Chasing Rabbits: Building a Lifetime Curiosity for Mathematics Through Arithmetic – 12/17/19

Chasing Rabbits: Building a Lifetime Curiosity for Mathematics Through Arithmetic 

Presented by: Sunil Singh
Presented on: December 17, 2019

This presentation will focus on binding the K to 12 math community with the deeper appreciation of arithmetic. Ideas and problems will be shared that intersect history and number theory, expanding our lens of rich mathematical content.

Recommended Grade Level: K-12
Hosted by: Rana Arshed Hafiz

Watch the full presentation at: https://www.bigmarker.com/GlobalMathDept/Chasing-Rabbits-Building-a-Lifetime-Curiosity-for-Mathematics-Through-Arithmetic

This Week at Global Math – 12/17/19







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Edited By Nate Goza  @thegozaway

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!

Chasing Rabbits: Building a Lifetime Curiosity for Mathematics Through Arithmetic

Presented by Sunil Singh

This presentation will focus on binding the K to 12 math community with the deeper appreciation of arithmetic. Ideas and problems will be shared that intersect history and number theory, expanding our lens of rich mathematical content.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

We are taking two weeks off for Winter Break! 

On January 7th we will return with:

Proportional Reasoning Using a Double Number Line

Presented by Christine Lenghaus

To think proportionally or not to think proportionally is that the question? Is everything relative? How can we scaffold proportional thinking beyond ratio tables or ‘cross multiply’ by using a double number line? In this session I will share my journey with moving students from multiplicative thinking to proportional reasoning.
 

Register ahead of time by clicking here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed

Math is for people
 

Math, like language, can be a tool for understanding society and a space for human connection. Math can also be done for its own sake of course, and there’s also a lot to be said about its role as an engine for scientific thought and a means for upward social mobility. But the more I do math, the more I realize how wonderful it is to do it with people and about people and the structures and institutions that shape our lives. What I share today highlights the human-facing side of the subject and shows us that one can be a mathematician by asking questions about math and expecting answers about people.
 
An Inside-Outside Course on Number Theory
 
Darryl Young (@dyoung) posted his sixth reflection on his experience facilitating a number theory course among Claremont students and incarcerated students at the California Rehabilitation Center. The program is an awesome example of the ways in which math can get people to think, talk, and just be together. In part 1, Darryl lays out the course goals for students to learn something about themselves and others and develop a more nuanced understanding of mathematical brilliance. In part 6, he shares a story of a student who was at first reluctant about social interaction but felt he grew mathematically and socially because of the experience. It’s an amazing arc, and what I appreciate most is that the program was designed and facilitated in a way that was not exploitative or voyeuristic of the students in prison. Part 2’s opening sentence says it all: “Teaching a math course inside of a prison is surprisingly unremarkable.” Read his reflections from the start.
 
Data Literacy*
 
Dan Myer (@ddmyer) asked Twitter users to post a meaningful graph that “says it all for them”. Besides the frustrating state of U.S. healthcare that (I think) his graph represents, here’s a sample of three other great responses:
 
  • David Kung (龚仲孝) (@dtkung) shared a dope interactive graph about the relationship between income and college attendance. The NYTimes has been put out some amazing data visualizations in the past couple of years, including this one about the NYC subway system, which I enjoyed back when I was still raging about it.
 
  • Melissa Kincaid (@QueenMel99) shared an infographic about the diversity of characters represented in children’s books. They’re astonishing figures that make it clear the work isn’t over. Please check out #weneeddiversebooks for more.
 
 
  • Chris Hunter (@ChrisHunter36) shared a dynamic graph showing how the tax rate has fallen for wealthy individuals in the U.S. I encourage readers to visit the article where the graph comes from because it explains that the y-axis doesn’t just represent the income tax rate. Instead, it shows an “effective tax rate” that takes into account federal income taxes, corporate taxes, taxes paid at state and local levels, and indirect taxes such as licenses for motor vehicles and businesses. The graph is based on a first-of-its-kind research on historical tax rates conducted by economists at Berkeley and reported in the book The Triumph of Injustice. This might be the first (and only) book about taxes I’ll ever enjoy.
 
 
*I borrow from Thomas Philip and Laurie Rubel’s preference for “data literacy” over “quantitative literacy” because of the rise of new forms of digital data and data practices such as data visualization and spatial literacies from geography. I’m also using this footnote as an excuse to revoice their excellent paper, which Benjamin Dickman (@benjamindickman) shared in his 12/10/19 contribution to the GMD newsletter earlier this month.
 
 

Living in Nepantla
By: Hema Khodai
 
If you aren’t yet familiar with them, please allow me to introduce you to the Nepantla Teachers Community (@NepantlaTC), a non-profit organization committed to developing mathematics teachers who strive for social justice in education.
 
I first came across the term “Nepantla” in the work of Dr. Rochelle Gutiérrez (@RG1gal). From the Nepantla Teachers Community (NTC) website, I learned that nepantla is a Nahuatl (Aztec language) term connoting in between or a reference to the space of the middle;  the space of uncertainty, tension between truths, and “grey area.”  What does this mean for mathematics teachers? The NTC believes “we can learn in this space by reexamining our beliefs and questioning oppressive structures and practices.”  
 
You will find below the unique structure of the NTC blog and hope that it will interest you and elicit your engagement in growing in nepantla to form critical perspectives.
 
