Category Archives: Problem Solving

Global Math Week Starts on October 10, 2017

By Fawn | Published: September 27, 2017

It was the summer of 2012 when I talked my colleagues, Erin and Melissa, into signing up for a week-long training in Palo Alto, California, to start a new Math Teachers’ Circle (MTC) program in our area. It was there that I first learned about Exploding Dots from Diana White, an associate professor from the […]

Also posted in General | Tagged exploding dots, global math movement, Global Math Project, Global Math Week, James Tanton, Raj Shah | 3 Responses

Euclid’s Algorithm

By Fawn | Published: May 15, 2017

I show my 6th graders this image, pointing out that this picture represents the two numbers 1 and 1 that I’d entered at the top. I then ask them to give me two new numbers — any two positive integers [that are 10 or less, for now] — and the computer will draw a new […]

Also posted in Course 1 (6th Grade Math), Math 8 | Tagged conjectures, Euclid's algorithm, GCF, great common factor, I Notice I Wonder, problem solving, rectangles, square numbers, squares | 10 Responses

dudamath.com

By Fawn | Published: May 29, 2016

Ethan Hall, teacher and web entrepreneur from Israel, emailed me this morning asking me to check out his visual patterns generator on dudamath.com. There’s a lot of cool graphing tools other than the VP generator. I’m kinda blown away. Go play! Go do math!

Also posted in Algebra, Course 1 (6th Grade Math), General, Geometry, Math 8 | Tagged Ethan Hall, visual patterns, visual patterns generator | 5 Responses

Giving Feedback with a Highlighter

By Fawn | Published: September 16, 2015

I attended John Scammell’s excellent 3-morning sessions on Formative Assessment at #TMC15. We were asked to share strategies that we may already be doing to give students feedback . I shared about how I used highlighters for this. I promised my group that I would write a short post about it, but I waited until now since I […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged formative assessment, giving feedback, highlighting, John Scammel, PoW, problem of the week, The Math Forum | 25 Responses

A Book: Thinking Mathematically

By Fawn | Published: July 10, 2015

I’m re-reading Thinking Mathematically, an assigned book from a math course I took years ago in Portland. I was teaching science at the time but signed up anyway because I’ve always loved math. Thinking is still so good and resonates much more now that I’ve been teaching mathematics. In the Introduction, under “How to use this […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged favorite books, Jacobean Locks, John Mason, math books, Thinking Mathematically | 8 Responses

A Tale of Two Gyms

By Fawn | Published: December 12, 2014

Quick post about a scenario that I was sharing with the kids just to share and how they just took off with it. A brand spanking new 24-Hour Fitness is opening up near me. It’s a no-brainer to switch over to this facility because I’ll save gas and travel time. However, the 2-year membership [from Costco] will cost […]

Also posted in General | Tagged comparing plans, gym membership, rate | 2 Responses

Driving Them Nuts

By Fawn | Published: November 6, 2014

I’m proud of my students. I’m proud of what we do in room 15. My classroom. My home away from home for the last 11 years. These bopping teenagers, sullen one minute bubbly the next, hormonal but invincible. They don’t all love math like I do. (Not everyone loves college football, but we get along.) What is happening […]

Also posted in Geometry, Teaching | Tagged area, classroom culture, frustration, math culture, problem solving, rectangle, struggle, The Missing Area, triangles | 11 Responses

A Simpler Solution

By Fawn | Published: October 30, 2014

I’m guessing this was about 5 years ago. I was at an all-day workshop when a high school math teacher, sitting next to me, asked about the PoW (from mathforum.org) that I had assigned to my students. I happened to have an extra copy in my backpack and gave it to her. Dad’s Cookies [Problem #2959] Dad bakes some […]

Posted in Problem Solving | Tagged Dad's Cookies, Math Forum, perseverance, PoW, problem of the week, problem solving | 8 Responses

Hotel Snap

By Fawn | Published: December 11, 2013

[NCTM Illuminations has my blessings and thanks to re-write and feature this lesson on their site.] Andrew Stadel and I recently presented this task at the 2013 CMC‘s North and South Conferences. The Challenge As a team, build a hotel that yields the highest profit [score]. Rules and guidelines for building the hotel Each cube represents a […]