E&M Booth - Episode 9a

Sammy

Can you hear me?

Sammy

Can you hear me?

Sammy

I can hear you.

Sammy

All I could hear.

Sammy

I could hear.

You I can hear you, I can hear him.

Sammy

I'm not even gonna edit it out.

That's all.

Sammy

Hello and welcome to the well, it's actually called the Ian M Booth, but you can call it the end booth.

Sammy

For today, in honour of being here and.

Sammy

I can't thank you.

Sammy

Thank you.

Sammy

So I'm for people who don't know what junk today by Emma Bell an bell, and she is.

Sammy

Just like the biggest maths geek in the world, and I say that with the greatest compliment because geeks rule as she constantly points out to everybody.

Yeah, I mean maths. I can take it or leave it really, you know.

Sammy

But I was just saying.

Sammy

He needs help.

Sammy

Oh, she's been.

Sammy

She's been.

Sammy

Along well regarded expert at further education maths. Post 16 maths for many many many years.

Sammy

A sandwich is very excited to have it here.

Sammy

Today to talk to him.

Sammy

I'll try my best to try my best.

Sammy

So we always start with the same question, so tell us about your most memorable lesson.

I've really had trouble with this question.

What you you sent it to be earlier and I think it my most memorable, awesome and most rebel lesson and.

Trying to think.

Over the it's not a memorable lesson, but it's a member or moment that happens in a few lessons, so I'm gonna I'm gonna change your question. Sorry about that.

All.

Sammy

OK God.

Basically, especially when you working in, um, reset with myself in Fe, it's when you get that why?

Have I never?

Been taught it this way before. Moment in lesson. You know whether it's Tia, teaching, fractions or teaching percentages, or just something that the learners haven't got before at all. And then they just look at you.

Oh yeah, and that. That is why I teach. That is why I love teaching me set an I love teaching in Fe.

It's because of that that moment, that realisation that they do know stuff and they can work on their confidence and stuff like that. So I don't have a memorable lesson, but I have memorable moments where learners have looked at me.

Gone thank you.

That's my answer to your question is.

It's definitely key moments in lessons, and that's why we teaching Fe it so that we can make a difference and Fe the differences that we can see that difference more tangibly more quickly because we have got such a fast turn around of learners.

Sammy

It would appear.

It's not. It's not like working in a school where you know you're playing the long game, aren't you? So you start with them. Yes seven and you work with them and work with them and work with.

An NFA is basically turned on a sixpence. You know, we've got, you know you're gone again now I see you later. I really hope I never see you.

Again, because you've passed, but you know we will see.

Sammy

Yeah, that that says it. So if you memorable moments then what topic do you have the most memorable moments in?

Sammy

What are you the best unlocking? For me it's solving equations. I seem to be able to unlock solving equations or learning.

What I thought that today. Ohh that was ace.

We're doing a lot of obviously are revisiting our scheme of learning at the moment just just to get things ready towards the teachers. Ask ray.

And we looked at solving linear equations using flow diagrams this morning.

Yeah.

And it was like a Oh my God. Of course that works. I said so we go that way and then we go.

And it was.

Like Ohh my word why have I never thought of it like that before and yet so?

I yeah I had some of those moments this morning and they completely understood the inverse operations just by seeing it more visually, they could see exactly what they needed to do for the bingo game that we were playing. So yeah, that that was awesome, but another one is is fractions.

And we looked at adding and subtracting fractions recently and just the anatomy of a fraction and discussing what the words actually means instead of it just being an abstract concept of the faction on the board, just with the numbers, yes is a numerator.

This is a denominator. What do the numbers actually mean? What are they saying? And by putting it into context and giving us story behind it and giving it a bit of a narrative, the learners definitely.

Sammy

Everything.

Make more progress with that because they can make the Connexions with stuff they know. It's not an abstract concept is. Yeah, it has been split up into four, and I've got three of them. Yeah, that's 3/4, and just using that language I get a lot of our hard moments when I'm teaching fractions just because of the narrative behind it.

Sammy

Yeah, I think that's definitely true of fractions in terms of the story. I'll just tell this might make you cringe.

