Author Archives: Richard

Why I Voted 'No' In The NUT Strike Ballot

I’ve been thinking about writing this post since the NUT strike ballot was announced. I had been putting it off because I didn’t want to inject politics into this blog, but I thought the topic was important, and my feelings about the ballot are pretty strong. So here are my thoughts. (They’re mine, not my… Read More »

My new favourite website

I’ve got to give a big shout out to DrFrostMaths.com. I’ve only just discovered his website, and I think it’s something every maths teacher should have in their favourites. It’s got brilliantly presented slides on nearly every topic, but what sets it apart is the amount of UKMT and JMC questions that he both adds to… Read More »

The problem with levels

This the best blog I’ve read for ages. I love it and love the idea of swift key testing. So quick to work! via The problem with levels- gaps in basic numeracy skills identified by rigorous diagnostic testing | Great Maths Teaching Ideas.

The average person

This is from OCR’s Foundation Sample Question Paper. Part a is ok. Look at part b. If students thought Hannah’s Sweets was ‘unfair’ (it wasn’t), wait until they’re confronted with problems like this!

Why Eurovision is a sham

I love Eurovision. I love it because you often see something different or weird or silly. It’s mad and that makes it great. But recently Eurovision have tamed these impulses. They’ve started to make it less silly and, quite frankly, more boring. They’ve done this with judges votes. There was a time when telephone voting… Read More »

Problem Solving : Which phone contract is best?

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about problem solving. The new maths GCSE introduces a lot of it, and some of the sample questions I have seen include almost Fermi-like questions. I’ve always liked problem solving, I particularly like the Dan Meyer stuff, but I’ve not written much about it. So here is an example… Read More »

Kahoot!

If you’ve ever used either Quizdom or the ActivInspire voting paddles, you’ll realise that they’re quite good for assessment and for plenaries. Unfortunately they have a few draw backs. For one, most schools don’t have many sets (the voting paddles are expensive) and the equipment is often bulky. This is really inconvenient when you simply want… Read More »