Text&Tests Solutions

r93kaey5p2izun · 02-09-2018 5:12pm #1

A former colleague has been given honours Maths for the first time having not taught Maths at all in nearly 20 years. He asked me about worked solutions for Texts&Tests 4 and 5 - the new editions that consolidate the older four books into two. I used Texts&Tests when teaching but never had nor sought solutions so I said I didn't know. Google finds a pdf of solutions for the old books but they don't look official. Is this something Celtic Press/CJ Fallon would have available if he contacts them?

Stanford · 02-09-2018 5:22pm

I have never seen worked solutions for T&T only answers, I haven't looked at the new versions yet but I can recall that some of the solutions in the older books were wrong or incomplete, probably due to T&T being rushed to market to pre-empt sales of Active Maths

Corkgirl18 · 02-09-2018 7:53pm

They usually upload pdfs of all of the solution on mycjfallon.ie but they don't have them up for the two new books yet. I'd say keep an eye on that resource. Its worth keeping an eye on the cjfallon reader chrome extension too in case they pop up there.
I have pdf solutions for the old books if they're any good or you can download them from the mycjfallon website if you make an account.

r93kaey5p2izun · 02-09-2018 8:10pm

Thanks. I'll pass on that info to him. He is qualified in Maths so I'm sure he'll be grand but he has only taught Irish for the past 18 years. The school found an Irish teacher over the summer but not a Maths teacher so he's in at the deep end. I feel a little bit responsible because they would have been my 6th years.

evolving_doors · 02-09-2018 11:16pm

He could post questions on the maths forum... or just seek clarification (as they're a bit cagey about outright giving worked solutions).

Stanford · 03-09-2018 8:20pm

Melania Uptight Graphics wrote: »

Thanks. I'll pass on that info to him. He is qualified in Maths so I'm sure he'll be grand but he has only taught Irish for the past 18 years. The school found an Irish teacher over the summer but not a Maths teacher so he's in at the deep end. I feel a little bit responsible because they would have been my 6th years.

Irrespective of your colleagues ability what kind of school would appoint a person to an Honours Maths class who hasn't taught Maths for 20 years, isn't that unfair to both students and teacher??

man_no_plan · 03-09-2018 8:33pm

Stanford wrote: »

Irrespective of your colleagues ability what kind of school would appoint a person to an Honours Maths class who hasn't taught Maths for 20 years, isn't that unfair to both students and teacher??

Maybe a school that had a good maths teacher on staff and had difficulty recruiting a new one. They'd be at least as good as a teacher who had never taught maths before, would know the students and the school and clearly gets on well with the previous teacher and probably the rest of the staff.

It would be more unfair to the students to leave them with no teacher for a number of weeks and then possibly have to shift the timetable for the whole school when the reality dawned.

Stanford · 03-09-2018 8:45pm

I just feel it is unfair to put a person in the position of teaching a syllabus that has dramatically changed in the last few years and who hasn't taught Maths for 20 years

man_no_plan · 03-09-2018 8:49pm

Stanford wrote: »

I just feel it is unfair to put a person in the position of teaching a syllabus that has dramatically changed in the last few years and who hasn't taught Maths for 20 years

It is probably, I'd agree, unless there was no reasonable alternative. It is incredibly hard to recruit any teacher of maths, let alone a good one.

Stanford · 03-09-2018 8:51pm

I hadn't realised that, why is it so difficult to recruit maths teachers?

r93kaey5p2izun · 03-09-2018 9:19pm

It's either that or somebody not qualified. There's not one other teacher in the school officially qualified in Maths following a few resignations. The others who teach Maths aren't willing to teach honours. I taught all the HL classes for the past few years until I left. He was consulted about it and agreed. He has actually done the PM inservices.

man_no_plan · 03-09-2018 10:20pm

Stanford wrote: »

I hadn't realised that, why is it so difficult to recruit maths teachers?

It is unfortunately.

As for the others refusing to take honours, that's a bit of a joke too. The same poor soul gets horsed every year and then if they retire / resign there's a vacuum.

It sounds like a perfect storm except for the fact that this guy is willing to take the class. Fair play to him.

r93kaey5p2izun · 03-09-2018 10:27pm

man_no_plan wrote: »

It is unfortunately.

As for the others refusing to take honours, that's a bit of a joke too. The same poor soul gets horsed every year and then if they retire / resign there's a vacuum.

It sounds like a perfect storm except for the fact that this guy is willing to take the class. Fair play to him.

Well they're not Maths teachers so really I don't blame them.

man_no_plan · 04-09-2018 6:32am

Melania Uptight Graphics wrote: »

Well they're not Maths teachers so really I don't blame them.

Sorry, I missed the unqualified part.

mirrorwall14 · 04-09-2018 7:16am

Stanford wrote: »

I hadn't realised that, why is it so difficult to recruit maths teachers?

Because there’s better work opportunities for better pay in other industries in the maths/sciences in particular. Add to that the very successful campaign by government and media during the recession to vilify teaching and teachers, the very high cost of rent on the east coast, the very high cost and length of time to get qualified, the ludicrous contracts that have been on offer, no proper subbing system at second level for short term vacancies plus the better teaching opportunities in terms of pay and progression abroad and you get a perfect storm where we haven’t enough teachers.

It’s been getting steadily worse over the last two to three years. No one available for maternity covers, no applicants for in demand subjects, PME students ‘teaching’ their own classes because there is no one else and the last resort-unqualified teachers who might at least have some knowledge of the subject-if you are lucky

RealJohn · 04-09-2018 10:02am

If he’s qualified but out of practice, he should really work out the solutions for himself. He’ll take longer to get back into the swing of things if he relies on worked solutions.

Stanford · 04-09-2018 12:11pm

I could be cynical from past experience in my area and say that there is no shortage of Maths teachers willing to offer private grinds for cash...

RealJohn · 04-09-2018 12:45pm

Stanford wrote: »

I could be cynical from past experience in my area and say that there is no shortage of Maths teachers willing to offer private grinds for cash...

They probably already have full time jobs (teaching or something else) or are in college, which would afford them a few extra hours to do grinds but wouldn’t necessarily allow them to take up an extra teaching position.

I, for example, could give maths grinds for a few hours a week (I don’t, but I could) but since I already have a full time teaching position, I can’t really take up another one. You’d want to be fierce cynical altogether to assume that even a significant portion of those giving grinds are doing so because they make more money from grinds than they would from taking up an actual teaching position.

r93kaey5p2izun · 04-09-2018 4:01pm

Stanford wrote: »

I could be cynical from past experience in my area and say that there is no shortage of Maths teachers willing to offer private grinds for cash...

Cynical?

I'm more than happy to do Maths grinds for cash (yes I do pay my taxes). But I'm no longer willing to work as a Maths teacher. I know I'm not the only one.

Text&Tests Solutions

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