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Blogs on Math Teaching
Tag Archives: teaching
Doubling Algebra? Or making it work?
I’d call this article, about how doubling the time students spent studying algebra led them to do better in math and also reading and writing(!) a case of burying the lead. Why? Before anyone rushes to double the lengths of … Continue reading
A motivation for fractions: is it fair?
I was asked last week to teach a guest lesson for 3rd graders on fractions using Everyday Math. The book had some nice lessons, including one that involved building pattern block designs and then figuring out what fraction of them … Continue reading
Posted in classes, lesson, Math Musings
Tagged fractions, math, Pattern blocks, pedagogy, teaching
3 Comments
Wolfram, computer-based math, “and making maths beautiful”
I’ve had Conrad Wolfram on my mind for some time. He gave a TED talk on computer-based math a while back, and just gave an updated talk at Learning Without Frontiers. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsWKyFg9IdM His premise is challengingly obvious: … Continue reading
Posted in link, Math Musings, video
Tagged beautiful math, computers, cubic formula, learning, pedagogy, problems, questions, teaching, wolfram
2 Comments
Math Consulting: Games to Content, by way of Questions
We’ve been loving running math workshops for teachers. First of all, teachers are awesome: they’re some of the hardest working, most motivated people out there. They want to know as much math as they can, and they want to help … Continue reading
Posted in lesson, video
Tagged combinations and permutations, consulting, education, games, math, questions, rainbow logic, teaching, video
2 Comments
The power of student questions (and the admiration of strangers)
I had two unsolicited, impressed comments from strangers who heard my tutoring sessions yesterday. It’s very gratifying: they’re more for my students than for me, but what teacher isn’t proud of the work their students do? In the morning, I … Continue reading
Posted in photo, regular, Uncategorized
Tagged algebra, dividing fractions, fractions, infinite sums, light, mirrors, non-Euclidean geometry, questions, relativity, teaching
1 Comment
How to Survive in Your Native Land II
The theme of the book, if we get down to it, is honesty in teaching. No question why it’s aggravating sometimes and inspiring others, why this guy Herndon grates on your nerves with his pompousness and his insistence that he’s … Continue reading
Posted in regular
Tagged Herndon, honesty, how to survive in your native land, teaching, the dumb class, time
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Subversive Suggestions
I inherited from my dad a bookshelf of books on teaching, many of which were written in the sixties and seventies and feel as anachronistically radical as, say, the Declaration of Independence (…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of … Continue reading
Posted in regular
Tagged bureaucracy, education, institutions, kasparov, teaching, teaching as a subversive activity
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Thesis and conference
Last Thursday, I defended my thesis. The process was challenging, in that I have a tendency to be casual with certain details, and in this context I was called to task over each one of these. Most unexpected was being … Continue reading
Posted in regular
Tagged moore, moore method, teaching, teaching with your mouth shut, thesis
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New Blog From an Old Colleague
Avery Pickford is a teacher I used to work with. He regularly beat me at scrabble (and I’m pretty formidable in most crowds), and he taught me ultimate tic-tac-toe, where you add a box after every turn, and need to … Continue reading
Why do we keep paying for what’s free?
Matt Damon said it first, in Good Will Hunting: one day, you’re going to realize that You dropped 150 grand on a $%*#ing education you could have got for $1.50 in late charges at the public library. Here’s the paradox … Continue reading
Posted in regular
Tagged calculus, free, Good Will Hunting, math, Matt Damon, MIT, online education, teaching, tutoring
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