Indices in Depth

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about a new project I was launching called Topics in Depth. The idea was to write a series of CPD sessions - each one covering an individual maths topic. This was in response to three things I'd noticed:

1. that we rush through a lot of our teaching, and as a result many topics are taught at a very superficial level

2. that teachers don't get enough time to research topics thoroughly when they're planning lessons

3. that a lot of maths CPD was, at the time, quite broad and general - I felt that teachers would benefit more from spending time thinking about the specific topics that they were about to teach.

I started writing a series of presentations and presenting them at maths conferences. The idea was that teachers would then go back to their schools and share them at department meetings.

My intention to write a presentation for every topic in the maths curriculum was scuppered by the fact that these presentations took me months to write, and what with going back to work full-time and writing a book, I just didn't have time to write as many as I'd hoped. Now my book has been published I hope to rekindle my Topics in Depth project at some point in 2020.

Over the last two years I have had a number of requests to record my conference presentations so they can be shared more widely. I couldn't work out a good way of doing it, but then Craig Barton and TES came to my rescue.

I am delighted to present to you today the first in a series of Topics in Depth presentations that I've recorded with Craig Barton (in podcast interview style, which was great fun). Thank you to TES for recording and publishing these presentations.

This one is on indices. If you're a maths teacher with an spare hour, please watch. I hope you enjoy it.