The maths TeachMeet in I attended today at Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur was inspiring. I attended sessions about marking (by Denise Benson from Beacon House School), a collaborative KS3 scheme of work (Phil Welch from Alice Smith School), things learned from Craig Barton (John Cartwright from Garden International School), and ways to deepen students’ reasoning talk (Simone Dixon from Tanglin Trust School).
I also led a workshop about career progression for teachers (materials here). One of the tips I give is about reflective journaling. I recommend starting a blog, for instance. Someone asked me about my own blog and I realise I should probably practice what I preach and write some posts. A good first goal would be once a month since I’m currently writing a lot less than that.
Smart Marking (by Denise Benson from Beacon House School)
My main takeaways were twofold, one of which is not even about marking. First, exit tickets are the way Denise marks because it provides her with feedback for the planning and teaching of the next lesson and because it’s immediately useful to the student as well to see if they understood the lesson. I was struck that it would make them easier to have a little pre-printed form that they use and then the next lesson they could stick it in their book (if I deem that it would be useful for them to keep them). The scribbles below are a mock-up from my notes; hope you can read them!
Secondly, teachers complain about marking because they don’t have time. But actually teachers give up lots of time for lots of things, for example, reading teaching blogs, writing worksheets, or going to a TeachMeet on a Saturday. The problem with marking is that it’s not always a good use of time. Denise was saying that we should find a way to make it quicker and worth the time it takes.
She left us with a brilliant question.
If your school had no marking policy, how would you choose to give feedback? #KLTeachMeet2017
— Sarah Aldous (@mathsfeedback) June 17, 2017
A collaborative KS3 scheme of work (Phil Welch from Alice Smith School)
We had some good background discussion first about what KS3 looks like in each of our schools (using a Padlet). But I shall skip forward to the thing that struck me: Phil has capitalised on a timetabling quirk in that the whole of year 7 has maths at the same time. Thus they can have one week a term in which the students do a collaborative project in mixed groups. Also, the school has pairs of big classrooms with sliding doors between so they can squish a whole year group in for introduction or closing sessions. They also have a lot of breakout/corridor space for groups to work on projects. Really, this is such a great idea that works thanks in part to the brilliant facilities they have at Alice Smith School. Collaborative projects would still work in my school but would be a bit messier.
Highlights of the things learned from Craig Barton (John Cartwright from Garden International School)
Craig Barton was already one of my maths heroes but this feeling was intensified. John attended some CPD with Barton recently and in this 45 minute workshop he shared some of the highlights. It’s clear that I have to spend more time getting to know and using the Diagnostic Questions and Mr Barton Maths websites. John even said that all the classroom examples he uses on the board are now taken (via screenshot) from Diagnostic Questions. They are so good because the four multiple choice answers each stem from a common misconception.
Ways to deepen students’ reasoning talk (Simone Dixon from Tanglin Trust School)
I was intrigued by the idea of multiple representations today – something I thought that I had considered before, but maybe I had not! Ha. Why do the triangles I draw on the board always look the same? Why are my fraction drawings always of 2D shapes? She showed this lovely example (poor picture alert) of fractions of a cuboid.
I’ve been lucky enough to go to a similar session by Simone in the past (we work at the same school). She mentioned both times an idea that I think would work for me. Put up questions around the room and ask for ‘silly answers’ to be written on them. For my students, who are older than hers, I might rephrase this to be ‘answers which look plausible but are actually not right’. This connected in my mind with what John said earlier in the day about having his students create diagnostic questions – complete with three wrong answers that each stem from a single misconception. Students have to really think hard about a concept to understand the misconceptions that others might have about it.
Besides these four sessions, I also enjoyed good chats with lots of thoughtful maths teachers. I always feel more energised and encouraged after a day like this one. What has encouraged you lately?