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My First Year of Teaching

Core Maths

Dave Gale @reflectivemaths

dg@churchill-academy.org

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A brief history of Dave I started teaching in 2001

Moved schools in 2007 and picked up A level teaching : stats

Became an Advanced Skills Teacher (best timetable ever)

Started blogging www.reflectivemaths.wordpress.com

Started twitter @reflectivemaths

Started a podcast : Wrong, but Useful

Joined the TES maths panel

Have written a chapter for a text book (ratio)

Became a Specialist Leader of Education

Don’t want to be a Head of Faculty

In charge of KS3 year 7 and 8 - project based and mixed attainment

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I’m not going to talk about….

What is Core Maths?

Who’s it for

etc

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Estimation skills – Put these in order

How many passengers can a standard Boeing 747-400

accommodate?

What is the direct distance from London to Edinburgh in

miles?

How long is the river Severn in kilometres?

Harriet, the oldest tortoise in the world, died in 2006. How old was she believed to be?

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Estimation skills – Put these in order

How many passengers

can a standard

Boeing 747-400

accommodate?

What is the direct distance from London to Edinburgh?

How long is the river Severn in

kilometres?

Harriet, the oldest tortoise in the world, died in 2006. How old was she believed

to be?

175 333 354 416

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How we recruited people on to

the course

Elliot (KS5 lead) and Vic (Head of Maths)

presented to SLT, giving examples of

stereotypical A level questions versus Core

Maths ones.

Also spoke to teachers of other relevant

subjects to ask them to promote it.

Talked about it at 6th form open evening.

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Our figures for 2018 to 2019

142 students in year 12

135 students in year 12 gained grade 4 or better in GCSE maths

43 students taking A level maths (12 taking further maths)

36 started Core Maths (classes of 21 and 15) although 5 dropped

36 students is 39% of the eligible cohort

56% of year 12 started a level 3 maths course

Year 12 Churchill Academy

A-level Maths without FM

A-level Maths with FM

Core Maths

No Maths

Grade 3

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Future steps

On the first days in September, I’ll talk in assembly to the whole year 12 cohort and hint/advise that it’s well worth considering.

I intend to have some more student feedback from those that did the course this year

Changing

“Should I take maths post 16?”

To

“What maths should I take post 16?”

Charlie Stripp

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Example of my classroom slides

Engaging

Different

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What do these sayings mean?

The bigger they come, the harder they fall

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

The early bird catches the worm

Empty vessels make the most noise

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What do these sayings mean?

Empty vessels make the most noise means that those with the least talent and knowledge usually

speak the most, speak the loudest, and create the most fuss — whatever makes their presence felt the most.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall means the more powerful and successful people are, the

more they suffer when they experience defeat and disaster.

The early bird catches the worm means the person who takes the earliest opportunity to do something will gain the advantage over others.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring.

Core Maths 7. CORRELATION AND REGRESSION

LESSON 1

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A picture tells a thousand words

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A picture tells a thousand words

Empty vessels make the most noise

The bigger they come, the harder they fall

The early bird catches the worm

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

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What is correlation? Co means ‘together’

Relation means ‘relation’

Correlation refers to two things being connected to each other

Correlation can be positive or negative and can also be ‘strong’ or ‘weak’

Pages like this are cues for students to take notes

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Further correlation idea

Do students’ ratings of jokes match

adults?

Also:

What’s the funniest joke?

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Things I didn't know I didn't know

Being open about not knowing everything

Finance things – Hard (at first)!

Why April to April?

Why are there 0% and Nil National

Insurance brackets?

Rounding of tax?

‘Relevant’ Estimation skills – how big is a small

town?

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Mr Gale has been fairly honest regarding not

being sure about all the content.

How do you feel about that?

That's good because it's important to know how likely it is that something unexpected will come up

Doesn't bother me, being his first year teaching core maths it's understandable and it being a fairly new

course.

True however that helps us with learning it as it means explanations aren’t too complicated as mr gale is

trying to fully understand it with us. Therefore it feels like we are all in the same boat which feels good,

we're not the only ones who are unsure.

It feels better to know

fine

don't really mind

I feel assured by it, as it means topics are being taken at a good pace, and content is being properly

looked into and supported. I feel if he didn't, and I didn't understand the work, I would feel a lot less

comfortable about asking for help.

