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It’s That Time of Year: Mixture Problems
While I’m not teaching algebra this year, David Cox’s post on mixture problems caught my eye. I, like many, had a whole lot of trepidation around teaching mixture problems. My trajectory went...
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Happy Retirement to Me!
I told my geometry class today that I wouldn’t be back next week. Why? I’m retiring. It can’t get any better, and I should leave on a high note. Today I returned chapter exams and students had some...
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GeoGebra: All Hands on Deck
The lack of posting over the last, I dunno, many, many weeks, isn’t due to a lack of classroom fodder. There’s plenty going on around here, but my tongue has been tied up in writing for my National...
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Violence Interruption
Though I’m an avid John Stewart viewer, I had been taking a break from Colbert recently as his manic interview style was starting to annoy me. But this weekend, with no John Stewart’s left in the Tivo...
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Graphing Gala
I had a vision in my head of how I wanted Thursday’s 98 minute block period to go. My 8th grade Pre-Algebra class was nearing the end of our linear graphing unit. I had just given a quiz on graphing...
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New Year, New Mindset
After a very long hiatus, I have been drawn back to blogging by a challenge. Though there are no prizes, Sam’s New Blogger Initiation was reason enough to jump back into this community. Something new...
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Cheating!!!
I’m cheating. Sorry. Week 2 of new blogger initiation asks us to respond to the following question: “All new teachers should know about (blank) before entering the classroom.” and instead of answering...
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The Genius Award
Last year I began the year posting about the genius award I hand out from time to time. I stole the idea from John Benson, a high school math teacher of mine in Evanston, IL who handed out a sculpture...
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Integer Addition…revisited
So…I wouldn’t exactly say this went viral, but last year The Teaching Channel came and filmed the work I did with my students around integer addition. Since then, on and off, I have gotten emails...
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Prove Me!
Yesterday in geometry students were analyzing proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem using this lesson by The Shell Foundation. It ties in nicely with my favorite proof which they discuss while watching...
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Revival
There’s a restaurant location in downtown Berkeley which has changed hands several times over the past few years. It’s newest incarnation is called Revival and I must admit, it’s quite good. Coining...
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Live crabs in Vending Machines?
**No, not THOSE crabs** Of the many projects I have worked on this year as part of my Math For America Teacher-In-Residency, the most exciting and fulfilling has been coaching my middle school’s math...
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Pre-School Chit-Chatterings
My son Egan turned 4 today. Conversations with pre-school parents about kindergarten choices abound. All too often these lead quickly into conversations about how much one’s child is reading or...
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Unitizing Your Vitamins
For about two years I have been reading Christopher Danielson’s (@Trianglemancsd) blog Overthinking My Teaching and greatly enjoying the frequency with which he writes about the mathematical...
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99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Berkeley Schools have a holiday today in honor of Malcom X’s Birthday and I promised my children we’re go visit dad at work. After decades of work as a computer engineer and nearly as many as a...
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Pro Football Players Do Do Math
At our school retreat we have a running joke of how many times a presenter (always one of our colleagues at that venue) inadvertently says “do do.” It happens more often than you think. Anyway… This...
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The Power of a Teacher
As a middle school teacher, it’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the drama of our students’ lives and forget the potential we have to make a lasting impact. This article, ”Why I hated Meredith’s...
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GAFE Palo Alto Presentation
Assuming you’re not in Palo Alto this Sunday at 3pm, HERE IS A LINK to my presentation at the GAFE conference. All things math using Desmos and GeoGebra. As part of this, I put together a list of...
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Nitty Gritty GeoGebra News
This is a quick post primarily for anyone who attended my GAFE presentation today in Palo Alto. Quick reflection. Fixing techy things on the fly in front of an audience isn’t something I’m entirely...
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Revival (yet again)
Here we go…much time has passed and I’m sure both you and I are far wiser. It’s February. My birthday month. A leap year. A month to ski, celebrate presidents’ birthdays, and the coming of spring. A...
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