A much much better day

S1 – introduction to areas, recapping counting squares, they know how to do this already (or at least I didn't find one who didn't).
Learning points (for me):
- keep an eye on time (the lesson was cut short due to a fund-raiser coffee morning, I didn't keep track of time and ran right up to the end. And indeed would have overshot had the class teacher not reminded me)
- need to know names (again)
- be ready when they come up with an answer which I'm not expecting. They'd happily been throwing the expected answers back at me all lesson – it was a recap after all – and I was then left flat-footed when someone came back with a wrong answer.
S3 – more on areas of composite shapes. I went through a couple of examples, line by line and told them explicitly what to right down and how to set it out. And it seemed to work. They really don't get through a great deal of work in a 55 minute lesson but I think most of them (if not all) got it by the end, even if some of them are still weak on which numbers they actually need to substitute into the formulae. I'm pleased with the progress they made though. We'll see whether I'm right to be so when they come in with their homework on Monday.....I was also much more on top of the discipline side of things: regular “shushing” kept the noise levels within bounds (it probably helped that they were all working harder) and I squashed firmly the three boys who decided they could do other than they had been instructed talking over me, disrupting other pupils and clearly not listening).
Overall I feel much more positive about today than yesterday..... but there's so damned much to try to keep on top of. Unlike say training adults, you have to be aware of and respond to all the behaviour and motivation issues...