math

Unit Plan on Percents

September 28, 2010 Jose

I’ll write something meatier later, but here’s my unit plan for percents. Use it however you like. Comment as you need to. Tell me what you think. I’m using it as  guide for the lesson plans I’m creating day-to-day, hoping the other teachers help me create the next unit using this template. Won’t you join [...]

Read more →

Rest Elbows on Table, Insert Chin Into Hands (Pick Your Head Up Afterwards)

August 4, 2010 Jose

This is the reason I don’t like reading the papers in NYC. They’re either filled with information I’ve already read, information that’s misinformation, or information I just shake my head at. This time around, it was the third. And I didn’t even have my usual sources of news to inform me immediately of Sunday’s NY [...]

Read more →

FACK! [Or, 5 Ways To Handle The Day Before The Big Math Test]

May 4, 2010 Jose

To new math teachers, this sort of stress only compares to that getting injected with a thin, long needle for the first time or sitting in a dentist’s chair with your mouth full of something-caine waiting for a root canal. You know it’s going to benefit you in the long run just to be over [...]

Read more →

The Real Purpose of Math Is …

April 21, 2010 Jose

Anyone who’s ever had to fill in this blank understands my pain: “The real purpose of learning math is _____” I have a variety of answers, but usually, it’s straight-forward: much of the math you learn is applied to real-life situations, and the ability to do it yourself with no need for a calculator makes [...]

Read more →

Tearing the House Down pt. 1: No (Limiting) Math Gimmicks!

January 11, 2010 Jose

I could have easily declared the following as a math teacher, but I’m being more demonstrative now: No. More. FOIL. Anyone who’s followed these posting in the last couple of years knows that I’m all for finding efficient ways of remembering how one works through different elements of math. I’m also for remembering processes so [...]

Read more →

I Need Your Full Cooperation and Total Attention

February 23, 2009 Jose

Just a few things I’d like to mention. I came into my classroom ready to breeze through the last few standards before the NYS Math Test (probability, permutations, and the like). I came in with a vengeance, remembering the things I needed to cover before those two dreaded words: Test. Prep. I’m officially nervous about [...]

Read more →

Open Thread: What Makes a Good Math Teacher?

February 19, 2009 Jose

Here are a few good questions for everyone. At the behest of brran, I’ve decided to start an open thread about math teachers. As the title says, what makes a good math teacher? As someone who considers himself a good math teacher, I often wonder what takes a teacher from good to great, or even [...]

Read more →

A Life’s Perspective on Ratios

October 28, 2008 Jose

You know you’re a math teacher when even I’m even starting to make the small parts of life mathematical. A few instances: Friend Quality vs. Quantity Ratio I had a long conversation with a friend of mine who was looking at someone’s profile on Facebook and mentioning how many friends this person had. This person [...]

Read more →

Ojala Que Llueva Cafe En El Campo (Hope That It Rains Coffee In The Field)

July 22, 2008 Jose

Juan Luis Guerra’s quintessential song is “Ojala Que Llueva Cafe En El Campo,” a song that comes across more as a incantation that the poor and hopefully at the least have coffee somehow fall from the sky to bless them, as if to say that G_d might bless them with their basic necessities to relieve [...]

Read more →

Ace of Bases

April 29, 2008 Jose

This week, I’ve taken Greg Tang’s advice from the NCTM Conference and started working with the kids on different bases. And by different bases, I mean different ways of looking at the number systems we use. One of the biggest reasons why kids don’t get math in general is because the numbers themselves don’t make [...]

Read more →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →