“I’m Stuck!”
For many children, it seems that even if their calculation skills are up to speed, being presented with a word problem can cause them to freeze in confusion as they struggle to make sense of it. For them, the issue is not doing the maths. It’s finding the maths to do. The question on the […]
Leadership: a Parable
I have a confession. I hate gardening. I don’t possess either the skills or the patience to create beautiful landscapes. It feels like I’m putting in huge amounts of effort for little return. Here is a true example. Years ago, when we moved into our current house, I bought my wife a young apple tree. […]
EASTER CONFERENCES
Subject Association Conferences Reflection, April 2021 Easter is the time when both the Mathematical Association and the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (I know, I know) hold their residential conferences. This year of course that simply wasn’t possible so they heade online instead. I have to say that both did an exceptional job under the […]
The Power of Gateway Questions
I’ve been experimenting with something I’m calling ‘Gateway Questions‘ this morning. This has come about because I am working with a KS2 class who have a huge ability range, perhaps as much as the equivalent of 4 NC years. This is not unusual in many classrooms, sadly. The truth is that a ‘whole-class’ Mastery approach […]
How Should a Recovery Curriculum Look?
So What Now? Catch-Up? Recovery? Or ‘Business as Usual’ ? I must admit I’ve been thinking A LOT about this since the new year. Come the 8th March, the vast majority of our children will be returning to us full-time. Children and young people are anxious enough at the moment. They have missed school, missed their […]
Are we Dividing Wrong?
So I’ve been thinking really hard for a few years now why it is that children seem to get so confused by division. I’m not saying I have the full answer yet, but I do think that it might be a lot to do with the fact that for some reason we usually introduce division […]
Reflections of 2020
So today we finally say goodbye and good riddance to 2020. We marked it with a lovely walk up on Devil’s Dyke (see photo above). My natural tendency is to look for the positives, but that can feel a bit forced, and a bit ‘everything is marvellous’. For me, the secret is probably the way […]
Geometry Wordsearch
Funnels
Depth, Dormancy and Permanence.
I had an interesting experience recently, which made me reflect on what I now think is an overly simplistic model of memory – namely the very common binary way to thinking about working memory and long-term memory. Here’s what transpired: My son recently asked for help with A-level maths homework. It was a bearings question, […]
Writing this is a RISK. But I believe in taking risks.
Deep breath… Ten years ago I left the security of a great job, a secure pension and a good salary to follow a dream. That dream was to become a support to teachers who didn’t yet feel the same love for mathematics that I did. I was fortunate. Part of that, I believe, is down to […]