100 Posts

20 Jul 202220 Jul 2022

This post is the 100th on my blog! 🎉 With all due respect to any of you beautiful and talented people reading this, I write this blog, first and foremost,…

Changing How I “Mathematize Children’s Literature”

26 Apr 202227 Apr 2022

I enjoy teaching math through children's literature. Typically, I'll read the book aloud to a class, stopping briefly when inspired to ask a question or a student raises their hand.…

Stenhouse Blog Post: Using Student Work as an Anchor for Mathematical Discourse (Something to Talk About)

11 Jan 20221 Jan 2022

This blog post was published on the blog for Stenhouse Publishing, as part of a series on classroom discourse. You can read the complete post on the Stenhouse website. While…

Exploring Geometry with Simon Gregg (Addendum to ‘Digging in the closet’)

18 Nov 202120 Nov 2021

Shortly after posting my recent blog post -- "Digging in the Closet: The Return of the Museum of Rarely Used Math Manipulatives (MoRUMM)" -- I received a DM from Simon…

Digging in the Closet: The Return of the Museum of Rarely Used Math Manipulatives (MoRUMM)

18 Nov 202112 Dec 2021

My officemate and I have an embarrassment of riches -- in the form of math materials. In the first district where I taught, manipulatives were hard to come by. My…

How Much Is Enough: Using Student Feedback to Reflect on Practice

28 Jun 202112 Jul 2021

Do students need to finish every problem? When I have asked this of colleagues, everyone has responding with a resounding no! Definitely not!Not every student needs that much practice.It's okay…

Using Videos to Reflect on Practice, Student Identity, and Agency

29 Nov 20203 Apr 2021

I hate watching myself on video. I squirm. I flinch. I last, I don't know, a maximum of 9 seconds...? And now I have to teach in an environment where…

An Open Letter to the Seattle School Board

28 May 202026 Jun 2020

Last night, I sent off a letter to the Seattle School Board in support of Tracy Castro-Gill, the head of Seattle's Ethnic Studies Program Manager, who was recently removed from…

Blindspots

5 Mar 202026 Jun 2020

---originally published on slowrevealgraphs.com -- In January, I chaperoned a field trip to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. We took in the larger-than-life portrait of George Washington and troops crossing…

Reflections on the Problem-Based Learning (Symmetry Mini-Unit)

10 Jan 20206 Feb 2022

This is the last post in the series on experimenting with problem-based learning in Claire's fourth grade class. The other posts in the series are: Getting Started with Problem Based…

Cultivating Mathematicians… of All Ages

21 Nov 201921 Nov 2019

Original published for @autismplusmath 's Guest Blogger Week at: cake.co/c/kyVnSVj"I mean, you know... I'm not a math teacher," said Jessica*, who teaches Kindergarten. She didn't whisper this confession in an…

When Our Beliefs Become Compromised… (part 1)

30 Jul 201928 Aug 2019

When are the times in my own teaching that my belief in kids and communities is compromised?  - Cornelius Minor (@MisterMinor) Heinemann Teacher Tour, July 27, 2019 Cornelius isn't a…

“I see the same hands”: Dealing with Discretionary Spaces

12 Feb 201912 Feb 2019

The teacher frowned as she looked out at her 25 students, only 3 of which had their hands raised -- the same three students who always had their hands raised."I see…

Counting to 10 in Danish: Learning from Students, Colleagues + the #MTBoS

23 Jan 201727 Nov 2018

I started this post yesterday, and then read a blog post by Kyle Pearce that filled in some of the gaps in my own thinking. Once again, I feel indebted…

Response to Michael Pershan’s Essay, Part 2

13 Jan 201723 Feb 2017

Read Michael's essay, "Missing Factors: On Learning What You Don't Know." Read Part 1: Counting with Celine, about a student I worked with for five years. It was bittersweet to…

Counting with Celine / Response to Michael Pershan’s Essay, part 1

13 Jan 201723 Feb 2017

I read Michael Pershan’s essay, "Missing Factors: On Learning What You Don't Know," twice. He described a familiar experience: when students seem stuck with operational fluency, in spite of our…