The lyrics of Vanilla Ice might be an unconventional source of wisdom for teachers but, to me, it sounds like Ice was advising us to put the brakes on with what we’re doing sometimes, and instead explore exciting new collaborations.

As he succinctly put it: “Stop, collaborate and listen.”

STOP

Heavy workload for teachers means you may have to show real bravery to take a breather from the day-to-day planning, marking and reporting if you want to focus on anything new. But what if, by doing so, you could inject enthusiasm for learning into a new community? What if a by-product was that you reminded yourself why you love teaching? Wouldn’t inspiring a totally new bunch of kids and invigorating your own teaching career be worth it?

COLLABORATE

Teachers are a special breed. They’re clearly not in it for the big bucks. You’ll work with unbelievably talented teachers who are masters of the craft: captivating storytellers, expert subject specialists and brilliant communicators who are committed to making a difference every day. We all have the tendency to be blinkered, only seeing what’s happening in our own school - but the benefits of collaborating with colleagues from other schools, authorities or even countries shouldn’t be ignored or underestimated.

Recently, a typically geeky conversation with my friend, Professor Adam McBride, led to us stumbling across a curious mathematical sequence. It starts 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23… All numbers containing the letter O are banned. So one isn’t allowed; neither are two, four, or six-thousand. The numbers in this sequence, we learned, are called the Oban Numbers. When I heard this, things quickly began to spin out of control as my thoughts turned to a Scottish town of that same name, several hours’ drive from my own school…

Chancing it, I contacted Oban High School’s maths department with a proposition - at this stage, I had no idea if the staff there would be up for it. I suggested they run my idea for an “Oban Number Challenge”, kicking off the week with assemblies celebrating number patterns and sequences using a video I created especially for the launch of the event. After this, posters with some Oban numbers would start to appear all over Oban, with the challenge to figure out the connection between the mystery numbers. Posters popped up in the cinema, cafes, shops, school and even the local newspaper.

At the end of the week, Adam and I would show up, award prizes to the winners and entertain eight classes with our enthusiastic love of numbers (Oban or otherwise!) The way that the Oban High School staff responded to the suggestion of the Oban Number Challenge was a massive source of joy. It reminded me that teachers across Scotland have so much to offer.

LISTEN

Hear what young people had to say about our recent collaboration. At the end of the week, one Oban High School student provided this backhander: “I don’t usually love maths, but that was amazing.” Listening to the rest of the feedback inspires me to keep grabbing the opportunities to work with colleagues - wherever they may be.

So, teachers of the world, remember:

STOP: be brave enough to shelve the routine stuff for a minute.

COLLABORATE: be creative, as you explore new ideas with new colleagues.

LISTEN: be convinced it’s all worth it, as you hear pupils talking excitedly afterwards about that off-the-wall idea you took a risk with.

Chris Smith is a maths teacher and Scotland’s 2018 Teacher of the Year. He produces a regular maths newsletter that has thousands of subscribers and tweets @aap03102