This teacher training course is made of 5 topics, this topic: using timely practice, is made of 12 layers. The teacher may read about each layer here and if desired or required can use the timely practice app to embed the course into their long-term memory. |
This timely practice course, explaining and training has only 1 topic theme teacher training whereas the timely practice course to teach maths to GCSE has 6.
teacher training | maths to GCSE | FYI | |
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topic themes |
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topic themes are made up of topics | explaining and training is made up of these 5 topics:
| integer is made up of some expected topics e.g.
and some less traditional ones e.g.
| The number of topics in a topic theme varies. Currently the topic theme not loaded into the timely practice app, May 2022, is word problems which will contain topics such as secret x sign (questions which require the learner to know to multiply and to have the skills to multiply without a calculator). |
topics are made up of layers | For this layer
The layers in the teacher training course are numbered in the order they are most likely to be useful to learn. | Maths topics are split into up to 16 layers e.g.
The layers in each maths topic are numbered in order of difficulty, so layer 1 is the easiest layer. | The number of layers varies from topic to topic. Layers provide a staircase from the very easiest skill to the hardest skill. Each stair is of a suitable size for learners who have a smaller working memory capacity than their peers. Some topics have missing layers. These are kept, for when the very lowest attaining learners (at or below the 5th percentile) reach these harder layers. Our experience is that learners above the 5th percentile don’t need them. |
layers are made up of questions | Questions in the training teacher layers are intended to draw out the teacher’s existing knowledge and be quick to answer - often with close questions. | Questions in the maths layers may be
| Questions are similar enough, so that if the user can answer 1 or 2 they can probably answer all the questions in a layer. Questions are different enough that they provide interest to the brain, so they are most likely to embed learning efficiently. |
in lesson learning All of the maths topic themes have teach-learn questions and practise-learn worksheets for every layer of every topic. These can be found in learning resources. More about using these teaching and learning resources can be found in https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/3110699127/Using+timely+practice#(9)-plan-teaching-on-firm-learning-foundations None of the training teachers topics have teach-learn and practise-learn questions for any layers of any topic. The teacher must teach themselves by reading the information found within this, the CKB (customer knowledge base). |
pre assess and post assess and retrieval practice All layers of all topics within all topic themes have questions which the app uses to
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With timely practice we always start the same way, by finding out what the learner already knows.
Each learner begins with a randomly assigned question, which significantly reduces peer-to-peer copying. Copying is the enemy of
Most layers have 6 to 20 questions which the timely practice app will use to pre assess, post assess and retrieval practice. |
Usually when a teacher begins teacher training with timely practice, we will set up the account:
Thereafter the teacher will
The teacher training questions are designed so that
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Learners need to go in a class.
Here are the steps.
| 2. Type in the class name | 3. Tap the class name. 4. Too add a learner (tap the blue circle with + and learner logo inside) | 5. Type in the learner’s names. NB to save screen space, the chosen name will be used by the app so e.g. Sam A and Sam H would be good names to differentiate between learners. |
6. Edit the learner’s Level for Learner (but only if additional info is available, otherwise leave as Don’t know) | 7. Tap Save (top right) Add all the learners to the class by repeating steps 4 to 7 | 8. To adjust the Pace for Practice slider, tap the learner’s name | 9. Slide the blue circle to the most appropriate percentage |
After a few lessons the teacher may want to adjust the Pace for Practice for faster working and/or slower working learners (so that the assignments for all learners in the class take approximately the same length of time to complete). Follow steps 8. and 9 to do this. | Ava will have 130% of the nominal number of questions per assignment. | Baz will have 80% of the nominal number of questions per assignment. |
When we start mid-way through a year
The teacher must make sure they do not pre assess any topics which have been taught within the last 4 weeks, to avoid post assess - which may be soon forgotten - being measured as if it is remembered well.
