Thread by @taylorda01

Teaching year 10 higher attainers last week.
Solving 2x + 2 > 8 (or something), and G writes 2x = 6, x = 3.
Me: "That's not right mate. x isn't equal to 3. What does that sign in the question mean? What is it?"

G: "It's a crocodile."
I slam my hand on the desk and everyone stops working. G laughs as I walk to the front with a smile on my face to write the question on the board.

Me: "V, what is this?" *gesturing at the >*
V: "..."

Me: "...and don't say crocodile. That made me cross before."
C, under her breath: "Crocodile".
V: "..."

To help, I enrol an assistant, W.

"W, show me the number 5 on the board."
W: *writes the numeral 5*

Me: "Nope!"

Quickly, W draws 5 dots.
Me: "Yes! This a number, but the '5' is a numeral to represent the number."

I draw the image on the board.

"Tell me about these two numbers"

Class: "They're equal"

So I join the top two dots, and the bottom two dots.

Me: "Ooh, look, an equals sign!"

Me: "So, what about these?"
Class: "They're not equal".

I join the tops, and bottoms, and show the inequality forming: <.

"So we write 3 < 5"

Me: "What about these?"
I join the tops and bottoms, and form the > inequality.

"So we write 5 > 2"

Me: "They're called inequalities, not crocodiles."
The three symbols are three states of comparison between two numbers"

> = <

Me: "What if I used 53 and 31? Am I going to use dots?"

Class: "No! That'd take too long!"
Me: "I'm gonna draw lines, to represent 53 and 31 dots. I know the line for 53 will be longer."

We can see the >.
53 > 31.

Me: "They are absolutely not crocodiles, and they're not hungry, and they don't eat the biggest number."

M: "I didn't know all that Sir, and that's really interesting." (It sounded more sincere than it reads...)

I then did some work with Eliza, my 5-year-old, over the weekend.
Comparing numbers using symbols from Stage 2 of the Complete Maths curriculum.
Drawing dots, drawing the inequalities, choosing the correct symbol. Then going to lines. Then fading those out.

She did really well, and I didn't even need to mention a crocodile.

I actually put this together with @autographmaths at ag-web.completemaths.com/files/d3adbc59… which may be of interest to people!