Sammy

I don't know go on, but when I teach solving equations with the flow chart method, I tell them that they're getting on a bus.

Sammy

And then three of their family get on because they're the same as them, so that that's how the coefficient changes, and then two of their mates get on, and then they go to the bus stop. #18, go around town, and then to get back home. What bus stop do they need to go to hear who gets off the bus first here and then? Who gets off the bus here? And who lives at this address? And it's worked, and it works, I think. However, this year that another one set for car.

Yeah.

Move it.

Everything's set for covert. This is like right. I need to. I need to do put you into groups never come I'm not going to put you into groups you can stay where you are and yeah, except for covert except for Kobe.

Sammy

Except.

Sammy

Because it actually goes pound anymore.

Sammy

Tickets are wonderful.

Sammy

Bless her, I know I like that and it is all about connecting the masters, something that they know and something that they can relate to. That's why I love using food. It's always food with me. I'm always using food.

Sammy

Yeah.

I'm but it's because the learners have a lot of experience with food.

Bye bye bye. I booked attacking on the maths to the food, it makes such a difference when it's pizza are chocolate it with me.

It is easy pizza because whatever the question is, pizza is always the answer in my book. So you know, it's everything I can relate to pizza, whether it's fractured, desperate, anything, there will be peace in bath.

Sammy

Well, I would always think that he is.

Sammy

And then I had a trainee teacher who who couldn't do pizza into 7.

Sammy

And I realised.

Sammy

I could and I was like it's.

But

Just skill you learn about it.

Oh yeah.

Sammy

You just learn how good good.

I've messed up my CV.

Sammy

She said also, I'm just gonna do.

Sammy

Chocolate bars and then from that moment that was my light bulb moment like why have I been struggling to split pizzas in 15?

He is like let's have some chocolate coz then we can.

You

Just yeah, yeah, I know that myself.

Any food I'll do anything. I'm sure cakes were mentioned in my lesson this morning. We yeah, and it is.

It's all about making those Connexions for the learners are making in again, you know, so it's not an abstract thing at all.

It that they they can work with it really Welland. That's what makes a difference with our learners and gives them that ohh.

Yeah, I get it.

Sammy

Yeah, and that's it, we do.

Sammy

Essentialy, that's what we do, and I say this all the time with kindness to people who teach maths in FA were really not here today.

Sammy

Teach the maps, but it didn't all fit.

Exactly.

Exactly isn't that. They're not learning things from first principles. They haven't they're here because they haven't quite been successful with the maths that they've had previously, so you know, we introduced the concept and that you know it might just be on their periphery.

You know, I think I remember seeing that, but I don't quite. It's not. None of this is first principles.

Sammy

Olives.

This is all revision. This is all about making those little marginal gains in their confidence with what they already know and pushing them over to their to make progress with their grey.

Sammy

All.

Sammy

It's.

Sammy

That's it, isn't it's confidence in you talk a lot about confidence in maths.

Yeah, Ohh absolutely again. It's it's about making learners realise what they know because they come to. I mean, I, I meant I think I mentioned this nearly every time I talk that they come to us with that Badger failure that had the kick in the stomach where they think the past.

They hope you and hope that they passed and then they come to us it. I'm only here because I'm fat. I fail.

Sammy

I'm only sitting here because I didn't get the great I needed and to just to get through that and to show them that it was just the exam that failed them.

Basically, they couldn't show off their maths. We need to work on a way that they can show off their math and show and prove what they know.

And I think that this year and this is this is the petrol taken with all the learners this year is this year is gonna be amazing for them mate being able to show off because they reason that massive end of year exam we can actually build towards something instead.

So what really excited about that? For the learners this year?

Sammy

Well, I think.

Sammy

You know I saw someone say tag the other day and I was completely confused about what surprised I never counted what that target is. Oh no, it's the same nightmare. Will just living it differently, exactly.

But we learning, we're learning from it.

Sammy

Learners genuinely just knowing that that exam is not going to be their definitive.

Sammy

Moment yeah is answering them.

Sammy

Thrive in whole new ways.

Are absolutely and it's just just knowing that it's not all going to be tagged on to one day.

Attacker sorry I didn't do that, but it is not going to be on one day and it's not going to define a man for reset.

