point in EMP where I get to write these lessons.
Next up is my ex-boss and colleague, Sarah Asome, breaking down all of the work that Bentleigh West PS have done to become the successful school that they are.
Absolutely stoked to see one of my heroes in education, the inimitable @C_Hendrick, presenting on effective practice in teaching and learning for Sharing Best Practice.
This was a phenomenal day of PD. I loved getting into the weeds with maths teaching and exploring all of the ways that we can tweak instruction to maximise success.
Day 2 of our CPD tour was to 180+ teachers in Melbourne. Feedback has been great so far. Still a few tickets left for Sydney on Wednesday and Adelaide on Friday. ollielovell.com/craig/
This was great fun – loved connecting with the dedicated teachers at Lansvale and chatting about all things maths.
Not many people can get @LansvalePS staff to do long division after school! 😂 Thanks @DaveMorkunas for sharing your insights and importance of Daily Review. “You can’t afford not to.”
Great to see Grattan Institute's principals' guide for primary maths teaching is out today! I've been absolutely loving @GrattanInst's work on maths recently! This one is well worth checking out! grattan.edu.au/report/the-mat…
Always great to connect with schools and throw some maths at them! The staff at Campbells Creek Primary School were super friendly and eager to improve their practice.
It was great having @DaveMorkunas teaching our staff about reviews and algorithms today!
This is the mission. Love seeing high-quality instruction and teachers in maths highlighted like this, from both our Education Minister and the wider press. We're on the precipice of enormous positive change, and I'm super excited to play my small part to get there.
I agree with @hunter_jordana at @GrattanInst - “We don’t stand for being beaten by England in cricket, and we shouldn’t stand for it in mathematics. That’s why our refreshed Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 will support every school to deliver high-quality, explicit…
NEW POST: 🧊+🔥 = 💬 "Cold Calling with Warmth" isn’t an oxymoron—it’s a strategy for intentional, inclusive participation. Discover how to engage every student with purpose and care. 📖 Read more: layingthefoundations.net/blog/cold-call…
This point often gets lost in the debate about whether teachers should create their own resources. Hard to overestimate just how much time Ochre has saved teachers around the country.
Thanks to @OchreEducation our teachers are getting a restful break. Energy is focused on content knowledge & instructional routines instead of the arduous, relentless task of creating many hours of class work from scratch. Teachers can add the flavour but not the ingredients
I have to remind myself of this whenever I am asked to present on daily reviews. Part of my brain loudly protests: "Surely people are sick of hearing me talk about DRs by now!", but we can't overestimate just how large the % is of teachers who have never heard of it.
Quite often most people in a school haven’t heard of the last wave of in-vogue theories or the latest wave. They’re just cracking on regardless. Eg Rosenshine is really old news to some, massively over done to others, but most teachers have just never heard of him.
Proofing some activity pages for EMP – I’m a bit more expert at this stuff than most students but I’ve never seen alternate methods that can hold a candle to standard algos for speed and fluency (forgive the messy writing and terrible pencil grip!)