Changes to Format/Administration Grades 8 to 1 (not corresponding to A* to G – aim is to even out the distribution more) Still tiered; still “overlapping” tiers but degree of overlap may well change Assessment by terminal examination only; minimum assessment time 3.5 hours No “SPAG” marks in Mathematics Still …
#TMBlended – First ‘blended learning’ TeachMeet, London 11th July
What is #TMBlended? This is the first ever TeachMeet event to focus on blended learning! In the UK, there is a growing number of teachers who have thrown themselves into blended learning as a way to improve learning outcomes in their classes. Others have been dabbling tentatively and others are …
King Solomon Academy – Primary and Secondary rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted
KSA Ofsted Report May 2013 Link to Ofsted page
10 things to check before starting flipped learning
Asked by @MsFindlater for some advice on getting going with flipped learning, I spontaneously came up with 10 things to check before taking the plunge. Check that… All or nearly all pupils have internet at home (or you’ve thought of workarounds for those who don’t). You can create or curate …
Times Tables Rock God Wrangle – Event Teaser [Video]
Related links Times Tables Rock Stars Strategies for learning, understanding and remembering the times tables
Maths competition for UK 16-18 yr olds – Prize is to sail with an Olympic medallist
Reposted from http://transversal-cup.org/participate/maths-competition/ Put your maths skills to the test and win a sailing lesson with a double-gold Olympic medal winning sailor! If you think maths is done from behind a desk, think again! The Transversal Maths Challenge gives pupils the chance to test out their maths skills in the …
#DanMeyerFacts Infographic
What would Dan Meyer do with the #DanMeyerFacts tweets coming through in the last couple of days? Probably not this: #DanMeyerFacts | Create infographics Resources Download the #DanMeyerFacts archive
Pupils checking each other’s work
In my class I run a simple pupil-checking-pupil-work system. Pupil A completes work and puts hand up in shape of letter V (for ‘validate’). Specific training beforehand as to which fingers to use! Teacher, wearing Validator sign on the end of a lanyard goes over to check for 100% accuracy. …
Laying down the gauntlet – Mathematical Wrangles
Poetry slams, rap battles and Mock The Week all pit the sharpest minds with the sharpest tongues against other (well, two out of three do). Opponents must outdo each other through rounds of linguistic duelling, with escalating wit and dexterity. One of my favourite slam poets is Taylor Mali and …
20 things in my maths cupboard
Some are poundlandtastic others are simply worth paying the extra for.
Programming – the next modern language
The short version of this short film has more than 10m views on YouTube Forget English, French and Spanish. Forget Arabic and Chinese. The language our pupils really need to know is computer programming! As a boy, I grew up having to control a computer using the MS-DOS command line …
Designs for this half-term’s class badges
Related Posts ClassBadges.com – Marking and rewarding progress
PROMYS Summer Program for mathematically ambitious students – scholarships available
PROMYS is an intensive summer program for mathematically ambitious students – six weeks at Boston University followed by one week at Oxford University. The Clay Mathematics Institute is fully funding the PROMYS participation of up to ten European students. The students will follow up their six weeks at PROMYS with …
ClassBadges.com – Marking and rewarding progress
When we started blended learning, life was good. My pupils began studying more independently and their work rate went up but it didn’t take me long to realise there was something missing to sustain their productivity – they needed their efforts to be recognised more than before. Having had a …
Equipment for recording videos
For the blended learning work I have been doing, I set up a little recording station and try to blast through a sequence of short videos in a row. It takes a bit of time to set up the equipment and I find that it’s best to get a few …
Press Cutting: Google: giving teaching back to the teacher?
Links Journalist – Peter Gothard Computing.co.uk – Education section
World Maths Day – World Record Rolling Numbers
To celebrate World Maths Day today, we decided to set a world record for the largest number of people rolling numbers! We had the year 3s, 4s, 5s, 7s, 8s and a handful of year 9s plus staff and visitors from KSA’s primary and secondary schools. The grand total – …
Strategies for learning, understanding and remembering the times tables
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in the class could recall a multiplication fact up to 12 × 12 in less than 3 seconds? That’s my goal and I’ve nearly accomplished it for the third year in a row. It has taken admirable dedication and hard work on the part …
Chromebooks or iPads for my students?
Let’s get this out of the way up front. I’m brand agnostic. I use Microsoft, Apple and Google products every day. I enjoy using their hardware and their software for professional and for personal purposes. This is not an Apple vs Google debate. This is about technology in the classroom …
Time-Shifted Teaching (aka Flipped Learning)
After umpteen conversations explaining the meaning of flipped learning to people, I decided to coin a term that does what it says on the tin. No prizes for rolling off the tongue but you’re welcome to suggest something slicker in the comments.
