Maths teacher

I never said it was easy, I said it's the easiest subject to teach. English is easier than maths but it's still harder to teach.

Worksheets Vs Textbooks not much different and my Yr8 and Yr9 teacher use to teach a subject and then do textbook work and help people if they are stuck but my Y10 teacher teaches a topic,,then does group work tasks and semi-tasks and even took my pen off me because she had given the class time for reading the question and not answering it and she is even trying to incorporate English into the subject-instructions for mathematics.Learning is much for fun by the textbook.I hate all this group work and creative nonsense eg.posters,instructions.

if you don't even understand the topic then you can open a textbook beforehand and look at the examples where as in English you have to interpret and analyse a Specific text and whatever example they have in the textbook won't really help you make another where as an example in a maths textbook will allow you to have the understanding to solve pritty much all problems.

Do you teach maths?

I seem to argue a lot with people about how many hours a week maths teachers work. As far as I can see, marking would take next to no time (provided you've figured out the answers in advance - it's essentially a tick job) and I feel pretty confident of my ability to make up decent lessons on the fly, with a bit of practice of course.

I concede that an english teacher may have many essays to read etc. causing them to work much longer hours, but I don't see the relevance to maths teaching.

I never said it was easy, I said it's the easiest subject to teach. English is easier than maths but it's still harder to teach.

Yes, also philosophy, economics and business - but mainly maths.



Marking takes longer than you think. It is no longer deemed acceptable to "tick and flick" the book - you have to set specific targets for each student which link to the government's core objectives. The marking is a particular bother with key stage 3. However the amount of marking and assessment depends on the school policies - you may be required to set targets for each class every couple of weeks (a bugger if you have lots of classes).
Even tick and flick takes a while - a student may do 300 questions in a week - ticking and flicking, even with the answers, can take a while - and that's before you get onto correcting student work and showing why it's wrong (I don't recommend marking every bit of work).

Every teacher thinks he can teach on the fly before he starts - I certainly believed I could. In short, you can't. You're school may require lesson plans each lesson, but regardless, you will need clear pre-lesson thought. Forget "which exercises from the book and what examples on the board". Think "How do I hand out the books quickly without the class becoming disruptive, what do I do when little johnny decides he won't do exercise A and throws a tantrum, what extra resources can be used to support those that don't get the mathematical explanation for pythagoras etc."



Doesn't work like that. I teach Maths, Economics, Philosophy and Business. They all have their challenges. My Year 8 maths last year provided the biggest challenge, this year it's the Yr 12 philosophy. A subject isn't easier or harder to teach, it depends on the class.

I'm counting on you here..

That's probably a bad move. I routinely bow out when it looks like people are about to conclude that all teachers are inherently lazy and only do the job because:

a) the holidays are long

b) they stop work at 3.30 p.m.

c) they wouldn't cut it in the real world

d) they couldn't think of anything better to do with their low-class degree

e) they hate children and want to make them suffer

Maths is the absolute easiest subject to teach. You teach them the steps, they follow it, they pass the test. And it's not even steps that can go wrong like in cooking or chemistry. The pupils don't even need to understand what they are doing. All of my maths class could integrate after being told "add one to the power and divide by the new power". But did they know that they were really doing a summation of infinitely small terms? Nope.This is probably more a failing of the exam board syllabus than the subject itself however.

You teach them the steps, they follow it, they pass the test.

What about the fact that alot of pupils will completely hate this subject? What about the pupils in year 11 who still can't multiply? You clearly did well at the subject and therefore have no concept of it being difficult and how lower ability students find it. What about the fact that it is a subject which is less naturally engaging than other subjects? Making it relevant and interesting is a massive challenge. I assure you it is NOT easy in any way.

That's how you'd teach that?

Well, I'm an English teacher, and I don't understand. I don't know what any of the words or concepts mean, and I don't have any understanding of how the formula works. I think there are a lot of people who would be incredibly confused by that explanation. You'd need a lot more thought to your lesson than that. Everyone learns in different ways, and you have to be able to incorporate that into your teaching, or all kids who don't learn exactly the same way as you will be neglected.

I would also like to point out that not everyone is good at maths. I have dyscalculia, and all through school struggled to the point of tears with maths lessons.

Well that's not true. Up until about Year 8 I struggled to the point of tears. After that I learnt that I could just kick up a fuss and get removed from the room, or I could avoid doing work through bad behaviour. If you really think that maths is just about setting questions from a textbook, expect an entire class full of kids who behave in that manner because kids will quickly learn which subject is routinely boring or which is going to contain a lot of information they don't understand.


Every lesson requires thorough planning. What if you need to move onto a topic that doesn't have a textbook to use as a crutch? How will you teach if all you know how to do is set exercises from a book?

I couldn't multiply the conventional way when I started A-level maths all those years ago, it's pretty irrelevant - numeracy is to maths as spelling is to poetry.

And I disagree - I think maths is naturally engaging, I certainly found it so at school, and making it relevant is not difficult if you have a passion for mathematics outside of just passing exams.

If any student asked me what the point of learning pythagoras was, or why they need to know how to construct a histogram, or why quadratic equations are useful, I could literally reel off half-a-dozen examples off the top of my head which are both interesting and relevant to them.

If you want your class to get decent grades, it's very important they follow the syllabus and hence the books-written-by-senior-examiners very closely.

I could literally reel off half-a-dozen examples off the top of my head which are both interesting and relevant to them.

"What's the point of algebra? My mum doesn't know anyone who has ever used algebra and everyone in her factory agrees it is a pile of crap and we shouldn't have to learn it. My dad hasn't used any maths since he left school and he has two cars and a snooker table and he said he's going to sort you out if you keep wasting my time."

30 students bang on their desks and heckle you.

Over to you.

I will agree with the fact that Maths above GCSE Grade C isn't used in life,which is very strange because i don't understand why they teach it.Noone uses X2 or irrational surds and messes with them but maths is very fun and i love algebra but there actually is no point in it.

The Government has announced that, by 2021, a minimum of 80% of young people must study mathematics to the age of 18. Bizarrely they believe a more advanced understanding of this silly, pointless subject is vital for our national economy! Why oh why didn't they hire you as policy consultant?

The Government has announced that, by 2021, a minimum of 80% of young people must study mathematics to the age of 18. Bizarrely they believe a more advanced understanding of this silly, pointless subject is vital for our national economy! Why oh why didn't they hire you as policy consultant?

But didn't you know? Everyone who's ever been to school is an expert on education!

I suppose at least that target means that kids can do GCSE retakes, right? I think I would have purposely failed GCSE to avoid doing it at a higher level if I knew I had to keep going with it....


(subject snobbery not intended, I think forcing kids to study anything they actively dislike at KS5 is a bad idea)

I will agree with the fact that Maths above GCSE Grade C isn't used in life,which is very strange because i don't understand why they teach it.Noone uses X2 or irrational surds and messes with them but maths is very fun and i love algebra but there actually is no point in it.