The title means nothing today. It’s day 64, so that popped in my head. I have had my hair cut after school though.
Today seemed to utterly fly by. I’m not sure why really. It contained very little drama – apart from a small disagreement over absolutely nothing between two children which somehow managed to spiral on what felt like 4 hours.
Some good work was done with my maths group today. I take them for two hours on a Tuesday so it allows for some in depth exploration of ideas. Today’s weapon of choice was proportion and representing fractions as decimals and percentages – things which sit together well but take children forever to get a decent grasp of. I’m a firm believer in letting ideas stew for a bit (it’s always good to not get exasperated with children whenever possible to let things sink in over time – far from easy but very worthwhile), so my plan today was to teach a lesson between break and lunch as normal, then continue that idea after a couple of hours break for lunch and another lesson at 2:00. I am always surprised when this actually works.
The building up of children’s knowledge and ability takes a long time. There’s a good reason for the way the curriculum is laid out in a spiral in this country, and I fully agree with it. We keep revisiting thoughts, ideas and concepts all the time and it can seem repetitive. Done in the right way, with planning and knowledge of the children you work with, it can work wonders. I’m worked with the children in that maths group since September 2011, 18 months now, and that continuity has meant they are highly moulded in my way of thinking. In fact a new child recently joined the school in their cohort and it’s clear to see the gaps in her knowledge because of the way that she was taught in another school. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m sure that if she hadn’t moved those gaps would have been plugged, but it’s very hard for her to get used to the rest of the class simply because they have experienced things in such a different way and for so long.
I’m not saying my way of teaching maths is the best way, or that anyone else is wrong for working how they do. It’s just a teaching thing! We all do it differently.
I’d love to read your thoughts on this… You could send me a postcard, drop me a line, stating point of view. Indicate precisely what you mean to say…
