Tag: essential understandings

  • (h,k) form – setting the stage

    I begin the class with a “what do you notice?” “what do you wonder?” session. This is probably the 5th or 6th day of class, and sets the stage for the entire rest of year. What do you notice? What do you wonder? I document all the noticings and wonderings, and then we discuss the…

  • 3 rules – extended & connected

    My last post was about the three rules I use in my classroom. I developed the how and why in that post. In this post, I will explore some detailed “how I use them” in the classroom. I am careful to never say the word “rule” except for these three. We have exponent shortcuts, log…

  • Summer blogging project – one maths

    I tried to do a 180 blog, and made it to 90. I really don’t know how people like Justin Aion and Sam Shah do it. It is very difficult to find something to day for 180 days without it sounding boring and forced. They pull it off though. That is amazing. Knowing I can’t…

  • Rational function rules

    Rational function rules

    Nothing annoys me more in teaching math than a bunch of rules to memorize, and rational function come with their own complete set of rules to memorize. I really find that annoying, and I have been on a personal quest to make sense of algebra through a combined set of understandings that will bring comprehension,…

  • Quiz-Quiz Trade in Stats

    Vocab is killer in stats class. If there was one single thing that determines success or failure in stats class it is mastery of the vocabulary. I am really trying to make that a smoother transition, and I think so far it has been successful. One new thing I tried is Shelli Temple’s (@druinok) Quiz-Quiz…

  • My Big Ideas in Algebra

    Grant Wiggins threw down a challenge, and it has taken me so long in thinking about it that there have been responses and followups already. I hope I am not too late to the discussion. I have a different idea of “Big Ideas” than Mr. Honner or Mr. Wiggins, and I think it fits Mr.…

  • One good reason to stop grading homework

    Homework has been in discussion for a while in my circles. Is it useful? Why do we assign it? Etc. I came across one strong reason why we should really stop grading homework and start grading other activities that demonstrate learning. That reason? It is Chegg.com. I used to think Chegg was just a place…

  • Making Connections Everyday

    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,…

  • AP Stats: how to remember all those conditions checks

    Every year in AP stats for the last 4 years I have struggled with getting my learners to understand and use the all important conditions checks in Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis tests. This year I changed up how I taught it, and it has really made an impact. In fact, I can honestly say that…

  • AP Stats: You mean we need to understand the formula sheet?

    My AP Stat class has been frustrating me the last couple of weeks. They have been very blah. Not interested in being aggressive in their learning, not thinking about the formulas for stats, and in general willing to just sit there and expect the knowledge to jump into their heads with no effort. It came…