For many educators, word problems surface longstanding fears of mathematics and memories of traumatic childhood experiences in math class. As a result, we often see posters on classroom walls attempting to distill strategies for solving word problems into a collection of key words. Perhaps you have seen the thousands of key word posters on the […]
When I meet someone new at a party and we exchange the customary small talk (“What about this weather?” or “How about those Giants?”), inevitably the question of what I do for a living comes up. Even before I share that I have been a middle school math teacher for 25 years, I can pretty […]
Counting Collections is a structured opportunity for students to count a collection of objects. In doing so, students develop strategies for organizing their collections, keeping track of their counting, and ultimately develop a concrete understanding of base ten place value system. Today I had the pleasure of observing a wonderful teacher as she led her kindergarten […]
Whenever I feel compelled to give unsolicited advice to teachers new to the profession, I give the following three suggestions: Stay curious. Always be willing to learn new things. Stay humble. Always be willing to unlearn things you thought were true, but aren’t. Begin each day with a reminder to yourself that you really, really […]