… you’ll feel better after the holidays. You poor middle managers, you get pinched from both directions. Why do you find the job so hard…? If you’re can’t cope tell me what you can’t do? Well, why can’t you get it done…? What are you spending your time doing? This was started exactly 2 years … Continue reading
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the … Continue reading
Isn’t Life Funny (Ha Ha)
A year ago I was discussing career opportunities and thinking about forward planning for retirement (at 90). I was hoping that the third year into our new building would bring stronger commitment from the team in the development of a better and enhanced mathematical education and learning experience for our students. In particular for our … Continue reading
Misconceptions
There seems to be a lack of understanding about GCSE attainment and their FFTD targets. 77% of pupils gaining A*-C sounds great this year versus 70% last year. However, our FFTD was 82% for this year and 72% for last year. We gloss over this last part to make ourselves appear more successful this year. … Continue reading
Where over half of the world’s exports are going in one elegant chart
Reminds me of curve stitching – the importance of visual depictions can never be underestimated.
Core 4 Paper – I did say it was synoptic!
Although their language wasn’t this bad – and they were just a tad more self-restrained, my A2 students loved this – it mirrored their thoughts too! 🙂 OCR we still love you! http://youtu.be/pxxVvsN5cJc
The Worst of Weeks
We returned back to school on Monday after the Easter break fired up and excited to face the GCSE and A Level exams. And while we were exchanging holiday stories, there was a pause and someone in my form asked about another who had been taken unexpectedly ill. We were all stunned to find out … Continue reading
The Extra Mile – Easter Holiday Revision
We spent two of the first few days into the Easter holiday helping our GCSE and A Level students to revise for their maths exams. For some this is the first opportunity to organise their time to suit themselves and drop in to ask about topics that matter to them. Some students are still … Continue reading
Maxine Powell – obituary from The Telegraph
Hugely influential, and inspirational – Maxine Powell enabled her protégés to make the transition from A lister (with raw talent), to brilliant star (with that magical something extra). The extra was a combination of manners, grace, self-confidence and ease in social situations and performances which transformed a person’s social mobility. This is the type of … Continue reading
Teaching is incomparable – don’t make the mistake of thinking it is harder
So someone who was at the top of their game as an aerospace engineer at NASA after 6 years has gone into teaching and thinks their former employment was far easier than being in a classroom environment. I wonder what their ex-colleagues made of the write-up. The engineer-come-teacher still regards their previous occupation with awe and … Continue reading
Looming towards the Void – Levels/Grades and a Paradigm shift
There’s no point denying this – and it’s bucking the trend perhaps, but I’m an avid fan of of NC Levels. And NC tests at KS2 and KS3, although I know how skewed the learning can become in year 6 and 9 when they are used to assess schools in a ‘league tables’ way, they are still … Continue reading
SKU – uniquely biased towards understanding
Depending on your particular take, SKU might refer to ‘stock keeping unit’, the unique identifier enabling tracking of an item for stock-taking purposes; or if you are an educator trained towards the end of the National Curriculum it might mean skills, knowledge and understanding. Of course, you might just be dreadful at spelling or good … Continue reading
Nanomath – Proof
Bite-size chunks of incredibly important mathematics Proof Some basics: If n is an integer, consecutive integers could be either side i.e. n-1, n, n+1, n+2 etc. Regardless of whether n is even or odd, 2n will be even, and 2n-1, and 2n+1 will be odd Multiples of 2, 3 and 5 are written 2n, 3n, 5n respectively … Continue reading
What are random walks?
Originally posted on Mocha Mathematics:
A shorter version of this post was published on The Conversation on 19th December 2013. His walk home might comprise random steps, but mathematics says he’ll find his way eventually. (David Blackwell) The sun as captured by NASA’s SDO mission – each particle of sunlight has undergone a remarkable journey.…
Ten Lessons From a Maker by David Hieatt, Hiut Denim Co.
Don’t sit there dreaming… you have to go out and do
Enduring Excellence, Equity, Empowerment
“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, choice not chance determines your destiny.” Aristotle It’s the wrong time of year to be talking about Epiphany, but this is about an epiphany of the ‘wake-up call’ kind. I … Continue reading
Winchester Cathedral
Saint Swithun is the saint most associated with Winchester. http://winchester-cathedral.org.uk/history-treasures/famous-people/st-swithun-the-cathedral%e2%80%99s-patron-saint/ This beautiful cathedral, even on a dull cloudy November day has a light the shines within that is more than the sum of its treasures. There are many stories, tales and interesting facts illuminated by the many experienced guides who share their knowledge with fascinating … Continue reading
Marking… and even more marking (yawn)
The Ofsted report on St Marylebone’s marking strategy begins: “We’ve all seen students glow with pride on receiving a top-grade piece of work back from a teacher and we’ve also seen the dreadful shrug of disappointment swiftly followed by disengagement when a student feels demoralized by marked work. The way that work is marked can … Continue reading
New School – One Year On
It’s been a year soon since our re-organisation and packing away in preparation for the move into our new school building. The emphasis was on the building changing, but the essence of the school as a community would remain the same. Well. one thing can have profound effects on another, and changing your surroundings, especially … Continue reading
Heriot Watt
We attended the Congregation for the Conferment of Degrees at Heriot Watt for Son #1, and like every parent, friend and Graduate present, we were in turn grateful, relieved and emotional. Heriot Watt has for the second consecutive year, been voted by students as the best University experience in Scotland, and the 4th in the UK … Continue reading