Newsnight – more footage of KSA ‘released’
Newsnight used footage of their September visit to King Solomon Academy “as an example of a school that already works to ensure all pupils progress.” Thank you Sanchia Berg! Related posts Times Table Rock Stars Rolling Numbers “Hi Bruno, BBC are in reception for you.”
Bett photo gallery
Links to stands mentioned: Lego Mindstorms BrainPop Whizz Education Oxford University Press Cambridge University Press Mathletics Wordwall
Guest Blog: Pupil writes about experience of Bett Show
Nine lucky students out of 30 hopeful pupils have been lucky enough to accompany Mr. Reddy while he was representing Aaron Sam’s and Jonathan Bergmanns’s flipped learning style of teaching at Bett. Those nine lucky children were Saba, Maria, Badr, Rami, Fatima, Mazen, Nuhaa, Omar and Alaa. Our favourite stands were Teamboard (a whiteboard where you could use …
Mean Paper Aeroplanes
Today we threw paper aeroplanes in my year 7 lessons and it was a lot of fun! Underlying all the fun, however, was a serious competition and competitions must have winners. To win fairly you probably need to throw more than once to account for variances in skill, luck and …
Guest blog: Circle Theorems and Hula Hoops
I am a teacher in the KSA Maths Department and I have just finished 2 weeks on Circle Theorems with my year 10 class. One of the philosophies of the KSA Maths department is ‘Singapore Maths’ where students are initially introduced to concepts via physical or visual representation, then with …
A Lego Love Story – Priming Pupils
Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a castle on an island in the middle of a spectacular blue lake. So starts a ‘true story’ I invented to mask the introduction of a new maths topic. See if you can guess the topic as I read …
Why do other countries do better at maths?
This was filmed for AQA’s Better Maths website. If you’re wondering whether I could have spoken more slowly, the answer is yes.
Project 24: Google came to visit
Google: “Can we come in and see how you’re getting on with all the Chromebooks?” Mr Reddy: “Sure, when would you like to come?” Google: “How about Wednesday 14th November?” Mr Reddy: “OK but we’ll have only been using them for 2 days. We won’t be doing anything fancy.” Google: …
Project 24: Getting off to a good start with Chrometime culture
I’ve just come back from a study trip to the States to see blended learning in action (see Rocketship and Arthur Ashe). One of the many things I learned was that classroom culture around the computers is everything and from tight routines comes good culture. So before doing much maths …
Geometry flashcards for download
You can display them on the screen or print them back to back. Every second page is the ‘answer’ or flipside to the odd numbered pages. Hope that makes sense! e.g. on one side it might show a shape and ask you to name it and on the next page …
Project 24: Keeping Parents Informed
We ran four parent information events to ensure that families understood the changes to their children’s maths studies as a result of Project 24. Presentation from me Here are the slides I used: Thank you to Jaime Casap who put the bulk of these slides together originally. Role Play After …
Rocketship Sí Se Puede
Today I had the pleasure of visiting one of the reknowned Rocketship schools. They were incredibly hospitable, the pupils were working hard, and the instructors answered all my hundreds of questions. Thanks to all, especially the principal, Mr Elliot-Chandler. School Type: primary school (K-5) Model: Lab rotation model where students …
What we learned in New Orleans from FirstLine Schools
A couple of colleagues* and I have been fortunate enough to spend the last few days in New Orleans at the Virtual Schools Symposium – yes, we have very supportive line managers! While we were there, FirstLine Schools showed us round their Arthur Ashe Charter School and gave us the …
Chromebook Update: This-thing-needs-a-name
With a one-to-one computer initiative, a blended learning plan in the oven* and a team of people involved from KSA, ARK and Google, the scale of things has gone from one-man-and-a-class to this-thing-needs-a-name level. I’m a big fan of word association games – probably too many Saturday mornings watching Mallet’s …
Chromebooks are not just for Christmas
On the back of my Time-Shifted Teaching trial last year, we’re going ahead with a larger scale pilot of blended learning this year. I found that there were a number of barriers to time-shifted teaching, including pupils’ access to computers at home. A chance discussion with ARK (the multi-academy network …
What has Jo Boaler got to do with it? [Maths at KSA, that is.]
At KSA, we teach maths in mixed ability groups all the way through Keystage 3 (ages 11-14) and I now think it’s one of the smartest decisions we ever made. When I was appointed Head of Maths, before the school even opened, the Headteacher asked me How do you feel …
Rounding, Comparing, Ordering Decimals – Singapore Style
I enjoyed my year 7 lessons today and thought I’d share some photos and the resources. You can see blocks, an abacus, a card arrangement task, a ‘washing line’ and pupils making a number up at the front. Resources are available to download below. Snapshot of the classwork, which is …
