Routine features of good maths lessons

I have tried to make a usable summary of things to strive for everyday in lessons, routinely doing these will mean students are getting an excellent deal and people assessing lessons should be happy. There are then some further details about each of the items within the same document. It can be found by clicking here. I have kept it non-maths related so that anyone can use it. Thanks to people that I borrowed things off in this, definitely Nicola Renshaw and also some government document about good and satisfactory maths lessons.

ResultsPlusProgress mapped to Edexcel specification

If you use the Edexcel ResultsPlusProgress tests and the modular maths spec you may have wondered how the tests match up with the units or vice versa. I have made two spreadsheets which will show you how these match up - one for higher and one for foundation. They have auto filters set up so that you can click on a unit and see which ResultsPlusProgress tests link to that unit or you can click on a ResultsPlusProgress test and see which units it matches up with. They are to be found here.

Admin Resources for New Framework

Here are some files that help with management of the new Framework.
You should find the APP booklet, (two levels to a page here http://www.scribd.com/doc/16917831/APP-Booklet,) a blank Year 7 Unit Plan (http://www.scribd.com/doc/16917830/Year-7-Unit-Plan-Pro-Forma) which you could download and edit (although the MPA map at the beginning cannot be edited without certain software, see other post called "Editing the MPA map" and a document showing all the ways in which maths can support the delivery of PLTS here (http://www.scribd.com/doc/16917832/Maths-PLTS-Contributions)

Learning Objectives and Assessment Criteria.
Learning Objectives are the things that students should be learning. They form the basis of a scheme of work and are exemplified by the old framework folder or by the hyperlinks after each statement on the following link:
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/secondary/framework/maths/fwsm/mlo and then ticking the ones that you want.
The Assessment criteria are the statements for APP which you should use to decide what level a student is at. You can find these by using the link above to select the Learning Objectives and then once these appear click on the APP link at the foot of that page to see the Assessment criteria that go with them. These are the phrases that are used in the APP booklet recently distributed at the Subject Leaders day (25th March) which shows two levels per page and is available to download from the link: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/150769

At the risk of providing ever too much information, a useful resource is the progression maps provided by the Govt. For each attainment target (on this they call "Statistics" "Handling data and probability") there is a progression map which breaks each AT down into a series of skills, which by name don't quite match the learning objectives or the APP criteria in other documents. Each of these skills within an AT has up to 10 steps (not NC levels though) in progression of understanding and ability. In each step you can click "View Step" for further details of what the step means, a link to the supplement of examples from the old Framework folder, a section of probing questions and a section of what to do if the students say "I don't get it". All of this is found at:
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/secondary/intervention/progressionmaps

I have been trying to match up the phrases in the new APP booklet with the phrases on the mathematics learning objectives document and don't think they do match. I also had in mind what used to be called "Key Objectives" - a phrase which I don't think really applies anymore. It seems that the phrases in the new APP booklet (the one with two levels per page that we're meant to use for levelling some students in each class) could be viewed as the key objectives as they are what is used to decide if a student is at a level or not. I found a nice document produced by eRidings on their site which I have made available at http://www.wiltshire-ast.co.uk/media/maths-documents/index.php which does list the old key objectives for each year group (and able students in y9) and matches these up to "probing questions" for each one - perhaps good to have in a scheme of work. They are called "Year 7 key objectives and probing questions eRidings" (Y7, 8, 9 and able y9 files exist.) The eRidings site that these came from also has some resources and is found at http://www.eriding.net/maths/tl_resources_sec.shtml

Using the bubble diagrams from the eMaths website I have collated information about how each skill in each AT progresses across the levels from 2 to 8 (matched to GCSE grades G to A*.) It is less visually attractive than the colourful bubble diagrams but is perhaps useful to teachers to see how skills develop. I have made these available at the usual place: http://www.wiltshire-ast.co.uk/media/maths-documents/index.php
They are called:
Number tracking levels document.
Algebra tracking levels document.
Geometry and measures tracking levels document.
Statistics tracking levels document.
Can you see the theme I used?
Hope they are useful and thanks to whoever made the bubble diagrams in the first place. The information came from something produced by Collins I think, not an exam board.
I haven't checked out how all these match up with the APP Assessment Criteria. Perhaps one rainy day.......

Helping Year 11 revise

After the SL day in February Fred circulated the questions that could be used by year 11 to categorise the types of questions they could be asked and then to devise strategies for answering them. These are available from this link: http://www.wiltshire-ast.co.uk/media/maths-documents/index.php
A quick summary of the topics is as follows:
Percentage questions
A to D grade factorising questions
Percentage right and wrong
Ratio and proportion questions
Similar shapes, circle theorems and sectors (also answers available.)

You may want to direct students to the sites listed as "Revision sites" on the left of this page. Check them yourself first though, some of them, like Kangaroo maths, might need some explanation as to how to navigate to what you want them to look at. Some, (Kangaroo maths again) include the answers too so you might want to keep this secret if you are going to use the resources as tests/homework tasks.

APP resources from Subject Leaders' Day Feb 2009

Here are some of the resources we looked at on the Subject Leaders' Day in February 2009. The are all accessed from the same link but a quick summary is as follows:
"APP Assessment Guidance" is a spreadsheet showing what the skills are at each NC level for the 6 categories in the APP assessment document.
"bap markbook" is nothing to do with bread rolls but is actually a very useful spreadsheet for keeping a record of the recognising of evidence for students you teach. Completing a class list on the first page updates all of the others and a simple colour coding shows a record of what each student has achieved.
"Very Simple Version" is Fred's spreadsheet simply showing the headings on a termly basis which you could use to track the recognising of achievement in each category. The sort of spreadsheet my mum understands.
The link to all of these is http://www.wiltshire-ast.co.uk/media/maths-documents/index.php

APP in mathematics

The Subject Leaders' training day on Feb 25th 2009 at Urchfont covered the new guidance for mathematics APP. The general message was to try to use some of the new APP guideline documents for a small sample of one of your classes. The intention is that by using this assessment for say 4 or 5 key students in one class (differing abilities, attitudes etc) you can then use these as benchmark assessments for the other students in your class. Doing it in detail for 4 or 5 means you do not need to do the detail for the others. There is no requirement to maintain a portfolio of evidence for any student. The document showing level descriptions for two levels per page is found at http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/150769 It gives a two page spread for each pair of levels (e.g. levels 2 and 3, then 3 and 4 etc) with a column for each AT at and a list of the skills within each for teachers to use as a checklist for assessing a student's ability. This was published in 2008.
This link takes you to the page containing all the training materials from the Urchfont day http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/132204?uc=force_uj
The standard 2 page grid listing all key objectives by attainment target and level can be found here: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/150773
The following link takes you to a general download and information page where you may find examples and publications which are helpful: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/search/results/nav%3A46224+facets%3A24341