1. Welcome and feedback
2. Website of the Month: one primary and one
secondary!
3. No video? Here’s a really neat trick!
4. Diary Dates
1.
Welcome to the
October 2010 Newsletter
Dear
Friends- welcome to October’s newsletter. Just for you, it contains an
exclusive link to a webpage that nobody other than you subscribers can yet
access. See item 3 for details. I hope you are settled into the new year and things are going well. I feel as though I have
been on a bit of a treadmill already – Secondary Maths
Association Conference in Stirling, Numicon training in East Sussex, Maths
Makes Sense training in various places, INSET visits, lesson observations and
coaching sessions have made it pretty hectic.
Add to
that the fact that we are juggling with an extra little lifeform
and it’s been exciting and non-stop. Next month doesn’t look much slower, to be
honest! Today’s date is a binary one (ie made
entirely from zeros and 1s) – 01/10/10 – how many times will that happen in
your lifetime? Worth asking children; surprisingly few actually!
Cool, Calm and Calculators – I am
slightly baffled that still only around 100 folks have taken advantage of the
free offer – in case the other 3600 or so of you think there is a catch, I can
promise you that there really isn’t - it’s just HP Calculators being generous!
Still, I hope those of you who did receive your free copy are finding it
useful. It’s still not too late to get yours, though as you will see from the products page it is now on
sale to the general public.
2. Website of the Month; one for everyone.
For anyone
in primary education, Gordon’s
ITPs are great! I have no idea who Gordon is, but the Coventry LA
team must be congratulated on producing a big range of fabulous maths software that is completely free and that covers much
of the KS1 and KS2 curriculum across a range of strands. You have to visit it –
click here!
Huge thanks and all the credit to
Fiona Large from the East Sussex ICT team for showing me this site.
If you are
in secondary, though, try this: I came across this website by accident, but was hugely
impressed. I have included it because I suspect that few of us would
necessarily choose to visit it, yet it is full of some really good resources
for teachers, and is very accessible and friendly. Amongst other things are a
very clear treatise of the Four Colour Theorem, and
an interesting article about the mathematics of scoring in gymnastics, as well
as much, much more about what mathematicians actually do!
Maths Careers is definitely NOT just for those considering a career that uses maths – check it out at http://www.mathscareers.org.uk
3. Something brilliant for when you forgot the video!
I guess we
all have moments when we just wish we had been able to capture an exciting
moment at school. I was in a primary school last month observing a lesson on
multiplication. I was enjoying the lesson, and wished I had brought my video
camera along to capture the thinking of some of the children, as demonstrated
on their whiteboards. I watched as one girl in particular showed just how much
progress she had made. I thought for a while, then wondered
how I might go about recreating her thought process for teachers to see. Here is
what she did. Be patient as it takes a moment to load. You need to click to
advance the sequence, and as you do so, think about what she is thinking about
– excellent AFL opportunities. The finished board shows her final solution but
more importantly, it shows her journey towards the solution.
Next month
I will explain how it’s done – trust me, anyone can do it!
Here is the link again: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B2i7eohKj_fNY2YyZWY1NzgtYmY3My00ZDcwLTgxMmYtZTg3NGE0YmYyOGE3&hl=en&authkey=CMbV84kI
4. Diary Dates
I have now
been able to finalise the dates for the SATIPS Maths Conference. It will be held at Feltonfleet
school (where the fantastic 2008 conference was held)
but due to time restrictions it will now be held in the Spring instead. Put
this date in your diary now: Thursday 17th March 2011. Next month I
will announce the names of not one but two keynote speakers…
Another
date that will interest some of you is Tuesday 24th May. I will be
running a CPD day called Problem-Solving in Key Stage 1. It will be
interactive, with a mixture of theory and practice, with plenty to take back to
the classroom or share with colleagues. Keep an eye out for further details,
including venue, in the months ahead. The cost will be a very competitive £110,
which these days is a bargain. It is worth adding that
all profits from these days will go to SATIPS the educational charity; although
I am organizing them, these are NOT Magic Message events. (If you would like me
to run a course for schools in your area, please get in touch.)
Thank you
yet again for being a subscriber. I’m off to Ireland at the end of next week,
so please be patient if I don’t respond to emails instantly. (I am currently getting about 10 enquiries a
day and struggling to keep up, especially as my beautiful office manager is
currently on maternity leave!!!)
Finally,
if you enjoy the newsletter, please encourage others to sign up by entering
their email address at http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/newsletter.asp.
You are receiving this newsletter because you have previously
expressed an interest in Andrew Jeffrey and the work of Magic Message. However,
we do not wish to send unsolicited emails, so if you wish to unsubscribe,
please email info@andrewjeffrey.co.uk with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the title. We will send you a
personal reply acknowledging your request (not a questionnaire demanding
to know WHY!), and your email address will be removed from the database.
Many Thanks, Magic Message.