Last night we enjoyed some Maths PD by Jo Knox from Maths Development. Enjoyed definitely being the operative word. PD is often interesting and valuable, but rarely will the the staff leave the staffroom energetic and and buzzing after an after-school meeting. Regardless of the amount of maths expertise or teaching experience, every member of our staff appeared to get a lot out of the session. The focus for the PD was to:
Now if I'm being honest, when I read these key points at the beginning of the meeting, my enthusiasm was not at its highest, and I was expecting to leave the staffroom at 5pm in a more typical 'post staff-meeting fashion'. However, once we got started, I realised that these were in fact the exact points I have been working to understand better in my own inquiry into maths. For my own head I translated the points of focus to:
A selection of slides from Jo's presentation
A key point that I took away from the PD was that learners who are stuck at a lower stage of maths in their knowledge, will have a hard time (or be unable to) use a strategy from a higher stage. I suddenly thought about my boys who seem to be stuck at stage 5, and realised this is part of where I have been going wrong. They are still battling with grouping and place value, and this is preventing them from moving onto new strategies for solving trickier problems.
I feel more confident in targeting their specific needs now going forward in their lessons.
- Understand the progressive stages of development in number.
- Understand how strategy and knowledge are interrelated.
- Identify clear links between the Number Framework with National Curriculum levels and National Standards.
Now if I'm being honest, when I read these key points at the beginning of the meeting, my enthusiasm was not at its highest, and I was expecting to leave the staffroom at 5pm in a more typical 'post staff-meeting fashion'. However, once we got started, I realised that these were in fact the exact points I have been working to understand better in my own inquiry into maths. For my own head I translated the points of focus to:
- What do learners need to understand at each stage.
- Where, When and How do strategy and knowledge relate.
- How do the Pink books connect to the curriculum.
A selection of slides from Jo's presentation
A key point that I took away from the PD was that learners who are stuck at a lower stage of maths in their knowledge, will have a hard time (or be unable to) use a strategy from a higher stage. I suddenly thought about my boys who seem to be stuck at stage 5, and realised this is part of where I have been going wrong. They are still battling with grouping and place value, and this is preventing them from moving onto new strategies for solving trickier problems.
I feel more confident in targeting their specific needs now going forward in their lessons.
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