Mr Barton Maths Podcast

After researchED Scotland at Dollar Academy on 22nd September 2018, Chris McGrane (@ChrisMcGrane84) and I sat down to share our thoughts and takeaways on the sessions we had seen. We discuss the 7 myths of education, the role of metacogntion, feeding forward, curriculum, variation and smashing the bell-curve. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-researched-scotland-september-2018/ 

Jeremy is a Professor of mathematics education researcher at UCL Institute of Education, the co-author, along with Dylan Wiliam, of Mathematics Inside the Black Box, and the co-creator of the ICCAMS project. We had a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion that covered is findings on a project into the best way to teach low-achieving students, the importance of mathematical stories, how to deal with relevance in mathematics, and the key role fingers have to play in learning! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/jeremy-hodgen-teaching-low-ability-students-relevance-and-fingers/ 

In this episode, I got to interview one of my all-time heroes, Simon Singh. Simon is the author of some of my favourite books, including Fermat's Last Theorem and the Codebook. But not content with retelling some of the most wonderful stories about our subject, Simon also wants to help develop mathematics excellence through his work with the Parallel Project. This is an episode not to be missed. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/simon-singh-fermats-last-theorem-and-stretching-high-attainers/  

Slice of Advice returns, and in this episode over 30 world-class educators give their answer to the question: What does the first lesson with your class look like? You will hear about specific activities, setting expectation, establishing routines, and much more from the likes of Bruno Reddy, Mark McCourt, Jemma Sherwood, Jo Facer, and many more besides. I love this episode! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/slice-of-advice-what-does-the-first-lesson-with-your-class-look-like/ 

Following his game-changing appearance on the podcast in early 2017, Greg Ashman returns to talk about his wonderful book, The Truth about Teaching. And this is one sequel that does not disappoint. We cover everything from effect sizes to growth mindset, calling in at game-based learning, slow-motion problem solving and whole class feedback along the way. This is definitely one to share with your non-maths teaching colleagues. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/greg-ashman-the-truth-about-teaching/ 

In an experimental episode, I asked 50+ of my favourite people one question: "what did you learn this year?". You will hear from the likes of Dylan William, Andrew Smith, Katharine Birbalsingh, Claire Sealy, Andrew Percival, Dan Meyer, and many others talking all things from feedback, work-life balance, signalling, metacognition, working abroad, and everything in between. A must listen for teachers of all subjects and age groups. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/slice-of-advice-what-did-you-learn-this-year/ 

After the JustMaths on 25rd June 2018, Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) and I sat down in Alton Towers to share our thoughts and takeaways on the sessions we had seen. We discuss the interesting ways AQA are using their exam questions, Mel and Seagar's secrets of their success, Ofqual's take on last summer's GCSEs, Edexcel's reaction to Year 11s Twitter postings, Jo's favourite new maths resource sites, and just why am I both dangerous and clueless? For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-justmaths-conference-2018/ 

After the LaSalle Maths Conference in Manchester on 23rd June 2018, Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) and I sat down to share our thoughts and takeaways on the sessions we had seen. In a cracker of an episode (if I do say so myself!), we discuss AQA's Level 2 Certificate, the role of storytelling, Desmos, teaching indices in depth, working in a department with non-specialists, intelligent variation, and plenty more. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-mathsconf15/ 

I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Festival of Education. And if that wasn't enough, I also got to reflect on each day's session with Kris Boulton (@Kris_Boulton) from a sun-soaked Master's garden. So sit back, relax and listen to us discuss everything from curriculum, knowledge, reading, measuring progress, Ofsted, and even Love Island For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-festival-of-education-day-2/ 

With the summer 2018 Maths GCSEs finally behind us, I thought it would be nice to reflect on the experiences of teachers and students over the first two years of sitting of the new GCSE Maths specification. And who better to join me on this voyage of discovery than my very own Head of Department, Karen Wilkinson, and the Head of Maths at Edexcel, Graham Cumming. Settle yourselves down for an enlightening discussion on good and bad questions, tiering decisions, and much, much more. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/gcse-maths-exam-special-graham-cumming-and-karen-wilkinson/ 

