Friendly Maths Teacher

Multiplication - Why Napier’s Bones is, by far, the most efficient and leads to the most correct answers. A short thread comparing the three most commonly used methods.

@Millair444 @AdrianBethune As can retrieval tasks. The idea that they need to work at home to “help them remember” just doesn’t hold weight with me.

@AdrianBethune I hate setting it. My students hate doing it. Their parents hate supervising it. I don't feel I should have the right to direct what they do in their home. Independent practice is beneficial but it can be built into the lesson during the school day.

Homework should be abolished (or significantly reduced) because it promotes this unhealthy idea to children that you work all day in the day *AND THEN* you do more work at home. Basically, children are taught to mimic the working patterns of teachers. Discuss. 🤔

@AdrianBethune Fully agree. If children are working hard in school this should be sufficient if what you are delivering is good quality. There are times, before a test, for example, where I may want them to take something away to revise but the idea that it should be every night is wrong.

@adamboxer1 What’s wrong with a formula triangle?

I'm fine with government not requiring equation memorisation but I'd prefer it if they criminalised formula triangles Much bigger fish that needs frying

@sciantificnew @ShakinthatChalk It’s a ridiculous amount of exams / content. It really needs looking at. I would go back to the old Maths spec in a heartbeat. Two papers, less content, higher grade boundaries.

@ShakinthatChalk Maybe these people need to try reading through everything a 16 y/o kid already needs to revise for the 25 exam papers they sit in 5 weeks. Then have a rethink whether it’s reasonable for them to remember equations as well. 🤷‍♂️ Absolute madness.

Oh god the bullsh*t being opined over the use of formula sheets. Seriously can’t take much more of this.

@Luvyrwrk @PolitlcsUK @MarsPioneer @JackElsom

@PolitlcsUK @MarsPioneer @JackElsom About time. 42% of students failed Maths last year. The difficulty of the Foundation level Maths GCSE today is the equivalent of the Maths A Level 15 years ago, which is utterly ridiculous. The bloated GCSE curriculum & exam system are structured to ensure failure.

🚨 NEW: The Government is officially dropping the requirement for GCSE students to memorise equations for maths, physics and science exams [@JackElsom]

@adamboxer1 Going through homework in class isn’t worth the time taken imho. SPARX and / or set written tasks that students can take away and mark themselves. Much better to deliver content in lesson that you’ve planned.

That you could reliably predict how long things would take in lessons 0-7 minutes: starter activity 7-11 minutes: going over homework Etc

@savoy_girl @edudissenter I do agree, but getting a student a grade 5 when their primary data is vastly inflated is equally, or even more, difficult.

@Friendly_Maths @edudissenter But making “expected” progress is a 0 in P8 terms. And 9’s across the board is a big ask…

England has developed the best measure for summarizing schools’ efficacy: the Progress 8. America needs to import it.

@savoy_girl @edudissenter Personally, I would remove the SATS and have the Year 7s sit a test at the start of their time in secondary school and base progress targets on this data. This would ensure genuine data and a more level playing field.

@savoy_girl @edudissenter She could get 9s. Not meaning to be flippant but I see it in my current school with a diverse intake. The students in the top sets from our more affluent primaries generally make expected, or above, progress. It is far harder to do with students from more challenging areas.

@savoy_girl @edudissenter I’ve found the opposite. Students from good primaries generally have more “honest” results and it is therefore easier to make the required progress than ones that have come from challenging areas where the pressure on SATS results leads to gaming the system and inflated data.

@edudissenter It is not as great as all that. Good secondary schools that happen to have an intake from good primaries can’t compete with decent secondary schools that have an intake from poor primaries. If kids are meeting their potential at Yr 6, maintaining that is good.

@TheLittlePeopl9 @edudissenter It’s dreadful. You end up spending 30 minutes trying to explain a basic concept while the students lose interest or get overwhelmed and confused. I had that exact conversation about fluency with my ex-Director of Maths. “I don’t want to see pages and pages of equations.” 🤡🤦🏻‍♂️

@Friendly_Maths @edudissenter There's a lot wrong with White Rose... it's so very dull, isn't it? I agree absolutely about the need for lots of practice, yet the Maths lead at school reckons just 4 fluency questions (as in 4 calculations) is plenty!

Whole class instruction was used 72% of the time in Shanghai math classes. In England it was 24% of the time (in 2014).

@TheLittlePeopl9 @edudissenter I would say the majority of lesson time should be independent work surely? Maybe not quite that high but I’d certainly want them practising over 50% of the hour. It’s a massive problem with White Rose lessons. Too much teacher talk and nowhere near enough practice.

@edudissenter Which is why one headteacher's insistence that the best lessons were 20% teacher-led input followed by 80% independent work didn't make any sense. If the kids can do the work independently, you need to teach them something harder, or they're not learning.

@tes No.

Is homework worth the workload cost – and would anyone miss it if every school stopped setting it? Naveen Rizvi explores as part of our thought experiment series tes.com/magazine/leade…

@barton_jw @RogersHistory Add in all the “Directors” of each subject on between £80k - £100k. Trust Learning Leads etc. and you’re looking at millions of pounds per trust being siphoned away from frontline staff and students.

@RogersHistory Now tell me how those running small MATs can justify the same salaries. I know of some where more than one person is earning over £200k and there’s less than 5 schools!

This is pretty mad whichever way you look at it, even more so the increases. Eye watering stuff.

@greeborunner @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths It’s a written comment where I am. 🤦🏻‍♂️

@Friendly_Maths @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths Live marking shouldn't be a written comment necessarily. I used to walk with a highlighter. Dot on a line or under a word and some verbal input if needed.

Six high-leverage teaching and learning techniques that we’ll be working on for the rest of the academic year - using group rehearsal and coaching to refine. @adamboxer1 and @mrbartonmaths any tips from the experts?

@mark_wapples @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths The best tip I ever got was from my first head of department: “It’s all a load of rubbish. Get their heads down. Get em working.”

@Friendly_Maths @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths The best tip I ever got was from a Maths teacher. Wander the room look at what the pupils were doing pen in hand. If correct give it a tick there and then. If wrong put a dot against it and get the pupils to redo it. It built confidence in the kids as they worked on it.

@andylutwyche @FrielRoss @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths Yeah, it’ll probably be that unfortunately.

@Friendly_Maths @FrielRoss @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths Book scrutiny?! 😬

@andylutwyche @FrielRoss @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths From observing me. 👍🏼

@Friendly_Maths @FrielRoss @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths But how will an observer be able to judge you if you have nothing in the kids’ books? 🥴

@FrielRoss @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths Exactly. Why am I going to waste time writing a comment in a student’s book when I’m physically stood with them and can correct the misconception verbally in a fraction of the time? For me, books are for practice and should be self-marked where possible. I’ll mark assessments.

@Friendly_Maths @adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths It seems purposeless and a regression on teacher workload. The best feedback is instant actionable verbal feedback

@adamboxer1 @HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths There’s a massive push going on where I am at the moment on live marking. Trying to actually write a comment on as many books as you can per lesson. I’m too busy teaching to mark books in a lesson usually.

@HeadteacherTips @mrbartonmaths Not from me im afraid. Im not really one for coaching or group rehearsal, dont use full sentences, live marking, TPS or positive narration in this way. Sorry!