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PrimaryMaths

5 Teaching Tips To Nail Maths Mastery

‘Maths Mastery Is Crap!’ ‘My Kids Will Never Get It!’ – Sound Familiar?

The British Teacher
by The British Teacher
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This maths mastery has crash-landed on us like a UFO.

In schools we are taught that there is no such thing as having a ‘maths gene’, and as teachers we seem to accept this. But back in the classroom when we’re faced with way too many dilemmas it’s easy to eventually come to the conclusion that maths mastery is a load of old nonsense! Well, I’m here to prove you wrong.

Having taught maths mastery to a mixed-ability class of Year 5s, I can hand on heart say that it is the best approach I have ever taught.

Below are my 5 tips/misconceptions of a successful approach to maths mastery whether you are a class teacher or a maths lead.

Tip 1

Maths mastery isn’t expecting your Year 5s or 6s to suddenly all be working at the same level. A maths mastery approach is to be taught to reception/Year 1 under the assumption that they will be working together. This then ensures that by the time they reach Year 5/6 they will be working at the expected level with a very narrow gap.

Tip 2

Two lessons a day is vital! We’ve always had a numeracy hour, but now some schools are beginning to adapt to a Singapore or Shanghai style.

Don’t try to teach maths all in one hour. Instead, teach 40-45 minutes of maths, then later that day set a 30-minute independent task which is your opportunity to work with those who require additional support.

I’ve worked at schools where they will have an hour of maths then sit there with children who require additional support, who are of course complaining that they’ve had no break!

Tip 3

Encourage mixed-ability pair work. We don’t realise until we’re observing and eavesdropping how much children actually learn from each other. Always encourage as much child-led discussions between mixed-ability pairs, you’ll be surprised how much both partners gain.

Tip 4

The classic statement of my higher-ability learners is that they are so bored, as they’ve finished everything!

We’re all used to handing out the next sheet, and then the next, but in doing so we are back to widening the gap. We need to work out and understand how and what questions to ask next, which I believe is a skill not every teacher is comfortable with, but as a Maths lead I believe it’s an important part of mastery which must be addressed in insets.

Always encourage children to unpick the questions: can they spot a pattern, why does it work? Can you find another approach? etc.

The best part is you don’t have to be a maths expert; give them the questions, let them explore and maybe we can learn something from our children.

Tip 5

Get out the multi-link cubes, dienes or digit cards. Allow children to explore and play. Give them something to test.

Don’t ask them to stop fiddling and put the cubes down. Always encourage learning through play and you’ll be surprised at the results.

There is soooo much I love about how we are teaching maths now. I’m sure many of you will agree that it was never ‘fun’ when we were at school. So remember, always teach how you would have wanted to have learnt. And if you believe that everyone is capable of achieving, then they will.

The British Teacher is a primary school teacher, blogger and maths geek. You can find her on her blog at thebritishteacher.net or on Twitter at @tbt_teacher.

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