My Favorite No is a great assessment activity that turns students’ mistakes into collective opportunities for learning. It can be done with any math topic or content. It takes very little time, so teachers can do it often and weave it into the daily routine of their class. I learned about it from a middle school teacher named Leah Alcala through a video created for the Teaching Channel. Continue reading My Favorite No: A Great Way to Celebrate Student Mistakes in Math
Illustrative Mathematics is a great resource that brought together teachers, math educators and mathematicians to create mathematical tasks aligned to each standard of the Common Core. There are currently over 1000 tasks, from grades K through 12. Because it is K-12, some tasks will need to be adapted, but because it is K-12, there are rich materials for adult education students at all levels, from ABE to HSE. Continue reading Math Problems Aligned to the Common Core
Visual Patterns is a very simple and wonderful website, created by a public middle school teacher in Southern California named Fawn Nguyen.
The site is essentially a collection of 157 different visual patterns (and growing). For each pattern, you are given the first three figures/stages of the pattern. For example, Continue reading Developing Algebraic Thinking Through Visual Patterns
Inside Mathematics identifies itself as “a professional resource for educators passionate about improving students’ mathematics learning and performance”. The goal of the site is to help educators continue to grow and transform their teaching practice. To accomplish this there are a lot of resources, including lessons, challenging math problems, videos of classroom instruction, videos of teachers planning lessons, videos of teachers reflecting on lessons they just taught, etc. Continue reading Developing Students into Deep Mathematical Problem-Solvers
Veritasium is a YouTube channel of science videos, focused mainly on physics, created by the charismatic Dr. Derek Muller. As of this review, there are 199 incredibly engaging and visual videos, with more being added all the time. One of the things I really like about the Veritasium videos is the way they focus on drawing out and breaking down common misconceptions about science and how the physical world works. Continue reading Scientific Misconceptions and Wonder in the Everyday