Mathkins

Why Am I Talking? I think about this question constantly as  I am creating a lesson or activity and bounces around my brain while in the middle of a lecture. What can I do to get my students talking? What questions can I pose in the middle of the lesson that will get them processing new ideas and connecting them to previous ones? Getting my students to talk in class is a two step process. First, I need to help them build relationships with their classmates and with me. If they feel comfortable in class, they are more likely to jump into the tougher math questions. So to start building that report, I start every class with them asking their partners, "Hi, how's it going? How has your day been so far?" We do this every day. Some days I have them ask their partners random questions: What toppings do you like on your pizza? What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Does sky diving sound like fun to you? Usually by the 2nd week they are saying "What's up?" to t...

Wow, what an amazing first week! After a summer of reading some great books, a week long math conference, and incredible conversations with colleagues I jumped in feet first and tried some completely new things this year. I was nervous every day this week, so nervous my stomach was doing back flips every morning and for about 2 minutes before every class period. I didn't know if my new ideas were going to be successful or flop. That uncertainty was very scary and hard to push through. But I made it to the other side relatively unscathed. Day 1- The Play-doh experiment So I bought some mini cans of Play-doh and as I greeted my students for the first time I had them pick a color, find a seat, then read the directions on the board.  Directions: Use the Play-doh to create something that you like, something that you don't like, and/or something that tells us about you. Please keep it school appropriate :-) As I walked around the room introducing myself to each person ...

I gave a presentation at the Saint Louis Adding It Up conference on Monday on collaborative strategies that I use in my classroom. It was the first time I have ever presented outside of my school district, which I have only done twice, so I was pretty psyched for the opportunity. It was a small group but I think I everyone was able to take at least one thing away from it. I took a lot of time to share how I build community in my classroom because I feel that before I can ask my students to have deep meaningful discussions about math or collaborate with their peers, I need to establish a safe and supportive space to do that. Everyday, before we go over the warm up, I have my students talk with their partner by asking them a few of the following questions. "Hi, how are you today? How has your morning/afternoon been? What did you have for breakfast? What are you doing after school? Do you have any quizzes or tests today?" This daily check-in not only breaks the ice, it also he...