Teach-Primary-Issue-19.7

58 | www.teachwire.net JOHN TOMSETT Heuristics One way to address the issue of transience is to document the step-by-step process that you’ve outlined in your worked examples, using heuristics . A heuristic is a bullet-pointed, mental shortcut, commonly used to simplify problems and avoid cognitive overload. At the St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Royal Wootton Bassett, I witnessed a teacher and her teaching assistant (TA) show the children how to add mixed number fractions in a way that minimised transience for their pupils. The teacher used a visualiser, and modelled the process of adding mixed number fractions. Each step in the process she suggested was then written out clearly on the whiteboard by the TA ( Fig. 1 ). The TA’s heuristic transformed the teacher’s temporary metacognitive dialogue into something lasting. When the teacher demonstrated a subsequent example, she was able to ask the class what to do, step-by-step. This was particularly helpful for a pupil with additional needs, O ne of the most challenging aspects of teaching and learning mathematics is transience . We’ve all been there… You’ve explained with utter clarity how to add mixed number fractions, but the moment you ask your Year 4 class to complete similar problems themselves, they simply cannot recall the process you modelled for them minutes earlier! Generally, the effectiveness of pupils’ classroom experiences relies on both what is taught and how it is taught. For me, this is built on three elements – content, adaptive pedagogy, and assessment – which I call the curriculum triumvirate . When these elements work together in harmony, they create engaging learning experiences for all, ensuring no pupil is left behind. When developing the curriculum, all three elements of the triumvirate need to be considered simultaneously. In the following two examples, the emphasis is upon clarifying pupils’ mathematical thinking in real time. who was able to read the whiteboard and determine the teacher’s progress in the process and correctly identify the next steps. 1,2,3, SHOW One of the most effective ways of checking whether your class has understood what you have taught them is to use mini-whiteboards, or, as Dylan Wiliam says ad nauseum on Twitter/X, “[mini-whiteboards are] the most important development in educational technology since the slate!” When you use mini-whiteboards to demonstrate, you get an instant overview of your pupils’ understanding, allowing you to determine where to go next. However, using whiteboards can lead to confusion if not approached correctly. Before starting, explain their purpose and identify children who may struggle with certain questions. Emphasise that copying answers gives a false impression of understanding, which may hinder your ability to assist them later. Clear communication about this, and monitoring the room to minimise copying, is crucial. Once you have some reliable data in front of you on the whiteboards, you can use it to inform the next stage of your teaching. Another St Bartholomew’s primary maths teacher I observed skilfully handled the responses she received during a whiteboard session. MATHS STICKY Stop knowledge flying out of pupils’ heads the second they leave the classroom with a couple of tried and tested methods “The success of the approach lies in anticipating the main misconceptions and adapting” Making