Explain this
The Marches Branch
Branch Contact
We are called The Marches Network because we are now more than an ATM branch. The organising committee comprises representatives of both the ATM and MA, five mathematics consultants from local LEAs, three initial teacher training tutors and local teachers. The NCETM is also represented on the committee, because we are delighted to report that we have received a grant of £1000 from the NCETM. This will be used to cover travel expenses for our workshop leaders and expenses related to providing a venue for our meetings. We shall still need to charge a small entrance fee in order to cover our costs.
Forthcoming meetings
24 Mar 2012
Variety in Mathematics Lessons
The next meeting will be on Sat 24 Mar 2012 at Tenbury Wells High School.
Colin Foster, a teacher at an 11-18 school in Coventry and author of several books including Variety in Mathematics Lessons and Mathematics for Every Occasion, will lead the morning with a sequence of mathematical activities designed to motivate and inspire students.
Watch out for further information about the morning and how to book your place — meanwhile put this date in your diary.
Previous meetings
Mathematics Workshops for Teachers by Teachers
Sat 01 Oct 2011 • 09:30-13:00
Were you at our last meeting held at the William Brooks School in Much Wenlock on 01 Oct 2011?
Over forty teachers and student teachers attended workshops run by local teachers.
Here are a few comments from participants:
“Some wonderful ideas: simple and accessible to all (low threshold, high ceiling)”
“A great chance to explore some activities and discuss them with other teachers.”
“I liked thinking about how to use the ‘outdoors’ to relate real things to maths.”
“I learnt that children need to experience maths in order to have a clear understanding.”
“It was great!”
This is what you missed
09:00-09:30 • Refreshments and bookstall
09:30-11:00 • Workshop A1 or A2
11:00-11:30 • Refreshments and bookstall
11:30-13:00 • Workshop B1 or B2
Primary Workshop A1 • Teach maths? Do maths!
Ray Huntley
In this workshop you will work with mathematical activities that will challenge your thinking and provide ideas to develop for your teaching. The focus is on doing mathematics for yourself rather than doing mathematics that your pupils do, although the former will enhance the latter!
Ray works at the University of Gloucestershire. He was both teacher and headteacher in primary schools in Essex and Australia. More recently he has worked in teacher education and school mathematics INSET, and he completed his doctorate in primary mathematics education in 2010.
Secondary Workshop A2 • Thinking through Thinkers
Tom Francome and Lindsay Smith
In this session we will work actively on a series of rich tasks for teaching mathematics, which have been developed from the ATM publication Thinkers.
Thinkers is a collection of activities to provoke mathematical thinking written by Chris Bills, Liz Bills, John Mason and Anne Watson. The ideas are suitable for learners from KS2 to AS/A2 level. The book contains sixteen different contexts for exemplifying the general and generalising the particular which are processes at the heart of ‘doing mathematics’. We will give examples of the ways in which teachers can use the techniques for any topic in mathematics.
Tom is Head of Mathematics at Kings Norton Girls School, an 11-18 comprehensive in Birmingham. Tom has taught for nine years. Lindsay teaches at Windsor High in Halesowen a mixed comprehensive and is responsible for KS5 maths and has taught for five years. They both trained at Birmingham University.
Primary Workshop B1 • Forest Mathematics
Jackie Cutcliffe and Mary Lucas
In this session you will explore mathematics in the great outdoors with two headteachers of forest schools. Many children benefit from and prefer a practical element to their learning, and achieve greater levels of success in this context than in a traditional classroom environment. Forest Mathematics uses an outdoor context and appropriate learning and teaching strategies to develop mathematical thinking, problem solving skills, independence and confidence.
There is no such thing as bad weather - it is just that we are not always dressed for it; so please come prepared.
Jackie is Headteacher of Weston Lullingfields Primary School and Mary is Headteacher of Clive Primary School
Secondary Workshop B2 • Jaguar Cars in Motion
Jo Caldwell
Jaguar Cars in Motion is a great program that promotes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the classroom. The program encourages students to use many mathematical skills to win a formula one car race. Throughout the year your school can enter a car into a regional, then national, competition. The winners of the knockout rounds are then invited to the Heritage Motor Museum for a Grand Final. Find out more by attending this workshop.
