Fueling sense making. This is the point of being a teacher in any subject, right? Finding ways to push students from being mere recipients of information to thinking critically about that information and using it to construct their own real knowledge. For years I have battled within myself about the merits of memorizing math facts. I know being fast at math…
You may have heard talk of this idea of “productive struggle.” You may even have wondered what it is and how it’s different from any other kind of struggle. We know from research that the brain grows through challenges, or struggles, just like other parts of the body. Let’s take muscle growth, for example. You can’t build muscle by lifting weights…
Instigator. Not a word we usually associate with something good. Often we speak of “problem” students as instigators of mischief. The second module of the Making Math Moments workshop changed my perception of what it means to be an instigator. I already knew part of my job as a math teacher is to get students thinking about math. I also knew…