Assessing learning in advance of teaching with timely practice
If a school has decided to use timely practice - whether for all the lessons or part of of the lessons for a trial - they will need to make sure enough pre assess has been done in advance of teaching. The school/teacher will almost certainly want to not distress the learners by subjecting them to 4 or more lessons made up entirely of assessment so
the school might fit some pre assess into part of each of their normal lessons and so continue teaching, during the pre assess process,
or possibly, the school might fit some pre assess into some non-content driven project work, or end of term project work, if they have some planned,
or the school might allocate one complete lesson to pre assess and thereafter part of each lesson (perhaps in lieu of a start of lesson warm up).
Usually the school/department/teacher will want to
If the next block/unit is short the school/department/teacher may have to start timely practice after an additional block/unit. The following gives some rules of thumb for the lead time:
It isn’t the end of the world if 1 or 2 learners have not fully completed the pre assess process, but in a trial, especially with smaller classes, having 2 learners with incomplete data will make analysis inaccurate. Learners who have poor attendance are very likely to make better progress with timely practice than they would without timely practice, so it would be a shame to not be able to measure their progress. |
Extension for the teacher/manager who will supervise a comparative trial
Whether the school/department/teacher is using timely practice to find out
how effective their current SOL with one class and how effective a timely practice SOL is with another class
or to compare a year where some teaching is done using the current SOL and some using a timely practice SOL
they will need to decide what the lead time needs to be - when sufficient pre assess is likely to have been done - so they can measure embedded learning at the start of a trial. We are happy to give advice about this.
With most traditional schemes of learning, a block or unit is made up of only part of a topic theme e.g. algebraic tinkering in kangaroomaths.com So only pre assess the topics which are within the SOL e.g. in algebraic tinkering select simplify +/-, simplify x/÷, expandLinear, factorise and valueAlgebra but not algebraGraphs, inequality, sequenceArithmetic, sequenceOther, solvingReady, solve, writeAlgebra |
With timely practice, we strongly recommend a scheme of learning which cycles through most topics more than once a year - we call this a breadth first scheme of learning. So pre assess all the topics that any learner may already know, or may be taught. |
How long the pre assess takes will depend on the attainment of the class and the intensity at which the school wants to do the pre assess process. Here are some suggestions for the way pre assess can be done
Pre assess will feel less threatening than traditional tests as the learners, will become aware of questions they can do returning, and questions they couldn’t do being dropped. When trying to calculate how much time pre assess will require in advance of teaching
Carefully add the SOL into the app, making sure it is not pre assessing
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The teacher should add all the topics that they will teach, in the approximate teaching order.
I think its easier to add all the Topic Themes in order, then edit each to select the topics required, but teachers may prefer to add 1 topic theme and then its topics, and repeat. |
add all Topic Themes in order …
| 4. Tap the blue folder (with a blue circle with a + inside) beside the writing Add Theme | 5. Tap (the chosen) Topic theme e.g. Integer | 6. Repeat steps 4. and 5. Add all the topic themes 7. Tap Save |
… then add all topics
| 3. Tap the topic circle for each topic (in expected teaching order) 4. Tap the left arrow (in the blue bar) | 5. Repeat steps 1. to 4. | 6. Tap Save (top right) |
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Most topics are named traditionally e.g. factorise or standard form however some are named a little differently e.g. correct to nearest (rounding) and value algebra (substitution) write algebra (writing expressions and formulas).
There are plenty of topic themes to fill gaps in numeracy skills - which often aren’t included in many paid for SOL + text books - ignoring these gaps make learning new maths that much harder for “our cohort”, whereas finding and filling these learning gaps makes new maths learning more successful and feel more successful. timely practice wants to find and fill these numeracy gaps - most of which are found within the topic theme integer. Along with creating all the questions, we’ve created ladders to mastery, so we’ve tried to choose topic names which describe these paths.
