Mostly work

I am having a great deal of trouble keeping up with life in general, mainly because I am trying to get my head round the fact that as of September I will be expected to jump through the government hoops like everyone else working in the public sector does. I know I can teach maths to children, plan lessons, create resources (see me moving into educational jargon in a pre-emption of future form filling), stand in the rain with a cup of coffee (break duty), write reports, talk to parents, mark exams, find something to say in staff meetings, and all the million and one other things that teachers do. The bit I have trouble with is filling in forms and providing EVIDENCE for it. This is vaguely titled 'Performance Management' and means that I don't just have to do my job, I have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that I am doing it.

So, sadly I spent two hours reviewing the Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds, for those blissfully unaware of Key Stages) National Strategy for Maths last night. What is more worrying is that I found it interesting, but I digress. It's a good document - it clearly lays out the pedagogy of the subject (in other words how one bit builds on another bit) across that age range and provides lots of helpful examples and snappy targets. There are lots of ideas for structuring well paced lessons. It's a great resource. I'm sure you can sense a 'but' coming and I won't disappoint. The fact the the framework is a mandatory requirement rather than a recommended aid to teaching spoils it for me. And it just doesn't ever seem to mention having fun............

Apologies to Sam; she has sent me two things where I have been tigged (Is that the word? We used to say that at school, but maybe I mean tagged?) to respond and I still haven't. Keep nagging though Sam, you can see it does work eventually;)