Uncategorized Tomás and the Jellybeans: Increasing Access 5 Nov 2024 How do we support students who are struggling to access grade level content? In my own school, I focus my efforts on co-teaching and coaching, but I also see students…
education… Why Do I Love This Student Work: Examining Context & Bias 22 Oct 202423 Oct 2024 When we look at student work after school, long after the students have left the building, we make inferences -- guesses -- at what students were thinking. We ascribe meaning…
education… “Yes! And!” 10 Oct 202413 Oct 2024 “Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your…
curriculum… Estimating Products and Co-Planning in Grade 4 30 Jun 2024 How do we get students to make sense -- make genuine sense -- of numerical operations? In a Grade 4 Classroom One of the fourth grade teachers invited me into…
in the classroom A Third Grade Dilemma: Dividing by Zero 6 Apr 20246 Apr 2024 In a third grade class, students were in triads playing a game of "Headache," which is sometimes called Salute. Two students place cards on their foreheads, facing out, and the…
assessment… How Amalia Multiplies: Listening and Learning from a Fourth Grader 19 Dec 2023 It's hard not to let our own bias creep into teaching situations. For one, our decision making processes thrive on context: what thinking has this student demonstrated about this topic?…
Uncategorized How We Listen: Astrid’s Thinking about 5 x 6 27 Mar 202327 Mar 2023 "Clinical interviews are an opportunity to listen closely," I caught myself telling a colleague recently. But... is that enough? How we frame the act of listening changes our entire experience.…
#tmwyk… Ramadan Pizzas: Mathematizing Children’s Literature #tmwyk 22 Mar 2023 Tonight marks the start of Ramadan! To honor it, I went to my daughter's first grade class to read the book The Gift of Ramadan, written by Rabiah York Lumbard…
curriculum… Preserving Equality — Algebraic Thinking Across Grade Levels 13 Feb 202313 Feb 2023 Equality is a fundamental concept of mathematics. The way that we can play around with values -- adjusting numbers slightly -- but maintain equality is fascinating, and differs between operations.…
assessment… Restless Teachers 13 Oct 202213 Oct 2022 My favorite educators are restless. They have that itch. Nothing is ever completely satisfying. If you chat with them after a lesson, they'll tell you three things they would change.…
curriculum… Windows and Mirrors: Fair Shares for Eid al-Adha 2 Aug 20212 Aug 2021 A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world. Hadith attributed to Prophet Mohammed (ra) Eid al-Adha Eid al-Adha was a little over two weeks ago. It…
curriculum… Using Diagrams to Build and Extend Student Understanding 16 Dec 20196 Feb 2022 Co-authored by Kristin Gray (@MathMinds) Originally published on the Illustrative Mathematics Blog (November 25, 2019) Take a moment to think about the value of each expression below. $latex \frac{1}{4}\times \frac{1}{3}$…
in the classroom The Cookie Recipe: Learning Math from Students 1 Apr 201919 Mar 2024 Fourth grade teacher Alicia and I have a beautiful habit of doing math together when planning. We try out problems, and anticipate ways we think students. (It is rare that…
assessment… What does it mean to be “struggling” in math class? (Eduardo’s Story) 5 Feb 20195 Feb 2019 It was a sea of dots. Eduardo's work for 47 + 27 Over and over again, for both computational and story problems, third grade student Eduardo drew dots. Eduardo's work,…
assessment… Presuming Competence: Using Clinical Interviews to Support Classroom Instruction 13 Nov 201827 Nov 2018 "She's not on an IEP, but she's struggling in class. What should I do?" I don't know the student -- Alejandra, or Ali, for short -- very well, so I arranged…
Jenna Laib 