Put your students in a pickle!
I was thrilled to look at this wonderful video of Mr. Rogers with a young pianist. What was most striking is where Mr. Rogers looks when the child is playing. Most people would spend the majority of their time looking at the child s fingers as they dextrously span the keyboard. Not Mr. Rogers. Have a look: https://youtu.be/HEb3ty1YiaM?si=DzE4-JGSKglkdJkS When we engage a math class, we ask random…
Friedrich Froebel 370 - 415 Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852) had the idea of a Children s Garden where little people wouldn t be forced to learn, but would grow by playfully exploring a set of manipulatives called Fröbel gifts of wooden blocks and activities like weaving, paper folding, modelling clay and drawing. This was not art class, but a sandbox in which the child discovered structure. The paper…
My typical lesson involves students gathered in front of the class for the first 15 minutes as I focus on engagement and rules. Then, it is time for students to pair up—but how do I do that? Here is one aesthetic way that is worth experimenting with
The students above are tackling Costas arrays. The details surrounding Costas Arrays are not important. What is important is that finding a Costas array of a certain size is difficult, but that once an attempt at a solution is shown to you, it is pretty easy for you to say if it is a FAILURE or a SUCCESS. Mathematicians call these NP problems. When I m designing puzzles for the elementary school…
I subscribe to a newsletter from a university I enormously respect. This morning I opened it to find this image of hands raised. This meme of education has existed for long enough. Looking at the students above, you ve got to say: 1) This looks staged. 2) The students don t look like they have a question to ask. (Asking a question is a great reason to allow hands to be raised.) 3) The students…
I recommend sharing the superb video below to galvanize school communities into stopping cell phones and getting children into a healthier space.
One of the greatest US university teachers is Robert Lee Moore (1882-1974) from the University of Texas. A quote of his reminded me of a quote from Joshua Zucker, the first director of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival. They are fun to compare. That student is taught the best who is told the least. Robert Lee Moore Be as unhelpful as possible. Joshua Zucker
Finland has one of the best cultures of education. There is much to learn by seeing how they prepare their pre-service teachers.
Here are several pedagogic ideas that I use when working with young students Kindergarten to grade 2. I find these the most exhausting classrooms, so I admire teachers who spend their working life here! I could not do what you do. Experiment If it works for you, keep it if not, throw it away. Administrators, foster a culture of experimentation in your school, and you ll be rewarded by academic…
Teaching remotely is difficult. These four Zoom classrooms could be part of a discussion on how to teach remotely. The children here are not average. Most are gifted. At least one is a genius. The span of ability is roughly the same as an average class. The first video is Mishap at Venn Zoo. Venn diagrams were never so nasty nor so fun. Help us as we try to fill our zoo. Here is a website with the…