Math
Moving From the Drawbacks
“When a teacher begins a math lesson with direct instruction they completely disregard and ignore their students’ background knowledge and strengths. Resources that promote this approach contradict a focus on equity and access.” So tweeted Drew Polly, an associate professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Wow! That is quite an indictment of direct…
Read MoreMath Gangs
Math (n): The abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts (pure), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied). With all that fancy language, it’s no wonder there is a lot of confusion and anxiety around this subject. As soon as you read that first word, you…
Read MoreWhy You Need to Stop Overdosing on Whole Group
Most of us that were educated since the 1970’s (yes, I am that old!) remember sitting in a classroom with the teacher at the board (with chalk), and we dutifully followed along page-by-page, problem-by-problem. We can also remember classrooms where we really didn’t follow along…we passed notes, doodled, and talked. Times in classrooms have not…
Read MoreThree Favorite Things
It’s that time of year where everyone is making lists and checking it twice, so we thought we would toss out a few of our ERG Favorite Things. Children’s Literature What’s not to love here? Children’s books are not only designed to create a love of reading, but also are handy tools in classrooms…
Read MoreMath Talk
From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . I presented my kindergartners with an interesting math challenge this week. After dividing the young mathematicians into small groups, each team was presented with several problems to solve. Here was their first scenario: You are now party planners with an important task. Each team of planners…
Read MoreMath Picture Walks
During guided reading sessions, we work to stimulate the curiosity of our students by going through a “picture walk.” Even before we open a book, we show the children the cover, read the title, and ask them what they think the text might be about based on what they see. We work to pique their…
Read MoreVisualizing for Math Comprehension
“Just as proficient readers use visualization to make meaning as they read, proficient mathematicians employ visualization as they work to understand concepts and solve problems.” – Laney Sammons In Building Mathematical Comprehension, Laney Sammons points out the important relationship between visualization and cognition. Our growing mathematicians need to be aware of the role that visualizing plays in helping…
Read MorePromoting Questions through Math Stretches
Have you ever watched runners stretching before a big race? They are preparing their bodies, warming up their muscles, so they will perform at optimum levels. Just like those runners, our students need to warm-up to get their brains focused and ready for quality thinking and learning. Math Warm-ups, or Math Stretches, are an important…
Read MoreMath Question Journals
“Questioning and learning are intricately linked.” – Laney Sammons We want our students to think, reflect, and ask questions to extend their thinking. This process helps young learners take more responsibility for their work and learning outcomes. By asking questions, they are able to refine what they know and fill in the gaps that are…
Read MoreAsking Meaningful Questions
“If we teach our students to inquire, we will have a wealth of information from which to teach and our students will have a purpose for learning.” – Cris Tovani Centuries ago Socrates told his students that “wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” Today we find ourselves in a culture that seems to value the…
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