3-Act Tasks, Intellectual Need, Modeling, Patient Problem Solving, Planning
I think about the question mark every time I teach a lesson. I’ve been so carefully to get to this point. Yet sometimes my question mark comes from a path that looks like this. The opening part of the lesson is over and the work session is well underway....
6-8, Cheese Mover, Estimation, Math Tools, Modeling, Number Sense, Strategy Development
Students can create models that represent their understanding, but can they undo models that explain the reasoning of others? It was time to find out. I showed this picture to a 5th grade class and asked them to write an equation or expression that matched the area...
Cheese Mover, Intellectual Need, Making Math Accessible, Modeling, Planning, SMPs, Strategy Development, Teacher Content, Who Knows?
I received an email from a principal in my district last Tuesday: Please send me info on why teachers should be careful about teaching kids to pull out keywords from word problems as a key way to define what operation to use. I went to my Virtual Math Buddies (VMB)...
Fractions, Making Math Accessible, Math Tools, Modeling, Patient Problem Solving, SMPs
I tried “the Big Pad” with a 4th grade class and my anticipation of possible solutions was way off!!! I mean, c’mon Graham, think outside the box. Our students attacked this problem in more ways than a charter bus filled with senior citizens attacks...
Making Math Accessible, Measurement and Data, Modeling, Patient Problem Solving, Teaching in a Context
I had the 2nd grade names and the information I needed, so I created this table and asked the students WDYN? Immediately students recognized the names of their 5 classmates and the perplexity session began! Lots of different ideas and “noticings” were...