Picture a trapezoid. What comes to mind? Does it look something like this? That’s what trapezoids looked like to me, anyway. My teacher told me trapezoids have a pair of parallel sides, and every picture I saw in my textbook looked like this. I never really had a reason to question it any further. But …
Recently, I had the opportunity to present as part of the line-up for Howie Hua‘s Math Summer 2021 to talk about one of my favorite activities in math education – Visual Patterns. If you’re not familiar, check out visualpatterns.org, created by Fawn Nguyen and featuring patterns submitted by teachers from around the world. I love …
It all started with a phone call. Sarah was a new teacher who had planted herself firmly under my wing and declared I was her mentor, and who was I to tell her no? We spoke regularly as she navigated the complexities of teaching math to middle schoolers. One day in December of 2020, during …
This blog is a repost of a four-part series I wrote for NCTM’s Blogarithm in 2016. Read the original post here. For me, the hardest part of implementing any new routine is finding quality resources that are rigorous without being boring or overwhelming. In my last post of this series, I want to share my …
This blog is a repost of a four-part series I wrote for NCTM’s Blogarithm in 2016. Read the original post here. we’ve talked about the importance of mathematical conversation and what it sounds like coming from our students. I know that as teachers, we already have a lot on our plates. Spiral review, standardized test …
This blog is a repost of a four-part series I wrote for NCTM’s Blogarithm in 2016. Read the original post here. Middle school students desperately want to be heard, but on their own terms. Several years ago, I was introducing the Pythagorean theorem to my students. From the back of the room, I heard a …
This blog is a repost of a four-part series I wrote for NCTM’s Blogarithm in 2016. Read the original post here. Walk down the halls of most schools, and you’ll no doubt hear students talking. In ELA classrooms, students may be heard discussing author’s intent or characterization. In social studies classrooms, there may be debate …
