I have had this long term struggle going on in my head this year that we really don’t do a good job making connections between material in our classes, and that lack of connection is one reason why “transfer” (ala. Grant Wiggins and Understanding by Design) doesn’t occur as frequently as I would like. Well, [...]
I have been mulling this question over for a while now, since last summer at least. It is a offshoot of the time I spent working with Exeter materials at an Exeter summer institute, and if anything the question has grown in my mind to the point where I must answer it for myself and [...]
It is spring break, so what am I doing? I am attending AP workshops and volunteering at my local university. All in all, a great spring break. So, Let me start with the question first. Why do we make it so hard to learn functions? I mean really. We treat each topic; linears, quadratics, cubics, [...]
Okay, all along I was promising a massive file upload for all the readers who want the Exeter materials. I will explain what each group of files are for as I go. All files are in WORD or PDF format, and all are in a zipped folder. Downloading and unzipping the folders will speed up [...]
In this post I want to show Exeter’s problem solving strategy. This is important, because it is SO different from how a problem like this is typically approached. First off, the problem I am going to model is M1:21:11 [Math 1, page 21, problem 11] 11. Alex was hired to unpack and clean 576 very [...]
Before I begin going through this problem I have selected, I want to link you to where the PDF’s of the documents can be found. Notice these are NOT the problem sets, these are activities that ARE used in class, but also are pulled together for teacher use at the Phillips Exeter Academy Summer Math [...]
For today’s #myfavfriday I am presenting an idea that has been percolating in my head for a while. If you want to know what a #myfavfriday is, then see Druinok’s blog here. Learners have a devil of a time with quadratics. Afterall, there can be 2 solutions, 1 solution, or no solutions in Algebra 1, [...]
Really, I found a use for the boxes of old scantrons I have in storage! I didn’t think of it myself, though. It came from here. Provide each student with a scantron sheet and ask them to guess which would be the correct answer to the first question, if you were unable to see the [...]
It is time to start thinking about such things! First, room arrangement. This year I am expecting to have between 30 and 37 learners in each class. In the past, I have had my room arranged in a large, double sided U. This allowed for maximum conversation and collaboration, as well as random number usage [...]
I really find the concept behind the site Maths in the City to be very interesting. Real world math, based on the urban environment around us. It is a British site, but that does not mean it will not end up with some really cool pictures and videos from around the world. Now, what can [...]