I'll be speaking at a conference in New York City on Saturday, January 15, on a panel with three other teachers from the Urban School of San Francisco. The conference sponsor is the Independent Curriculum Group, a network of schools that are working to develop home-grown curricula and to de-emphasize APs.The conference will be held… Continue reading But does it work?
Tag: Teaching
Escape from the Textbook!
I co-presented "Escape from the Textbook!" with Carlos Cabana at the Asilomar meeting of the California Math Council. The turnout was good, and the talk was well received. A bunch of people joined the Escape from the Textbook! community in the following days, and several said they'd come to the February 12 conference. (You should… Continue reading Escape from the Textbook!
Op ed in The Mathematics Teacher
I had an op ed ("Soundoff") published in the November 2010 issue of The Mathematics Teacher, a special issue on technology. ( I suspect it is only available on line to members of the National Council of Teachers of Math.) The piece is a substantially expanded version of my blog posts about why I use… Continue reading Op ed in The Mathematics Teacher
Student course evaluations
When I started teaching high school, I was rather shocked that the routine on the job at the time included a course evaluation form to be filled in by students at the end of every term. Teenagers were to evaluate adults!I was particularly disturbed by the pedagogically questionable assumptions and implications of the form. One… Continue reading Student course evaluations
Little girls and math
A friend is concerned that her daughter may already be getting the wrong message about math and gender in kindergarten. This is not as far-fetched as it seems, according to this article. She is planning to start a math club of sorts for her daughter and her friends.My advice to her: do whatever math you… Continue reading Little girls and math
Geometry book recommendation
A correspondent asks for a recommendation for a geometry book.My favorite by far is Geometry: A Guided Inquiry by Chakerian, Crabill and Stein. This is the book that had the greatest impact on my approach to teaching high school math. It came out in the 1970's, I believe, but was far ahead of its time.… Continue reading Geometry book recommendation
Teacher Perfectionism
Every teacher knows that teaching is an emotional roller coaster -- we are thrilled if a class goes well, depressed if it doesn't. But the reality, I'm afraid, is that every class we teach, even the good ones, is a failure in one respect or another: some students found it too difficult or too easy;… Continue reading Teacher Perfectionism
Student Perfectionism
Some years ago, we surveyed the students at Urban about how they experienced the math program. As I remember it, we tried to ask separate questions about what students enjoyed, and what helped them learn. These are of course not necessarily the same thing, and we wanted them to develop an awareness of that distinction… Continue reading Student Perfectionism
I was the worst student in the class
I am back at school after a year away from teaching. During that time, I was a student three times. I took a painting class -- four hours a day, every weekday, for a whole month at the Arts Students League of New York -- wonderfully relaxing and energizing. I took a Web design class… Continue reading I was the worst student in the class
Interactive White Boards (continued)
In response to my post on IWBs, Joy Wolfe writes:Thanks for blogging a response to Mr. Ferriter's seemingly ignorant bashingof the use of IWBs. Amen to what you wrote! When I first read the article,I was extremely frustrated. It saddened me that Mr. Ferriter seemed to havehad little training in the use of his interactive… Continue reading Interactive White Boards (continued)
Henri's Math Education Blog 