We’re incredibly proud to see the teaching practice of one of our Year 6 teachers, Kirby McDonald, featured in a national conversation about effective mathematics teaching.

When Rebecca Birch from UNSW was looking for teachers willing to share a recorded Maths lesson for analysis at ResearchED Melbourne, Brendan Lee suggested Trinity Anglican College. Kirby generously opened her Year 6 classroom to the process, sharing a lesson that has now become part of a broader discussion about teaching and learning.

A snippet of Kirby’s lesson features in the latest episode of Chalk Dust, with Nathaniel Swain joined by Dr Anna Stokke and Rebecca Birch. The discussion explores instructional approaches to learning, pair-share routines, mathematical symbols, automaticity, and the role of concrete materials as temporary scaffolds.

It’s a wonderful example of how professional learning can extend beyond our own classrooms. The work our teachers do every day can contribute to the broader conversation about what effective teaching looks like — and how we continue to learn as educators.

A special congratulations to Kirby for her generosity in sharing her practice and for contributing to knowledge-building in teacher education. We’re particularly proud to see her thoughtful classroom practice recognised and discussed by leading voices in teaching and educational research.

🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Chalk Dust:
https://chalkdust.media/podcast