math teacher

student bar charts hung up in a classroom

When Thinking Is Part of the Curriculum

Armed with Peter Liljedahl’s 2021 text Building Thinking Classrooms and the pain and frustration of the social upheaval and pandemic deaths of recent years, I set out to push the boundaries of my abilities to teach math and help students realize more of their true potential. In a whirlwind of change, I departed from the status quo. How did I fare? Did transformation take place?

student hands working on a project

Moving the Needle

Teaching the way I was taught wasn’t inspiring to my students. However, transitioning to a conceptual approach was a critical element in building strong foundational understanding and capacity for all students to succeed in math. Learners need opportunities to DO math, and in DOING, there is LEARNING.

students working together on a math problem

Still A Work In Progress – A Change in Math Teaching

I wanted to create a space where my students could make mistakes and be okay, where they actually liked coming to my class, where they felt “smart” in their own way wherever they were in their learning, where they would push themselves to do better than yesterday, where they could struggle with something and still be alive to tell about it.

math teacher writing on whiteboard

You Think You’re Not a Math Person? Neither Did I.

If you’ve ever sat in on a professional development session with me, you’ve heard my spiel, “From here on out, you’re a math person. Even if you feel you have no connection to mathematics, you need to channel your inner actor or actress and become a math person.