My t-shirt says it all. “When will I ever use this?” is a question I get a LOT as a math teacher. Especially from middle school level students. Believe it or not, I’ve even had conversations about this at the college level. Have you ever told someone (maybe even your child) that you didn’t see the point in learning algebra? That…
For a while now I have wanted to write about this fantastic resource. Well, I am finally getting around to it! YouCubed.org is a site that was founded by Stanford professor of education, Jo Boaler, “to give teachers, parents and students the resources and ideas they need to inspire and excite students about mathematics.” The information and resources here are backed…
There are only a few instructional days left with each of my classes before end-of-year testing begins and things have been getting a bit crazy, as they tend to do this time of year. I finally finished up the coursework for this workshop last weekend and have spent some time letting it all ruminate in my head, partly because I’m a…
So, this week is kind of where it all starts to come together. How to take everything we know to plan a really engaging lesson that students latch on to and that moves their thinking forward. Being an Ignition Expert means you, as the teacher, take into account where students have been mathematically, anticipate strategies and thinking they will use, and…
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…
Be a chance taker. What does this mean in math class? For me, this means putting into practice what I know from research and what I believe about how humans learn math. In many areas of life, this seems like not much of a risk. We learn things all the time that make our lives better. We try new ways of…
I have been away from blogging for a while now. Actually, since I began a new job teaching math to middle school students back in August. I didn’t intend to step away from blogging, but with the 65 mile each way commute I have now, it’s been a process to find time to do all the things. My new mobile office…
Most of us probably remember math class in elementary school (and beyond) as quiet work time. Traditional instruction included the teacher giving a few examples of how to complete a calculation, followed by students sitting in silence and working problem after problem on a worksheet. This might be one reason many of us say we don’t like math. Humans are naturally…
One of my favorite things to do on the first day of a math class is to get my students thinking about what math is and how they use it. I once had a student in a community college class who made it his mission to prove to me that it is possible to go an entire day without using math.…
If I asked you to define “mathematics,” what would you say? Is it solving problems? Is it memorizing number facts and rules? Is it fun or boring, easy or challenging? Is it a set of useful tools to help you through life or is it a bunch of irrelevant nonsense that you will never use? We each have our own ideas…