Jo is an Assistant Head and Head of Mathematics at William Brookes School. She has been using Jaguar Cars in Motion successfully at her school for some time.
Booking
Numbers for each workshop are limited, so please book your place as soon as possible by emailing barbara@ludlowballs.force9.co.uk and indicating which workshops you would like to attend.
You will be able to browse and buy ATM and MA publications at special prices so don't forget to bring your wallet or cheque book. ATM accepts payment by debit or credit card.
The school is situated on the right hand side of the A4169 as you leave Much Wenlock and head for Ironbridge and Telford.
If you are thinking of coming to this event on 2 October why not make a day of it and bring your friends and family? Much Wenlock is a medieval ‘black and white’ English town that is well worth a visit. It is this town of 3000 people that inspired the modern Olympic Games and the Museum in the town has all sorts of Olympic artefacts.
Things to see include holy wells, cobbles, whipping posts and stocks as well as the dramatic remains of Wenlock Priory on the site of St. Milburga's Abbey dating from around AD 680.There are also lots of classy shops and good places to eat and drink. Visit www.muchwenlockguide.info/ for more information. And it is only a 5 minute drive to all the museums at Ironbridge - you can find out more at www.ironbridge.org.uk.
Don’t forget to ensure your place for this event by emailing Barbara as soon as possible with your choice of workshops. The closing date is Mon 26 Sep 2011.
Sat 05 Mar 2011
Algebra without the equals sign
Steph Prestage and Pat Perks
Almost 50 teachers attended this meeting at Tenbury Wells High School. They worked on a wide range of activities that introduced algebra and practised algebraic skills. The special offer of free ATM software encouraged people to spend their money. Almost £1000 was taken at the book stalls.
Here are a few comments from participants:
- “Fantastic as ever - lots of ideas and lots to think about”
- “Totally engaging and interactive”
- “Inspirational ideas getting away from traditional teaching”
- “Simple ideas that are practical and encourage mathematical thinking”
- “Lots of practice - but better than a text book - more engaging”
- “It was great having the opportunity to 'play learner' rather than leading learning”
- “I value working with other maths teachers and having tips on how to teach things.”
- “I really enjoyed the event and want to come to the next one”
Sat 2 Oct 2010 at William Brookes School, Much Wenlock • 09:30-13:00
Our last meeting on 02 Oct 2010, at the newly built William Brookes School in Much Wenlock, was attended by over forty people. There were different workshops for primary and secondary teachers. Here are some of their comments:
- Fabulous. So much to relish and enjoy! Great workshop leaders. Great atmosphere.
- Lots of thought and talk.
- It’s lovely to be in a ‘maths bubble’ with like-minded people who promote the same values.
- It made me think outside my usual sphere and I discovered resources I did not know existed.
- This has been ideal as a source of ideas to complement the bread-and-butter stuff we have to do.
- Challenging things to do with your class which make children think.
- Both workshops brilliant: some great ideas that can be taken back to the classroom and used in training.
- It was really helpful to see dynamic geometry in action.
- I liked using ATM MATs for something other than tessellations – I will be using these ideas next week now I know what to do with the MATs.
- Another very enjoyable Saturday morning – always time well spent.
Participants also had the opportunity to buy publications from the ATM and MA bookstalls and over £800 was taken.
Sat 13 Mar 2010 at Tenbury Wells School
What do we do when we do mathematics?
Anne Watson and John Mason will led a morning workshop called What do we do when we do mathematics? for teachers from all sectors.
Nearly 60 people spent the morning with Anne Watson and John Mason: they worked collaboratively on mathematics problems and spent time reflecting on their thinking and how this could be described and made more explicit in their teaching and in their discussion with colleagues. As always, the morning was a great success and everyone enjoyed the excellent facilities at Tenbury High School - especially the cakes and the ATM bookstall, where they spent over £600.
