Are you good at maths? How do you know?

The format of this reflection is wholly and unashamedly inspired by this post from @TAnnalet. As the end of the year is fast approaching, and I'm leaving my current school after 5 years, it seems like a good time to reflect on my practice. I feel I've come a long way in the past couple of years to …

Which One Doesn’t Belong?

I feel like I'm quite late to the #WODB party. I've been using number talks and fraction talks for a while now and have really noticed the impact they have have on the students' abilities to reason and justify their thinking whilst using mathematical language with precision. So it was great to discover a new way to get the students thinking, reasoning, talking etc. We have been …

Splitting the Bill

Every time the bill arrives in a restaurant 'maths anxiety' kicks in with a chorus of, 'Don't show me the bill - I'm rubbish at maths'. It fascinates me how often this is announced. And almost with a sense of pride. The meal didn't start with proud exclamations of, 'Don't show me the menu - I'm rubbish at reading!' So why …

Using prompts to drive inquiry

"Inquiry Maths is a model of teaching that encourages students to regulate their own activity while exploring a mathematical statement (called a prompt). Inquiries can involve a class on diverse paths of exploration or in listening to a teacher's explanation. In Inquiry Maths, students take responsibility for directing the lesson with the teacher acting as the …

A Textbook Problem

Casualty of last year's library cull was this pile of rather out-dated looking textbooks from 1998. It was assumed that these were fit for the recycling bin. Words like textbook, levels and National Curriculum don't easily fit with PYP philosophy or the direction I have been trying to take my Maths teaching. A cursory flick through the …