27 Sep 2019
4 Things Every Math Teacher Should Stop Saying

4 Things Every Math Teacher Should Stop Saying

In today's video, we look at 4 things that every math teacher should stop saying, as well as what to say instead. 1. Does anyone have any questions? Instead - "What questions do you have?" or "I want to hear 3 different questiosn about this topic before moving on." 2. What's the answer to this problem? Instead - "How did you approach this problem?" or "What's something you tried on this problem?" 3. That's correct. ** Instead - "Tell me what you did here and why." or "Convince me that this is the correct answer." 4. That's wrong. ** Instead…
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08 Jun 2017
Entry 33 – School Has Come To An End

Entry 33 – School Has Come To An End

Today is the first official day of summer for me!  Started out with breakfast for some friends, the first swim in a long while at the lap pool (taking a break for a week from the weight lifting as I've had some shoulder pain), and some good time to get a lot of little tasks done that have been on the back burner for a few weeks. My summer plans include doing some possible videography work (sent out a ton of inquiries this morning) and a trip at the end of summer to China!  Sara and I found a Groupon…
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22 May 2017
Entry 32 – Statistics & Gender

Entry 32 – Statistics & Gender

Well the last week of learning new content has come to a close.  We'll be reviewing in all classes next week and then finals week. PRE-ALGEBRA My students are just about done with their statistics project that I talked about last week.  Got a lot of positive feedback.  It was really one of the best ways to do this content as it really isn't hard to learn mean, median, mode, and range, nor is it too complex to learn how to do a box plot or histogram, just the process of watching a video of someone go through it and…
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16 May 2017

Entry 31 – A Middle School Statistics Project

So we have one week of content left in our classes, a week of review, and then finals week.  We are winding down. PRE-ALGEBRA STATS PROJECT In Pre-Algebra, we just finished our percents unit, which was pretty short.  It could've actually been a part of the previous ratios and proportions unit (as I had them create proportions to solve all of the percent problems) but I just opted to make it it's own one-lesson unit.  Last year I started to get into compound interest and it was OK but didn't have the time to really do that this year. So…
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22 Jan 2017
Entry 20 – The Biggest Impact on My Teaching

Entry 20 – The Biggest Impact on My Teaching

This week's prompt: What/who has had the biggest impact in your teaching approach and why? I've got a few people, quotes, and books that have shaped the way I approach teaching. Rafe Esquith Esquith is best known for his book 'Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire.'  He's a retired 30-year, 5th grade teacher and really embodies everything I hope to be as a teacher.  It's incredible the things he was able to do in the low-income school he worked in all his years.  He held an after school program where students read and performed Shakespeare (once joined by Ian McKellen).…
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16 Jan 2017
Entry 19 – Let’s Get A Math Exhibition Going

Entry 19 – Let’s Get A Math Exhibition Going

We're trying something new at my school this year; a Math Exhibition of sorts.  Students will explore a math topic or concept and give a visual presentation.  We actively avoided 'math fair' because that sounds boring.  But MATH EXHIBITION!  Sign me up! We do something somewhat similar to this each year with Project Week.  The difference is that Project Week has students explore ANY topic of interest for a week and then present on it.  They get a week off of school to do it.  The video below by yours truly sums it up: https://youtu.be/Ysvz2XeEg90 So as a math team…
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31 Oct 2016
Entry 11 – My Most Unique Lessons

Entry 11 – My Most Unique Lessons

The week's reflection is a few days late but better to reflect later than not at all :)  Our prompt was the following: What do you do as a teacher that feels unique to you and your class? Share one of your unique lesson plans or activities. Share one of your unique forms of assessment. I think the most unique thing to my class is the classroom economy.  I've spoken about at it length in my blog but what I'm most excited about is that this year, not only am I introducing budgeting and giving to charity, I'm also documenting…
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01 Oct 2016
Entry 07 – Teaching Budgeting In Middle School

Entry 07 – Teaching Budgeting In Middle School

I haven't mentioned it here yet but a handful of teachers and I have been participating in a weekly writing group.  Often, those reflections have revolved around a particular prompt, which I've been including in my reflections.  Many of those teachers have been posting their reflections to a community Tumblr.  Feel free to see those reflections HERE.  It's been so awesome to get to have these 'conversations' that we don't normally get to have, and sometimes these digital conversations continue in person. This week will just be a general best lesson / worst lesson reflection. BEST LESSON I think of 'best'…
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19 Sep 2016
Teaching Square Roots Using Cheez-Its

Teaching Square Roots Using Cheez-Its

I share my thoughts pre-lesson, vlog the actual lesson with two of my classes, and reflect on what I'd change next time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_1g7ycPsRo Here's the slide show I created for the lesson. I talk about KenKen puzzles in the video as well. These puzzles are an option in my class for students who finish their work early. Find the puzzles HERE. I originally got this idea from a teacher named Julie Reulbach. See her write up HERE. __ Music by Podington Bear - http://soundofpicture.com
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