The Equal Sign Means Relationship, Not Action
Blog post #1 in the series, Lies We Tell Our Students The Story A while back, I was working in... View Article
Blog post #1 in the series, Lies We Tell Our Students The Story A while back, I was working in... View Article
Serious Play #4 Imagine this…you walk into a noisy, bustling classroom where students are spread out in small groups at... View Article
Explicitly teaching children listening and speaking skills in the context of ones’ own discipline promotes the interactions that facilitate learning. In math class, math games present the perfect scenario for teaching children to talk math.
Serious Play-Part 1 Even before I had my own classroom, game play as a learning tool fascinated me. From the... View Article
Because we have been talking a lot about fluency in the past few blog posts, it suddenly occurred to me... View Article
In my experience, when discussing mathematical fluency, math-fact fluency is by far the most frequently referenced topic. After all, success... View Article
Welcome to Part 4 of our Fluency Series! In Part 3, we discussed fluency with early number concepts such as... View Article
When Josie, a young athlete, had the goal of making her middle-school basketball team, she spent time preparing for tryouts.... View Article
When you think about the term “math fluency,” what comes to mind? My guess is that the first thing, and... View Article
What is fluency? As a literacy specialist in my early career, I equated the word “fluency” with the ability to... View Article
I hear these questions all the time — “What math tools should be available in my classroom?” “Which manipulatives purchase... View Article
Keeping math fresh and alive for your students during the holidays goes a long way in keeping both rigor and... View Article
As the holidays approach, and with them an extended break between semesters, motivation wanes, not only among students but also... View Article
Last week, I shared ways to shift homework practices to maximize student learning and understanding. This week, I turn my... View Article
I remember math class as a child. As soon as we walked in the door, we would get our homework... View Article
Becoming a teacher-turned-inventor never crossed my mind earlier in my career. However, since joining forces with Peggy, this is the... View Article
Years ago, I walked into a Weight Watchers meeting, shy, self-conscious, and unsure of what to expect. After signing my... View Article
I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve likely all done it at some point…used a “trick” to help us find... View Article
In last week’s post, I shared the dangers of using imprecise language in the classroom – inadvertent mistakes we teachers make... View Article
Creating School-Wide Agreements for Common Math Vocabulary I recently witnessed a captivating first-grade lesson. As students interacted in small groups,... View Article
A while back, I was talking with a fourth-grade teacher at my school. She questioned, “What did the third-grade teachers... View Article
“Multiplication makes bigger and division makes smaller.” “You can’t subtract a larger number from a smaller number.” “Improper fractions should... View Article
“Many hands make light work,” claimed John Heywood more than 600 years ago. And we still find this to be... View Article
I get asked this question a lot. Everywhere I go, teachers are looking for how to make the best use... View Article
As a novice teacher many years ago, I found that playing games in math class brought about high levels of... View Article
As the summer months approach, you will likely, after taking a little time off, begin thinking and planning for next... View Article
We’ve all done it…teaching rules without meaning. For me it was rounding rules. I had found the perfect song. The... View Article
When was the last time you tried to teach a young child to count coins? If you’re like me, you... View Article
Every one of us has a finite number of minutes to live, to breathe, to laugh, to learn. And in... View Article
Let’s face it – you and I hear far too many adults freely admit, “I’m just not very good at... View Article
Everyone is born creative. And then somewhere down the line, many lose sight of it. In his classic Ted Talk,... View Article
Albert Einstein said it best, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” As educators, it’s our job to bring this idea... View Article
“The journey IS the destination!” That’s one of my favorite quotes. This journey we begin today is going to be an... View Article