QR codes Phase 1

I was a little slow on the uptake with QR codes. I don't have a smart phone (yet), so was not at the cutting edge of having a clue what this was all about. Once I realised, I decided "that sounds fun, and useful, lets have a play".

I needed to be wary. Mobile devices are not banned in school, as such, but they are not allowed to be out at any stage, and certainly not in lessons. I agree completely with this policy; at the moment and on the whole the disruption they cause when visible outweighs the benefits. As and when we change the rules, I'll make sure I'm very involved in the details. That however is another issue.

I put together this poster.
For those of you without QR readers, I downloaded (for free) Quickmark, which seems to work well with my webcam. I put the posters in Y10 tutor rooms, in which students are unsupervised at lunchtime. I hoped they may read them during these times they were less likely to have their phones confiscated.

Apparently not. According to my bit.ly tracking there were not dozens of hits, unless the tracking doesn't fully work.

Phase two is to more legitimately engage parents throug the newsletter. Details to follow...

Helping students less.

I don't like helping students with their maths.

That's probably controversial (and probably not true either), so I'd better qualify it.

I don't like helping student's with their maths, until they have made an effort to help themselves.

That's better. The question is how to best help them do that! It's all about independent learning and learning to learn. Here is one way I've developed in my classroom, that is now all around my department, and starting to spread, as I've spoken with at least one other Maths Subject leader about it...

Maths Posters. Seems simple enough. I've downloaded and printed the "Maths Facts" posters from here. I printed them onto different colour card - green for shape, yellow for data, blue for algebra and pink for number, and had them laminated.

I did have them around the back of my room, but my LA advisor suggested moving them to the front.

Now, whenever a student first asks for help, all I need to say (much of the time) is "there's a poster about that", and they go to find it. If they're still stuck then of course I'll help.

It's getting to the stage where the question is not "Which one is the mean again?" but becoming "Where is the poster about the mean again?"

Yes, I let them get up during a test to look - after all tests are formative as well as summative. I also get them to write down on their test paper which posters they needed to look at. This gives them a starting point for their revision for their exams.

Rocket Science - no.
Simple and effective - yes.BTW -apologies for the fuzzy photo; I want a better phone...