Here are some of the participants’ comments:
- I enjoyed talking over how we were interacting with a problem on our table, noticing differences and 'sameness' in approaches.
- I enjoyed working in a group and the struggles to find a common language in order to communicate ideas; how being precise is important.
- Great to have the opportunity to think and reflect on the learning processes related to activities.
- The session encouraged lots of questioning of one's own learning and consequently how to develop the children's learning and thought processes.
- I enjoyed this sense of 'what I am doing' as I was thinking things through.
- I learned to recognise how and when the shifts in perception need to take place.
- I learned about the importance of understanding concepts, making connections and exploring mathematics.
- I learned how important is the vocabulary we use with our pupils.
- I learned the importance of conjecturing and pupils having the opportunity to do it.
- I enjoyed the chance to reflect on learners and teaching.
- It made me think more deeply about why I teach and what I teach.
- You raised issues that really made me think.
- I hope to use some of the ideas that emerged when planning in the future.
- I want more meetings like this with mathematicians who are questioning the way we teach.
- A super morning. Inspiring.
- These Marches sessions are always fab.
- A fantastic morning - combining professional development with socialisation with other professionals. The ATM 'brand' continues to be the one you can trust.
Sat 03 Oct 2009 at Hadley Learning Centre, Telford
Ian Sugarman led a morning workshop for primary teachers and Don Steward led one for secondary teachers.
Nearly 90 people attended this meeting. Ian Sugarman ran a primary workshop: Extending problem solving into uncharted territory. Don Steward ran a secondary workshop: Improving algebraic prowess. Both workshops were a great success and the excellent venue provided plenty of opportunity for people to exchange ideas over refreshments – and spend over £1300 on the ATM bookstall!
Here are some of the participants’ comments:
- I want to go to more events like this! I’ve learnt more in one morning than you could in a week.
- Thank you. Better than any PD day.
- Fascinating and stimulating!
- Thank you. I could not fault this morning.
- Many thanks – worth a Saturday morning.
- Lots of quick ideas that you can take away and use straight away – but are also quite rich mathematically.
- As a TA/HLTA it was good to see what is out there.
Starting with an Isosceles Triangle • Saturday 14 March 2009
This meeting took on a new format and in a new location: Ludlow. As always, the event was well attended and the feedback from those attending was very positive. Pat Perks and Stephanie Prestage worked with all forty participants on a sequence of innovative and practical approaches to teaching geometry across all key stages. The activities they offered teach and consolidate geometrical knowledge and skills, while at the same time encouraging deep progress and understanding.
Here are some of the comments from participants.
- I really enjoyed my first experience of the Marches network - will definitely be coming back!
- Extremely thought-provoking.
- Real ideas for real classrooms with real teachers!
- Excellent - useful and fun.
- I loved it all.
- Most enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning.
- I liked the pace, which provided challenge.
- Great - really interesting approach. Never knew there was so much to the isosceles triangle.
- The filter paper exercises and open questions made lessons on circle theorems transformed. The idea of pupil discovery ‘off curriculum’ leading to better ability to tackle standard text questions with confidence is appealing.
- I was able to be playful with geometry.
- I’ve found it extremely useful and interesting and applicable to the daily teaching of mathematics. The connection between the isosceles triangle and lots of other topics in maths is simply beautiful.
- I enjoyed ways of thinking about isosceles triangles from scratch. In primary we usually just present the shape and the properties and we don’t actually get the children to look behind the shapes.
- Very useful content - I will consider re-planning some future work with my Y8 class to use some of the ideas.
- Lots of ideas to challenge and extend my teaching techniques.
- Most of the activities can be differentiated and stretched to all abilities.
- The practical approach was inspiring as you could see how it had a purpose towards the KS3/4 curriculum.
- Good to have the opportunity to work with colleagues round the table.
- Nice to hear ideas from other passionate teachers.
- Will try to involve more colleagues next time.
If you want to be added to the mailing list for the Marches Branch please contact Barbara Ball, the Branch Secretary.
Wondering what or where ‘The Marches’ are? This might help.
