Celebrate Maths Ideas. Not Speed.

By tracking, comparing and streaming children into ability levels we are treating children as having a fixed mindset. We need to promote a growth mindset, the belief that all children can flourish in Mathematics.

‘We should at every moment counter the idea that Maths is about memorisation and replace it with the idea that Maths is about exploration.’ Francis Su

What do we want from our children’s education? What skills do we want them to have?

I believe we want critical thinkers, problem solvers and team workers. We are preparing children for their future, but in many schools, teaching in a way that has remained unchanged for years.

How do we join the revolution?

There are a wealth of resources which allow children to be exposed to low floor, high ceiling tasks. 

Promote an ethos in the classroom that celebrates ideas and not speed.

Value depth, creativity and different ways of thinking about maths, rather than an instruction to use specific methods.

My students keep a Maths journal to document their ideas, their processes, their journey through each task. I encourage them to visualise and to draw and to map their ideas through these longer, more open ended problems. Every idea is celebrated and we talk about all mistakes teaching us something.