TS-9.3

teachwire.net/secondary L E S S O N P L A N S Help build and develop number skills with the teaching and practice pages available from 30secondchallenge.com – school lifetime licence now available. BEGINNERS INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED HALF A MINUTE... Have you tried our specially differentiated 30-second mental arithmetic challenges in your classroom yet? If not, maybe it might be time to give them a go. No matter what subject you are teaching, they are a great way to sharpen students’ thinking and, crucially, get them experiencing a taste of success right from the start – even those who think they’re ‘no good at maths’. They’re a brilliantly low-maintenance activity, too – just display the three tasks on the board, set a timer… and that’s it! Be inspired by these original ideas from some of the UK’s most creative teachers INSPIRATION STATION 3 EASY WAYS TO... ...establish structure and challenge ANSWERS: BEGINNERS = 39 INTERMEDIATE = 14 ADVANCED = 196 MATHS – KS4 SCIENCE - KS3 COUNTING OUT A counting-out game provides a context for students to apply knowledge of sequences, multiples and powers, says Colin Foster SUCH A DRAG! Give your students a grounding in physical forces, with this inclusive practical science activity from Kate Bradley GEOGRAPHY - KS4 OUT WITH THE OLD? Have your students hit the streets and find out first-hand whether the costs of urban regeneration can be justified 74 70 72 of teachers in England,when asked if they experience stress in theirwork, answered ‘a lot’; 0.3%answered ‘not at all’ Source: OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey 1 Provide an answer, ask for a question A great way to start your lesson is to put up a number or a random answer on the board and get students to think about what the question may be. You can make it more or less challenging by either telling the students the topic it relates to, or just throwing it out there without any guidance whatsoever. Imagine walking into a classroom and seeing a number like 256 on the board and being asked what the question is! 2 Use unusual timings Instead of setting students timed tasks that last two or five minutes, set tasks that last three or six minutes. Say that they have two minutes to complete the task and you’ll see the class subconsciously thinking that it will be a theoretical two minutes, which will come to an end when they’re finished, not when the clock stops. Tell them they have exactly three minutes, and they will get working quicker and with more urgency because they perceive the time frame to be shorter. 3 Post progress on Post-its Instruct the students to write down on a Post-it note one thing they’ve learned during a task or lesson and stick it to a ‘learning wall’ in your classroom. This way, you can see what students feel they have learned and whether there are any areas that might have been missed. Students could also write down any questions they still have about the day’s topic and stick these to a ‘question wall’ at any time throughout the lesson. You can review these midway through the session and adjust the lesson accordingly, or at the end of the class to help plan for their next lesson. Tips taken from 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Engaging Learners , by Jon Tait (Bloomsbury Education)(Bloomsbury Education) 38.2% 69 900 1/2 of it ÷ 5 ÷ 3 1/2 of it ÷ 5 Times itself x 8 + 6 1/2 of it answer ? 91 - 19 50% of this x 10 7/12 of this 10% of this x 4 5/7 of it - 39 2/3 of it answer ? 28 x 1 1/2 x 100 0.5% of it 4/7 of it Times itself + 16 17 1/2% of it 1/2 of it Times itself answer ?