Tonight’s #mathschat is about New (School) Year’s Resolutions. I wrote a post back at the start of my summer blog challenge (I’ve just checked – it was in fact post number 1!) in which I wrote some targets for the new school year. Put the two together and I thought it would be time for a short, self-congratulatory blog to say WELL DONE ME for not mucking up yet.
- I really need to keep my classroom tidy. I’ve drawn a wandering minstrel straw this year and am spending a bit of time in other people’s classrooms while I’m kicked out of mine. All my equipment is therefore in a big plastic box with a lid, and I count it in and out. I still have all the pens, rulers and pencils I started the year with! I’m also using folders to store paper resources which hang out on my desk – I’m thinking of getting a box or something for them. I haven’t lost anything yet, which is a drastic improvement on last year.
- I need to get better at staying on top of my marking. RAG123 has turned me into a marking machine. With the exception of my top set 10s, who fill about eight pages a lesson, I’m RAG123ing each book after every single lesson, and it’s streamlining my planning massively. There is a blog coming, but I just tried to take photos of books and the light is awful, so that will have to be done at a non-dark sort of time, possibly tomorrow.
- I need to think carefully about the balance between curriculum delivery and enrichment. A move to some mixed ability this year has meant that differentiation has been essential to make lessons run smoothly. I needed plenty of stuff to stretch the top ends of my groups, so I’ve been plundering Median for little problems and activities which I’m printing four-to-a-page and dishing out like sweets to those hungry for a challenge (it’s most of them!). I taught exponentials in context this week, and did simultaneous equations using French wine last week.
- I need to reteach myself Further Maths over the summer. Yeah, I didn’t actually do this, but I’m being really good and doing all the exercises a few days before I teach each topic. We started with complex numbers so I remembered most of that. I even have a folder and plastic wallets!
1, 2 and 3 are all going to get more blog space later this year; I’ve had such a calm and organised start to this year, it’s almost feeling spooky, and I think that these three factors are having a major influence. But yeah… I need to get on with 4 for tomorrow now…
