I occasionally find problems to solve or scroll back through my camera roll for screenshots of problems shared online. I use these problems not to keep my mathematical skills sharp, but to rekindle my joy for mathematics and the continuous wonder it provides my mind. Sometimes I get to do this through my work, and…
Terrible title, I’m sorry, but there is some truth in it, isn’t there? There’s a lot about mathematics that most people haven’t even experienced, even for those who do admit to liking or even loving it. Maybe I should be more specific here – I wish more people knew what mathematics can be. I’m not…
A few months ago, my wife and I introduced our 2 year old son to his first bike. It’s different to my first bike in a lot of ways: it’s brand new #middlechildlyf, weighs nearly nothing, and has no pedals or brakes. It also has no bell, which is a genius omission. My first bike…
Teaching is overwhelming. The only thing that exceeds the workload are the expectations we place on ourselves. We get sick in the holidays because not even our immune system knows when to take a day off during the school term. We do a thousand jobs on one salary. It’s exhausting. This year, I haven’t been…
I had a go at creating a “Visual Pattern” after having so much fun attempting Simon Gregg’s pattern from Fawn Nguyen’s website. It looked like this: Can you see how it grows? Is there a rule to how it is growing or is it random? Stage 4, 5 and 6 might make it easier, but…
The more I recommend certain resources or websites for people to check out, the more I learn about the challenges faced by those who go to the internet for teaching materials. The biggest and most prevalent issue I’ve noticed is being able to find your way through the abundance of resources available. This makes it…
One of the most daunting things about doing anything for the first time is not knowing whether or not you’re doing it right. For beginning teachers, this is a very common and uncomfortable experience – I know, because five years ago I was in that position. Luckily for me, I was a part of a…
There is so much talk about Explicit Instruction vs. Inquiry Based Learning, I’m actually becoming turned off discussions about it. I now think there is a different debate arising from the pedagogy battlefield: Mutually Inclusive vs. Mutually Exclusive. What I mean by this is that some people believe that both forms of instruction have their…
I now know why everyone loves using a John Mason quote. I was listening to a Mr Barton Maths podcast where Craig (@mrbartonmaths) is interviewing Anne Watson and John Mason. These two are like the equivalent of a Jedi in Mathematics education. This particular episode caught my attention because of a book John co-authored, Thinking…
As I’ve mentioned in a couple of blog posts, I’m no longer in the classroom. I’ve been working in the Department for Education leading out a professional learning program for Senior Years maths teachers for nearly two months now. The change of pace and scene has given me time and space to reflect on my…
On Tuesday, I finally turned some thought into a problem. In pretty typical fashion, I put out this problem to the Maths Twitter Blog-o-Sphere (MTBoS) for advice about how to better present it, as I felt the wording wasn’t quite right. Here’s the revised problem (thanks to @DavidKButlerUoA for reframing the question): I then started…
How I teach maths. 