15 December 2019

5 Maths Gems #118

Welcome to my 118th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. Area and Perimeter
Thanks to @thatboycanteach for sharing an area and perimeter investigation here (see his tweet for the whole activity).
This was inspired by Simon Gregg (@Simon_Gregg) sharing #numbersearch images - you can read about #numbersearch and find resources here.
2. Reasoning Tasks
I like this new resource idea from Andy Lutwyche (@andylutwyche). There are eight slides - each has five supposed angle or shape properties. It is designed to encourage reasoning discussions in class about which are correct and which are incorrect.
3. Pythagoras
I love trigonometry and Pythagoras pile-up activities. Mr Anderson (@MrAndersonMaths) has shared a new version which I've added to my shape resource library.  This is more accessible than other versions I've seen because it builds up from a relatively simple problem with only a couple of steps to a more complex pile-up. 
4. Maths Opens Doors
Ben Gordon (@mathsmrgordon) shared the first draft of phase one of a series of slides that his school will use with students to communicate why maths is important and where it can lead, including local opportunities. The editable slides can be downloaded here.
5. Values In Between
Miss Konstantine (@giftedHKO) shared a task she used for a discussion during a Year 11 foundation revision lesson. She says that each question raised an issue or misunderstanding or a variety of methods. You can download the task from her lovely blog.
Book Launch
I am so lucky that superstar Emma McCrea hosted a wonderful book launch for me on Saturday. Thank you so much to brilliant speakers Zoe Griffiths (from the awesome team at ThinkMaths) and Alex Cutbill. Thank you also to David from Spaghetti Maths, Albert from Chalkdust and Andrew Jeffrey for entertaining our guests.

Thanks to Emma it was a great party and I had a really lovely day. I'm touched by how kind everyone was. If you were there to support me and celebrate with me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I'm so pleased by the way my book has been received and very excited to finally see it in print. If you want to order a copy then you can do so through the publisher John Catt (it's also on their US website) or from Amazon


Updates
If you're consider coming to the MA conference which is in the Easter holidays (for most schools, but not all) then book now because the early bird rates end in a couple of weeks.  There has been a lot of interest in the conference this year which is really exciting. I blogged about it here and now you can see the workshop descriptions here.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend a weekend with friends at my favourite maths event of the year: the big Maths Jam Annual Gathering. I loved it!
I haven't had any time for blogging recently because my job is ridiculously busy, so apologies for the radio silence. I break up on Friday and have what seems like a million things to do between now and then. Perhaps I will get on top of my workload next term...

Because things are so manic I've had to cut down on the events I attend (not ideal when I'm trying to spread the word about my book!) but I'll be at BrewEd Maths in Croydon in January and possibly the Complete Mathematics Conference in Manchester in March. Hopefully I'll see you at one of those events.

Have a wonderful Christmas, maths teachers! A much-needed break is just round the corner.






6 comments:

  1. The pythagoras pile up doesn't want to open

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. It worked yesterday but not any more - I will contact the author. Thanks!

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    2. Actually it's now working for me! That's weird. Here's the tweet: https://twitter.com/MrAndersonMaths/status/1195748236138602496?s=20

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  2. Microsoft onedrive...
    May I get a soft copy of your just launched book?
    I am from Hyderabad, India.
    I am willing to pay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi. I can't share a soft copy, sorry. To buy a hard copy, please contact the distributor in India: https://www.johncattbookshop.com/agents-distributors

      Delete
  3. Thank you for all your hard work.

    Hope your book gets picked in by primary teachers as well as secondary!

    Happy New Year from Emile

    ReplyDelete