Looking inside my brain

John Tomsett

Its not just about

effort
Effective growth mindset
interventions teach the fuller

effort
+ strategies +
help from others.

formula for success:

- Yeager Walton Cohen 2013

Five steps to doing maths

questions!
Read the question.
Read the question again and circle ALL
the key points.
Write out ALL the key points at the top
of the answer space.
Look at what I have in front of me and
work out exactly what I have to do to
work out the answer.
Write out your answer clearly, line by
line.

Co-planning Lisas
Lesson
Year 11 mock feedback.
She modelled her thinking as she
completed the simultaneous equation
question.
The class wrote down her answer
verbatim as she modelled thinking
through it.
The class then attempted a similar
question.
She identified Kallan as someone who

Metacognition video 1
Lisa modelling her thinking

Metacognition video 2
Kallan modelling his thinking

The new style

questions

Probability;
Algebra
Solving equations;
Proofs;
But is it new

ENGLISH AND
MATHEMATICS

Nov 2013
(F)

GCSE
2015

Evaluate how the writer has created these

impressions.

Mathematics

Q6

Q6 - Foundation Paper
2013

Q6 New GCSE
(Specimen)

This much I know

I hardly remember a single lesson from my own school days;
You need to know your core purpose, what it is that gets you out of
bed each day to come to work;
Education is about relationships;
Our values are respect, honesty and kindness;
I understand what Wilshaw and Gove are on about when they say
context is irrelevant;
The Coalitions educational emphasis is encapsulated in the fact that
Grade 6 in the Flute;
Without being idealistically nave, stick to what you believe in;
I have to create the conditions for students and staff to thrive;
Target your resources on what matters most and just make do with
everything else;
When I admitted I couldnt be a perfect Headteacher, I became better
at my job;
Keep things simple;
To some extent, I missed my eldest son growing up.

I have to
create the
conditions for
students and

Id like to work in a school

that constantly takes note
of the stress and anxiety
level on the one hand and
standards on the other, all
the while searching for
the optimal relationship
of low anxiety and high

Video 3
Sir Ken Robinson on getting the
conditions for growth right

So what is it that all students

need for them to engage?
When I wrote my original blog
about teaching disengaged boys
a reader made this comment: In
a sense why should we be
surprised love (and I think that in
its widest sense you are talking
about loving the children) can
conquer all.

We need to do a lot more around

helping young people say how
they feel.
Stephen Habgood, founder,

Drive out fear so that everyone may work

effectively for the company.

How would you

like to be
observed to help
you best develop
your teaching?

Its all about the

outcomes

A cuboid has a square for

2 faces, the length is 1cm
longer than the height
(and the width). The
surface area of the
2
cuboid is 112cm . What
are the dimensions of the
cuboid?

Truly Great Teachers

[know that the lesson plan is] a framework
to give them the necessary flexibility to adapt
to a different way of teaching at key moments
in the lesson when the mood of the class, as it
inevitably does, changes. They recognise that
the worst lessons are those where the teacher
ploughs through the lesson plan irrespective
of how well or badly the lesson is going.
Sir Michael Wilshaw

Video 4
Rita Pierson every child deserves a
champion

Video 5
Strummer

Without people
youre nothing.
Thats my spiel.

Late Fragment
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
Raymond Carver

John Tomsett
Huntington School
www.johntomsett.com
@johntomsett
j.tomsett@huntington-ed.org.uk