Remote lessons have been an education for teachers like me

I had a Post-it note beside my laptop during the online lessons I taught during lockdown. It simply said ‘shut up’. I have spent 20 years teaching maths in urban comprehensives, reflecting and refining my methods and trying to train others. I thought I was doing a pretty decent job, but the pandemic and the necessity of teaching remotely has made me rethink the whole process.

Early on in May I realised I had to work out, from scratch, what I actually wanted my students to become and how, in the world of screen-mediated learning, I could help them achieve this.

What do I want my students to become? I want them to become autonomous problem-solvers, courageous in the face of the Unknown Problem. I want them to discriminate between good and bad use of statistics, and I want them to be able to meditate on the tiny pulsing infinity at the heart of maths.