We also have
and their corresponding word problem versions
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A planning and preparation session, is the place to do all the planning and preparation for the next lesson (although sometimes printing will need to be scheduled from elsewhere)
| 4. Does the date need to change? The date should the lesson or homework date. | Change the date if necessary
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The tab logo is a small staircase - indicating the small step wise progress possible with timely practice in:
The logo for a planning and preparation session, the sideways trident shows the 3 activities which timely practice provides which will move the learner further forward in their learning
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| 4. Check date is correct (or change by tapping the blue date) 5. N.B. Pre-Assess is already selected (so no need to change this) 6. Edit the nominal number of questions if necessary (the number of questions which the learner will get if their Pace for Practice is 100%) 7. If there any learners who don’t need an assignment (e.g. were away last lesson, so already have one) tap their names to untick them 8. Tap the blue Create button | The app will begin to create the assignments. | FYI on nominal number of questions Learners with
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| 2. Scroll to Download 3. Tap the green down arrow for each learner Not there?
| 4. Find where your android device puts the files. Hint it may be in
7. Print them from the android device or email and then print. | FYI
If an error has occurred, take a screenshot of the “helpful” comments from the app and contact us. The blue egg timer logo - the assignments are being created |
| 2. Scroll down to Assess 3. Tap the learner’s name | 4. Assess each question 5. Once all questions are assessed tap the floppy disc symbol to save. | FYI |
4a. Use the answers given for each question 4b. Use your writing hand to write the assessment code on the PDF ✔︎ or🔔 4c. Use your non-writing hand to tap the assessment code the in the app There are 3 choices:
Pre-Assess is about finding firm learning foundations, so if a question isn’t completely correct - it is best learned later. timely practice is in the business of ensuring that learners can almost always get full marks in questions they know how to do - but expecting good accuracy and good enough explanations. | Note on reset: Usually the learner can complete the assignment the next lesson, but sometimes the teacher will want to reduce the learner’s Pace for Practice, so that all learners can complete each assignment in roughly the same time. Note on almost any error*
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The order for SOL of the example class was Integer BIDMAS factor multiple negative prime FDPR decimal fraction fraction +/- fraction INTRO order FPDR simplest form
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The pre-assess process automatically builds up a picture of the class' skills on each topic.
We don’t have all the information, but the information we collect, will allow the teacher to teach all learners in the class, something which each learner will find easy to learn. Meaning each learner is very likely remember the skills learned until the next lesson, and so the teacher is unlikely to need to give feedback due to forgetting. However often, in the first timely practice spiral of the curriculum, the teacher will be working on improving leaners' accuracy and finding and attempting to fix learning misconceptions - in other words creating firm foundations for future learning.
This layer is about how to use the timely practice app to select the layer to teach each learner, whereas https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/3110699106/Best+practice+with+timely+practice#(8)-plan-which-layer-to-teach-each-learner-from-a-topic-using-AfL-data is more about thinking about the maths involved and https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/3110699106/Best+practice+with+timely+practice#(9)-plan-the-teaching-and-learning-activities-of-the-lesson---so-each-learner-is-learning-on-firm-learning-foundations is about plan the lesson in order to teach the layers chosen in an efficient manner.
When we return to teach topics again, in the next spiral through the curriculum, we will have far more detailed information.
Mainly because it would take too long and it would be too traumatic for many learners - who have low self esteem in terms of their maths learning. We ask questions on a few key layers of a topic - which gives us a broad brush stroke picture of the learner’s skills and learning gaps - but only questions at an appropriate level for the learner. We know that relatively frequently asking one question on a layer is insufficient to find if a layer is secure or not, so we always ask a second question if the learner seems to know the first. (For learners lots of learning gaps/who rush asking 2 questions on a layer is very necessary - as for up to 40% of their layers, we will find one question answered correctly and a second not). Using the information on key layers we ask a question on layers, we call them interesting layers, we think will find helpful to plan their teaching. There are some layers which we don’t ask questions on - usually these are layers which include considerable timely practice scaffolding - so the learner is unlikely to have met these type of questions before. After teaching the layer, the scaffolding will be very helpful to the learner, but before teaching the scaffolding is likely to be confusing). Our auto pre assess process is on our plans to improve soon. However the data the app collects will provide much better data than the teacher can expect to when using one or two pre assess questions at the start of the lesson because
… and we also ensure that the teacher is unlikely to teach too much to each learner on a topic, so each learner is ely to recall the learning of each lesson, until the next lesson, when the retrieval practice will begin to embed the learning deeply into long term memory. |
For each layer of each topic we provide
teach-learn questions, for the teacher to use to teach the whole class or a small group
practise-learn worksheets, for the learner to use to practise in the lesson after the teach-learn episode taught by the teacher, which have cut off answers for the learner to self-assess.
