My colleague's previous post, Math is Creative, and a chance encounter with an old book necessitated by some home shelving issues caused me to rethink my topic for this post. It's time to visit/revisit the enjoyment inherent in mathematics. Too many students 'see' math as not enjoyable and only existing in school. I'm sad to … Continue reading Fun with Mathematics
Math is creative.
There should be no such thing as boring mathematics. - Edsger Dijkstra In looking at the results of the math mindset surveys my students completed last quarter, I was pleasantly surprised that, compared to a mix of responses to the statement “Math is creative.” on the pre-survey, my students (a mix of pre- and in-service … Continue reading Math is creative.
Thinking from Data
I teach graduate math methods, and I try to include instructional technology into the curriculum. Most of these students have familiarity with technology, but upon closer examination I find some are thinking primarily of communication technology – email, social media, or searching on the web. They don’t think of technology as a tool to fundamentally … Continue reading Thinking from Data
Attending to students' funds of knowledge in the mathematics classroom
There is divine beauty in learning... To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the … Continue reading Attending to students' funds of knowledge in the mathematics classroom
Focus on Early Childhood
In a recent blog post I discussed 3 websites which can (should ?) be used by parents to engage their children in mathematical activities. I suggested that classroom teachers urge parents of their students to use these websites to build their own confidence and reduce their reluctance to help their own children. Parents, without formal … Continue reading Focus on Early Childhood
Four aspects of culturally relevant teaching
I ended my last blog post with the following line - “It is through the principles of growth mindset that we can begin to shift our discipline from a place laden with anxiety and trauma to a place of nourishing and growth”. My plan was to write a blog post about mathematics anxiety and trauma … Continue reading Four aspects of culturally relevant teaching
Parents as Allies
Young children are mathematically inquisitive; they want to know who's taller, who has more toys, who has the bigger room, etc. Early math, then, is not centered around calculation but is about nurturing their mathematical inquisitiveness; calculation and numerical fluency will follow. As teachers we've been 'trained' to do this, but what do we tell … Continue reading Parents as Allies