Sammy

Book.

That is just beautiful, and it's just the whole idea of being able to show what you know without it or coming down to.

I'm going back to food again. Whether you had a good breakfast on the day of the exam or whether you had an argument with your mum as you leave in the house on the day of exam, there were so many.

Different things that the learners can't control.

And this year.

But I've got a lot of learners excited about the fact that they don't have to take an exam, but they can still prove that they've got the ability's.

Sammy

Yeah, last year one of my colleagues, she actually argued with me. She was like, well, I've sat this exam six years. I should have failed it. I've failed it six years in a row well?

Sammy

And I said, I said transit, but that's because the evidence is.

Sammy

Shows that you are at this level. You know I didn't put the figure out things that you know. I have the evidence to support it.

That's fine.

Sammy

The party.

Sammy

What's happened to you in the past is on the day of the exam. Something has gone wrong. I'm at.

Sammy

I like those that happened.

Sammy

Those that happened.

All right, I'd love for resets to keep going like this. If it would be amazing if we could build portfolios of mathematical confidence over the course of a year and like say, here you go, this is what you've gained with us.

How would you?

Go forward and be an amazing person in life coz that is so much better than pinning it all on a couple of days with a couple of bits of revision. And it's yeah, so much I'd I'd love for it to move forward like this.

Sammy

Yeah it would.

Sammy

I always say different strokes for different folks and we're never going to find something that suits everyone, not just never put more choice and a bit more flexible day.

Sammy

Everyone.

Sammy

And a bit more flat.

Sammy

Exactly, I mean, I still cringe at the fact that we've got learners that I sitting a general certificate of secondary education, but they're not in secondary education anymore, and that and then.

It breaks my heart to know that they're still having to do that, so they need something that's just.

But I'm something special.

Sammy

Yes.

Sammy

I think functional skills.

Sammy

I think.

Sammy

Skills I have no idea.

Sammy

What the ultimate aim was for that, but?

Sammy

It tried and it didn't quite hit, it didn't.

Haha.

Sammy

Quite land and I I personally struggle to set a level 2 functional skills maths exam.

Is that it babe?

Just the pseudo contacts behind everything. I mean, that's one of the problems with Fe with teaching maths with invocations and things like. That is, we can contextualise for vocation. So hairdresser.

For animal care professionals. But then when it comes to the exam, well if its GCSE they don't have that kind of context.

They've got to go back to basics. If it's a funky exam, they're going to have to apply it to a swimming pool or something that the examiners made up that doesn't relate to how they learn that. So if, oh, goodness, no, that's the idea. If we could have contact legs exams.

In the vocational areas that suited the photo.

Sammy

You say you've got a bigger, louder voice innkeeper?

Sammy

Listen to more than you did.

Sammy

Your mission now you've given.

My Mr.

Sammy

Junior contract even and take it forward.

But it would make sense.

I mean, it's it's like word GCSE, a lot of the work that we've been doing, the centres for excellence is looking at contextualisation.

But the problem with it is it should be. We can't contextualise for vocational areas in GCSE because the GCSE isn't contextualised so so we can learn a concept like linear linear equations, whatever.

Sammy

Yeah, I just.

The the Automotive department and related to cars. But then when they get to the exam it's just an abstract data mass on the page paper an just trying to apply that.

Sammy

Yeah, and and you said an important work for me there as well. It's then on paper, huh? Well, hang on a minute. We need to sit in a big hall altogether and put that variable in the middle.

Oh my word, yeah.

Sammy

You know we about.

Other ways to sit exam? Definitely, I know.

Just.

Sammy

Not tonight.

I think functional skills it is a head on that isn't it. Obviously, as you can see your functional skills exams online.

And whenever you ready, yes, it's that rolling boil, isn't. It will just imagine.

Sammy

I know and I am not advocating that we go back to you. Nicked an you know the modular GCSE is because they never really took all.

No.

Sammy

I will in a school.

Sammy

I will in a.

Sammy

At the time when they were.

Sammy

Meeting with probably the full timetable and was just impossible and everybody was just having an awful time with them and it.

Sammy

Coming out me too yeah.

Sammy

I'm I'm sure we did module one in year nine as well, so it was.

