I'm just back from the NCTM National Meeting in Boston, where I promoted the Lab Gear at the Didax booth, and attended a few sessions.One nice thing about NCTM was the opportunity to connect with friends and colleagues who I don't see often enough. Another is running into fans of my work, which happened with… Continue reading NCTM Report: Adaptation
Tag: ProfessionalDevelopment
Pattern Blocks on Pi Day
I'll be offering a workshop for middle school and high school teachers on March 14 at the American Institute for Mathematics in San Jose. My topic is pattern blocks:<img alt="" height="76" src="data: Pattern blocks are ubiquitous in elementary schools, but they're not commonly seen in middle school or high school. Yet, they do offer plenty of… Continue reading Pattern Blocks on Pi Day
Summer Workshops, 2015
I'll be teaching four workshops this summer, in two new locations: Seattle, and Waltham, MA (which is a half-hour West of Boston.) If you've meant to attend my workshops in the past, but couldn't make it to San Francisco, New York, or DC, perhaps these venues are more convenient for you? There will be no… Continue reading Summer Workshops, 2015
Asilomar Report: Think First
I attended the California Math Council meeting last Saturday. This post is a report on one talk I attended. It was given by Scott Farrand, a prof at Cal State University Sacramento. (I also reported on one of his talks last year.)This year's talk was called "Think First", which can be interpreted a few ways,… Continue reading Asilomar Report: Think First
Saturday workshop
I will present a workshop at the the Math Teachers' Circle in Palo Alto (at the American Institute of Mathematics.) The topic is area on a lattice, which we will explore on geoboards and dot paper. We will discuss "curricular" classroom applications (the Pythagorean theorem, simplifying radicals) as well as Pick's theorem and its proof,… Continue reading Saturday workshop
A Curriculum Model
The above map is an attempt at a curriculum development model. Traditional pedagogy stays at the top, as it is based on the belief that skills practice and teacher explanations are sufficient to build student understanding. Understanding acquired this way, plus the skills, allow the student to apply the ideas.Would that it were that simple.In… Continue reading A Curriculum Model
Asilomar Report, Part 2
Read about my morning at the Asilomar meeting of the California Math Council here.My afternoon was taken up with function diagrams. First, I attended Martin Flashman's presentation on this topic, then I made my own presentation, and finally I had dinner with Martin. (If you know nothing about function diagrams, read no further. Or find… Continue reading Asilomar Report, Part 2
Asilomar report, Part 1
Once again, I had a great time at the Asilomar conference of the California Math Council. Here are some notes from the first two sessions I attended.Scott Farrand (of Cal State Sacramento) and UC Davis's Rick West's presentation "Diophantine Equations Can Hide Geometric Surprises" was a fun way to start the day.Think of two whole… Continue reading Asilomar report, Part 1
Lagging Homework
This is part of a multifaceted strategy to teach heterogeneous classes. Read about it in this article: Reaching the Full Range.One concept which has been extremely popular every time I've offered my workshops is "lagging homework". The idea is to completely separate tonight's homework from today's class work. I tend to assign homework about ideas… Continue reading Lagging Homework
Reimagining High School Math: Sharing
I am teaching a workshop in San Francisco, June 20-21, on "reimagining high school math".Support materials are on the workshop participants' Web site.Participants: please use the comments below to share ideas, resources, and questions. --Henri
Henri's Math Education Blog 