Sharing together

If you ask a teacher why they blog, they will most likely tell you that, amongst other things, reflection is a huge benefit of blogging. Now I don't don't blog as much as I would like to, but I do reflect a lot on my teaching practices.

My most important reflections come when I create material for my students to use to practice specific math skills. The best stuff that I have created comes from having conversation with students and allowing them to show me areas in which they are struggling. It allows me to be critical of how I do things. I can always improve, and my students are the best at showing me how.

I am always happy to share my materials with other teachers, but I'm starting to feel that we are missing a valuable opportunity to reflect and learn from each other. Material (and not just mine) is often used in classrooms without enough consideration given to differentiation or student readiness. In short, we don't think enough about it -not critically anyways. What if we met after they've used my materials or I've used theirs? They teach different students than I do, so their experience could be different than mine. We could all learn from that conversation and it would encourage us to be more critical about what's happening in the classroom.

What seems to be happening too much is that we are sharing in isolation ... so without any collaboration or conversation. Give me something, then leave me alone. There seems to be a belief that once something is "shared," the opportunity for growth is over.

That's not sharing, that's just taking.

Differentiation

It's important for me to give students a chance to use what they know in order to discover new skills in my math classes. This usually happens in small groups and, to be successful, it is important to know where students are in their learning and to respect their readiness when planning. I was asked to create a video for my district to show how I differentiate my lessons in a middle school classroom.

Let me know what you think.

What's your 'Best Number'

A few weeks ago, I showed my grade 8 students a short clip from 'The Big Bang Theory.' In the clip, Sheldon proposes that the best number in the world is 73.

Here's an extended version of the clip.



I gave my students 5 weeks to find their own 'best number.' I gave them very few guidelines since I am curious to see what they can come up with on their own. I told them that they could use both mathematical and personal reasons to justify their choice.

Today, I showed them why my 'best number' is 28. I was happy to see that quite a few students are working hard to find their own. I am hoping to post some of them here.



Maybe there are other reasons why 28 is awesome.

What's yours?