4 reasons why ttrs works for safa british school
Challenge
The math teachers at St. John Paul II Collegiate were facing one of the biggest challenges they had ever experienced.
“We had felt for a very long time that they’d become so reliant on calculators that their math facts were just non-existent,” Colin Macleod, grade-9 math teacher and Math Lead, reflected.
Teachers were faced daily with children in grades-8 and 9, wasting all their working memory on deciphering simple multiplication problems.
Students weren’t even attempting to answer questions on their provincial exams.
The students’ dependence on calculators meant huge amounts of stress and anxiety for them. The teachers too…
Previous interventions were inconsistent and haphazardly dished out only when teachers had the time. “You knew, deep down it wasn’t really happening. It just wasn’t effective.”
One of the worst things for Colin…
Children weren’t able to see any progress they’d made. “They can’t really see the improvement day-to-day,” so students weren’t benefiting from excelling in their math work.
Everything in math was a hard slog.
1. Ease of use
Tricia says:
“It’s super easy to use! So user friendly and accessible. There are lots of features that are useful when analysing data so you can see the children’s confidence and abilities increasing…but the best thing about it is that the children learn all their tables and associated facts without it being arduous. It means that children meet the Y4 expectations of 12×12 before Y4!”
We say:
On TTRS you have access to data for analysing pupil’s progression, allowing you to provide additional support where needed. Additionally, there are Bolt-Ons available for purchase.
The Stats Bolt-On gives you access to graphs and leaderboards, as well as downloadable spreadsheets for a class or the whole school.
The Sessions Bolt-On allows teachers to set their pupils specific times on specific days for when they can login and play. This function is usually used for setting homework or to implement events.
2. good news stories
Tricia says:
“There are so many good news stories! There are obviously so many children who build their confidence because they are working at their own pace … but the real success for us was the pastoral side. We created Rock Gurus – children who were so super speedy that they were flying above and beyond. These guys became 1-1 tutors for some of our less confident children which really helped to nurture the Gurus social skills. Of course we have Mohammed Abdelmoumin who was in the GBWR attempt. ”.
We say:
The ‘Rock Gurus’ initiative is the perfect way to instil confidence in both stronger and weaker students, whilst also teaching other values in relation to children working together.
3. Additional Activities
Tricia says:
“We have half termly Rock Offs where the fastest children in each year group are selected to then compete against each other in assembly. Once they win, they then become Gurus … We have teacher rock offs too and interclass competitions. We have also participated in inter school comps and the Wrangle… which Mohammed won.”
We say:
It’s always awesome to hear when schools bring TT Rock Stars to life in the classroom. The Rock Guru initiative is superb! We also happen to know that the multi-talented Tricia even turned her hand to painting a marvellous mural of Baz on the wall of her classroom (see picture).
As you will be able to see – she has really captured Baz’s awesomeness! There are lots of ways to incorporate TTRS into school fun, for more ideas, you could try a TTRS dress up day, changing display boards (resources available in the Downloads section), or an internal class/school competition.
If you are looking to embrace TT Rock Stars even further, we have a few resources which you can download for free. Head to ‘Downloads’ and choose from a wide variety of downloadable materials; worksheets, displays, certificates, posters, and many more!
"I would say buy it, believe in it and big it up. Once the children see that it’s on the walls, you can get certificates and even rock off against teachers, it’s worth it’s weight in gold!"
4. Advice for other schools in the UAE
Tricia says:
“I would say buy it, believe in it and big it up. Once the children see that it’s on the walls, you can get certificates and even rock off against teachers, it’s worth it’s weight in gold!
Children should have their own devices to really make it work well… make sure there is one person in each year group who can access the data side to set up competitions.”
We say:
Tailoring TTRS to all schools has been at the forefront of our minds. Ensuring that the game encompasses all cultures and nationalities, whilst still remaining user friendly, is paramount to us at Maths Circle.