Joe Murray

I taught and led the teaching of mathematics in four schools in the North West before working as mathematics consultant / adviser in two local authorities. Since 2009 I have offered free-lance consultancy, courses and CPD. I initiated and arranged eight regional SEN mathematics conferences across the north of England from 2005 and successfully completed five commissions for NCETM. Now retired, I now run some ATM branch meetings and provide some input to primary and secondary PGCE courses.

G A M E S......

Great Activities for Mathematics Enrichment and Support

Report on the workshop:

Joe gave some great ideas for tasks which would get learners actually thinking about and working out fractions and ratios without them realising that was what they were doing. Often the mention of “ratio” is enough to upset some learners but Joe gave a nice starter relating the consistency of custard to birthdays! This was a clever idea that could be adapted to suit all age groups and before long the learners would be effectively comparing ratios.

There were some good visual aids for adding fractions, always a difficult area to explain effectively but it seemed a nice natural way to lead learners into the concept of common denominators.

Joe provided several sets of cards including matching tasks and puzzle tasks involving algebra. These are always a good resource to get learners to work collaboratively and again suitable for all age groups. There were some good starter ideas encouraging learners to look for number patterns and make predictions.

I really enjoyed this session and am looking forward to trying out the tasks on my students. My only criticism of this session was the lack of time. I know Joe has a wealth of ideas to share and would love to have heard more.