Comments on: Testify

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 00:41:09 +0000

I wish I had more knowledge of PokÃ©mon Go so I knew what affected the weight like that. Good luck with the activity, Beth.

By: Beth Baker

Beth Baker — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 17:50:00 +0000

Thanks for reminding me about the fan. I am prepping a 75 minute workshop session for kids using Pokemon Go screen shots to provoke spontaneous mathematics. The difficulty is in finding a progression that starts simply and works its way up to more complex opportunities. The fan idea is a nice middle ground. http://i.imgur.com/HsYHxEW.jpg will be a fun place to start.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

By: Beatriz Valenzuela

Beatriz Valenzuela — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 21:09:15 +0000

In the math department I am currently in, we try to create interactive lessons in which students can gain in depth knowledge about the content we are teaching to them. This is such a great way to catch students’ attention and see how they understand the mathematical concept. There are many students that I struggle with because they simply hate the subject and are not interested in it. When it comes to lessons that are fun and relatable they totally join in. Thanks for this great idea!

By: Patrick Dugas

Patrick Dugas — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:55:59 +0000

Dan,

Thanks! Very timely, as my students are just learning about angular and linear speed in Precalculus. What a great way for them to connect to the topic and make the mathematics behind it more meaningful.

Pat Dugas
Carrollton High School, IL

By: Nic Petty

Nic Petty — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 22:25:35 +0000

As I was reading your list of people who care more than you about certain aspects, It struck me that no one cared more than you about the role of statistics in mathematics education and education for life. I suspect it is not because you care a whole lot about statistics, but rather, it has gone under the radar!

I know I care a lot more about teaching statistics at all levels than just about anyone I know. Arthur Benjamin gave a wonderful short TED talk on how statistics is a better culminating point for mathematics education than calculus. I care at least as much as he does. https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education?language=en

Being statistically literate is essential to agency and empowerment, and an ingredient in social justice in this age of the data deluge. For many students, the instant applicability of statistics (when taught appropriately) can be the door to enjoying and engaging with mathematics.

I have written 136 posts on how to teach statistics on one of my blogs: https://learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com/

And I now have a new blog on building a statistics learning community, which focuses on primary (elementary) education, and a Kickstarter we will be running soon to develop fantastic rich, versatile cat cards to join our Dragonistics Data cards. https://statisticslearningcentre.wordpress.com/

Primary, secondary and tertiary educators have so much they can learn from each other and from the connections. This too, I testify of!

Here is a summary of our impact to date: http://statslc.com/impact.php

Dan, your work has been inspirational to me, and you are one of the next maths rockstars (after Jo Boaler) who will be featured on my blog.

So thanks for the invitation to testify! And maybe one day you will say “I care less about teaching statistics than Dr Nic.”

Dr Nic

By: Matt Townsley

Matt Townsley — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 13:10:49 +0000

@Stephanie – I, too, am curious to see how Dan might describe his thoughts on some of the grading posts he wrote nearly ten years ago (i.e. /2007/the-comprehensive-math-assessment-resource/)

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 01:33:13 +0000

This Pokemon go math is phenomenal. I can’t wait to use it in my class next week.

I care about what my kids going to do when they leave my classroom. To some of them, my math classes are the last pieces of math classes in their lives- if they don’t plan to take any math in the college. I just want to make this experience meaningful to them.

I want to train my kids to solve daily life problems using basic math thinking and skills. This is what it means so much to be as a math teacher.

I love these 3 Act math projects! They are fantastic. As a math teacher working in Asia with whole lot of Asian kids, I feel sad when my kids do not have a good sense of number.

I do have kids that get straight A or really high SAT scores, but fail to solve real life problems. When I asked them how do you know how fast the escalator in MRT station goes, they became silent.

Thank you, Dan, for posting this article. It’s great to think/reflect about the project that I am working on.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:10:06 +0000

I can see how talking my trendy things can be regarded as short-term gains to capture the attention of millennials students who tend to have shorter attention span these days, but I can also see that in general, genuine curiosity then will shine through as well. Every one of us has different aims, so I can see how it could be hard for one to appreciate what the others are doing. Thanks for reminding us about the purpose of our projects. Asking this every morning helps keep our project alive.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 15:03:33 +0000

“Why are you here? What is your project? How do you testify on its behalf?”

Not a big blogger myself…. yet. But very inspired by this blog to begin testifying on GRADING. In recent years I have seen this part of the educational culture do much more damage than good. Thank you Dan for inspiring me to at least start writing some about this topic. Hopefully it will help me to continue adding ideas!

By: Bob Lochel

Bob Lochel — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 23:50:16 +0000

What’s wonderful about this post is the understanding that there are folks in the online community who have passion and a depth of expertise for their specific educational view, yet we all can benefit from their journey and contribute to it.

My project has been more local than global, yet important to me as I grow as an educator – to help colleagues discover the importance of developing their own PLC outside our school district’s contours. I’m thrilled that a group of teachers in my building has joined me on this ride, and for us in this group professional development has morphed from something our home district does for us, to individual growth we do for ourselves and for our students.