One of the most common ways to introduce fractions to young students is to talk about ¾ as “3 out of 4.” And it’s part of the reason why students have so much trouble with fractions later on. Researchers Siebert and Gaskin (2006) wrote about why introducing fractions as “3 out of 4” instead of “three-fourths” …
5 reasons you should NOT talk about fractions as “out of” Read More »
The three representations above can all be used to model two-fifths. Does it matter which one you choose when introducing fractions? In my last post, I talked about why concrete objects or models can be helpful in building on what students can do. What I didn’t talk about was how to choose a model …
How do you choose what model to use when teaching fractions? Read More »
In my last post, I talked about building on what students can do instead of focusing on what they can’t do. One way many of us try to do that is by using a variety of manipulatives in our classes. I love using concrete objects with students of all ages. But I can remember several …
Using manipulatives to build on what students can do Read More »
I spent the last week at a lake house with my family. It was great to be away from the craziness that is New York City. It was also great for me to spend some time with the younger members of my family. As I played with them, I was reminded of all the knowledge …
My favorite thing about Jo Boaler’s course “How to Learn Math” so far has been the assigned reading. She assigned Paul Lockhart’s “A Mathematician’s Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form.” I think this should be required reading for anyone who teaches math, supervises the teaching of …
As I mentioned in a previous post, I enrolled in Jo Boaler’s course “How to Learn Math.” The class began this week and so far I’ve completed the first session. Ever since companies like Udacity and Coursera started offering these massive open online courses (or MOOCs), I’ve been curious about them. I think it’s great …
“It’s easy. Let me help you.” Ok. Maybe that’s not the worst thing you can say to a student, but it’s up there. Yet, well-intentioned teachers and parents say it all the time. Why? For starters, the problem is easy to us. We don’t understand why a student is struggling with something that seems so …
The worst thing you can say to a student struggling in math Read More »
One of the things I love about living in New York City is that I am constantly discovering new things about it. I feel as if I could live here another 30 years and still not see all it has to offer. The summer is always a great time for me to explore new parts …
I hope you all enjoyed a nice long holiday weekend. Since summer is in full effect, I thought it might be important to talk about summer slide–the loss of learning that can occur over the summer. Research has shown that students lose skills over the summer, particularly in mathematics. Furthermore, we know that this learning …
In my last post, I talked about the importance of fostering mental math strategies in class. A great resource for how to think about doing this in your class is Sherry Parrish’s book Number Talks: Helping Students Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies, Grades K-5. I highly recommend taking some time to read the book …