I've been teaching mathematics for 16 years in a variety of schools across Yorkshire. After 10 years of experience as a 2nd in department I decided to bite the bullet and take on the challenge of becoming a Head of Department.
Some of the best lessons that I've seen have involved the teacher setting a scenario so that students can figure out, by themselves, strategies and key facts. Too often in the past I have just demonstrated methods & not surprisingly, within a few weeks, they have been forgotten. A number of years ago I began to investigate different ways of developing a deeper understanding in student's learning. Getting students to actively discuss ideas with each other can be very beneficial. Asking each other what they notice or why does that work, then presenting their findings to the rest of the class is a great way of developing mathematical vocabulary. (If they don't know a word then ask them to look it up in a dictionary). Ask them to note down 5 key facts on mini-white boards some of which can later be used for notes. I like the Think-Pair-Share approach - Think for 2 minutes, Pair discussion for 2 minutes then Share with the class. I've added a couple of ideas to the Resources section (pictures above). For weaker classes I usually have a set of questions that student's can ask each other but I hold off on giving them out until they have exhausted their own findings first. Hopefully I'll add a few more in the future.
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Mr K McCausland
Maths teacher and HOD. Archives
January 2017
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