I’m just home having spent the last 3 days of the Easter Holiday at Keele University for the annual conference of the Mathematical Association and I’ve come away with loads to think about as you do after events of this type.

Subject associations and where they “fit” in the day to day grind of teaching are something that I’ve been pondering about as I have only been a member for a short time – of course I knew they existed but never felt the urge to join. There was no sense of urgency to join and I suppose there was also an element that they weren’t for teachers “like me”. I have nothing to rationalise why I thought that because to be honest – life is very busy and I suppose I’m pretty self-sufficient when it comes to sourcing information or I’ve never been shy in asking for advice when I hit a brick wall.

At the back end of last year I was asked if I would consider being put forward to attend the conference on behalf of the EAST MIDLANDS BRANCH of the MA (it’s actually a joint MA-ATM branch) by the marvellous Rob Smith (he really is such a nice bloke!) and after the application process I was chosen to attend as a guest (and No I wasn’t the only applicant!!).

I spent the first part of day 1 thinking that maybe I just wasn’t “mathsey” enough … by that I mean that I don’t “LOVE” maths as much as the others attending evidently do. It all felt a little academic and detached from what goes on at the coalface and I needed to remind myself that it’s not just a “Maths teacher” event. However the biggest thing that comes out of these events is meeting people in real life and this event was no different in that respect. I met people from all walks of life and without exception everybody was amazingly welcoming and friendly. I was taken with how interested those not in the state school system are fascinated by us that work in “normal” run of the mill schools.

I was also left thinking (I still am!) about how insular teaching is and how big the Maths community actually is and that I only get to see part of it – What do I mean by that? Ummmm … I suppose I mean that my thoughts and views are guided by the people I interact with and the work we do in school and also through JustMaths but we really have only touched the surface. The maths community is massive but to save my sanity I know that our area of focus has to be on what we do and ensuring that we do that to the best of our ability. I am reminded of the phrase my Mam used to have on one of those tacky wall-plates (I’m not religious but the sentiment rings so true!): God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. This is especially important as we approach the final GCSE for our first year 11s Alcester Academy and also with all the turmoil of the new GCSE.

Having said that it doesn’t mean that I will stop highlighting important issues it’s just that I need to prioritise my time on things that will make a difference to the things that are important to me in the short term whilst working on those that will come to fruition in the medium and longer terms. It’s nice to know that people like what we’re doing but we really could be doing so much more to support other teachers and schools – there really is a massive need! Maybe at some point we’ll be in a position where we can get out and support more schools on a more regular basis but for now the ad-hoc basis will have to do.

Anyway I’ve gone off on a tangent (blogging tourettes!) so, over the next day or so whilst it’s still fresh in my mind I’ll be sharing details of the sessions I attended – there were so many more that I wanted to go to – in no particular order and also writing up my thoughts for the MA’s magazine too.

One of the sessions that I really enjoyed was the one by Darren Macey from OCR who when I went to the session said “I was worried that you weren’t coming” by which I am sure he really meant “I was hoping you weren’t coming” … I am sure that he thinks I am a nutter after I’d split coffee on their display stand, climbed on a chair nearly taking out their banners when I nearly fell off and was only saved by groping him!! All for a selfie with him and Eddie Wilde! I am seriously embarrassed having promised to be a consummate professional but I am me and will always be true to myself … what you see is what you get! (I guess most of you know that by now!)

During his session he gave us questions that he had collected together similar topic questions from their archive and we had to decide which year they were from. It was an amazing exercise to do and I hope he shares them … it’d be quite a good exercise to do on Twitter. Tweet the question and ask people to choose A, B, C etc. He also gave an overview of the changes and pointed us in the direction of www.educationengland.org.uk which is a phenomenal site. I have this morning spent a couple hours of my life (that I will never get back!) reading parts of it … it is evident that education in the last 100 years or so has always been subject to the whims of reports and politicians and this will never change.

On that note the below shows my notes from the session and I’ll be back later with details of more sessions and I promise the write ups of the other sessions won’t include me going off on one!