MTH6110 - COMMUNICATING AND TEACHING MATHEMATICS: THE UNDERGRADUATE AMBASSADORS SCHEME - 2023/24

Below is a recording of the MTH6110 Information Session held on Mon 02 Oct 2023 via Teams, in which we discuss the application process and some module mechanics.

Teacher Feedback comes in the form of a questionnaire, which is then used to form a mark for this module.  Please note that mentor teachers may choose to leave some questions blank, as not all questions are applicable for all placements/classes.  This is common and will not adversely affect your Teacher Feedback mark.

Read carefully pp. 1--7 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al.

Identify the six components of great teaching appearing in the Executive Summary.  Look carefully at the Contents page to understand the layout of this review article.  You might also find it useful to peruse the References at the end for style, and find how these sources appear in the body of the work.

Think about your own answers to the following questions:

• What happens when you incorporate the words/phrases Mathematics, Mathematicians, in a Mathematics Classroom,  into each of the six headings?
  
• Arrange the six components from most important to least.  Do you think the order of importance changes if you add the words/phrases above?
  
• Are there any missing components, i.e., are these six the most important components of 'Great Mathematics Teaching' or did we miss anything?

Read carefully pp. 8--24 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al., the Introduction and first chapter, called What is good pedagogy?  Elements of teaching effectiveness.

Here are some guidelines to help you read this assignment:

• The first citation is (Strong et al 2011; Hamre et al 2009).  Do you know how to find and cite references like this?  Do you know where you would look to find out?
  
• What makes this a well-written introduction?  What could be done better?
  
• To self-check comprehension, try to write down a few brief summarizing sentences for each of the six subsections that appear in the first chapter.

Here is an editable word file of your Reflective Learning Logbook.  

Over the course of your placement, you are expected to keep a log of the weekly activities you undertake with your Mentor Teacher and students.  You can either print out further Weekly Log Entries to take with you and use when out on your placement, or you can type your observations in this file and update weekly. 

You may occasionally need to refer to this or be asked to share your entries, so please do stay up to date with this task and bring your Log Book with you each week to our sessions.

This template is very close to the kind of logbook you would be expected to keep in a PGCE course and completing it well will help you to focus and achieve your PDP goals!

Read carefully pp. 25--37 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al., the second chapter, called How do we measure it?  Frameworks for capturing teaching quality.

Below are some guidelines to help you read this assignment as well as practice writing for your first Critical Analysis Essay:

• Compare page 9 to page 25.  Why might the authors have chosen to start the second chapter in a different manner than the first?  Did this change help you read the section more easily?
  
• Check your basic comprehension by writing down exactly two sentences describing each of the seven methods of evaluation in this chapter (e.g., What are value-added measures and how are they used to evaluate teaching quality?)
  
• Now practice some "level 1" critical analysis by writing 2-3 bullet points on the benefits, impacts, risks and limitations of each method of evaluation.

The heading above is a link to the assessment guidelines and marking criteria that will be used to evaluate your CV.

If you have not already consulted the Maths Graduate Opportunities and Careers page or the QM Careers and Enterprise page  for general guidance on choosing your career path, now is the perfect time! The CVs and Applications section may be useful for this particular assignment.

Read carefully pp. 38--41 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al., the third chapter, called How could this promote better learning?

This week, the notes below will guide you through  are some guidelines to help you read this assignment as well as practice writing for your first Critical Analysis Essay:

• Check your basic comprehension by writing down exactly two sentences describing each of the three subsections in this chapter
  
• Practice critical analysis writing by writing exactly two sentences for each subsection on the benefits, impacts, risks and limitations and indicate which references you might follow to justify your conclusions
  
• Did you notice that the authors used effect size to justify a position on teacher feedback?  Hint: see p.40
  

Read carefully pp. 43--49 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al., the fourth chapter, called How might we take this forward?

This week, the notes below aim to help you continue developing your analytical reading and writing skills; it also will help you reflect on how you might take the results of this review, moving forward.

• Check your basic comprehension by writing down exactly four sentences describing the first subsection in this chapter (Overview of the evidence)
  
• In reading the second subsection (A general framework for teaching quality), think back to your very first ordering of the six components of great teaching.  Has your ordering changed based on what you have learned?  Why/why not?  Much of our discussion was based our impressions, which you can now substantiate; can you justify your position with research evidence now?
  
• The final subsection (Best bets to try out and evaluate) can be used when evaluating progress on your action plan.  Are there any aspects of your aims/goals which might benefit from the approaches suggested in the quick wins list?  How might you use what you have learned to become better at teaching OR communicating mathematics?

Look through pp. 50--55 of 'What makes great teaching?' by Coe et. al., the Bibliography and read carefully pp. 56--57, the Appendix.

This week, the notes below aim to help you cycle back and practice learned skills from the first half of the module: searching for references (J. Soderman's talk), reading comprehension and concise summary writing (Reading Assignments, weeks 1-5).

• Choose 5 bibliography entries at random from the Reference list and search for them.  Do you recover just the abstract or are you able to retrieve the full resource?  Do you know what steps you would take to find the full source if you are not able to fully retrieve the reference?
  
• Read the research questions appearing in the Appendix and use your notes from the previous Reading Assignments to summarise the authors' conclusions for each in a few sentences.  Some may need only 1-3 statements, whereas others may need more.
  

The heading above is a link to the presentation guidelines and marking critera that will be used to evaluate your Mathematics Presentations.

Attached are the slides for Sonia's talk.  Please do take a look at the upcoming events and links to some of the resources mentioned during our session!

This week you will begin reading your Research Article in preparation for Assignments 3 and 4

Please find your name in one of the assigned groups appearing in Assignment 3 - Research Article Summary.  Please do use the activities in our slides from Weeks 1-7 to help guide your reading and discuss any conclusions, questions and ideas with colleagues in your group as you start drafting your summary!   A summary of the reading assignments and skills gained so far in the module is attached here.

This is a sample Core Maths Curriculum Plan for Key Stage 4/Year 10 from the Oak National Academy Teacher Hub.  Please read this or any other curriculum document from the Teacher Hub in order to get an idea of topics and level of maths being covered to help you think of what you might contribute to your students' learning beyond your placement visits.

Link to the website of the Ark Teacher Training programme, from whom we heard during this week's Friday live session.  If you are interested in applying to be a part of the programme, there is a button to direct you to the application portal (as well as some more information about the programme).

Any questions about the Ark Teacher Training programme can be directed to alex.mansbridge@arkonline.org .

Link to the website of the Department of Education's Get into Teaching internships, about which we heard during this week's Friday live session.  If you are interested in applying for one of these internships, this website tells you the next steps you'll need to take.

The programme also runs an Adviser Service to connect you to an experienced teacher who may be able to help you submit a successful application for scholarship applications or teacher training.  This can be found here.

Invitation to participate in a Community-Based Learning and Teaching in Higher Education workshop, jointly run by QMUL and UCL.  The workshop will take place between 13:00-15:00 on Friday 26th April.  Anyone interested in applying can do so via the link inside the document.

The heading above is a link to the writing guidelines and marking critera that will be used to evaluate your Research Article Summary.

This is an example of a well-written research article summary from a past MTH6110 student.  The paper being summarised can be found here.

The heading above is a link to the guidelines and marking critera that will be used to evaluate your Group Presentation.