Improving Literacy in your department (links)

Want to improve literacy in your Maths department?

These 4 links will show you how:

1. From the education hub in New Zealand. It outlines some ways in which secondary school teachers may develop and enhance learning through a disciplinary literacy approach

https://theeducationhub.org.nz/literacy-across-the-curriculum-at-secondary-school/

2. Fantastic blog post giving concrete examples of how literacy could be improved in Maths

https://clarefeeneyuk.com/?p=69

3. EEF produced this guidance to help improve literacy. There are some great questions to use both in your own teaching but also with your department.

https://d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net/eef-guidance-reports/literacy-ks3-ks4/EEF_KS3_KS4_LITERACY_GUIDANCE.pdf?v=1635355220

4. Also check out my own blog post on improving Literacy in Maths. I am hoping to add further examples and support over time.

https://cameronsetter.blogspot.com/2022/04/literacy-in-maths.html

Literacy in Maths

I'm a Maths teacher, I teach numbers. Why is Literacy so important for me? Well….here's why: "Literacy is fundamental for success in school and later life. Students who cannot read, write and communicate effectively are highly unlikely to access the challenging academic curriculum in secondary school and are more likely to have poor educational outcomes across all subjects." (Link 3) Unfortunately there are a lot of Maths teachers who believe (wrongly) that literacy is a thing that the English department do. They see it as a tick box for observations. Rather than being an essential component of students being able to learn maths. - So what does it look like in Maths? Answer the question: Blindle 4x + 6 Are you able to do it? This is the challenge a lot of students face in Mathematics. Subject specific vocabulary can seem really confusing to a lot of students. Understanding what a keyword is asking of students is often the hardest part of a question and can hold s...

England v Wales: Who teaches Maths better?

England V Wales: Who teaches Maths better? Times are changing in Wales, there is a new Curriculum focus and in Maths there are 5 proficiencies that the government want to see. Here's my take as a new HOD crossing the border from England. The Welsh government have overhauled the curriculum and not just in Maths. They have identified key statements of what matters and laid out principles for progressing in each subject. Maths in every country is the same though surely.... Well yes... we still focus on Number, Algebra, Geometry and Statistics. But also no....in Wales it is mandatory to use their 5 proficiencies to progress students in Maths. This isn't an explicit thing in England. The 5 proficiencies are: conceptual understanding, fluency, logical thinking, strategic competence and communication with symbols Lots of big words. But if you dive deeper into the detail that the Welsh government provides on each of them it is no different to what the NCETM in England recommend with t...

Finish the day with an empty inbox

Most people use their email inbox incorrectly. It isn't a to do list, it isn't a calendar, it isn't a filing cabinet. Here's how I use my inbox and finish every day with 0 emails! Firstly we need to rethink how we send emails: 1. Ideally speak in person. No email sent, no email to reply to. 2. If you are sending a quick message or asking a small question, especially within your department/team you could make use of instant messaging e.g. Microsoft teams, WhatsApp, Google chats etc I think Adam Boxer uses this in his department. 3. If you have to send an email, make sure you only send it to those who need to see it, no whole school emails or CCing lots of people. 4. Include as much information as possible. Make it so that you shouldn't need to receive a reply or if you do it is only one email. Tell them what they need to do, by when and what finished looks like, be specific. If arranging meetings, give a range of times to meet up and have the other person decide what...

Cameron Setter

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