Andrew Jeffrey's May 2008
Newsletter
IMPORTANT: (Do NOT hit ‘reply’ as I
will never get to see your email)
Instead, please
send all emails to info@andrewjeffrey.co.uk
1. Welcome and feedback
2. Maths Website of the
Month
3. Fun with A4 – part 2!
4. Competition Results
5. Half Day Training Course Cancelled
6. Numbers; adjectives or
nouns?
7. Einstein Says…
8. Book Review
9. This was bound to happen eventually!
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1. Welcome!
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Dear Maths
Friends,
Happy May! With
your help, this newsletter has reached a milestone this month; please share
some virtual champagne with me. As you know, last month I realised that
nobody’s emails were getting through in reply to the newsletter, so I had
steeled myself for a huge number of unsubscribe requests going back months, and
perhaps a few people frustrated that I had been ignoring them (understandably!)
However, once this was sorted, only four requests came in, as well as a few
more lesson ideas for the competition. (See section 4 for the winner’s name…)
So, thanks
as ever for being a subscriber. The big news is: you are now one of OVER TWO THOUSAND TEACHERS WHO SUBSCRIBE!
I know I say
‘thank you’ every month, but I genuinely mean it – I am so grateful to those of
you who subscribe and make writing this such a pleasure than a chore.
Please
remember from last month that since the
newsletter is sent out automatically, hitting ‘reply’ will not work – your
reply will not reach me..
I can always get emails sent to info@andrewjeffrey.co.uk ; please add this address to your
address book.
Finally, the
testimonials page has been updated. Check out http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/testimonials.asp
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2. Maths Website of the Month.
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My personal
recommendation this month is Beam’s Maths of the month, which can be found at http://www.beam.co.uk/about/MoM/MoM.html
This is
free, easy to navigate, and because it’s from BEAM you can be sure the quality
will be high. I have personally benefited hugely from working with BEAM, and
always enjoy our stimulating consultants’ days. Enjoy!
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3. Fun with A4 – part 2!
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I should say
straightaway that if this is the first issue of the newsletter that you have
received, this section will make no sense whatsoever! Before continuing, please
download last month’s newsletter (from www.andrewjeffrey.co.uk/newsletter.asp , and catch up with the rest of the
class. You should be sitting with an equilateral triangle in front of you. Make
sure that the folds are all on the underside of the triangle. The next step is
to go 3-D…
Fold one of
the points of the triangle onto the centre of the side opposite. Unfold, and
repeat with each of the other two points. The creases you have made should now have
formed 4 equilateral triangles. It is worth pointing this out if you are
working with a class, or better still asking them what they have made.
Sometimes using a black dry-wipe marker on the creases can help with that. You
can have a good discussion about fractions, areas or even scale factors here;
note that the sides of the 4 smaller triangles are exactly half the length of
the originals, yet the area of each smaller triangle is a quarter; ‘why is it
not a half?’ Of course scale factors can be discussed if your children are old
enough.
Turn the
whole thing over. Now, for all the triangles other than the centre one, repeat
the previous action. In other words, fold the tip to the centre of the nearest
edge of the centre triangle. The result
should be a hexagon. Unfold, then bring up all three
points to meet at the top. You will find that with care, you can slot the three
pieces into each other, and you have made a perfect truncated tetrahedron!
(Position check – an equilateral triangle on top and bottom, and each of the
sloping sides is an isosceles trapezium.)
For those
who fancy a challenge, can you create a Star of David from the equilateral
triangle? And if that’s too easy, what size of paper would you need to use in
order to create a smaller truncated tetrahedron that would fit exactly on top; ie. whose base is the same size as
the top of the one you have just made? Answer next time…
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4. Competition Results!
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After the
problems with emails (during which I was inundated by almost three lesson
ideas) I was relieved to see more come through, and have now picked a winner. What
a hard job! I had some superb ideas from all over the country (and Ireland!) I
struggled to pick an overall winner, such was the range of ideas from
Pythagoras with scissors to learning tables through Wingdings, but in the end I
could only pick one. Congratulations must go to Rachel Orr, whose idea for a
fantastic lesson can be found here: http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/uploads/Year4_Shape_Lesson.pdf
Rachel wins
the choice of any of the books on my website. I was very impressed with all the
entries, so a big thank you to everyone.
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5. Half Day Training Course
in Sutton
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For a
variety of reasons, I am sorry that this has had to be postponed, but not
cancelled. The course is now going to take place on a later date, probably in
the Spring of 2009.
