BLOGS WEBSITE

Category: Being a good teacher

Anything about what I should be doing as a teacher next time I interact with a student or make a resource for students.

Making the lie true

We at my university regularly sell quite a big lie.
At Open Day and the Ingenuity STEM Showcase and any number of outreach activities, students do puzzles and play with construction toys and walk around with ropes and draw curves on balloons. Whether we say it explicitly or not, there is a message there that says: […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, One Hundred Factorial | Tagged |

Leave a comment

Why mathematical induction is hard

Students find mathematical induction hard, and there is a complex interplay of reasons why. Some years ago I wrote an answer on the Maths Education Stack Exchange describing these and it’s still something I come back to regularly. I’ve decided to post it here too.
Some reasons why students find mathematical induction difficult.
These come from a […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Thoughts about maths thinking | Tagged , |

1 Comment

Space to enter

This is a photo of the entrance to my Maths Learning Centre. What do you notice?

There are many many things to notice in that photo, and if you ever want to ask me about any of them, please do. Today, the thing I want to focus your attention on is the empty space right at […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Other MLC stuff | Tagged |

Leave a comment

Book Reading: You’re Not Listening

This blog post is about the book You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy, and in particular my reactions to it from a teacher’s perspective.
First, I want to apologise to Chelsea Avard for borrowing the book from her little student leadership library and holding onto it for a whole year while I got round to reading it […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Education reading | Tagged , , |

Leave a comment

Four levels of listening

Introduction
Listening is one of the most important aspects — no, scratch that — the most important aspect of my work in the Maths Learning Centre.
It is not obvious to people starting out tutoring in the MLC that this should be the case. To a beginning tutor, it seems that it’s their job to explain things to […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Education reading | Tagged , , |

Leave a comment

Other(ing) Explanations

Most people who teach mathematics are aware that it’s useful to have alternative explanations for concepts, and useful to have different ways to approach problems. Given enough time, you are guaranteed to come across students for whom the standard explanation isn’t working today (as long as you give students a chance to tell you about […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, How people learn (or don't) | Tagged , |

2 Comments

Running out of puzzles

Because people know I run the One Hundred Factorial puzzle sessions, they often ask me if I have a repository of puzzles they can use for their classroom, enrichment program, maths club, or their own enjoyment. Sometimes I feel embarrassed because I don’t actually have a big repository of puzzles. Surely since I am a person […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, One Hundred Factorial | Tagged |

2 Comments

My first Maths Teacher Circle

Last week I participated in my first Maths Teacher Circle. I just want to do a quick blog post here to record for posterity that I did it and it was excellent. I choose to take the practical approach of just relating what happened.
I had been interested in somehow going to one since I heard […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Isn't maths cool? | Tagged , |

1 Comment

The Solving Problems Poster

This blog post is about the Solving Problems poster that has been on the MLC wall for more than ten years in one form or another. The most current version of it in handout form is this:

You can download this handout in PDF form here.
I’ve been meaning to blog about it for some time, but […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, Thoughts about maths thinking | Tagged , , |

7 Comments

Questions with a morally wrong answer

I think asking students questions is an important part of my job of helping students succeed. Good questions can help me see where they are in their journey so I can choose how to guide them to the next step, or can help to make clear the skills they already have that will help them […]

Posted in Being a good teacher, How people learn (or don't) | Tagged , |

3 Comments