For the last two years, I’ve adopted a problem-based, discussed-based approach for algebra 2. The whole curriculum is interleaved, meaning that big ideas are parsed and revisited over long periods of time (weeks or months) to improve retention. At any given time, students are learning small parts of a few different units. This allows for … Continue reading “The mess of non-thematic units and why they excite me”
So my yearlong experiment with problem-based learning has concluded. After attending Exeter Math Institute last summer, I decided to overthrow my units and use problems as the foundation of how my kids learned each day. Throughout the course of the year, week by week I wrote a bunch of original problems, edited others that I … Continue reading “PBL v2”
Back in October, I wrote about the ambitions I had for journal writing in my class this year. Well, this week the students submitted their first journal. And learning from last year, instead of trying to read 120 multiple-page journals myself, I formed editorial boards in each class where students would peer-review and critique the … Continue reading “Math journals and editorial boards, round 1”
At the beginning of class I showed this to my students: They came up with lots of interesting things. There are three variables They are functions They are different colors The units are millions and years The scale for the millions is by 500,000’s and for years is decades The domain of all 3 functions … Continue reading “One graph. Ten minutes. An important conversation.”
