Too quiet

It’s been quiet around here. A little too quiet.

The first half of this year was a bit crazy. I tried to juggle increased travel and talks with teaching, research and student supervision. It was not always successful. I didn’t quite realise how crazy it felt until I stopped. A week of quietness has helped replenish some rather depleted batteries!

But teaching restarts next week, and along with it, this blog. I won’t post at the rate I did during the #MTBoS30 challenge (which my friend Linda correctly pointed out was rather frenetic), but I hope to manage at least a couple of posts per week to reflect on what happens in class.

The course is Developing Mathematical Thinking. It is a maths elective for pre-service teachers training in primary and middle maths. I’m rather proud of this course, having established it in order to increase students’ problem-solving skills, develop their confidence in tackling unfamiliar problems, promote mathematical communication, and stimulate curiosity. I pair rich mathematical tasks with explicit coaching in mathematical processes and purposeful reflection; I’ve blogged about some of the learning experiences from previous years. It’s as joyful to teach as it sounds. I’ve taught this course twice; the second year we doubled the number of places due to demand. This year, the course was fully enrolled months in advance.

The warm responses to this course make me very happy. But I’m particularly excited now by the opportunity to incorporate new ideas and to refine existing ones, based on the rich discussions at conferences, workshops and on Twitter, the thoughtful #MTBoS blogposts, and reflecting on past experiences through this blog. I’ve spent the last two days planning and reorganising. The past year has been one of growth, and I’m looking forward to infusing my teaching with my evolving perspectives on how best to learn and to teach mathematics.

I hope you’ll join my reflective journey through the course, starting next week.