Back in June I wrote about having a modus operandii across the department for our expectations in terms of book presentation and it is having a massive impact on what I am seeing in the books. We aren’t “there” yet but certainly making massive inroads in just a term! … not a clue what I’m talking about? Check it out here – > Book expectations

We started with books – my philosophy is that we focus on one big thing for a period and measure the impact – review and adjust the plans accordingly so that the practice becomes embedded before moving onto the next thing. The alternative is to take a scatter gun approach and try to do lots of things but the impact becomes so small that you wonder if its worth it because you just aren’t giving any of the “focus areas” the time they deserve – this approach also means that so many things need to change at the same time that along the way something will get forgotten and it doesn’t become part of your normal practice.

Anyway, this week I had a “moment” whilst marking my year 9 books when I came across the best student book I have EVER seen. A big statement to make I’m sure but seriously the effort this student puts into her work is just amazing and it’s not about the handwriting .. it is more than that. I also feel that I should put a disclaimer about the 2nd book – this post is about me reflecting on my practice as a teacher and what I can do to support certain groups of students better – it has absolutely nothing to do with the students (both of whom have said it is ok to use the photos by the way).

Before I explain I suppose I’d better set the scene: this is a group that is new to me this year and every lesson when we’re using the front of our exercise books (read that as “most lessons”!) I make a point of saying “front of your books, date, title” and at the start of the year I had to do lots of prompting about making notes and getting the worked examples written down with their own notes as we were discussing the work. As we are working through and discussing an example through whole-class questioning I’ll be making notes around the screen and also on the whiteboard next to it with key points on (so that if I move on to another screen on the IWB the info is still available). I also tend to reiterate any instructions in written form so that what I’m expecting is clear to all when they go onto to whatever activity I’ve set them.

This prompting to make notes has gotten less over the last few weeks apart from a couple of students that still insist on not seeing the “need” to write anything down (but that’s another story!). Before any of you jump all over me I’m not saying every lesson is the same and please don’t patronise me about the time “wasted” writing down the date and title – get over yourself – it takes seconds! And please, please, please don’t have a go at the pedagogy … students will never “discover” that the “curly E” means “universal set” .. there are times (lots of them!) in maths when students just need to be told “stuff”.  Again … get over yourself!

This week whilst marking two student books I initially wondered if they were “actually” in the same lesson, but then got thinking about the content of the notes that one of the students was making. She wasn’t just regurgitating what I had written – she was actually listening then processing the information in her own words. I suppose she is actually explaining the work to herself. I know this because some of the stuff she had written down was in none of my notes I’d made!

During today’s lesson I was raving about how good her work was after the group had done a quick quiz (OK so a “quiz” is stretching it a tad, as that implies “fun” – it was a quick non-formal open-book test that was self-marked in class) with all the recent topics on and afterwards we got talking about the quality of this students book and how it had made me think when I was marking it. This triggered lots of conversations with others in the group as to what constitutes a great book and how what this student is doing differently to just “copying the examples” down, which some of them are still blindly doing. Afterwards it was great to hear some of the students discussing with each other about what they were going to do next lesson with their own notes.

The questions in my mind now are:

• How do I get those students that don’t feel it necessary to write ANYTHING down? If these students were still achieving I suppose I would be less bothered (that’s wrong I know! but the fact I know its wrong means I’m aware of it so can deal with it) – the fact is that they aren’t where they could be (don’t get me wrong they are in no danger of failing but could do so very, very much better!) and every lesson ends up with me cajoling and nagging. I suppose the idea of linking the effort put into the work and the outcomes these students are achieving is a starting point which links to …
• How can I WAGOLL more? Don’t worry I haven’t gone mad – I do the whole “what a good one looks like” when reviewing tests etc. but have rarely used it for books and I’m considering getting a visualizer just for this purpose, especially given our focus on presentation to aid being able to communicate mathematically. Not ground breaking I know but the one and only time I used one it was such a faff! Next step is persuading tight ass Seager to buy me one .. does anyone remember how long it took for me to get a giant jenga set out of him?? Months and months!!
• How do I best encourage those that are making notes to be more adventurous? Would pointing out the best practice in the room suffice? Adventurous isn’t the word I’m looking for … I mean how do I get them to write more in their own words and not “just copy”. I’m tempted to invest in some decent A4 books and get the students to think of the books as “theirs”. The fact that they are more along the lines of journals may help change the mind-set that the books are not just “working out” books, which is obviously the way some students still consider them – not all of them think this – in fact most of their work is exemplary!

I wrote this post late last night and have just had a vivid recollection that as soon as I started my GCSEs most subjects moved to ring binders and A4 paper. There was none of the “oh bugger it! My work is already scruffy so I’ll start being neat in my next book” as every page was a new opportunity for a fresh start. Maybe that’s worth pursuing? Oh I don’t know … I’m now talking myself out of doing anything. Actually I’m not going to do nothing – the fact that I am reflecting on it is a good thing and these students know how relentless I am – I will not give up!

Food for thought on a Saturday morning! I suppose some of my thinking stems from the fact that I’m considering the “end game” and the notion that we do operate in a system that finishes with high stakes testing and the only way that is done is through written assessment. Then again isn’t note-taking a skill that is useful in the real world? Or has that become a thing of the past too?

Whatever happens … enjoy the rest of your weekend! I’m off to finish marking my year 8 tests.

PS: If any of you have any hints/tips or links to research about making notes in maths lessons in a secondary context let me know. I am genuinely really interested.