I actually went to bed fairly early last night, 10 pm, that's my summer bed time. But as I lay there in the dark with my rain sounds guiding me toward a sweet slumber, my brain kicked into high gear. It started collecting and shaking loose all of the ideas that have been swirling around after reading some really great books (The Classroom Chef, What's Math Got to Do With It, and Teach Like a Pirate). As the clock ticked away, I started imagining my first few days of school. How I would attempt to connect and make them feel comfortable during that first awkward day? What can we do on that first day that will make them look forward to the second? Every question that I asked my brain came back with a engaging and inspired idea. I ran to get a notebook. I needed to jot these ideas down before sleep stole them away.
After reading Kent Haines blog "The Process Column" on how he incorporates math autobiographies into the first few days of his class, I have been inspired to try it in my class too. Class officially starts next week and I am going to read them mine and ask them to write their own version as well. I have invited a couple English teachers to write their math autobiographies too (like Kent did) so I can share experiences as well. I am looking forward to seeing what my kids say. Here is my math autobiography: I remember very little about my math classes from school. There are a few things that stick out, but not for good reasons. I remember doing flash cards in first grade and feeling the victory of completing a set and getting to move on to the next and the utter defeat when I missed too many and I had to keep that set for a few more days until I got better. I remember playing around the world in fifth grade, standing behind my classmate trying to be the first one to ans
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