Teaching Resource Centre basics

Teachers using the PAT Teaching Resources Centre

Resource types

Additional features

• Curriculum links
• Research
• Links to additional resources

Annotated questions and skill illustrations

Annotated questions are analyses of actual PAT assessment questions, providing detailed explanations of the skills being assessed.

Skill illustrations are exemplar items with additional information that explains the skills needed to provide the correct response. They do not explicitly use live PAT assessment questions. This ensures you can focus on the broader skills being tested rather than on specific PAT questions.

Annotated questions and skill illustrations give:

• the actual PAT question (for annotated questions), or an example PAT question (for skill illustrations) and the correct answer
• an explanation of the skills required to answer the question correctly
• common errors and misconceptions
• detailed PAT assessment descriptions and question difficulty information so that you know exactly what the question is asking for
• prerequisite skills that students generally need to have mastered before they can be expected to answer the question correctly
• key concepts and skills being assessed
• text complexity information
• curriculum links
• linked teaching activities to help support students who are yet to master the required skills
• moving forward options, to challenge students who are ready to progress in their learning.

Use annotated questions and skill illustrations to:

• gain a detailed understanding of the skills being assessed
• explore reasons for unexpected answers on PAT assessments
• identify targeted teaching resources to use in class.

Examples

• Reading annotated question
• Reading skill illustration
• Maths annotated question
• Maths skill illustration
• STEM annotated question

Teaching activities and concept builders

These are teaching ideas that cover specific mathematics and reading activities to help you develop your students' skills in areas where they are lacking, or to provide stretch challenges. They are not prescriptive, and they allow for your expert knowledge and interpretation of your students' ability levels.

Use teaching activities and concept builders to:

• identify and set specific learning intentions
• improve student learning of particular skills
• identify curriculum links
• improve student learning when unexpected answers are identified in PAT assessments.

Examples

• Reading teaching activity
• Maths concept builder

Videos

The Teaching Resources Centre includes an extensive range of videos for teachers and students.

Professional support for teachers: these videos provide an opportunity for professional learning around improving students' reading comprehension and using Teaching Resources Centre teaching activities in lessons.

Go to reading professional support videos (subscription required)

Skills support for students: these short videos provide support for students around specific skills and can be used in either whole-class or small-group settings. Use them as warm-up activities at the start of a lesson, or to provide further guidance and clarification if required.

Go to reading skills support videos (subscription required)

Contact us for support

Our support team is available from 9 am to 5 pm AEST on weekdays at sales@acer.org or on 1800 338 402.