So many times I am asked questions about why many students seem so disengaged in math. I ask these teachers to flip through their resources and see how many of them truly help students see the real life application of math--and solve rigorous, engaging problems that students can relate to. PBL (project based learning) can help make the connections between the math skills and the real world, and ... Read the Post
Coming Up with a Math Plan, Teamwork, and Perseverance!
I just wanted to share a quick blog post about what I am doing in math workshop over the next two weeks because my students are SO excited! We are digging into the next series of fraction lessons, and I know that some of my fourth graders are going to handle the material easily. To make sure they have plenty of meaningful work to do when they finish their learning, I introduced the ... Read the Post
Math Talk, Open Ended Problems–and Thinking Backwards!
Open Ended Math Challenges As you know if you have followed me for any length of time, I love to have my students work collaboratively on "challenging" tasks...and because it is testing season in my room, I like to give my students as much interaction with each other in our non-testing hours as possible! You may have seen (or even tried) some of my "Thinker Task" open ended problems...so they ... Read the Post
Holiday Cookie Problem Solving…Is there a better way to do it?
As you may know, my students LOVE open ended problem solving....and so do I! As I introduce each open ended "Thinker Task", I try to focus on at least one Standard for Mathematical Practice. For this one, I talked to my students about finding ways to organize their work, to look for patterns, and to find multiple solutions. I really want them to start to find their own ways ... Read the Post
Open Ended Problem Solving
As you know, I am a huge believer in incorporating problem solving into math class whenever possible. Over the years, it is has become more and more clear that students are on a quest to "get the right answer". They don't value the problem solving process as much as what gets written on the line at the end--and I started my quest to change that thinking. I want my students to enjoy ... Read the Post
Teaching Cooperative Problem Solving
As we have been building more and routines into our days, I have been working on starting to improve the QUALITY of our partnering and small group work. It has been interesting to watch, for sure--which students take charge...which ones sit back...which ones are off task...which ones don't know how to get started...and which ones rush through their work. Now that I have a better ... Read the Post
Open Ended Math Challenges–Bundled for YOU!
OK...you asked for it--and it's here! By POPULAR REQUEST! I have been asked many times to bundle my "Thinker Task" open ended math challenges--and I have finally done it! This is a "growing" bundle...which means that right now it has all 6 of the current Thinker Tasks...but as I add more to the collection, they will be added to the bundle...so people who own the bundle will have access to all ... Read the Post