S1 E6 - Motivating and challenging students with Tom Rainbow

Hello and welcome to Digging for the why - the podcast for maths teachers of years 5-8 looking at continuity and why we need to dig for the why in our lessons.

In this episode, Alison and Andy are joined by a special guest, Tom Rainbow. Together they discuss the following:

• Tom's thoughts on challenging and motivating students
• Andy's son passes the Men In Black interview process
• Do we help students awareness of what they know and don't know?
• Teachers should model thinking in class
• Whose responsibility is it to embed problem-solving time in lessons?
• Does a schools' vision for maths impact on what happens in the classroom?
• How do I plan a lesson as a new teacher that can challenge and motivate students and it doesn't wear me out by half term?
• Using 'I wonder' and 'I notice' statements to engage and motivate
• Teachers owning the lesson but still letting the students have space to explore and discover

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

• Ken Robinson's TED talk - Do schools kill creativity?

If you enjoyed this episode please help us reach more people by leaving us a (good and 5*!!) review :-)

You can find us on twitter:
Andy - @desire2undrstnd
Alison - @AlisonHopperMEI
Tom - @CoreMathsTom

Our intro/outro was produced by a talented young creative - check out his Soundcloud.

Enjoyed this episode? Help us reach more people by leaving us a 5*!! review

You can find us on X
Andy - @desire2undrstnd/Bluesky
Alison - @AlisonHopperMEI

A talented young creative iingledew produced our intro/outro – check out his Soundcloud.