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Conference Presentations by Nicola Moksa

Teaching for Mastery in Mathematics

This is the PowerPoint I shared with teachers at the Educating Northants Conference on 30th March... more This is the PowerPoint I shared with teachers at the Educating Northants Conference on 30th March 2019. This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coherence, fluency, mathematical thinking, representation & structure, variation) and how these support children with developing a deep understanding during lessons. It included practical examples of how these big ideas can be integrated into lessons to ensure all children are developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. I included some time in the session for questions about Teaching for Mastery and how I have integrated this into my classroom and across the whole school as mathematics leader.

Teaching for mastery in mathematics

This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coh... more This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coherence, fluency, mathematical thinking, representation & structure, variation) and how these support children with developing a deep understanding during lessons. It included practical examples of how these big ideas can be integrated into lessons to ensure all children are developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. I included some time in the session for questions about Teaching for Mastery and how I have integrated this into my classroom and across the whole school as mathematics leader.

This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-writt... more This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area.

It should be noted that this paper grew from a paper presented at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education just one month before in May 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters are the same. However, for this presentation at University of Northampton three new colleagues joined the team of presenters adding new dimensions to this presentation and to the discussions that it has generated.

I am currently a primary school teacher leading mathematics in a school in Northampton. From pre... more I am currently a primary school teacher leading mathematics in a school in Northampton. From previous work, I was interested in how teachers can further develop children’s connections in mathematics to ensure they are not just learning facts and methods but developing as mathematicians. To research into this, I decided to start by looking in depth into teachers’ perceptions. Initially, I researched into how children develop mathematical connections and, from this, developed three main themes of communication, participation and time. I then identified six common categories linked to these themes, which I used to code the data. These were: teachers’ communication, children’s communication, noticing patterns, applying skills, using representations and giving time. These were developed through extensive reading, however, the most influential authors were: Askew et al. (1997); Drury (2015); Barmby et al. (2009 and 2010) and Turner and McCullouch (2004).

I used a case study methodology and, within this, I conducted semi-structured interviews and document scrutiny. I interviewed four teachers from the school where I currently work, I transcribed these interviews and also collected planning over a five-week period. To analyse this data, I used the categories that emerged from my conceptual framework to code the data and identified any emerging themes. The main findings about teachers’ perceptions from this research were: the way teachers communicate mathematics through modelling, questioning and the correct use of vocabulary is key; if children are giving reasons for their answers and talking about the representations they are using, they are showing they have made connections; the order in which mathematical topics are taught is vitally important but something teachers find difficult to manage; children need to develop connections independently as well as working with others to clarify their thinking; problem solving activities and recapping learning needs to happen on a regular basis and finding enough time to develop connections is something teachers find difficult.

These are the slides from the conference presentation. A paper based on this presentation will be... more These are the slides from the conference presentation. A paper based on this presentation will be available online shortly. All authors were equal contributors.

This paper is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform classroom practice. Therefore this paper fits with the conference theme of ‘bridging the gap’ between practice and research. ‘The gap’ is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the practice of teachers. However, in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers. This includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and ‘non-positional teacher leadership’ methodologies as possible solutions to this issue. Within this paper we present research stories from within these approaches. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others. In this paper we do not attempt an exploration of all these methodological positions from a theoretical perspective. Instead we tell a series of research stories that illustrate how conventions have been re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. It is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper will contribute to a discussion in this area.

Papers by Nicola Moksa

This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-written ... more This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area. It should be noted that this paper grew from a paper presented at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education just one month before in May 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters are the same. However, for this presentation at University of Northampton three new colleagues joined the team of presenters adding new dimensions to this presentation and to the discussions that it has generated.

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using... more This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and wi...

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves usin... more This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices will be of interest and can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area.
It should be noted that this paper grew from two conference presentations: the first presentation was at at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education in May 2016 and the second at The University of Northampton, Education Research Conference in June 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters presented at both. However, two presented at Cambridge only and three new colleagues joined the team of presenters at Northampton. Others included in this paper submitted a research story but did not present. Slides from the presentations are available on ‘researchgate’ and ‘academia’.
This is at the moment a living document and if other teacher researchers affiliated to the University of Northampton wish to send further research stories please do so and a further iteration will be made available online.

Teaching for Mastery in Mathematics

This is the PowerPoint I shared with teachers at the Educating Northants Conference on 30th March... more This is the PowerPoint I shared with teachers at the Educating Northants Conference on 30th March 2019. This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coherence, fluency, mathematical thinking, representation & structure, variation) and how these support children with developing a deep understanding during lessons. It included practical examples of how these big ideas can be integrated into lessons to ensure all children are developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. I included some time in the session for questions about Teaching for Mastery and how I have integrated this into my classroom and across the whole school as mathematics leader.

