Episode 5 - Why can students appear switched off from maths already in Year 7?

Digging for the Why

Hello and welcome to Digging for the why - the podcast for maths teachers of years 5-8 looking at continuity and why we need to dig for the why in our lessons.
In this episode, Alison and Andy discuss the following:

• Andy apologises for a lack of knowledge of adjectives
• Do we take into account the difference in how children conceptualise maths to teachers?
• Clarity in the classroom - is there a difference between what the teacher thinks the lesson was vs what the student thinks the lesson was
• Move from planning what we want students to have 'done' in the lesson to how we want the students to have 'thought' in the lesson
• Give value to the students' years in maths to date
• Do we empathise enough about the transition into Y7 for our students?
• A consistent school culture can lead to consistency in classrooms and have a positive impact on teaching and learning
• Do secondary school teachers give enough credit to what students have learnt in primary schools? Spoiler alert: NO!

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

• The Balacheff article

If you enjoyed this episode please help us reach more people by leaving us a (good and 5*!!) review :-)
You can find us on twitter:
Andy - @desire2undrstnd
Alison - @AlisonHopperMEI
Our intro/outro was produced by a talented young creative - check out his Soundcloud.

If you enjoyed this episode please help us reach more people by leaving us a (good and 5*!!) review :-)
You can find us on twitter/alternatives:
Andy - Twitter/Bluesky
Alison - Twitter
Our intro/outro was produced by a talented young creative - check out his Soundcloud.