It seems that we all do a bit of reflection at the end of the year. For me, my targets are a bit like New Year’s resolutions – I start off well, but most things have fallen by the wayside by October half term. This year, I vowed to keep my room tidy and organise my equipment better… that didn’t happen, and I must have bought about ten new boxes of pens from Tesco as pupils just wander out of the classroom with them. My first SBPC post was about just this – my What Went Wells and Even Better Ifs for this academic year.
As the staggered start to the summer holidays means that we all finish at different times (and yes, I am one of the lucky ones!), I’m reading a few great posts at the moment along just these lines. So today’s post is a link to some of those.
End of year targets and adapting your practice
- Keep it simple, stupid (@BodilUK): This was actually posted over three weeks ago, but I really enjoyed reading it and fits nicely with the theme of self-analysis. I kinda feel like this is a must-read for NQTs who have either already started or are starting in September. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
- Just one thing… (@Craigos87): Short, sweet and felt like I could have written it! What’s the one thing you will do better next year?
- Another year over (@srcav): A nice personal post about the end of term, although the title does mean I’ve had “So this is Christmas” stuck in my head for the last week…
- Subtract three, add three (@atharby): One of the best-written reflections I’ve seen this year. I don’t usually read posts from non-maths teachers, but there are so many parallels between Andy’s teaching and my own that I really liked this post. I’m planning my own “subtract three, add three” at some point.
Summer goodies
- Seven weeks of summer (@srcav): An explanation of where that mystery extra week has come from.
- Maths Sandpit: A maths photo summer holiday challenge.
- #summer10: Lots of teachers blogging their top-ten-to-dos over the summer holidays.
Summer blog challenge
I’m excited to say that we now have two extra additions to the #summerblogchallenge, Kim (@kimThomasLee) and Jennifer (@mathchick5) – I’m particularly looking forward to reading Jennifer’s posts over the next few weeks, as she teaches in America and most of the blogs I tend to read are from UK teachers.
If you’ve missed any, I’ve listed the first posts below. Remember, you can find post indexes on my site and on @DrBennison’s site – keeping on top of all of these is going to be as time-consuming as writing the blogs!
- @mwimaths – Psyching myself up
- @ASHS_Maths – Vertical tutoring
- @mathchick5 – Activity based approach and the success in “doing math”
- @kimThomasLee – Why I love teaching fractions and algebra
It’s not too late to join us – just start blogging and tag your posts with #summerblogchallenge!
