Surds for GCSE: TES Maths Resource of the Week

To see all of the work I do for TES Maths, including Resource of the Week, Inspect the Spec, Maths Newsletters and Topic Collections, please visit the TES Maths Blog here

What is it?
I struggle to remember quite what my life was like in those dark days before I discovered Dr Frost’s amazing lessons.I spent many hours scrabbling around looking for a way to introduce the topic, well presented worked examples, slides of questions, and tricky challenges. Now, when I start my planning for any topic, for first port of call is always to grab one of his PowerPoints. As you will see from this example on Surds, they contain everything you could possible need. There is an overview of where surds fit into to the whole spectrum of numbers, then there are clear notes on the laws of surds, followed by examples for the students to try. This is then followed up whole slides of exercises and GCSE exam questions, each complete with “bro tips” and a beautiful green box than can be clicked on when you and your students are ready to reveal working out and the answers. Finally, there is the dreaded skull and crossbones – a sure sign that a question will stretch even your most able of students

How can it be used?
I have one piece of advice for using Dr Frost’s lessons – never use them without first checking them very carefully. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Frost for my podcast, and the achievement of his pupils is quite staggering. Hence, he has a need to challenge them as much as he can in his TES resources. The result of this can mean that a Dr Frost Year 7 lesson contains questions that your average Year 11 would struggle with, and which have been known to drive more than one of my Year 9s to tears! So, like any resource on TES, check it over, take the parts that you need and are suitable for your class, build it into your own lesson, and then you are good to go.

Thanks so much for sharing
Craig Barton

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