Skip to main content

📝 Weekly Report #13

👨‍🏫 Teaching:

With my HOD off with COVID, this was my first full week in charge of the department. Thankfully all the teachers have pulled together and supported me. Have introduced weekly admin emails to keep everyone up to date with what is coming up in the following week and any notices I feel that they need to be aware of. It has improved the clarity of communication and I have had less questions from others about what is going on. 

Finished the week with a great lesson with my year 7s converting numbers into standard form. Was lovely seeing them make links between the place value work we did at the start of the year and some of the multiplication we have done in the last week. Even spent some time talking about different number systems! 

🔊 Listen:

Deep dive with Ali Abdaal speaking to Grace Lordan. Ali and Grace discuss passion and motivation in your job and the secret to success. Listen here. 

🔊 Listen:

Climbing the stairs from PiXL pearls. Getting out of your comfort zone, speaking to others. Listen here. 

🔊 Listen:

Craig Barton on the GLT podcast talking about the importance of silence and the examples we go through as teachers. This is a great listen especially for Maths teacher. Check it out here.

📚 Read:

Have just finished reading Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Once I started reading, I found it really difficult to put it down. The first part of the book is about his experiences in a concentration camp, obviously I know it was horrendous conditions but some of the things he talks about almost makes you think you are reading a fiction book! The second half he goes into more detail about logotherapy and the importance of finding purpose and meaning. A few quotes really got me thinking and resonated for me:

1. Homeostasis or equilibrium isn't what we should aim for. We need the struggling and striving of attaining a goal. That tension gives us something to live for. 

2. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it. 

3. Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now. 

Definitely recommend reading it. Grab yourself a copy here. 
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

📝 Weekly Report #21

The trainee teacher in our department has started to teach my Year 10 group this week. It has taken me back to when I was training and the struggles that I had and the feedback my mentor would give me. One thing I didn't consider back then was how the class teacher feels who I was taking over from.  I know that as a trainee I was no where near being an amazing teacher but over time I have continually improved. So it has been a struggle for me to allow the trainee to teach my class thinking that there would be aspects that I know I could deliver much better. On the flip side of this it has been great to learn from him by watching him teach and being able to give small steps to improve for next time. The initial focus has been on general pedagogy, e.g. use of questioning, planning for misconceptions etc. It's made me reflect on my own teaching ensuring I don't just talk it, I walk the walk too! I've also enjoyed seeing the improvements he has been able to make lesson on l...
Read more

Equivalent Fractions with Ratio Tables

The following is a slide taken from NCETM Checkpoints. I was happy with the fraction pair on the right but the left stumped me! Then I had that 'aha' moment!  What I used to do I never used to teach equivalent fractions like the one on the left to my classes. I would just use arrows to multiply both numerator and denominator to find an equivalent fraction, very similar to the fractions on the right.  The issue with this though is, like me, students don't necessarily see all of the multiplicative relationships between the fractions as well as within the fraction. They are missing that key knowledge to support them answering the first pair of fractions.   What I do now Ratio tables allow students to see those multiplicative links. By doing this it makes questions like the checkpoints task much easier for students to do.  Disclaimer: this isn't the only way I teach equivalent fractions. I also show students how prime factors can also help us. There will be a future...
Read more

Ratio Tables: Why you need to use them?

Only 36% of students were able to answer the question on the right. Whereas 75% of students were able to correctly answer the problem on the left. (7) Why? What's the big difference?  Students are more likely to relate values between objects (left question) than within an object (right question). (7) A similar issue comes up in the questions below. 91% getting the bottom question correct, relating 11 people to 33 people. Whereas only 51% answered the top question correctly.  Students often struggle to see all of the multiplicative links between and within values. One of the misconceptions my own students had with the right 'L' question was that the answer was 45. They had added 13cm because 8 + 13 = 21 on the base of the 'L'. "Young children tend to see multiplication additively" Dietmar Kuchemann   DfE suggests teaching multiplication as repeated addition, with arrays, in Yr2. Yr3 scaling is introduced but after that isn't mentioned again. It is as...
Read more