Tom Campbell Maths

Faculty Leader of Maths at UCL Academy, occasional sports historian

[Adam Boxer @adamboxer1]

Why are so few people interested in doing retrieval practice properly?

I had a Friday thought: doing retrieval properly is fundamentally a technocratic process. It involves systems, policies, processes and relentless accountability for relatively boring things (both staff and students).

Its benefits cannot be seen immediately, and take months and years to manifest. It doesn't lend itself to quick things or resources you can post and get a million likes and requests for downloads.

Also, it's especially important for the students who are targeted by the "inclusion" agenda, but particularly hard to implement properly for those students. It's much easier to land on less effective approaches for them. There is less resistance.

And, therefore, it isn't exciting or fashionable or sexy. It's hard work. It's dry. It's technocratic. So people scroll on by, and focus on something else instead.

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@adamboxer1 @totteridgeacad @adamboxer1 I live 2 mins walk from Swanlea, what makes it’s so noteworthy for you, I love a school visit!

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

Not at all a coincidence

[Quite Interesting @qikipedia]

Of the 92 clubs in the Premier and the English Football Leagues, Bromley FC are the only team to play their home games in the constituency of a Conservative MP.

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@Miss_Snuffy Humility has always been your strong suit

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@AccomplishEdu @StudyMaths The beauty of the balance scaffold is that you can produce a template sheet with a load of balances with arrows, reduced down to balances where the kids have to add the arrows in, reduced down to replacing the balance with an equals symbol i

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@AccomplishEdu @StudyMaths There is no need to create cognitive overload by displaying 2 seperate visual models at once, while I don’t mind bars as a way of demonstrating equivalence if we are trying to teach students how to solve equations using inverse operations our scaffold needs to support that

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@StudyMaths It does, much better, I’d still separate them and show an equals sign between them and then have the equation above it, but that is much more effective

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@StudyMaths Lots of students would be confused by this- at least while presented together, equivalence would be much better taught with a set of scales physically initially, then with a visual representation, then simply represented by the equal sign

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@StudyMaths I am afraid I don’t like this representation as the bar models are placed vertically when the equation has two sides, currently it’s counter intuitive to relate the bar model to the equation - neither would the method to solve follow easily - a balance would be more effective

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@lovefollowconqr Another good sign for me is that the lfc fans lean back every time West Ham miss a chance just like I do

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

Reflecting on the often spouted claim that globalisation is killing traditional football supporting cultures. I am sat in a pub on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and I feel now is a good time to give some observations of the atmosphere.

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

@lovefollowconqr There is an assumption amongst some historians and commentators that the globalisation of football means that traditional football fandom is being destroyed, but this is an example of how international fans want to take part in that traditional experience of fandom

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

First week done as head of maths, after a whirlwind of planning and induction days we finally got some maths lessons happening on Friday, felt great to be back in the classroom and visiting my teams lessons, great start to the year ahead!

[Tom Campbell Maths @MathsCampbell]

The teaching profession needs this, too many years of cuts and disrespect, we need to value our teachers so we get better staff and so that our communities see the value placed on education. This is the first step in repairing the damage, onwards and upwards!!!

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

We welcome the announcement today that teachers will be awarded a fully funded 5.5% pay award. This is a necessary first step in reversing the real terms cuts inflicted upon the profession over the last 14 years. #ValueEducators
1/3🧵

[The UCL Academy @UCL_Academy]

Another sports day full of healthy competition across the year groups. It was a brilliantly organised event with an action-packed schedule. Thank you,@UCL_PE. Excellent performances in many sports, with some previous records being broken. The house winner will be announced ASAP!