Thank you to those of you who expressed interest; I will re-advertise in
the next academic year.
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6. Numbers: Adjectives or Nouns?
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I have been
thinking quite a bit recently about how children perceive numbers. I was
delivering some training for Numicon last month and it reinforced for me what a
problem it is for so many children, suddenly jumping from ‘three ice creams’ to
simply ‘three’. The former is more easily visualized, while the latter is a
more difficult concept. I asked on the TES Primary Forum for some volunteers to
ask their class whether they thought that the word ‘three’ was an adjective or
a noun or whether they weren’t sure. Results were very mixed. Of course, there
is no wrong answer; the word can be either adjective or noun, depending on
context, but I wanted to test the
hypothesis that the older they got, the more comfortable children got with the
idea that ‘three’ as a number is an entity in its own right, and not just a way
to describe a particular quantity.
So, what are
the implications for our teaching? I will discuss this more next month.
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7. Einstein Says…
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I introduced
this feature last month, and although nobody responded either positively or
negatively, there was quite a bit of interest in the ‘I Wish I’d Said That!’
pack, so maybe I should not limit the quotations to Einstein…I firmly believe that
reading pithy motivational quotations from others can be really helpful in
developing our own philosophies and beliefs, and these inevitably impact upon
our teaching.
It is rare
that you will attend a lecture from me in which I do
not refer to at least one key quotation from some wise man or woman. Sometimes
it will be from someone who seems to have succeeded in putting their finger on
a subject in a way that cuts through all the complexity and explains something
with a unique clarity. At other times, it will do the exact reverse; it will
take something we take for granted and examine it in an oblique way and make us
think afresh, challenging us to develop our understanding. Last year my Year 6
class had forty such quotes around the walls of the room!
This month,
I would like to quote from Einstein again, but I’m sure that Albert will not
object if we have guest speakers in his monthly spot occasionally! When
thinking about education, he is reputed to have said:
“The
only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
Discuss!
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8. Book Review…
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This is
another section introduced last month, in which I hunt through my bookshelves
in search of a book that will inspire or inform you, or maybe even both. My
second selection is a super book from the Association of Teachers of
Mathematics (ATM) entitled “Eight Days a
Week”. It’s an inexpensive book at just £4.95 for members,
or £6.60 for non-members, but what I love the most about it is the sheer range
of questions within. There are 52 pages (one per week, ewach
containing 8 great questions for Key Stages 2 to 4. The last two on each page
are harder, so differentiation is built in. And it’s not just for children. It
is a lifesaver for busy teachers who see the value of setting problems but
don’t have the time or creative juices to do so. Disclaimer: I AM a member of ATM, but receive absolutely no benefit, commission,
thanks,(!) or payment in kind for mentioning this book.
Check it out at http://www.atm.org.uk/buyonline/products/act010.html
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9. This was bound to
happen eventually!
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I offer a
100%, no-quibble guarantee on all my products. I am proud of all of them, but
hopefully not too proud to make improvements based on suggestions. I have
finally had the chance to honour that guarantee for the first time. Here’s a
true story:
Last week I
had a letter from a school saying that the product they had ordered, Maths Day
in a Box, was not what they thought it would be. This is a ring-bound manual
and a CD ROM containing a very detailed blueprint on how to run a maths day in
a primary school, together with letters, photos, assembly ideas, planning
tools, Powerpoint and spreadsheets for a maths relay, etc. The school was
disappointed as they had been expecting a big box full of maths equipment.
Result? They received a full refund without hesitation, even though they had not asked
for a refund. I received their letter on a Saturday and drove a letter
and cheque to the central Post Office in Brighton on Saturday night, hoping
that it would get there on the Monday morning. I do not know whether or not it
did, as I have not yet heard back from the school.
I was
grateful that they took the time to explain their specific concerns in writing,
and I did promise to have another look at the product advertising and make sure
that it wasn’t misleading. I read it several times, and while I could not see
anything there that was untrue, I decided that I did not want anyone else to
misunderstand so I completely rewrote the advertising blurb. While I was at it,
I realised that the hours it takes me to customize the product so that all
documentation has the name of the school was making this my most expensive
product by quite some way, so I have now decided not to customize the product
(everyone will get an identical product) and pass the savings on to schools. It
now costs £43 less than it did before!
Check out http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/products.asp and scroll to the last item for
further details.
I guess the
lesson is that criticism is worth listening to if it helps us improve. That’s a
thought dedicated to anyone whose teaching is being observed after half term!
Until Next
Time, AJ x
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