Although I loved the first day of school, September was always a difficult month for me as a teacher. It’s a month of establishing classroom norms–the rules and expectations of your classroom. What it means to have a conversation about math in your class may be different than what it means in another class. As …
I love the first day of school. I love sharp new pencils and blank notebooks. I love meeting new students that will change your life in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Most of all, I love the hope it presents. It’s a chance to do things differently. Many of you are excited to …
In a previous post, I talked about why it might be important to ask a student “How do you know?” when they give an answer to a problem. What I neglected to talk about was the research that supports this recommendation. Luckily, Education Week recently published an article about several research studies that claim asking …
When you watch a typical math class, you see a lot of rapid fire questioning going on. Teacher: Number 1? Student: Five and ¾ Teacher: Number 2? Student: 3 and ¼ Teacher: Number 3? Student: 2 and ½ Teacher: Anybody get a different answer? Student: 2 and ¼ . Teacher: Good. Next problem? Now in …
“Ms. Placa. Is this right?” I must have heard that sentence a million times when I began teaching. Many classrooms create a culture where the teacher has all the answers and the students seek approval from him or her. This sometimes works out well for things like learning about conventions or notations that the student …