I’m not entirely happy with the way yesterday went. For a start, we didn’t manage to fit in everything I had originally expected, which stops me from trying out all three activities with the small group as planned. Also, the group had grown by two to thirteen, making it a little on the large side to do much meaningful investigative work with the string.
Positives:
- They all enjoyed a slightly different way of working.
- They all appeared to be engaged throughout both activities.
- They all gave a range of input into discussions – the outdoor environment, while far from perfect at my school – encouraged a freer feel.
- It flew by. The fifty minutes scheduled for a Wednesday numeracy lesson honestly only felt like fifteen minutes.
Negatives or interesting outcomes:
- My highest of high flyers really struggled with the secret construction – more on that later.
- A feeling that more should have got done – did everyone make progress in that lesson? It’s hard to tell. Maybe my pacing was off.
- The larger group number made it difficult to get the most from the outdoor activity.
My fabulous mathematician, the sort of child anyone would want in their lesson as a human calculator, confirmed my long help suspicions – that his mathematical talent lays mainly with number and most other aspects of the subject are weaker for him.
For instance, in the opening task, the secret construction, he failed to notice that the colours his partner was using were the backs of the magnetic pieces, therefore all black. I’ve recreated the shape they had to make and the outcome he instructed.
He used all the correct pieces, just back to front. Also, when discussing the shapes made with string, he was adamant that that a turn between two sides would be around 70° when it was an obtuse angle – something we had been discussing only he day before.
A mixed one this so far…
I am developing these ideas further today with Year 6 and have a session planned to work with some Year 3 children next week along similar lines.
