Gem Awards 2015

This is my 100^th weblog post! It's also nearly a twelvemonth since I launched resourceaholic.com. To celebrate this milestone I've been reading dorsum through my gems posts. I've picked out roughly of my favourite gems, together with those that were especially pop amongst my readers. They deserve a special mention. So enhance a drinking glass of champagne amongst me, together with toast the winners of the start annual Gem Awards!

1. Best Website - Mathigon
Gems 13. It's total of beautiful animations together with captivating explanations. The page Polygons together with Polyhedra is a goodness house to start if yous desire to explore Mathigon. The page on sequences is first-class too. Mathigon also has an amazing mathematical origami section together with the 'Alice inwards Fractalland' slide demo is actually good. The website is nonetheless nether structure together with I can't hold off to run into what's coming next.

2. Best Activity - Desmos Polygraph

Desmos' brilliant online Gems 19 I wrote almost the launch of here. It was i of the best lessons I've taught this twelvemonth together with I can't recommend it enough. Desmos' activities are all rattling cleverly designed together with slowly to use. I've been waiting for an chance to endeavor out roughly to a greater extent than Desmos activities - especially Gems 13. 

Other activities that accept appeared inwards my gems posts together with were shortlisted for this laurels include the 'blanks' action from Gems 17, the scavenger hunt from Gems 3 and Dan Meyer's first-class 'Fry's Bank' from Gems 7. They're all worth a look.

3. Creative Lesson Award - jemmapduck.com
Gems 5, I wrote almost her suggestion to demo students a page from a wearisome maths textbook together with challenge them to come upwardly up amongst their ain improve version. I honey the thought of students designing their ain textbook page consummate amongst explanations, examples together with exercises. In Gems 7, I featured roughly other of Jemma's ideas - at the cease of a topic, her students create a 'cheat sheet' summarising the topic. She together with then gives them a evidence together with lets them refer to a cheat canvass during the test, but gives each pupil individual else’s cheat sheet. After the test, students laissez passer on each other feedback on how useful their cheat canvass was. I honey both of these ideas from Jemma - she's a reflective instructor amongst loads of creative ideas together with her weblog is good worth following.

4. Best Display - The Maths Magpie
This laurels goes to the 'I don't know what to produce next' poster from the fabulous Gems 4 together with yous tin download it from TES.

Honourable call goes to display adept Clarissa Grandi (Every Math Teacher inwards the World Should Do This...Right Now!' (featured inwards Gems 7).

I've written almost related ideas including acrylic sheets and large whiteboards for collaborative work solving.

6. Subject Knowledge Award - Etymology

I wrote almost the importance of talking to students almost the etymology of maths words inwards Gems 10. I at i time pass fourth dimension doing this inwards most lessons. It's merely a modest modify to my practice, but I think it's an of import one. For example, instead of merely telling my Year 12s to write downward the championship 'Binomial Expansion', I at i time verbalize over the important together with rootage of the give-and-take Binomial. In doing this I ofttimes accept to produce a flake of enquiry ahead of the lesson, thus my bailiwick cognition is improving all the time. In Gems 23 I shared intelligence of a novel Twitter work organisation human relationship @etymathology which tweets actually interesting maths etymology facts.

7. Best Gadget - The Scale of the Universe
Because I don't accept access to a aeroplane ready of tablets, I don't characteristic apps for students inwards my gems posts (with the exception of the dandy apps I featured inwards Gems 13 - I ofttimes play Plickers together with Quick Key) together with animations to demo on the Interactive Whiteboard. The winner inwards this category, featured inwards Gems 12, is this fantastic tool 'The Scale of the Universe 2'. It's an interactive resources that yous could purpose when teaching touchstone index form. It allows yous to zoom inwards together with out from the tiniest things (quantum foam!) to the biggest things (the Universe) - all measurements are given inwards touchstone form.

8. Bright Ideas - Find the Factors
Some things are difficult to categorise, but I topographic point them on Twitter together with they capture my imagination. The winner of this category is Gems 11 - they're 'an first-class agency for children together with adults to review multiplication facts, purpose logic, together with strengthen encephalon power'. They are lovely puzzles.

Other brilliant ideas worth a special call are Gems 3 together with Calligrams, which I featured inwards Gems 6.

I also liked the Constant Character featured inwards Gems 22, the vertical Binomial Expansion featured inwards Gems 27 together with Gems 15.

9. Best Problems - Brilliant
I featured Gems 21 together with at i time purpose it all the fourth dimension to abide by interesting problems for my lessons. It abide by it especially useful for sourcing starters together with extension questions.

Special call also goes to Ed Southall's ready of puzzles on solvemymaths.com. His puzzles are excellent, together with ofttimes rattling challenging.

10. Lifetime Achievement - Don Steward
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 lifetime achievement laurels for Don Steward's Median blog is good deserved. I rarely write a postal service where I don't recommend roughly of Don's fantastic resources. Don's weblog is e'er my start port of telephone retrieve when I'm planning lessons. He has done amazing things for maths teaching together with his operate is appreciated all over the world.

Contributors
I was going to accept a 'best tweeters together with bloggers' laurels category but the listing chop-chop became far besides long! But I produce desire to call that Chris Smith together with Ed Southall accept belike been the most frequent contributors to my gems posts, thus I give thank yous them for continuing to portion a huge number of creative ideas together with resources. I'd also similar to give thank yous all my beau bloggers together with tweeters for keeping me inspired together with excited almost teaching maths.

Speaking of awards, I'm off to the Great Britain Blog Awards number adjacent calendar week (I'm a finalist inwards the Individual Education weblog category). The frontrunner to win this category is the fantastic ictevangelist.com. I'm looking frontward to the quirky Alice inwards Wonderland themed celebrations. I honey the invitation that arrived inwards the postal service yesterday, consummate amongst a tiny substitution for a tiny door!