https://youtu.be/n3x6wS04J9M  

https://youtu.be/masRik4oZps   Interesting Resources: Dan Finkel's TED Talk Christina Tondevold's Build Math Minds Community Tiny Polka Dots Game YouCubed on YouTube

I have an end of year challenge for you. Disclaimer: there are many ways we can make this challenge higher leverage, involving academic discourse, naming strategies, connections to real-world contexts. I'm keeping it simple, folks. Just see what happens. And then comment and share!! Rules: In one of your upcoming math lessons, only use ONE … Continue reading #1ProblemChallenge

Look at the graph below. Prices may not be accurate. Gathered from http://www3.cde.ca.gov/impricelist/implsearch.aspx on 3/23/17. Please don’t sue me! 😉 Our Class Question (pick 1): 1. How bad does an instructional material have to be to be good enough for a school district to adopt it, but bad enough that teachers want it replaced within 4 … Continue reading Instructional Materials 3 Act

We think that a lesson means one learning experience for the students. I’m not asking, I’m stating. We may say we don’t believe that, but nearly all of the lessons I have taught & observed have students engaging in a single learning experience. Two of the most memorable lessons I’ve seen sent the students to … Continue reading “Broken Lesson”

I was in a 5th grade class today. They were reviewing homework. Not the homework given by the textbook, but homework that the teacher had hand-created the day before. Can I call that "bespoke homework"? It's not clothing, so probably not, but these kids were certainly trying on something new... The teacher asked students to … Continue reading Math Design Challenge

I have a question… We look for regularity in multiplication in many ways. And one way we learn multiplication is repeated addition. Additionally, we learn how to add together strings of 3 addends (we rarely ask students to add more than 3 addends, unless we’re working on mastery of 2.NBT.6). It seems like you could … Continue reading Find Regularity in Repeated Reasoning

“The Traditional Algorithm” I’m sitting here listening to Steve Leinwand state that everyone in the room wishes we could return to our districts and ban the traditional algorithm. In my case, he’s right. Because the truth is, there is no such thing as THE traditional algorithm. He is inspiring, energetic, and makes conceptual math teaching … Continue reading “The Traditional Algorithm”