Philosophy Without A Home

Did everyone enjoy the professional development Tuesday? I know I heard some mixed reviews, but nothing out and out negative. Perhaps I’m too optimistic. I know some people in felt starting with addition was too basic for middle school teachers, but then again I heard some comments about how some students would make simple mistakes like answering twelve for: 4 + 8 = _ + 5 I think I remember helping to revising curriculum at a school last year and someone saying something to the effect of “if they don’t learn it in previous grades I don’t care if its a standard or not we need to include it.” If our students are making addition and subtraction mistakes then a quick lesson, or differentiation, on strategies for addition is something we might consider doing. More importantly knowing what students are, or should be, thinking can help us identify misconceptions. Inquiry based math. I don’t make it a secret that I like the Connected Math Books. It isn’t because they have great

Hello Math Teachers, We've probably all seen those online math games. They are pretty cool, but never exactly what you wanted. Don't you wish you knew enough programming to create your very own games? Well, even if you didn't I have the tools to do so and you don't have to know a lick about programming. S harendipity , a neat web site that allows you to create your own games. Such as this one , which took me all of two minutes to create.  I didn't notice earlier today that the words you are supposed to find are almost impossible to see against the tree background, but you get the idea I hope.

We all know what a pre-test should do right? Take a quick measure of the concepts students know and don’t know on the unit coming up. What we usually get when doing a pre-test is a raw score often something in the neighborhood of 7 out of 20. Almost completely useless except for that occasional student who gets 19 of 20 correct and is basically given the next few weeks off. Er I mean differentiated work. What we want is what concepts need the most coverage and who needs help on the specific concept. With this knowledge we can assign better cooperative groups, we can design differentiated homework for each student, and we can create better lessons. I know when I create a pre-test then grade it I barely have time to record the overall score in my gradebook, much less make a chart of the data. I need something to do all the hard work for me. Google forms to the rescue. A basic Google form gives the questions and allows for one multiple-choice answer, multiple answers, or sh

This week’s resource is Calculus By and for Young People. Take an hour to listen to the Elluminate recording if you have the time. If not check out A Map to Calculus for some great activities to do in the classroom. While most people argue that Algebra is too difficult for students below a certain age. This position is based on the idea that young brains just don’t seem to be able to grasp the concepts of variables or intangibles. On the other hand many people have found that exploring math and not calling it Algebra can have positive results. In this case we will jump right over Algebra and move to Calculus. For the high school teachers this can simply be a more constructivist way of teaching Calculus concepts. For everyone else there are some really cool activities in A Map to Calculus Don't forget I add all the resources to the wiki and I am also starting to add them to my blog .