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 works for them.

No more email conversations going back and forth between people!

Once you've changed your mindset on sending emails, next is the receiving part:

1. YOU DO NOT NEED MULTIPLE FOLDERS FOR EACH AREA IN YOUR EMAILS E.G. DEPARTMENT, WHOLE SCHOOL, MIDDLE LEADERS ETC.

I will make one exception. If you don't use a to do list you could have folders for bigger tasks in your email. I have previously used 2 folders: this week and this term, i.e. longer term tasks and medium term tasks. Tasks for the day stay in inbox and are deleted once completed.

2. Unsubscribe from everything that isn't adding value, find that pesky unsubscribe button at the bottom of emails and get rid.

3. If there are generic emails that are always sent to you that are unnecessary, add a rule to go straight to your bin e.g. daily canteen menu.

4. If it is a meeting or calendared event, add the information to your calendar, with a reminder if needed and delete the email. Add any extra information you need to the calendared event.

5. If it is a task you can complete quickly (5 minutes or so) just do it. Tick it off the list and delete the email. If it is a bigger task, add it to a to do list, I use Google tasks to keep track.

Obviously this can be a big shift for some people and it can be scary deleting emails. If in doubt, send it to the archive. Can be easily recovered via a search and gives you peace of mind that nothing is lost.

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...

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...

Percentages with Ratio Tables

What if I said you could teach your students one thing and they could answer everything to do with Percentages? Don't believe me? Let me show you: Finding a percentage of an amount Q: Find 20% of 925 Increasing/Decreasing by a percentage Q: Decrease 45 by 16% Expressing as a percentage Q: A cereal bar weighs 24g. The cereal bar contains 3.6g of protein. Work out what percentage of the cereal bar is protein Percentage Change Q: Rebecca bought a dress for £80. She later sold it for £116. Find the percentage profit. Reverse Percentages Q: A car increases in value by 35% to £2500. What was its original price? Ratio tables can be used for it all. There is obviously going to need to be some further teaching about what an increase/decrease is, how to work out the multiplier etc, but it is a great tool we should all be using more often You may have worked out by now that I like using Ratio tables.

Cameron Setter

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