#MathsToday Student asked a delightful question. If asked to sketch a graph in an exam, could you draw non-orthogonal axes and then do the sketch correctly according to those and still get the marks? I said you’d probably unlock a secret grade.

#MathsToday Bob Loblaw’s Log Laws

#MathToday but last week. It feels like an important thing about circles theorems that kids draw them while thinking about the structure. Interesting to see how different classes react when asked to work with their 'mind's eye'.

New opening in my lovely department. Wonderful colleagues, very supportive SLT, brilliant kids. Within easy reach of Cambridge and north Essex / Herfordshire. 'Outstanding' across the board from Ofsted in 2024. www.swchs.net/blog/?pid=37...

New opening in my lovely department. Wonderful colleagues, very supportive SLT, brilliant kids. Within easy reach of Cambridge and north Essex / Herfordshire. 'Outstanding' across the board from Ofsted in 2024. www.swchs.net/blog/?pid=37...

#mathstoday Saw a colleague doing a cute version of a classic.

Old Boniface he took his cheer,
Then he bored a hole through a solid sphere,
Clear through the centre, straight and strong,
And the hole was just six inches long.
Now tell me, when the end was gained,
What volume in the sphere remained?

According my students, this is what I’d look like if transported, TRON-style, inside Desmos.

#MathsToday -ish. I failed to convince everyone in my Y12 class that finding the nth term of p-gon numbers was a suitable end-of-term activity - part of my ongoing campaign to stop them cranking out algebra and consider structure first. But maths did win the fancy dress, so that cheered me up.

#MathsToday -ish. Two tasks from Key Stage 3 that we come back to in Key Stage 5. (Sadly didn't have any of my current Year 13s in Year 7/8, which always makes this more amusing.)

#MathsToday -ish. 'Sir, what the heck is that doing there?'

#MathsToday I have been skiving lessons to go on a Heads of Maths beano. Currently on the way back to school where tonight there will be the second mathsy-sounding music event in recent weeks. Missed the Moog Ensemble to go to MathsConf, looking forward to Year 9 with Sö this evening.

#MathsToday Adventures in over-complicated mock feedback. Actually, this worked quite well as an opener on what they need to think about when closing the gap.

#MathsToday A day of parameters. Year 11 happily chomping through parameters as coefficients. But Year 12 confuddled by this question, which needs to graduate to its own lesson rather than being tagged on the end of the circles topic - there must be a nice family of questions in there somewhere.

#MathsToday Quadratic formula with Y12, thinking about where the -b/2a bit is on the graph and what it means to +- (b^2-4ac)^0.5/2a to get to the roots, even if roots are complex.

Looked at 'phantom graphs', had fun, but next year I really need get around to planning a task not just a discussion.

#MathsToday Variation, baby. Ended up wishing I'd done it on the flat first. Also wished I'd squeezed q1-4 onto one line.

Was interesting which students drew little triangles and which kept expanding the angle from the slope past 90 degrees. A q between 5 and 6 would have been helped draw this out.

Two lovely discussions about history of mathematics. All children should have the chance to learn about this stuff in their maths lessons.

In #mathstoday (yesterday) we put out a job advert for January start. I know I’m biased but it really is a great place to work that gives you lots of freedom to develop into the teacher you want to be. Please share with those you know in the Cambridge area… www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy...

#MathsToday Year 12 singing 2piR to the tune of Kumbaya.