Andrew Jeffrey's March 2008 Newsletter
1. Welcome and feedback!
2. Maths Website of the Month
3. Partners needed for new service
4. DVDs
5. Competition Results!
6. Half Day Training Course Update
7. Classroom idea – the winning entry
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1. Welcome!
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Dear Maths Friends,
Happy March! I seem to have
been on the road incessantly recently, so apologies to those of you who have
emailed questions, asked for visits or ordered books and who have not had the
speed of service you normally have the right to expect; I am working hard to
catch up. I have been to some fascinating places, and realised that the places
are about the people. I wasn’t too enamored of
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2. Maths
Website of the Month.
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My personal recommendation
this month is http://www.brendenisteaching.com.
Brenden is a nice guy working in
Check it out.
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3. Partners
Needed for New Project!
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I am planning a major new
project for the Autumn. Without going into too much detail, I need the
assistance of a small number of experienced and enthusiastic primary
practitioners (or anyone else who might be interested in helping; I know there
are several maths consultants who subscribe to this newsletter and it would be
good to have you involved) to help me produce and trial materials. I am hoping
to be able to offer a small fee as well, but at this stage it is more likely to
be a thank-you gift rather than a proper payment-by-the-hour…it will certainly
not be enough to tempt you out of your full-time jobs! I will be ‘leaking’
further details in the coming months, but for now let me just say that if you
are a primary teacher who looks at Learning Objectives and sometimes struggles
to come up with specific plans, ideas and resources, this might well be
something that you will be very interested in receiving…
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4. DVDs
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Last year I mentioned that
I was planning to make a series of DVDs this year, to support maths teachers,
aimed at general primary practitioners as well as maths specialists. I was very
fortunate to find a professional camera-operator to film two lectures I gave
recently. One is the ‘live’ presentation of ‘Tables Tricks’ and the other is entitled ‘Delivering Outstanding Maths Lessons.’ In the
pipeline is the lecture enigmatically entitled ‘1557’, recorded in
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5. COMPETITION
RESULTS
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I have decided to extend
the entries for another month, having been inundated by TWO entries! So, don’t
be shy – send me a great idea for a maths lesson idea, and you might be the
winner! See February’s newsletter for further details. (If you have only
started subscribing recently, you can access previous newsletters online at http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/newsletters.asp
)
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6. Half Day Training Course in Sutton
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Last month I promised to
give you more details of my half-day course to be held at Heath Books in
Sutton. You can come for the morning and
stay for lunch, or come for lunch and stay for the afternoon. That way, over
lunch you get to meet the people on your course and the one
before/after.
I can now confirm the
details of the day. It will be on Thursday 5th June. Each half day
will be in two sessions. Session 1 will be entitled “Tables Tricks –
patterns to help the learning of tables.” This is the lecture and
PowerPoint presentation which accompanies the free e-book available on the free
gifts page of the website (www.andrewjeffrey.co.uk/freegifts.asp).
Session 2 will be called “1557 – how to maximize pupil’s
exam performance.” I will leave it up to Year 6 teachers to explain why the
lecture is enigmatically entitled 1557…see item #4 for clues!
The price will be just
£55, and this will even include both a fabulous lunch and a £5 voucher, which must be spent on the day. For those of
you who are unfamiliar with Heath Books, it is the biggest educational bookshop
in the country, and well worth a visit (go there even if you don’t come on my
course!)
As I mentioned last month,
we can only accommodate 24 people (12 in the morning and 12 in the afternoon).
First-come, first-served. Bookings can only be done through me, not
through Heath Books.
Timings:
AM Course: 0930-1200
Lunch: 1200-1300
PM course: 1300-1530
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8. Try This!
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I am indebted to Mark
Richards for this simple idea that works for any age group to keep them engaged
and involved.
Whenever you ask a question
that is a little bit harder than just, for example, a tables fact, put children
into small groups of 2, 3 or 4, and give them a short time limit in which to
come up with a solution. BUT, warn them that when you ask the group, they must
have only ONE answer that they are all prepared to agree to. This is a very
simple but good way of ensuring that children learn to listen to each other;
the art of persuading others is a great skill to develop, and having to find a
consensus really focuses the mind. Thanks Mark; a top tip indeed.
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9. A Magical
Card Trick to teach thinking skills
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I know from your feedback
that magic tricks are among the most popular items in the newsletter, so here
is one with an idea to develop the work that children do when trying to figure
it out. I am finding this is very popular on INSET sessions…
You ask a child to fetch a
pack of cards from your resources cupboard. They bring one. You deal 10 cards
from the top into a pile and put the rest of the pack aside. You hold them face
down.
Now, you spell A-C-E,
putting a card from top to bottom as you say each letter. As you spell the
letter ‘E’, you turn over the card in your hand; it is an Ace! You leave it on
the table, and now spell T-W-O. Turning over the card in your hand they are
amazed to see that it is a Two! You repeat this with 3, 4, 5 and so on all the
way up to 10. Amazingly, it works every time. They throw flowers, money and
chocolate at you. They make a mental note to buy you a huge Easter Egg. You smile
enigmatically, and ask how it was done. Some bright spark will inform you that
the cards were set in a particular order. “Oh really?” you respond,
defensively.
“Yes, it’s obvious Miss!”
“OK – what was the order?”
Silence reigns. You fill it
by handing out several sets of cards, ace to ten, and put a set near each pair
or group of children. “You have 20 minutes to work out what order the cards
must have been in; one clue – the Ace must be third from the top, yes?”
Frantic scurrying about
ensues as they try to figure out what order to put the cards in. The most able
groups will put the cards face up in a line or a circle, then count and turn
over each card dealt. But not necessarily at first! You circumnavigate your
classroom, grinning benignly at the little dears as they ‘do maths’ without
ever realizing it.
To differentiate, use fewer
or more cards. For the most able, perform “Not The Joker again!” for them from Magic for Kids, and ask
them to work out the order this time. I did this recently with great success as
a workshop with a big group of about 60 Year 6 children, but with fewer cards
you could do it with far younger children. And children in KS3 or KS4 could
discuss the probability of each card falling at the right time. Perhaps the
more able could work out the total number of ways the cards could be arranged
(10x9x8 etc).
Finally, I suppose I should
confess that the night before you should of course set up the top of each pack
in your room in the correct order, so that whichever pack the child brings the
cards you take will already be set in order. Be nothing if not thoroughly sneaky!
Sorry - did I not mention
what the order was? Oops – ah well, you wouldn’t want me to deprive you of the
joy of working it out for yourself, now would you?!
Until Next Time, Andrew x
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