Justmaths Conference 2017

I dear the summertime term for CPD - I've been to 2 conferences inwards 4 days!

I'm rattling grateful to the JustMaths squad for inviting me along to their outset annual conference. I don't usually attend events on schoolhouse days, but because all my try classes lead maintain left I didn't demand to laid upward whatsoever comprehend for this one. It was a keen stance to agree this conference after the destination of the try period.

I attend quite a lot of conferences as well as ever pay my ain go as well as accommodation - although it's financially challenging, I intend it's worth it for all the ideas, insights as well as networking.

I got the prepare to Stoke after schoolhouse on Mon as well as was rattling grateful to Emma (@El_Timbre) and Laura (@LauraCodd1) for collecting me from the station. Once I'd checked into the Alton Towers Hotel I went along to pre-conference drinks, where Jenny (@MsSteel_Maths) was busy paradigm nails amongst mathsy designs (the templates tin live bought here, as well as hopefully Jenny volition live doing nails for charity at #mathsconf13 inwards Sheffield).

The Alton Towers Hotel was total of quirky features. The children's amusement went on surprisingly late, amongst dancing toddlers everywhere at 10pm!

On the Tuesday morning, I enjoyed collecting bits as well as pieces from the conference exhibition including H5N1 grade SAMs from AQA, GCSE problems from Edexcel, as well as stationery freebies from ypo. Ypo had some practiced Brain Booster packs which each incorporate fifty cards giving teachers ideas on how to role manipulatives inwards the classroom.

I was surprised to consider a BBC stand upward equally I've non seen i at a maths conference earlier - they told me most their new maths videos for role inwards the classroom.

The conference venue was beautifully decorated. I was surprised yesteryear the size of the upshot - it was much bigger than I expected. There were closed to 300 delegates - many were at their outset ever maths conference. I usually consider lots of familiar faces at La Salle's conferences but this was a totally dissimilar crowd - it was actually prissy to consider thus many lovely novel people. Some teachers had travelled from overseas to attend. The bulk of teachers I spoke to had never heard of resourceaholic.com, thus I gauge I nevertheless lead maintain a lot of operate to do (but I brand no coin from my website, thus my marketing budget is non-existent... I rely on give-and-take of mouth, thus was rattling grateful to Mel for mentioning my spider web log during the conference).

There were lots of prissy surprises throughout twenty-four lx minutes menstruum - including a huge publish of prizes (I was delighted to win a bottle of champagne inwards the prize draw!), as well as a complimentary JustMaths marker handbag as well as fidget spinner for every delegate.

The twenty-four lx minutes menstruum was organised a flake differently to conferences I've been to earlier - instead of choosing smaller workshops, nosotros all stayed together for the whole twenty-four lx minutes menstruum as well as listened to vi sessions - i from each of the try boards, i from Ofqual as well as i Q&A at the end. It was a shame non to lead maintain a session from the fantabulous Mel as well as Seager of JustMaths (it would lead maintain been practiced to hear what they do at their schoolhouse that earned them TES Maths Team of the Year lastly year) but they did an awesome undertaking of hosting the upshot as well as were rattling entertaining.

In the try board sessions it was practiced to expression at try questions as well as to hear most some of the resources available to teachers (such equally OCR's check-in tests, Edexcel's Access to Foundation Tier resources, and Eduqas's takeaway menus).

The absolute highlight of the twenty-four lx minutes menstruum was Craig Barton's session for AQA. I've seen Craig utter at a few conferences earlier as well as it's been fascinating to consider his approaches develop over time. Craig has read tonnes of enquiry recently, as well as has rattling helpfully summarised it for maths teachers on his research page. In his session he discussed how teachers oft rush ahead to complex try questions earlier students lead maintain developed fluency inwards the each of the private skills involved, as well as he said (controversially...?) that students shouldn't live doing a total GCSE newspaper until the March earlier their terminal exams.

Craig's suggested approach was the catchy 'IDAP': 1. Isolate the skill, 2. Develop the skill, 3. Assess the skill, 4. Practise retrieval later. He showed us examples of resources that worked good for science evolution inwards novice learners.

The matter that stood out the most for me was what Craig said most 'non-problems'. At the moment, many of us learn Pythagoras as well as and thus give students a charge of Pythagoras questions inwards dissimilar contexts as well as guises. These problems lead maintain the same deep construction (Pythagoras) but dissimilar surface structures, similar these:

Students don't lead maintain to operate out that they should role Pythagoras inwards these questions, because it's obvious if the lesson is all most Pythagoras. An option approach would live to give a laid upward of questions amongst the same surface construction (eg an isosceles triangle) but dissimilar deep structures (eg non all involving Pythagoras). This makes a lot of sense.

I kept a tally of how many times Craig said the give-and-take flippin' - I got to 15, but I may lead maintain missed a few equally I was rattling busy taking notes! It was an utterly awesome session as well as I'm actually glad I was at that topographic point to consider it.

At the destination of the conference all delegates had complimentary access to the topic green - including a menstruum of exclusive access to the large rides. I was actually excited to endeavor out a few rides but, annoyingly, I had a prepare to catch. By the fourth dimension Craig as well as I got off the monorail as well as walked closed to the park, nosotros didn't lead maintain whatsoever fourth dimension left for rides because I had to rush off as well as acquire my taxi. But at to the lowest degree I had a practiced grab upward amongst Craig!

I bet that everyone who stayed for the rides had a fantastic time! What a fun agency to destination an event.

Well done as well as congratulations to Mel, Seager as well as Fize from JustMaths - I can't imagine how much operate is involved inwards pulling together such a large event. The adjacent i is on Th 28th June 2018 - salve the date!