Welcome to school! As teachers, each year and each class brings new joys and challenges as we get to know our students as people and as learners. We are faced with the often-daunting task of designing learning experiences to entice and excite our students to
Each fall teachers struggle with how to support parents who are helping their children with math homework. When conducting back-to-school meetings with parents, teachers typically summarize the math curriculum by course content. Sometimes, teachers will hand out a list of resources, study aids, and games
“I don’t understand! What do they want me to do?” Do you remember the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher? We aren’t sure what she’s saying but the sounds of “wah, wah, wah” wash over us as she’s talking. For some students, the abstract notation of mathematics,
The Japanese Footbridge, by Claude Monet. Public domain, image obtained from Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1920-22_Claude_Monet_The_Japanese_Footbridge_MOMA_NY_anagoria.JPG Modeling with Mathematics Claude Monet was one of the founders of the art movement known as Impressionism. Artwork prior to this period in the late 19th century was primarily representational or narrative;
When I was hired by Corwin Press and learned that, in addition to marketing Corwin Literacy, I would also be marketing the company’s new sister imprint Corwin Mathematics, I was both excited and, quite frankly, a bit anxious. It wasn’t that I didn’t have experience marketing
One of the topics in mathematics education that has caused a flurry of debate is whether students should know their basic mathematics facts from memory—meaning they can automatically give the answer to any fact. This question is not new—you can find it in educational publications,
One of the Mathematics Teaching Practices from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2014) is: Establish mathematics goals to focus learning. Effective teaching of mathematics establishes clear goals for the mathematics that students are learning, situates goals within learning progressions, and uses goals to guide
One important reason for studying mathematics is to nurture an aptitude for and a confidence in problem solving. To be good at problem solving, one must be able to sort through the unknown, make sense of it, persevere in it, and come away with a
It’s the time of year we celebrate scary things: ghosts, goblins, clowns, pumpkin spice (whatever that is). There is one creepy thing with the power to raise the hairs on necks everywhere and which rarely gets celebrated: math. This is a shame. Because the fear
This post is an excerpt from Pearse, Margie and K. M. Walton. Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2011. What is a Bridge to the learning? Let’s begin with the definition of the word bridge: A connecting, transitional, or intermediate