Access Maths meeting

Four teachers from Inverclyde, Lanark, Fife and Highland met at the end of their school day to discuss Access Maths provision from Access 1 to 3. We learnt about each others' situation and the way in which our courses are run and resourced. There was concern about the 'dryness' of the course and much of the conversation centred on how to make it more lively and relevant to the pupils. A common theme was the disruption that many pupils encounter (for non Maths reasons), which meant that there was often little scope for whole-class teaching. With A Curriculum for Excellence on the horizon, we heard of some examples of cross-curricular planning eg working with Home Economics on measuring liquids; Technical/Craft on measuring lengths. The challenge is to avoid making subjects so discrete that pupils are unable to transfer skills and that they see the relevance of the skills and concepts. One way of doing this would be to ensure that the same, often technical language, is used across all subjects.

There appears to be a lack of resources at Access 1 and 2. The materials hosted at www.ltscotland.org.uk/nq/subjects/mathematics were discussed. It was noted that these are downloadable, with some having been updated since released six years ago.

Interesting ideas mentioned, included:

• take the main topics and concepts and design the classroom around them eg a height ruler at the door
  
• use an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) eg in a class of six, a teacher could set up a seperate 'flipchart' for each pupil. Promethean Planet has hundreds of Maths flipcharts created by teachers from around the world. A flipchart is like a PowerPoint slideshow, but more interactive


• use PowerPoint Maths slideshows


• TeeJay Maths - there may be an Access level esource soon
  
• Talk Money, Talk Maths - Financial education through Mathematics. Working with sample mobile phone bills etc
  
• One school in the West of Scotland has Access Maths students running a cafe as part of their studies.

The new term ... Access Network FlashMeetings are go!

Since the start of the new term, there have been two online Access Network meetings - Support for Learning (initial assessment) and a further test. I hope to post a new file on the website with links to initial assessment resources that were discussed. Many thanks to all who participated. The trial meeting (6/9/07) was attended by seven teachers from around Scotland. This session allowed participants to check access to the website and the settings for their webcam and headset.

So far there has been some interest in sharing emails and ultimately, resources. I have maintained (since the Network started five years ago) that sharing resources is a core aim of the group. Teachers have shared teaching packs, websites, verification, and even amended assessments. I expect that into the new year there will be a method of digitally sharing resources between meetings. Over the next few weeks, I will contact all those who have registered for the Network, to ask what level of sharing of details ie email, subject, level, they would be happy with.

The agenda for the Access Maths meeting (13/9/07) will be sent out to those who have signed up by the start of next week. I expect that appropriate teaching resources, National Assessments, and course planning will be on the agenda, though everyone can put forward areas for discussion.

I will be running an extra FlashMeeting live from the TeachMeet07 event in the Glasgow Science Centre. This event allows educators to briefly showcase a project that they are involved in, or some other innovative aspect of their work. You can find out more about the event here. To watch (and even participate in) the event live online, click here. There appears to be some demand for evening meetings. Many professionals around the UK take part in online meetings in the evenings. I will look into this further in the new year.

There has been encouraging news from some colleagues who have found access to the FlashMeeting website and use of a webcam blocked by their local education authority. Several are actively pursuing the resolution of this problem, with some possibility of success. This week I heard from one teacher who managed to get around having the online conference blocked in her school. She showed those in charge of the firewall a series of emails from myself, proving that this was a legitimate CPD activity, backed by the SQA through Partners in Learning.

I am slowly developing the website. You will now see a box in the top-right corner. This area allows me to share files relevant to the running of the network. I have placed a draft copy of the CPD Certificate which will be sent out in January to those who have taken part in at least one FlashMeeting. Meanwhile, I would be grateful for any feedback on the content and layout of the certificate.

The batch of headsets which were made available through the Partners in Learning funding have now been issued to those teachers who requested one. There are several new registrations to the Network, and I am trying to identify some funding to cover the purchase of some more.

Finally, I am looking for suggestions of education resources (content, experiences, tools etc), provided by commercial suppliers, that would be of interest to teachers of Access for the Access resources meeting on 11/10/07. Representatives from three companies/organisations would tell us about their products and we would have the opportunity to ask questions. As ever, you can contact me at noble_d@hillsideschool.co.uk.