Posts Tagged: Mathematics

“Poochie Poo” and Numbers Squared

“Creative thinking may mean simply the realization that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they always have been done.” -Rudolf Flesch Today’s Inspiration Blog is also an Activity Blog. If you continue reading you’ll understand why… Friday was an early release day for all three of my children, so I decided to make Glenna Tabor, educational consultant, take the day off.…

Differentiating Means “Shaking it Up”

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” -Friedrich Nietzsche There are many, many different (and very long definitions) for the term Differentiating Instruction. The simplest one I’ve ever used is: “Differentiating instruction means regularly “shaking up” what’s going on in your classroom.”…

Solving Problems = Balloons = Fun

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”     -Eleanor Roosevelt I was working with a school a few weeks ago as we planned for the remainder of the year. The things we identified, at the beginning of the planning process, were the most challenging topics or concepts that the teachers were going to teach in mathematics.…

A Purple Cow and Algebra

“As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school. ” -Cokie Roberts “It is hard to convince a high-school student that he will encounter a lot of problems more difficult than those of algebra and geometry.” -Edgar Watson Howe I woke up this morning and looked at the stuffed animal my parents brought back from Germany a few years ago.…

The Right Tools for the Job

“Man must shape his tools lest they shape him.”     -Arthur Miller “An architect’s most useful tools are an eraser at the drafting board, and a wrecking bar at the site.”     -Frank Lloyd Wright Many of you have counted down the days till you received a much deserved spring break.…

Reading and Writing…in Math!

“You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can’t, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world… The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way … people look at reality, then you can change it.”…

A Vote for Vocabulary

“Language permits us to see. Without the word, we are all blind.” –Carlos Fuentes “Language is not merely a means of expression and communication; it is an instrument of experiencing, thinking, and feeling … Our ideas and experiences are not independent of language; they are all integral parts of the same pattern, the warp and woof of the same texture.…

A.K.A. Decimals

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” -Lloyd Alexander “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” -Albert Einstein I was never more aware of how important hands-on instruction is until I taught concepts like decimals.…

Differentiating Test Preparation

“Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven’t fallen asleep yet.”     -Anonymous Welcome to March, April, and the 1st half of May. For most people in the United States, this means the coming of warmer weather and spring. For teachers and schools it is the season of state tests.…

Go, “think” about it!

“Now, go “think” about it!” I was in a school a few weeks ago and heard this phrase being repeated by a math teacher after discussing a difficult concept with her students. I woke up the next morning at 5:30am—partly because there was a large truck backing up and beeping loudly—but mostly because that phrase had reminded me of a student I had named Reggie.…