Mastery in Maths - Suzanne Leach 27/01

Models and Images

• Concrete - Abstract

• Start children with concrete progressing to abstract within every lesson

Concrete teaching - Pictorial - Symbolic. Eventually children will have abstract understanding of things

Starting in reception; building knowledge throughout years - if a pupil misses school, they miss learning and therefore their knowledge will not be as stable and secure

Teachers must know the NC thoroughly the differences of the curriculum between the different year groups

E.g.: What is a Fraction

1. numerical quantity that is not a whole number

2. a small or tiny part, amount or proportion of something

Use different objects to show the concrete maths; cake, chocolate, apple - helps embed knowledge and aids children's memory when thinking back to the lesson

Children need to understand and be able to demonstrate their knowledge, e.g. denominator, numerator

Use key vocabulary :

• Concrete - physical object

• Pictorial - shown on a bar

• Symbolic - the fraction itself

Showing these alongside each other to the children helps them work towards the ability to answer complex fraction questions independently and helps children articulate their understanding of a topic

E.g.: Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Concrete - playdough, counters

Pictorial - bar model

Symbolic - addition and subtraction question

Maths Mastery

• Mastering maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject

• The phrase 'teaching for mastery' describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering maths

• Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that's been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material

• Unlike the old model, where advanced learners are accelerated through new content, those pupils who grasp concepts quickly are challenged with rich and sophisticated problems within the topic

• Those children who are not sufficiently fluent are provided additional support to consolidate their understanding before moving on

• Constantly adding knowledge - it is key to know what has come before new knowledge so you can accurately add to knowledge and where you want the children to go

Concrete (hands on) - Pictorial - Symbolic - Abstract

Children are taught concepts using concrete representations alongside pictorial and symbolic representations: this process allows the children to gain a secure understanding of the concepts, finding and building links and also creating abstract representation in the children's own tool kit - embedded learning

Once children have a secure knowledge and understanding of the concepts, there are then applied in different contexts, question styles and problem solving questions. The knowledge and skills are also used and applied within different subjects in the curriculum. Children 'master' the subject

We plan for the majority of pupils to move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. Children who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content

Plan so that no matter the ability, children can experience mastery activities

Mastery in Maths at Nicol Mere

Stephanie Swift (head teacher) is an Advanced Skill Teacher in Maths - all teaching staff have received CPD in Mastery

Maths is taught in small chunks and revisited to build on children's long-term memory

Children are able to use their embedded knowledge and skills and apply it in different problems

Children are constantly challenged

Nicol Mere broke their maths curriculum down into blocks -

• Block 1: place value

• Block 2: addition and subtraction

• Block 3: fractions (decimals and percentages)

• Block 4: multiplication and division

• Block 5: fractions (decimals and percentages)

• Block 6: place value

Each time going back recapping previous knowledge

What does 'Mastery in Maths' look like at Nicol Mere?

Aim to develop children's reasoning, logical thinking and problem solving skills by providing rich mathematical experiences where children can apply their knowledge of mathematics to everyday life

Pre-teach each topic - know the children's starting point, be aware of any misconceptions or 'missing building blocks'

Teach using the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract methods

Over-teach - especially core areas such as place value, four operations, times tables and division facts

The teacher no longer tells the pupils what to do, instead they facilitate learning by guiding the pupils to think for themselves. Communication is a vital part of this process

One of the hallmarks of a mastery maths approach to teaching is that every lesson includes elements of fluency, reasoning and problem solving

Children in maths mastery lessons expect to be asked to reason regularly and to have the language to do so. It can take time for children to develop the skills and confidence to do this but as they progress through KS2 maths, it pays off

'You've been taught this skill..now can you use it to solve this problem'

Questions to ask in a Maths Mastery Lesson

• How do you know?

• Can you prove it?

• Can you come up with a different method?

• What do you notice?

• Will it always do that, and why?

• What happens if...?

• Does your answer seem reasonable? Why / Why not?

• What do you notice?

• Will it always be true?

Expectations of our Teachers

• Subject knowledge - How best to teach the concepts with sound pedagogy

• Having a deep understanding of the topic and knowing the common misconceptions

• Technical terms - Introducing the correct terminology

• Expectations - Having an expectation that children answer in whole sentences, using mathematical language

• Feedback - If possible, encourage staff to plan together and give feedback of practices that were or were not successful