One of the things I want to improve with as an #ALevelMaths teacher is my knowledge of #physics in order to teach mechanics without just saying "it's magic, right?!" Any recommendations of introductory books/texts for this?

Second to last day of school and I am now onto "fun" lessons for my students. If you need a few suggestions to keep you going, then here is what I've gone with! #UKMathsChat

Third cycle of A Level teaching and I *think* I'm getting the hang of the marking process. I think. Maybe?

I've added Gordon to my classroom #UKTeaching

Top tip for any trainee teachers out there on #edusky: don't pay full price for new ties! Pop into your local charity shop/thrift store and find some unique bargains instead. These were a quid each in our local hospice shop!

In #MathsToday (or more accurately, yesterday evening) I've been trying to re-think how to introduce logarithms to my A Level group. Turns out there's a resource that does it through double-number lines! classroom.amplify.com/activity/681...

A level pedagogy logarithms - from Alex

A representational approach to developing a conceptual understanding of logarithms using a double number line

classroom.amplify.com

I haven't been engaging with much maths over the break, but I have just finished reading 'Math in Drag' by Kyne Santos. An excellent read which connects queer identity and the joy of maths! Here is a thought provoking quote from the end of the book, which I finished today #MathsToday

I have neglected this account AGAIN but that's because summer was for sipping cocktails, being ill/injured, and occasionally spending time with lovely people. Anyway, wishing you all the best for next week if you're returning to teaching in the UK. We've got this!

It's been a while! Exam season has really worn me down this year. Definitely not helped by one of my groups under-performing in their exams. I've worked hard with them and I'm not sure that has been reciprocated.

I feel like this is probably a good place to ask: I'd like to get more into cryptic crosswords. Any advice of where to begin (beyond the excellent minute cryptic)?

In #mathstoday we took 2 teams to our local AMSP Maths Feast competition at @lancasteruni.bsky.social - our kids had a great time and came 5th overall. Not bad for a team from 2nd set!

Year 11 reports written! We are truly in "digging deep to just keep going until the end of term" season!

Haven't posted much because this term has truly been insane. After having just completed year 11 mocks, I'm really thrilled to see 2 of my students getting grade 9s, and another cluster getting 8s. They've been working super hard, and it's excellent to see it start paying off!

#ukmathschat - looks like the Girls' Grammar school down the road from me is hiring a full time maths teacher. ECTs welcome! teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/jobs/teacher...

Teacher of Maths - Lancaster Girls' Grammar School

Teacher of Maths job from Lancaster Girls' Grammar School. Apply by 24 Mar 2025.

teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk

Churning through some year 7 maths papers today (I know how to have the most exciting half term imaginable!) and it's fascinating seeing which misconceptions crop up. For instance: 60 / 0.3 = 60 × 3. Totally understandable to see where it comes from, but something to actively "unteach"! #mathstoday

Half term is very important! What a treat it is to take a rest.

In #MathsToday I survived running through the A level mock papers our upper sixth formers sat at the start of term. I find post-exam feedback lessons a real pain - I just hope the pupils find them a good use of time...

Hello lovely #ALevelMaths people, does anyone have any recommended resources for teaching forces and motion in the lower sixth? I have some ideas of how to approach this topic, but any other ideas would be fabulous.

Applied to be an examiner for Edexcel GCSE maths on Monday. Received an appointment letter on Tuesday. ...there may be a shortage of examiners

Feeling very grateful to have an Inset Day tomorrow to get fully ready for the first day of term proper on Tuesday. Sending positivity, strength, and good brain days to everyone starting again this week!

I AM SORRY - 8 pages on the mark scheme for one 12 mark question?!?! Deeply regretting not printing this out and trying to read it from my phone!

Marking differentiation tests as part of #ALevelMaths and I'm quite surprised at how lenient the Edexcel mark schemes are for notation slips and theoretical errors for proof from first principles. One student followed half the process correctly, tried to divide by 0 and still earned 3 of 5 marks!

Just about to switch off my brain with some meditation via headspace. Sorely needed in a busy week. Teachers in the UK can get access to it for free!

In year 8 #MathsToday we encountered curves after looking at straight lines for a few weeks. It was a lot of fun whipping out Desmos and displaying equations of graphs that they came up with! Interestingly, someone from both classes wanted to see y=x^x, and one class stumbled upon a circle!

It was cute to hear one of my #ALevelMaths students say, "I like maths when I know what's going on." ...I certainly didn't think that when I was planning this lesson on points of inflection! #MathsToday

In #mathstoday I used this VERY juicy frequency trees question with my high ability year 10s: a cocktail of dividing in a given ratio, calculating percent of and percentage increase.

One nice thing about reaching 2nd year of teaching #ALevelMaths is that you can redo parts of the 1st year course with the experience you've gained. For example, when talking about increasing/decreasing functions, I now discuss the gradient of the tangent to the point, instead of dy/dx.

Here's an interesting observation from one of my year 10s: the surface area of a sphere with radius r matches the surface area of 3/4 of a sphere with radius r (kind of like a pac-man shape thing). My brain, literally on the floor.

A perennial headache in our department appears to be introducing straight line graphs to our year 8s (12/13 YOs). I think making an explicit connection between linear sequences and their representation as graphs helped as a starting point. Plotting is fine, but interpreting graphs is the issue!

...let's see how writing examples and marking goes this week with my fractured/dislocated finger! On my dominant hand! I guess it's a chance to learn something new.