It’s been a while since I have written a blog post. My last set of posts were written at the end of each week reflecting on what had been happening with my classes during the week. I really enjoyed writing these as it allowed me to look back to see the progress made with each class. I have yet to decide if I will continue with that style of blog post as it was a large time commitment. Maybe a monthly post instead.
In this post I want to share a few of the things that I am looking forward to working on during the next term. I am wary of taking on too much but these are areas which I feel ready to tackle. So here they are:
- Working with algebra tiles
I have been to a few workshops showing how to use algebra tiles in lessons but have never given myself the time to sit down and explore the full potential of using them. I have a class set of algebra tiles to use with my classes so want to be able to use them effectively. I am planning on allocating time to spend learning how to use the tiles and then share this with my department.
- Professional reading group
I bought myself a copy of Making Every Maths Lesson Count by Emma McCrea and have read the first chapter (it’s great). As I was reading I thought about how I have bought lots of books over the years, read them and then put them back on the shelve and never fully engaged with the ideas within them. I want to change this. This year every member of my department will be given a copy of Making Every Maths Lesson Count and we will have a reading group. After each chapter we will meet to discuss the ideas raised and will identify one action each to try with our classes over the next half term. We will then meet again to discuss and share what we have done. This will continue through all the chapters of the book. I am hoping that this will help to engage me with putting words on a page into action.
- Parental engagement
This term I am going to be running my first event for parents. The aim is to improve numeracy for pupils and provide support for parents to help pupils at home. I haven’t decided yet what the first event will be – at the moment I am considering a family puzzle night where parents and pupils can attend to solve numerical puzzles. The aim of this will be to get parents involved in fun, low stakes way.
- Task design
I used to spent a lot of time creating my own resources for my classes. While I still do this from time to time, I have not spent quality time on them. Years ago, my focus for task design revolved around making it fun but now I know I need to focus on the specific tasks being set and getting pupils to think mathematically. That’s the tough part. I am hoping to set time aside each week, where possible, to work on a task. I am always inspired by ideas people share on Twitter and always think I need to be creating original ideas but that it hard.
I will try to blog regularly about my progress and look forward to getting advice from others on the work I am doing.
fractionfanatic 