Tom Sherrington is a vastly experienced teacher and headteacher, blogger, speaker, and the author of one of my favourite books, The Learning Rainforest: Great teaching in real classrooms. In the episode we tackle all the big issues, from curriculum to assessment, lesson observations to different approaches to teaching. No matter what your subject, I think you will enjoy this one. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/tom-sherrington-the-learning-rainforest/ 

After the researchEd in Rugby on 9th June 2018, Jemma Sherwood (@jemmaths) and I sat down to share our thoughts and takeaways on the sessions we had seen. We discussed when it is best to introduce algebra, things we have not borrowed from higher performing regions, knowledge organisers, marking, getting carried away with research, and much more! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-researched-rugby/ 

I have been a huge fan of Harry Fletcher-Wood's writing for many years. He was a great inspiration for my work on Diagnostic Questions, and his innovative use of Twitter to summarise research findings is essential reading. I loved this interview. We structure our conversation around Harry's book, Responsive Teaching, and get into areas including writing lesson objectives, formative assessment, marking, feedback and much more besides! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/harry-fletcher-wood-responsive-teaching/ 

In this special Conference Takeaways episode, myself and English teacher Jon Sellick reflect on what we learned from attending a workshop entitled Refining assessment and reducing workload, delivered by Daisy Christodoulou, which was all about the fascinating concept of Comparative Judgement. And just as you are getting sick of our voices, I am delighted to say that Daisy herself joins us to answer a few key questions, marking her return to the podcast following her very well-received 2017 appearance. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-comparative-judgement-with-a-cameo-from-daisy-christodoulou/ 

Dylan Wiliam's 2016 appearance on the podcast remains the most listened to episode of all-time, and is always the one I direct first-time listeners to. And now Dylan is back to talk about his new book, Creating the Schools our Children need. In this episode we cover so much ground, including why decreasing class sizes is not as effective as you might think, why problem solving and critical thinking are not skills, how to harness the power of forgetting, and what is Dylan's view on how his work on formative assessment has been applied in schools. It is another classic! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/dylan-wiliam-the-return-creating-the-schools-our-children-need/ 

Alison and Charlie work for NRICH, a website of rich maths activities and problems that I am sure most of my maths teaching audience have heard of and visited. But how can we get the very best out of NRICH? Are the activities only suitable for our highest attainers? And how on earth will my students develop fluency in key skills whilst doing them? It is these questions and more that I wanted the answers to, and Alison and Charlie certainly delivered! For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/alison-kiddle-and-charlie-gilderdale-nrich/ 

Lucy is the author of one of my favourites books of last year, Cleverlands, which documents her journey and the lessons she learned from visiting some of the highest performing education regions in the world. In this interview we dig deep into why regions such as Japan, Singapore, Finland and Canada do so well and what - if anything - we can learn from them. For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/lucy-crehan-cleverlands/ 

Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) and I spent four days at the BCME conference in April of 2018, and decided to record a podcast each night - it sounded a good idea at the time. Hear our thoughts on all things from variation, manipulatives, A Level teaching, tough GCSE questions, pub quizzes and Hannah Fry... For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-bcme-day-4/

Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) and I spent four days at the BCME conference in April of 2018, and decided to record a podcast each night - it sounded a good idea at the time. Hear our thoughts on all things from variation, manipulatives, A Level teaching, tough GCSE questions, pub quizzes and Hannah Fry... For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-bcme-day-3/ 

Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) and I spent four days at the BCME conference in April of 2018, and decided to record a podcast each night - it sounded a good idea at the time. Hear our thoughts on all things from variation, manipulatives, A Level teaching, tough GCSE questions, pub quizzes and Hannah Fry... For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/conference-takeaways-bcme-day-2/