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Exciting collaboration and resource platform for mathematics teachers

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Exciting collaboration and resource platform for mathematics teachers

A joint initiative between Telkom Foundation, the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) and the Dr CL Smith Foundation aims to improve the quality of mathematics outcomes by offering professionally developed lesson plans and support for grade 10 teachers.

Zibuza.net (https://zibuza.net) is an online professional learning community (PLC) designed and built exclusively for South African teachers to support and celebrate the many unsung heroes that have dedicated their lives to positively shape our society. The community promotes professional development, support and appreciation to embrace the holistic needs of the teacher, from curriculum delivery to cultivating appreciation for the work that they do, to addressing lifestyle issues that they deal with beyond the classroom, such as stress, health and financial difficulties.

“We invite all teachers to make use of the opportunity and register on zibuza.net.  We believe that teachers are the heartbeat of our nation and that they should be supported and celebrated every day. Our vision is to be the leading collaboration and resource platform for South African teachers. We aim to achieve this by saving teachers’ valuable time and helping teachers improve learner performance through networking and professional development opportunities, access to resources and support as well as boosting teacher morale,” explains Malcolm Mooi from the Dr CL Smith Foundation. 

An exciting example of this collaboration is providing professionally developed mathematics lesson plans for grade 10 teachers.  The lesson plans were designed by SAMF and can be used with any prescribed textbook. They are downloadable on zibuza.net weekly (4x lessons per week) and printable for teachers to adapt, discuss and use.  Each plan contains explanatory notes, for example the difference between rational and irrational numbers.  There is also a mathematics dictionary containing mathematical concepts. Each week certain words which learners might not understand from the lesson plans are added to the dictionary. Teachers can work according to the year planner, which outlines all the lessons throughout 2018.  There is no cost for teachers to register on zibuza.net and the lesson plans are free for teachers to download, courtesy of Telkom Foundation, who is the headline sponsor of zibuza.net.

According to Sarah Mthintso from Telkom Foundation: “Working with well-defined lesson plans will enable teachers and their learners to succeed in their learning and teaching environment.  Telkom Foundation is proud to be associated with zibuza.net and we believe that this use of technology will make a significant contribution to the quality of maths education in the country.”

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