Teaching for mastery in mathematics

This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coh... more This session gave an overview of the five big ideas when Teaching for Mastery in mathematics (coherence, fluency, mathematical thinking, representation & structure, variation) and how these support children with developing a deep understanding during lessons. It included practical examples of how these big ideas can be integrated into lessons to ensure all children are developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. I included some time in the session for questions about Teaching for Mastery and how I have integrated this into my classroom and across the whole school as mathematics leader.

This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-writt... more This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area.

It should be noted that this paper grew from a paper presented at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education just one month before in May 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters are the same. However, for this presentation at University of Northampton three new colleagues joined the team of presenters adding new dimensions to this presentation and to the discussions that it has generated.

I am currently a primary school teacher leading mathematics in a school in Northampton. From pre... more I am currently a primary school teacher leading mathematics in a school in Northampton. From previous work, I was interested in how teachers can further develop children’s connections in mathematics to ensure they are not just learning facts and methods but developing as mathematicians. To research into this, I decided to start by looking in depth into teachers’ perceptions. Initially, I researched into how children develop mathematical connections and, from this, developed three main themes of communication, participation and time. I then identified six common categories linked to these themes, which I used to code the data. These were: teachers’ communication, children’s communication, noticing patterns, applying skills, using representations and giving time. These were developed through extensive reading, however, the most influential authors were: Askew et al. (1997); Drury (2015); Barmby et al. (2009 and 2010) and Turner and McCullouch (2004).

I used a case study methodology and, within this, I conducted semi-structured interviews and document scrutiny. I interviewed four teachers from the school where I currently work, I transcribed these interviews and also collected planning over a five-week period. To analyse this data, I used the categories that emerged from my conceptual framework to code the data and identified any emerging themes. The main findings about teachers’ perceptions from this research were: the way teachers communicate mathematics through modelling, questioning and the correct use of vocabulary is key; if children are giving reasons for their answers and talking about the representations they are using, they are showing they have made connections; the order in which mathematical topics are taught is vitally important but something teachers find difficult to manage; children need to develop connections independently as well as working with others to clarify their thinking; problem solving activities and recapping learning needs to happen on a regular basis and finding enough time to develop connections is something teachers find difficult.

These are the slides from the conference presentation. A paper based on this presentation will be... more These are the slides from the conference presentation. A paper based on this presentation will be available online shortly. All authors were equal contributors.

This paper is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform classroom practice. Therefore this paper fits with the conference theme of ‘bridging the gap’ between practice and research. ‘The gap’ is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the practice of teachers. However, in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers. This includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and ‘non-positional teacher leadership’ methodologies as possible solutions to this issue. Within this paper we present research stories from within these approaches. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others. In this paper we do not attempt an exploration of all these methodological positions from a theoretical perspective. Instead we tell a series of research stories that illustrate how conventions have been re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. It is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper will contribute to a discussion in this area.

This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-written ... more This was presented at the Cambridge University Kaleidoscope Conference 2016 This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area. It should be noted that this paper grew from a paper presented at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education just one month before in May 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters are the same. However, for this presentation at University of Northampton three new colleagues joined the team of presenters adding new dimensions to this presentation and to the discussions that it has generated.

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using... more This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and wi...

This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves usin... more This is a co-written paper. All the writers are currently engaged in research that involves using theory to inform our classroom practice. The gap between research and practice is usually understood to refer to the gap that prevents academic research from impacting upon the day to day practice of teachers but in this paper we flip this around and ask instead how the practices and conventions of teaching shape the way that we work as researchers, this includes among others: the design of research questions, the methodological choices that we make and our strategies for dissemination. Schools move at a much faster pace than the conventions of research accommodate. They are places where day to day decisions are made rapidly and continuously regardless of whether research is being conducted. This disconnect between the conventions of research and the working processes of schools gave rise to action research and teacher leadership methodologies as possible solutions to this issue, and within this paper are presented research stories from within the action research methodology. However, it is equally problematic to confine teacher researchers to being inevitably bound to conduct research within these methodological approaches. Teachers can also conduct research within a case study, ethnographic or auto-ethnographic (reflective) methodological frame and within others, indeed are perhaps uniquely positioned to produce rich and engaging auto-ethnographic research stories. Therefore we also discuss how these conventions are re-shaped and re-imagined when research is conducted by teacher researchers. Finally, it is also possible that the ways that teacher researchers make methodological choices will be of interest and can inform the choices of academic researchers even those working outside the field of education. This paper was written in order to contribute to a rich discussion in this area.
It should be noted that this paper grew from two conference presentations: the first presentation was at at the Kaleidoscope Conference held at Cambridge University, Faculty of Education in May 2016 and the second at The University of Northampton, Education Research Conference in June 2016. The themes addressed are very similar and four of the presenters presented at both. However, two presented at Cambridge only and three new colleagues joined the team of presenters at Northampton. Others included in this paper submitted a research story but did not present. Slides from the presentations are available on ‘researchgate’ and ‘academia’.
This is at the moment a living document and if other teacher researchers affiliated to the University of Northampton wish to send further research stories please do so and a further iteration will be made available online.