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Moving through the curriculum

7 replies

Feebeela · 22/09/2018 19:49

Would love your perspective on this.
We have been told that we need consistency within each year group so have to 'keep up' with each other. I teach Y5. My class are struggling in maths compared to my partner teacher but when I said that I wanted to teach a particular lesson again that the chn just didn't understand, I was told that I needed to move on to the next lesson in our scheme and teach the concept in early morning work (great except for the kids who are late) and maths starters (before the main teaching). I usually use maths starter to pick up on minor misconceptions from previous lessons, practice mental maths or see what the chn understand of a new concept. I don't use them to go over the main learning of a previous lesson before I teach the next lesson in a sequence! I think this is detrimental to the chn's understanding of key concepts and they are going to have gaps but no, I've been told we need to move on regardless. This goes against all my instincts as a teacher but maybe I'm missing something current in maths pedagogy?
What do you think? Am I being 'old fashioned' or should I change my mindset and plough on through the curriculum and pick up misconceptions and gaps in starters?

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noblegiraffe · 22/09/2018 19:56

No, you’re not missing any new pegagogy, you’re being told to teach badly.

Maths is a hierarchical subject, if you just keep ploughing on regardless of if they’ve understood or not you’ll leave them with shaky foundations which will cause problems when you try to teach the stuff that builds on the things they haven’t properly grasped.

In fact the new maths thing in primary - mastery - is exactly the opposite of keeping trucking through the curriculum.

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Feebeela · 22/09/2018 20:14

It's crazy isn't it?? I have a feeling this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. My timetable is timetabled to within a minute every day so no real time for any interaction outside of the curriculum - I don't even have time to read a story. I started teaching 8 years ago and I had 30 mins at the end of everyday to read. We would read a chapter book every half term or so. Don't get me started....

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noblegiraffe · 22/09/2018 20:22

What would happen if you went off-piste and responded to the needs of the children?

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Feebeela · 22/09/2018 20:36

I would be hauled to SLT and probably accused of professional misconduct.

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bluetrampolines · 22/09/2018 20:37

Do you teach in England?

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Feebeela · 22/09/2018 20:51

Yes

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bluetrampolines · 22/09/2018 22:46

Do you have much classroom experience? Your smt are entirely wrong.

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