Instant Maths Ideas for Key Stage 3 Teachers - Number and Algebra
It’s a case of “it does what it says on the tin”: 135 pages of Instant Maths Ideas for Number and Algebra. In fact, Colin Foster has probably done what many teachers or Maths departments wish had been done a long while ago. He’s collected together all the little (and big) ideas that we carry around in our head and pass from NQT to NQT over coffee and cakes.
The layout is easy to access. Each page is split done the centre with ideas on the left hand side and answers and comments on the right hand side. The general idea is that the ideas are ‘instant’ and so are ones which require little preparation and revolve around board work or oral presentation. Should you need to provide anything additional to teacher input then it is clearly marked with ‘need’ printed in bold at the start of the sentence and any masters for photocopying are included in the book. The ideas are sorted by topic, not level. However, there is a Key Objectives Index in the back if you want an idea to fit to a specific objective.
So I duly packed this in my school bag and thought I’d use it as recommended by the author: to save me time...
It was at this point that that the line in the introduction “Some of the material in this book will be familiar to many teachers”. really begins to stand out. I found myself spending a lot of time reading through ideas that I’d already used when teaching the topic, or had thought of and discarded. Having said that, with time and patience, I found a few gems.
It is a good resource, but not necessarily for the experienced teacher. If your NQT or OTT has a copy then the chats over coffee are likely to be more social. That’s who I’ll be lending my copy to next year...
Karen Hancock
Assistant Head of Maths, Howard of Effingham School
Instant Maths Ideas for Key Stage 3 Teachers - Number and Algebra
Colin Foster
£19.95
ISBN 0 7487 8668 6
Colin Foster
Published by Nelson Thornes
01242 267272
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