Imperfect and Unfinished
My Dilemma I had an experience last week that has me in a professional dilemma, and I’m looking for your input. My dilemma may be emotionally charged to you; it is to me, but I assure you that I want to seek a positive outcome for everyone involved (the student, teacher, parent, and me) in … Continue Reading
Last week, I wrote about Pair Drawings, one of my favorite ways to establish classroom norms at the beginning of the school year. Starting on the first day of school, I want my students to know these two fundamental norms: Learning mathematics is a collaborative effort. It’s something we do together; it’s not something that … Continue Reading
Activity: Which Passion Describes You Best? Teaching is an expression of identity and a craft of passion. We teach who we are. Let’s take a few minutes and think more deeply about why we are passionate about the work we do. Read the “Passion Profiles” below. As you read, make notes and underline language … Continue Reading
Welcome back math geeks! I want to share with you a video that shows the raw power of using Clothesline Math in your classroom to promote student to student discourse. I share this video because I want you to see how clothesline activities generate student to student discourse and promote student thinking and math development. And I … Continue Reading
Welcome back Math Geeks! For the past few months, I’ve had the privilege to write for the Global Math Department newsletter. It’s great tool to find out what’s going on in the online math world about math teaching and to watch professional development webinars. Check the site out here and read about some of the fine … Continue Reading
Check out this video from Andrew Stadel. What do you notice? What do you wonder? http://101qs-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/1772-black-box2–act-1.mp4 (Click here if viewing on your phone) I conducted a lesson study about fractions with some 5th grade teachers. We used Andrew’s elegantly simple lesson called Black Box 2 to get students talking about adding fractions with unlike denominators. This … Continue Reading
I had the opportunity to give a talk at CMC-South in the fall of 2017 about my work conducting lesson studies. About 40 inspiring educators showed up to geek out with me and learn about ways to generate teacher buy-in so that teacher learning made during lesson study leads to lasting professional growth. This post … Continue Reading
Welcome back math geeks! I love teaching young students about data and statistics. And I enjoy finding ways to make data and statistics matter more to young students. But I’m troubled by two curriculum practices about how we teach students to think about data and statistics, especially at the K-6 level. This post is Part … Continue Reading
I conducted a lesson study with some elementary teachers. We used Dan Meyer’s engaging lesson called Sugar Packets to get students talking about an interesting problem, sharing their thinking, showing what they know about division strategies. Dan has the lesson listed as 6th grade ratio and proportional reasoning activity, but we found this problem to be … Continue Reading
For the past few weeks, I’ve had the fun opportunity to write for the Global Math Department newsletter. Haven’t heard of the Global Math Department? It’s great tool to find out what’s going on in the online math world about math teaching and watch professional development webinars. Check the site out here and read about some … Continue Reading
