I have taught demo and observational classes regularly since I left full-time teaching but yesterday was the first time I taught every class for the day. Leaving myself some quick notes & impressions. The setup. I taught four classes of students in three different rooms. Plug. Unplug. Plug. Unplug. Plug. Unplug. This works for me. I am the Mirrorworld Sarah Carter with how little attention I generally pay to the physical environment of the classroom. Another growth area for me, but great for modular subbing. Teaching is tiring. The pace doesn’t quit. I brought a thermos of coffee with me ..read more

All my action is over at Substack for now ..read more

Students are receiving more feedback from computers this year than ever before. What does that feedback look like, and what does it teach students about mathematics and about themselves as mathematicians? Here is a question we might ask math students: what is this coordinate? Let’s say a student types in (5, 4), a very thoughtful wrong answer. (“Wrong and brilliant,” one might say.) Here are several ways a computer might react to that wrong answer. 1. “You’re wrong.” This is the most common way computers respond to a student’s idea. But (5, 4) receives the same feedback as answers like (1000 ..read more

Students are receiving more feedback from computers this year than ever before. What does that feedback look like, and what does it teach students about mathematics and about themselves as mathematicians? Here is a question we might ask math students: what is this coordinate? Let’s say a student types in (5, 4), a very thoughtful wrong answer. (“Wrong and brilliant,” one might say.) Here are several ways a computer might react to that wrong answer. 1. “You’re wrong.” This is the most common way computers respond to a student’s idea. But (5, 4) receives the same feedback as answers like (1000 ..read more

“Feel free to answer like a seventh grader,” I told teachers as I led them through one of the lessons from our Middle School Math Curriculum. The question about those images was, “What stays the same? What changes?” And people did not answer like seventh graders. Instead, there was lots of discussion around proportionality, congruency, ratios, and other attributes of the shapes that are going to be one million miles from the minds of seventh graders in school right now. But several teachers took me up on my offer and answered a little bit like children. I snapshotted them, paused the class ..read more

“Feel free to answer like a seventh grader,” I told teachers as I led them through one of the lessons from our Middle School Math Curriculum. The question about those images was, “What stays the same? What changes?” And people did not answer like seventh graders. Instead, there was lots of discussion around proportionality, congruency, ratios, and other attributes of the shapes that are going to be one million miles from the minds of seventh graders in school right now. But several teachers took me up on my offer and answered a little bit like children. I snapshotted them, paused the class ..read more

I live adjacent to the Northern California wine country, which makes wine tasting a fairly affordable and semi-regular kind of outing. (Pre-quar, of course.) But wine tasting makes me anxious and sweaty in ways that help me relate to students who hate math class. There’s a sharp division between who is considered an expert and a novice, and an obsession with status (there are four levels of sommelier!) that’s only exceeded by some religious orders. Experts seem to have very little interest in the intuitions and evolving understandings that novices bring to the tasting room. (What you’re suppo ..read more

I live adjacent to the Northern California wine country, which makes wine tasting a fairly affordable and semi-regular kind of outing. (Pre-quar, of course.) But wine tasting makes me anxious and sweaty in ways that help me relate to students who hate math class. There’s a sharp division between who is considered an expert and a novice, and an obsession with status (there are four levels of sommelier!) that’s only exceeded by some religious orders. Experts seem to have very little interest in the intuitions and evolving understandings that novices bring to the tasting room. (What you’re suppo ..read more

When schools started closing months ago, we heard two loud requests from teachers in our community. They wanted: Written feedback for students. Co-teacher access to student data. Those sounded like unambiguously good ideas, whether schools were closed or not. Good pedagogy. Good technology. Good math. We made both. Here is the new loudest request: Self-checking activities. Especially card sorts. hey @Desmos – is there a simple way for students to see their accuracy for a matching graph/eqn card sort? thank you! Is there a way to make a @Desmos card sort self checking? #MTBoS #iteachmath ..read more

When schools started closing months ago, we heard two loud requests from teachers in our community. They wanted: Written feedback for students. Co-teacher access to student data. Those sounded like unambiguously good ideas, whether schools were closed or not. Good pedagogy. Good technology. Good math. We made both. Here is the new loudest request: Self-checking activities. Especially card sorts. hey @Desmos – is there a simple way for students to see their accuracy for a matching graph/eqn card sort? thank you! Is there a way to make a @Desmos card sort self checking? #MTBoS #iteachmath ..read more