About me Nicola Ryan University of Northampton part

About me Ø Nicola Ryan Ø University of Northampton – part time Masters completed in 2016 Ø Full time teacher and mathematics leader in a four form entry Junior School in Northamptonshire. ØTeacher for eight years and leader of mathematics for six years.

Why I did teacher research Ø I lead mathematics across the school and support teachers with improving practice. Ø Children have good fluency skills but children and teachers are finding the new National Curriculum aims of reasoning and problem solving trickier to develop. Ø I wanted to support teachers with developing this but could not identify specific needs for training. Ø Therefore, I needed to gain current perceptions to identify the next steps in training. Ø This future training will be linked to identified needs and, when taken back to the classroom, will help children to make stronger connections in mathematics and improve their reasoning and problem solving skills.

Being a teacher researcher Ø Previous modules studied • All linked to mathematics and improvements in school. • A range of literature read over four years. • I developed an interest in mathematics and how children develop as mathematicians. Ø My role as a leader • Supporting 20 teachers in a primary school, children aged 4 – 11. • Delivering continuing professional development throughout the school year and wanted to have a specific focus for this. • This research has allowed my knowledge of how to support children with developing connections to grow further which I have shared with others. Ø My role as a teacher • I have learnt a lot about how to develop children’s mathematical connections through my conceptual framework and have been more aware of this in my own practice. • I have changed things in my own classroom based on my reading and shared this with others.

Topic and Methodology Ø Research title • Primary school teachers’ perceptions of how children learn to make connections in mathematics Ø Research questions • What does children making connections in mathematics mean to teachers? • How do teachers think they support children with making connections in mathematics? • What do teachers consider to be evidence of children making connections in mathematics? Ø Methodology • Case study – focused on four teachers from one school and their perceptions. • The framework I developed could be used in other contexts now. Ø Method • Semi – structured interviews lasting 45 minutes. • Document collection of planning and lesson reviews over a five-week period. • Could now extend to a survey methodology to support other contexts.

What I found out Ø The teachers’ use of questions and modelling, the order of teaching mathematical skills, a whole school approach to mathematics and the time spent on the aspects above are major factors linking these conclusions together. Ø I identified that teachers in this context feel that curriculum restraints and time restraints are a barrier to children making connections. Ø As a mathematics leader, I need to develop a long term plan which takes this into consideration thinking about the order of topics being taught to allow children to connect mathematical topics. Ø Also, ensuring that this is embedded across the whole school to allow children to make these connections throughout their time in school. Ø Training I need to focus on next is how questioning and modelling can develop children's connections in mathematics as this is what the teachers identified as making the most impact on this.

Questions Contact details Email: nicky_ryan 86@hotmail. com Number: 447761908595