In 2020, I wrote No One Way, a blog post which I used to explain my website’s motto (“There is no one way.”) I argued that it is the math itself that demands that we approach important topics in multiple ways. As it turns out, this is a favorite topic of mine: in 2016, I… Continue reading No Best Way
Author: hpicciotto
Mentoring Young Teachers
In a recent post I addressed young teachers. Today I write to their mentors. (If you’re a mentor, you should probably read both posts.) I chaired the math department in a small private school for almost 30 years. When we had an opening for a math teacher, the head of school made the final decision, but I was asked to… Continue reading Mentoring Young Teachers
Lab Gear, the Great Connector
I had the good fortune of mentoring Liz Caffrey for five years, at the very beginning of her teaching career, when she worked at the high school where I chaired the math department. She is now a veteran and talented middle school teacher in the Boston area, but we’ve stayed in touch. In this guest… Continue reading Lab Gear, the Great Connector
Dear Young Teacher
Dear young teacher, I am retired from schools, after 42 years in the classroom, grades K-12. In the second half of my career, I ended up mentoring a number of young first-year teachers. In general, that went very well, so I thought I would share some ideas about what made it work. Also, I participated… Continue reading Dear Young Teacher
Project SEED
Like most teachers, I learned the craft on the job, with the help of colleagues. The formal training I received in college was not that useful, with one exception: my short stint as a Community Teaching Fellow (CTF) when I was a math graduate student: I got paid as a Teaching Assistant, but my teaching… Continue reading Project SEED
The Calculus Project
This is a guest post by Adrian Mims, one of the author of the open letter I responded to in Yet More on the California Framework (Part 1) and (Part 2). Read it, and click on the links therein. -- Henri --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Henri, Thank you for sharing the links to your posts. The one… Continue reading The Calculus Project
Yet More on the California Framework (Part 2)
Previously on this topic: The California Math Framework Revision More on the California Framework Detracking, How To Yet More on the California Framework (Part 1) In my last post (#4), I shared three important points raised by Boaz Barak, Edith Cohen, Adrian Mims, and Jelani Nelson in their open letter about the California Math Framework Revision (CMFR). I… Continue reading Yet More on the California Framework (Part 2)
Yet More on the California Framework (Part 1)
There is a new open letter by STEM practitioners who oppose the California Math Framework revision (CMFR). The same group also published an Analysis and Critique of the proposed changes, and a blog post by Boaz Barak and Edith Cohen. I’ll use the latter's initials (BB/EC) to refer to them and the set of three… Continue reading Yet More on the California Framework (Part 1)
Asilomar report, 2021
I attended the California Math Council North’s conference in Asilomar last weekend. Because of Covid, it was a dramatically smaller conference than usual. As a consequence, there were fewer sessions to choose from, and probably a smaller turnout for many of them. Here is my nearly annual report. Python Turtle Ned Diamond presented the Python… Continue reading Asilomar report, 2021
Detracking, How To
This is my third post on the in-process revision of the California Math Framework. If you haven’t yet, please read the first two: The California Math Framework Revision, and More on the California Framework. I just reread them, and find that I stand by what I wrote: the revision attempts to address an important issue: low-track… Continue reading Detracking, How To
Henri's Math Education Blog 