👨🏫 Teaching:
We had our schools open evening this week which was a fantastic opportunity to show off some of the great things we are doing in our department. Ended up speaking to lots of parents and potential future students until late in the evening. It's really noticeable how much of a difference a positive attitude towards maths from parents rubs off on their child. When parents are supportive and encourage their child to do well in maths, the child themselves is happy to have a go at activities and shows much more resilience when challenged. Hopefully this bodes well for next year's Year 7s and we have another fantastic cohort.
🔊 Listen:
Have done a bit less listening this week as I have started riding my bike to work rather than driving so the podcast have taken a hit. However I have managed to re-listen to James Clears Atomic Habits on Audible. It's a great book with lots of takeaways. I regularly revisit this book and take something new away. This week's thought is about being aware of your current habits and the effect they have. Are they leading you on the path to where you want to be? Listen to the book on audible here.
📚 Read:
Still working my way through Mastery by Robert Greene. Greene talks about 3 stages of your Apprenticeship to Mastery. The first stage he calls Deep Observation. During this phase it is important to observe and learn as much as possible from experts in the domain. Greene highlights the distinction between the surface knowledge that is often told to us and the deep knowledge that isn't said but is key to mastery. For example, when asking questions in a lesson it is important to allow time for students to think about the answer, often called wait time, this is the surface knowledge that is needed. The deeper knowledge is the body language, tone of voice, speed of speech etc that allows the teacher to develop this skill further. It is important that when mastering a skill we don't just focus on the surface but look deeper into why something works and how to do it. Get your copy of mastery here.
📺 Watch:
Have decided to review some of the books I have read that have helped to influence some of the things that I do both in the classroom and in my daily life. The first book is Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein. Take a look at my thoughts using the link here.
