Be the Teacher: Moving from Counting to Cardinality

Against the Norm

Cardinality…what is it and what does it look like? If you’re not a kindergarten teacher you might be left shrugging your shoulders if someone asked you to define cardinality. Before students can own the idea of cardinality, they need to have an...

The Progression of Addition and Subtraction

Against the Norm, counting, K-2, Making Math Accessible, Making Sense Series, Math Progressions, Number Sense

The more I create… the more I learn.  Here is the 3rd installment of this whole Making Sense Series which has truly forced me to be a better teacher.  A more educated teacher. I can’t stress enough how much I’ve learned from diving into the...

I’m Placing a Hit on the Pseudo-Context

3-Act Tasks, 6-8, Against the Norm, Cheese Mover, Intellectual Need, Measurement and Data, Modeling

This robs students of everything mathematics should be… The “real world” connection The step-by-step procedure Circle the numbers you need to solve the problem The pseudo-context word problem. Lesson 19.2 infers that this unit is front-end load with...

The Progression of Division

6-8, Against the Norm, Making Math Accessible, Making Sense Series, Math Progressions, Math Tools, Number Sense, Planning, Strategy Development, Teacher Content

Last month I posted The Progression of Multiplication hoping that a couple of friends and parents would find it helpful.  Well, here’s my stab at the progression of division.  I understand that there’s lots of ways to model division and this is only ONE of...

GCTM Ignite Talks

Against the Norm

Back in April I submitted a proposal to Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Special thanks to Suzanne Alejandre from the Math Forum the proposal write up.  I have always been inspired after leaving or listening to the Ignite Talks hosted by our wonderful...

Pulling the Plug on a Lesson

Against the Norm, Making Math Accessible, Planning, Teaching in a Context

I taught a lesson on Tuesday and it sucked…Real bad! It sucked more than Maggie Simpson sucks her pacifier!  I really felt for the 21 students, 4 teachers and the administrator who were observing. My face is still a little numb from how flat I fell on it!  In my...