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 are joined by a special guest, Tom Rainbow (@CoreMathsTom). Together they discuss the following:

Tom’s thoughts on challenging and motivating students

Andy’s son passes the Men In Black interview process

Do we help students awareness of what they know and don’t know?

• Teachers should model thinking in class
• Whose responsibility is it to embed problem-solving time in lessons?
• Does a schools’ vision for maths impact on what happens in the classroom?
• How do I plan a lesson as a new teacher that can challenge and motivate students and it doesn’t wear me out by half term?
• Using ‘I wonder’ and ‘I notice’ statements to engage and motivate
• Teachers owning the lesson but still letting the students have space to explore and discover

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

• Ken Robinson’s TED talk – Do schools kill creativity?

Pssst…If you enjoyed this episode, please help us reach more people by leaving us a review.

Your hosts

Our intro/outro was produced by a talented young creative – check out his Soundcloud.