There Is No Best

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…

What Impacts How Teachers Teach?

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…

No More Mr. Rowe… For Now.

Today, I said goodbye to teachers, students and SSOs from Wirreanda Secondary School, where I’ve been teaching for the past couple of years. It wasn’t just those people I was saying goodbye to, however. I was also saying goodbye to teaching (well, not forever but for the next year or so). Tomorrow, I start my…

Dealing With A Maths Conveyor Belt Curriculum

Allow me to attempt to generalise our current curriculum in a way that hopefully makes some sense and explains why Year 10 Quadratics (or parabolas for those on the other side of the Atlantic) is a topic that I can say, more than anything else, I teach differently to how I was taught. Imagine solving…