I was at the Westchester County Airport this morning, in the women’s room, when a woman and I started a conversation over soap. The topic soon changed to bathroom decor, which we discussed for a few minutes before wishing each other well. Then the woman walked out, and I was able to see her gait. It was quite lopsided, and she walked with the aid of a cane. I had noticed that she had mostly been using one side of her face to talk, but now I could see the extent of the asymmetry of her body. After seeing this,…
Yesterday was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and it began with a bang. My group has seven bright, eager children in it, and we all dove in to our writing projects yesterday. Prior to that, we had a couple of meetings in which we worked on character development, understanding what plot is, setting expectations, and deciding on word count goals. I think my students from previous years underestimated their abilities yet again, if yesterday was any measure; they seem to grow their ability to write fluently almost exponentially each year. I’m impressed. Even more impressive, one of our new members,…
About two weeks ago, a post titled “Singapore Math Is ‘Our Dirty Little Secret’” appeared on the Core Knowledge blog. It criticized the New York Times article about Singapore Math that appeared on October 1. Apparently, the author believes that the poor state of math education in the US is due to what he calls “reform math.” This ignores an entire generation of math-phobic adults who learned math through “traditional” methods, and most likely instigated the reform movement due to their dissatisfaction with those methods. While the curricula based purely on constructivist approaches have their limitations, the idea that Singapore…
My first trip to NCTM is over, and I’m glad I went. Although the setup had a few glitches, like an LCD projector that didn’t want to project from my laptop, my presentation on problem solving using model drawing went well, with close to 180 participants. Many of them came back to the booth, interested in further learning, and some bought books and materials or inquired about future opportunities to develop this skill. I’m really pleased about this, because it means more children may be better equipped to enjoy and understand math. The booth was busy the whole day, and…
After a long day of arriving and helping to set up the SDE booth, I had a little time to look around the NCTM bookstore. (NCTM, in case you don’t know, is the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the host of this conference.) There were some interesting books, but the one I just HAD to buy was Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks by G. Patrick Vennebush. How could I resist? It shows what a math geek I am that I was laughing out loud while reading some of the jokes. This will be a great resource for any…
I’m on my way to participate in the NCTM Regional conference in Baltimore, Maryland. My presentation is first thing tomorrow morning, and it will be on the topic of Singapore Math model drawing. The session is 75 minutes long, enough for a taste of several types of model drawing. Hopefully the participants will come away with some understanding of the power of model drawing and will be able to put it to use. If you are there, come by and see me after the presentation, from 11:00 AM on, at booth 614, with SDE!
A new reality show called Teach premiered on A&E on October 1. It follows Tony Danza as he enters the teaching profession as a high school literature teacher, with no prior teacher training. I was fully prepared to dislike this program, as the preview indicated it would be another feel-good show about a former actor getting a chance to make a difference in young people’s lives. Why, I thought, aren’t they featuring an excellent non-celebrity teacher? But I was pleasantly surprised. Teaching is a hard profession. It’s even harder if you want to be good or excellent at it. The…
Last Friday, this New York times article about Singapore Math appeared. The premise of the beginning of the article is that by studying one number at a time slowly, students learn more thoroughly and therefore build a better mathematical foundation. This is true, even if it is an oversimplification of the curriculum. Here is a quote from the article: Principals and teachers say that slowing down the learning process gives students a solid math foundation upon which to build increasingly complex skills, and makes it less likely that they will forget and have to be retaught the same thing in…
An article appeared in the Lowell Sun yesterday, and this article triggered more questions than answers in my mind. Among other things, the North Middlesex Regional School District found spotty improvements in math test scores. The article said: Brady and Muir discussed how the district’s use of so-called Singapore math is problematic. “We think Singapore math has taken us as far as it can,” Brady said. Muir added that Singapore math does not align with MCAS frameworks but that the district is looking at other textbook publishers. This raised some red flags for me. Singapore Math took them as far…
For some people and classrooms, it just isn’t feasible to purchase high-quality number bond flash cards like you can obtain through Crystal Springs Books. I came across a site where you can download your own, print them and cut them out. These are addition and subtraction cards appropriate for grades K-3. You can download them for free after registering at Teachers Pay Teachers. A caveat: While the free cards by William Hughes cover the basic principles of number bonding for addition and subtraction for numbers to 10, the Crystal Springs cards are better because they do not rely on just…