Sammy

Yeah.

It's my own going all the time.

Sammy

And also what happened was as soon.

Sammy

As you finish the module.

Sammy

You stop teaching it, so the moment when.

So you see, that's something that we have to look at in Fe as well. It was trying to help the learners fill their pockets of knowledge, but they've got to keep those core skills on at the front of their brain so we have to keep. We can't stop delivering that, so that's got.

To be honest, I know Julia talks.

Sammy

So that leaves into the.

Sammy

Factory designed to focus to be cleaner.

Yeah, that was nice, well done.

So yeah, I mean that with the Focus 15. But what we've done is we've built a scheme of learning that has those core skills right at the beginning, but then they link to everything else within the folks with chainsaw. This 15 topics that.

If covered, there were enough marks on a GCSE paper to get more or less A5, so if they master these 15 topics as enough Marks and they were, they were chosen by looking at past data from Pearson CAS. With the emporium there's so much beautiful data in there, so a spreadsheets and what were the great for learners getting right and we were able to look at that and comparing it. And it was these topics. It's not the trigonometry, it's not the Pythagoras.

Sammy

Hotmail.

It's the core skills that grateful learners could nail, but threes, twos, and ones couldn't. So if we can get those mustard, though, they're also really useful for later life, you know.

So if you can work with percentages, that's a skill that you can take forward, so we do a lot of work on that and.

Building with the folks 15 and I don't know if anybody seen that an image of it, but it's we've got it in a wheel.

So it is. It's all sequenced, so we start with focus one which is types of number, then moved to using those types of number, then moved to probability.

So it's all beautifully sequence or everything. Everything comes into play.

And keeps those.

Skills on a rolling boil and keeps them in the front of their brain and hopefully gets them enough to pass.

Eventually, yeah.

Sammy

With the you know.

Sammy

I'm not going to be a little late, but.

Sammy

It's that spiral curriculum that everyone aspires to that finds impossible.

It's definitely. I mean we look.

Sammy

More than that, but that's just I'm speaking in a broader sense. If there's someone who's not as upon that, but is it is that spiral curriculum that everybody is excited for her forever.

No.

Yeah, definitely, and it they the if you get those those foundation skills right you can move around. Oh yeah sorry.

What is it? What the folks 15 has become is what I wish that the GCSE in Fe was. So if we take what we said earlier, so if we took it so that we could build the skills and build the evidence as we went through the focus 15 well that's the cherry on the cake. That's the absolute cherry.

Yeah.

That would be the best.

Sammy

Yeah, I think obviously I come at this from Matts and from a an education technology background but when we look at like when we move technology into education we we start with substitution and it's not a line that we go through in the summer model but substitution and then you augment and then you modifying you redefine an. I always say we can't redefine until we bring up Ofqual and get new qualifications. Bradley.

Absolutely, absolutely no. That's exactly it.

Sammy

Up yet

Sammy

Well, you've got way more followers than me.

To sleep with you every I'll try to find a Doctor Who gift that fits.

Sammy

Well, this is absolutely flown by but.

Sammy

I'm we are at the end of our time already.

Now that was brilliant, thank you.

Sammy

Agreed that we had.

Sammy

To be service. So if you just want to get your and Twitter handle a shout out on your website and you have got this 15 an yeah.

Sammy

It got old.

Sammy

Now, right? So I'm Emma bell. I melt hombre on Twitter at the reason behind that is when I started teaching, I wasn't allowed to use my.

Name and Tom Bray means Bell, so it's like Emma Bell. Yeah and my my website isamaths.net and you can also find a lot of our work if you search the word. See for me so that centre for maths excellent see for me on Google you'll get all of our work on the focus Withdean and the research behind it if anyone's interested. And I'm always always willing to answer any questions or anyone's got based on it.

Sammy

Ohh, I know you've been.

Sammy

A star, as usual will definitely have you on again cause I feel like we could just go forever and.

Sammy

Ever, but thank you very much goodbye list.

Siri

Sammy

Emma Bell series.

Sammy

All right, ever. Thanks very much.

Alright love you talk to you.

Sammy

Speak soon bye.

Sammy

Speak loudly.

Sammy