I was the type of student teachers want – hard working, teacher-pleasing, bright. Until one day I just quit doing my math homework. My teacher asked me why and I said, “Please just give me a different way to do it! Anything but another worksheet.”
Has this ever happened to you? “My lecture went perfectly! I worked the sample problems. I could tell the students really understood the material.” The next day: “I don’t know what went wrong! I thought all my students understood what I went over yesterday.” If we’ve been there,
“Engaging students” might be in the top five of most common phrases in mathematics teaching discussions, journals, and professional learning. Strategies to engage students have included cooperative learning, questioning strategies, and classroom discussions. What do these ideas have in common? Each is a way to