Mr. Pigott Maths

For me sometimes it's looking at whether I've helped make other people's lives easier that week. That can be pupils, it can be teachers, but being able to say someone's week was easier because of my work is enough for me. It's a low enough bar that it's relatively easy to manage! 😂

I think cooking language translates well to maths problems. With a difficult problem the best approach might be to let it simmer for a bit in the back of your mind until you bring it to the boil and solve it.

In #MathsToday I've been checking GCSE scripts. Annoying on Edexcel 2F question 9 that pupils aren't getting a mark for part ii if they put *exactly* the right answer if they didn't do the corresponding calculation in part i. Feels like the question is set up to deduct marks rather than avoid them.

With last year's grade boundaries I would have predicted the right amount of Grade 9s, but we only got 2 as it was. I'm just not sure how other schools got their higher pupils to do so much better, so want to learn everyone else's secrets!

How has everyone else found the grade boundary increase with Edexcel Maths? Really hit our Higher cohort - don't really know what we should have been doing differently. #MathsToday

Have found them and will definitely be coming back to them to use - thank you for sharing them!

Thanks - will definitely check out all the Integral resources! Have got a different textbook from a course I went on last year.

Will hopefully be teaching Further Maths this year. Anyone got any sources of resources that they think are useful? Trying to organise my folders at the moment. I've raided the maths emporium and looked at Dr. Frost, but wondering if anyone has any other people/places that they have found useful?

Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.

We direct ours to the sources of practice papers we want them to try to try and stop that - I have a OneDrive folder with them all saved in, but to be honest I think your students are just practising more than mine! 😂

I would *love* to be on a plateau of productivity. The last few weeks have been a dip of distractions!

My solution to the issue of pupils getting hold of mock papers has always been to use papers from different series. For Year 12 worked brilliantly because with one pure and one applied we didn't have to worry about repetition of topics, but for the others if it's not a problem for Edexcel... 😙

If I can budget it I buy the Corbett Maths revision cards for Y11. Offer something different than what they will otherwise use. Apart from that I echo the subscriptions mentioned - they get used more then textbooks in my experience! Most used is probably MathsPad!

A Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics by Martin Liebeck was one of the recommended ones when I started at Warwick, and I think fits what you want.

Yeah, there's got to be a limit to it, right?

Resources on iteration keep being shared with only minor changes made.

IME of visiting lots of schools: this can work really well if:

1. You have a clear purpose for it

2. This purpose is communicated clearly to pupils & staff &

3. The purpose is fulfilled by doing the line ups properly & well (pupils actually line up silently etc).

If not, it’s cargo cult stuff

As a middle leader in schools I feel like I spend a decent amount of my time teaching these skills as and when needed!

I'll be around if I can be, and might ask how it went, because I want them to know I'm invested, but I won't spend long discussing it with them, because I don't think it's helpful. But I do want them to know that I am there whether it went well or went badly, and will support them in either case

Fully agree with this - I *want* my students to know where I've got resources like this from so that they know which are the good sources that they can trust!

Are the other options? Exampro (if I'm remembering the AQA one correctly) wasn't great for me either!

Maths Teacher, Greenwich - Tes Jobs St Mary Magdalene C of E All Through School, United Kingdom

In #MathsToday we're advertising for a new teacher. I promise that I'm nice to work for! If you're around London and looking for a change of school, please take a look! Or if you're just starting out we've also got a good track record of supporting ECTs in the department.
www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy...

The question I asked here yesterday was how left-handed people manage with them? We are trying visualisers out and my colleague loves it, but I find I am covering what I've just written with my hand as I continue writing. Anyone got any tips for how to avoid it?

ولكن بعد ذلك سيحتاج التلاميذ إلى أن يكونوا قادرين على قراءة اللغة العربية!

In #MathsToday I tried out my new visualiser, and return to an old question: Are there any fellow left-handers using one, and how do you stop your hand covering everything you're writing?

I feel like they're two different bits of knowledge. You need knowledge of more content to teach children who already have more subject knowledge. You probably need more knowledge of how to teach the content to teach children who find learning harder. Does that seem right?

Yeah, I've always thought that. Annoyingly yesterday it seemed to depend on the question. Some the tree diagram was needed, some they were more likely to draw the tree diagram wrong (e.g. car going through lights A or B, some wrote 'stop at A' and 'stop at B' as outcomes for the first branch).

In #MathsToday I have a question. Doing probably of combined events with a Year 11 group who we've moved from Foundation to Higher, and they're split over whether tree diagrams are helpful or a hindrance in answering the questions. What do people think?

Going to try the #MathsToday trend! Using place counters to describe decimals with Y7, got Y8s trying to find rectangles with equal value area and perimeter, revising Unit 15 with Y11, and Y12 getting some trigonometry practice, although they were put off by a rogue radians question that appeared!

Ideally I'd want groups of just Higher and just Foundation, but the numbers don't work that way!