The teach-learn and practise-learn resources can be found in learning resources.
Once the teacher knows exactly which layer from a topic each learner should learn next, the teacher can (but does not need to), employ more sophisticated and effective teaching techniques to maximise the learning output (quantity of new learning, which is retained per hour).
The questions which the app will use for retrieval practice are different from those in the teach-learn and practise-learn resources (with a few exceptions e.g. times table facts).
At least a fortnight after the first topic has been fully pre assessed the teacher can ensure that the layers the learner already knows becomes more deeply embedded in long term memory with retrieval practice. To do this the teacher will need to tick the Retrieval Practice box when creating the assignment. The teacher can
Whether the layer is in retrieval practice because the learner already knew it (from pre-assess) or has been taught within timely practice, the assessment is the same.
There are 5 assessment options
The 5 assessment options are
tick (learner answered the question completely correctly),
feedback on attempt*(learner has tried to answer, but made one or more mistakes and the teacher thinks that feedback will help embed the learning),
feedback on blank** (learner has missed the question out, but the teacher thinks that feedback will help embed the learning),
bell (best learned later, the teacher thinks that too much feedback will be required to embed this learning),
repeat (the learner appears to have missed this question out because they ran out of time). A similar question will go into the next assignment. The teacher should consider reducing this learner’s Pace for Practice, so that all the class can finish their assignments at roughly the same time and/or increase the Pace for Practice of some of the fastest working learners.
Lower attaining learners are likely to finish pre-assess on the whole curriculum far quicker than their higher attaining peers.
e.g. a low attaining learner may only “already know” fewer than 30 layers whereas a learner at about GCSE grade 4 is likely to “already know” well over 100 layers. The learner who knows more will need to answer questions on far more layers in order for the app to find the “goldilocks” place to begin teaching in each topic. So once some learners no longer have pre assess questions to answer, the teacher should make good use of these learners' lesson time.
The learners who have finished pre-assess can learn one topic with the class and one or even two additional topics per lesson, whilst the other learners do longer assignments (which will include both pre assess and retrieval practice questions). The teacher should make good use of the time when the majority of learners are doing long pre-assess assignments, which don’t require feedback-dialogue, to spend time with the lowest attaining learners - this time, well spent - will increase the motivation of the lowest attaining learners and be a chance to fix some fundamental gaps, which will make it easier to teach the whole class in the future.
The topics the learners who have already finished pre-assess can be drawn from all topic theme, but the teachers would be advised
to check that 10 bond, base10add, base10skills and sequenceMultiple have been pre-assessed;
to avoid teaching extra layers on a topic within 4 weeks of the topic being taught to the whole class (so that the extra layer will be well embedded, before the teacher comes to teach the topic to the whole class);
to begin with at least 3 of the 4 operations (multiply or divide may be missed out) and multiplying by 10 etc;
to fill in fundamental gaps such coordinate, fractionINTRO, sequenceArithmetic, orderFDP, fractionOF, scaleInterpret and proportionalGraph;
to use the early layers of some topics to fix other topics e.g. stem and leaf early, correctTOnearest and decimalFraction to improve place value, inequality to improve understanding of negative number;
to teach some layers, such as simplify +/- and simplify x/÷, solvingReady, which may help learners to overcome any fear of algebra that they might have and also to enable the lowest attaining learners to shine when the whole class begins to learn the topic together (It can be a really good “sales technique” for retrieval practice, when the lowest attaining learners can do more than their peers because “we learned it last half term with timely practice”) - especially when it is clear that these learners can learn also easily learn the another slightly harder layer on their firm learning foundations).