The following question is taken from my website Diagnostic Questions. Here you will find 1000s of high quality maths questions, ideal for assessment for learning, which have been created and shared by maths teachers allContinue reading
Month: May 2014
Article: Transition in Secondary Maths
For the first eight years of my teaching career, I had been making a huge mistake. At the start of September each year, confronted by an eager, fresh-faced class of Year 7 students, I had presentedContinue reading
Article: Preparing for the new Maths Curriculum
I must confess, when I first heard about the changes to the maths curriculum, I was not overly concerned. I still have vivid memories of the last so-called “major” change to GCSEs a few yearsContinue reading
Article: The Power of the Puzzle
The other Saturday I was fortunate enough to attend the first birthday party of the beautiful daughter of two of my best friends. Whilst everyone was tucking into cake and watching baby Isabelle pay farContinue reading
Article: Why I Love PowerPoint
I use PowerPoint in every single maths lesson I teach. If “death by PowerPoint” was an actual disease, most of my students would not make it to October half term. In recent years, a noticeableContinue reading
Article: The Mathematics of Dating
Can maths help you find true love? Many may argue quite the opposite – that the mere mention of the beauty of a quadratic equation or the perils of a small sample size might beContinue reading
Article: Making the Most of Tarsia Jigsaws
When I first began my teaching career, Tarsia Jigsaws were the new kid on the block. You could not go to a maths conference without being armed with a pair of scissors and being setContinue reading
Article: Probing Questions
There are some dangerous myths that perpetrate the world of mathematics: “two minuses equal a plus” and “one is a prime number” always bring me out in cold sweats. However, one that has been gainingContinue reading
Article: Probably not a good idea
On a cold and breezy Sunday afternoon, with cup of tea in one hand and red pen in the other, I found myself marking a stack of Year 7 assessment papers. The students had generallyContinue reading
Article: Over-reliance on Resources
As I write this article, there are over 22,000 secondary mathematics resources on TES. That does not include all the primary resources that would also be suitable for high-school students, or the multiple resources containedContinue reading
Article – Misconceptions: Dividing by Decimals
Consider the following that I took from a student’s book. Is this something you have seen before? What do you think the student’s reasoning is? What’s the Problem? Dividing would not be many students favouriteContinue reading
Article – Misconceptions: Solving Equations
Consider the following that I took from a student’s book. Is this something you have seen before? What do you think the student’s reasoning is? What’s the Problem? “Equations are easy sir”, says the YearContinue reading
Article – Misconception: Adding Fractions
Consider the following that I took from a student’s book. Is this something you have seen before? What do you think the student’s reasoning is? What’s the Problem? I have lost count of the numberContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Engaging Maths Resources
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. I’m always on the lookout for exciting ways to teachContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Quadratics
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. Quadratic functions is an important mathematical topic, especially for thoseContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Probability
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. There are many misconceptions about teaching probability. For me, thisContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Transformations
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. Transformations are probably one of the most visual topics inContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Homework Ideas
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. Homework is a constant talking point within the teaching profession;Continue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: Perimeter, Area and Volume
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. Perimeter, area and volume can be a fairly tedious topicContinue reading
TES Top 10 Resources: A Level Statisitics
The following collection of resources have been assembled by the TES Maths Panel. They can be downloaded for free by registering on the TES website. A-level statistics offers a great opportunity to make sense ofContinue reading