OK i guess

He seems to know what he's on about. hahahaha.

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Phone emergency My son has broken his phone

screen and I need it repaired

so I can contact him in an

emergency.

I have to borrow £100

I borrow £100 and can’t make any repayments.

How long do you think it would take to be one million pounds in debt?

Idea shown to me by Stella Dudzic

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Cake emergency

I wanted a cake at parents’ evening but didn’t have the 50p required.

I offered to take a cake and owe them the money at

10% interest per day.

I haven’t paid it back yet ….

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Population of UK

Life expectancy

Average adult height

How many countries

are there?

Height of a house

Population of the

world

Hours of sleep per

night

Car lengths

Days in a year

Months

Useful things to be aware of …

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Difficulties I’ve not overcome

(yet)

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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

4 5 6 7 8

GCSE Grade distribution

For my classes 2018-2019

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Have got somewhere with

Calculators

Savings (APR)

Feeling isolated

Marking

Still to work on

Resources and repetition

Differentiation

Handling data

Late starters

Homework

Pay Slips

Difficulties

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Links to other subjects Has any of the Core Maths content come up in your other subjects so far? (If it has could you give examples please?)

Yes, psychology- sampling, primary and secondary data, averages, standard

deviation, correlations, histograms.

In geography, we had to see how much correlation there was between the points

on a scatter graph

Yes, The data topic has helped in all my subjects

A bit

psychology

Yes, graph work in biology, as well as interpreting data in the same subject.

yes, finance in business

Geography and Sociology

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Psychology (year 13) Examiners’ report

Worryingly, some students still have little understanding of

standard deviation.

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Quick Question

What’s your definition of PRIMARY DATA ?

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Psychology (and others)

Primary/Secondary data Primary data is gathered directly/first-hand from the

participants, and is specific to the aim of the study whereas

secondary data has previously been collected by a third party

(another researcher or an official body), not specifically for

the aim of the study, and then used by the researcher.

In this study, the interview recordings are primary data –

gathered specifically for the purpose of investigating causes

of aggressive behaviour whereas the school records are

secondary data – pre-existing and not gathered for the

purpose of investigating causes of aggressive behaviour.

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Psychology (again)

“When you calculate the range, do the

biggest minus the smallest, then add 1.”

Can you think why?

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Science vs maths – ‘Line’ of

best fit That is a

line Yes, that is a line

That is also a line No, that is a

curve

Line Curve

LINE CUUURRVVEE!

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Science vs maths – ‘Line’ of

best fit

Notice that in science, a line can be a curve. In maths, we would say there is clearly no linear relationship for the second two graphs

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REFLECTIONS On the whole course

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Essentially …

Honestly feels like you’re

‘doing a good thing’

Students have been positive

and felt well prepared for

the exam

However …. that exam was

a bit too predictable

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Some things I tried, didn't like and

am planning on improving

Statistics – data representations and

numerical methods

Homework

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My favourite resources

(so far)

(that I haven’t already shown you) Podcasts:

Moneybox

More or less

Integral MEI

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Folder dividers

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Folder dividers

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Lily Tang’s Estimation framework Stage 1: Assumptions - closing the questions down, ring-

fence it, define it better, making it do-able.

Stage 2: Questions - What info do you need?

Stage 3: Estimation - answering the stage 2 questions

Stage 4: Calculation (Do the maths with the estimated

numbers)

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Is being ‘average’ bad?

In each of these cases is being average ‘bad’?.

I got average grades at

GCSE

I have killed an average number of

people

The person you like kisses

you with an average

amount of pressure

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Royal Statistical Society

With reference to a country with which you are familiar, explain

how a sampling frame for a census could be obtained.

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Estimation skills – Put these in

order What is the youngest age you

can be sentenced to life imprisonment in England?

How many players are there, excluding reserves, in a game

of netball?

How many years does Saturn take to orbit the sun?

At what age can you become an MP in England?

How many cancer-causing chemicals can be found in a cigarettes?

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Estimation skills – Put these in

order

How many years does

Saturn take to

orbit the sun?

How many players are

there, excluding

reserves, in a game of netball?

At what age can

you become an MP in Britain?

What is the youngest

age you can be

sentenced to life

imprisonment in

England?

10

How many cancer-causing

chemicals can be

found in a cigarettes?

29 21 14 69

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