The goal of the Nepantla Teachers Community blog is to provide an honest and encouraging space to navigate sociopolitical situations that occur in mathematics education for the purpose of working towards justice in traditionally marginalized communities. By using the word political, we mean any situation that involves power dynamics.

Each post will be published in two parts (Part I: The first Saturday of each month at 5 PM and Part II: the following Wednesday at 9 AM). Part I will give a math teacher author’s real dilemma that they have recently experienced and to share some information about themselves. Part II will provide an analysis of the powers at play and the author’s response (or lack of response) to the situation. Before Part II is published, readers are encouraged to interact with the author and each other by asking questions, comments, and/or providing ideas on how they would respond if they were in their shoes.

The latest blog reveals a situation many of us have undoubtedly found ourselves in, navigating the tensions between fostering joy in mathematics, promoting creativity, supporting parent engagement, our personal teaching philosophy, and teacher performance as determined by administration. It is the essential question of how we balance doing what we see is working for our students and their families with succumbing to the pressures of standardized testing.
 
Both parts of the blog can be found at the links below.
Strings Attached Part 1 – Saturday, December 7, 2019
Strings Attached Part 2 – Wednesday, December 11, 2019
 
In Part 2 of this most recent blog, the NTC share a reflection tool, Levels of Oppression, created by Mariame Kaba (@PrisonCulture).
 
In addition, I would like to share with you Episode 4: Nepantla Teachers Community of the TODOS (@TodosMath) Podcast as described below:
 
What are the teacher communities that we build to sustain ourselves and each other? A double-length episode featuring two founders of the Nepantla Teachers Community, who speak to the roles of identity, tensions, and finding your people to sustain yourself in mathematics teaching.
 
It is with joy that I share this teacher community with you and invite you to live in Nepantla with us.
 

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Math Play with a Purpose

Math Play with a Purpose

Presented by: David Coffey
Presented on December 10, 2019
Games are an effective way to engage students in learning. In this session, participants will consider ways to support the development of emerging mathematicians through purposeful play. The focus will be on the Mathematical Practices and the content domain of Number and Operations. However, the principles that we will address can be applied to any content and any grade.
Recommended Grade Level: 3-8
Hosted by: Sheila Orr
Watch the full presentation at: https://www.bigmarker.com/GlobalMathDept/Math-Play-with-a-Purpose

Mathacognition

Mathacognition

Presented by: Adam Yankay

Presented on December 3, 2019

We are more than the givers and takers of tests. “Mathacognition” is an exercise embedded in a pedagogy dedicated to developing the whole learner in your classroom. Mathacognition helps students articulate their emotional associations and goals with math class, identify helpful and impeding habits, advocate for themselves, and self-evaluate. In this session I will share my inspiration for developing Mathacognition, some wins and losses using it over the past few years, and the prompts I’ve been using this year that have helped my students believe that in my class they are more than merely the solvers of math problems.

Recommended Grade Level: 7-12
Hosted by: Jull Bemis

Watch the full presentation at: https://www.bigmarker.com/GlobalMathDept/Mathacognition

This Week at Global Math – 12/10/19







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Edited By Casey McCormick  @cmmteach

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!

Math Play with a Purpose

Presented by David Coffey

Games are an effective way to engage students in learning. In this session, participants will consider ways to support the development of emerging mathematicians through purposeful play. The focus will be on the Mathematical Practices and the content domain of Number and Operations. However, the principles that we will address can be applied to any content and any grade.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

Next Week 


Chasing Rabbits: Building a Lifetime Curiosity for Mathematics Through Arithmetic

Presented by 

Sunil Singh

This presentation will focus on binding the K to 12 math community with the deeper appreciation of arithmetic. Ideas and problems will be shared that intersect history and number theory, expanding our lens of rich mathematical content.

Register ahead of time by clicking here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed

math-twitter-BLOG-’osphere



This week, I’m writing to you. Yes, you. Not the “you” you want to be, the “you” you think you need to be, or the “you” you think you are. Just you. Hopefully all of that makes sense to future-you.

We all are great at many things. When someone needs an ear to listen to them, we hear what they tell us. When someone asks for advice, we tell them what we think might help them. When someone is being too harsh on themselves, we bring clarity and sense, reminding them that they’re more amazing than they believe themselves to be. We go out of our way to do things for others and feel uncomfortable when the same is inevitably done in return.

We are our best selves for other people, which is incredible and makes the world a better place. When it comes to our own self, we are overly critical of our past self and overly optimistic of our future self. The only one who can fix that is you. Not past-you or future-you, only present-you.



What’s this article about, anyway? Keeping the MTBoS community living and healthy, one present-you at a time.



I’m going to re-share a post here which, if it were a child, would be doing everything it can to get more attention than it currently does. Blogs a post by Justin Lanier on our homepage, is an important part of the MTBoS Orientation. Blogging and (more importantly) reading other teachers’ blogs is the lifeblood of the MTBoS. I’m going to give a few more tips to bolster your blogability, whether it be reading or writing, as well as a few posts to get you started.

 

Jenna Laib (@jennalaib) shares a fascinating bit of dialogue between her and her student in a post.

 

Make a list, any list, just make it!

If you’re like me, or many other teachers, you probably find little snippets of time through your day to habitually pick up your phone and flick your thumb up and down your Twitter feed or email inbox. What do you do when someone’s post captures your attention and sparks your curiosity? Do you…

  1. Click on it and read the entire post right then and there?

  2. Copy the URL to your notes or open it in a tab for later?

  3. Email it to yourself to check out afterwards?

  4. Add it to your Reading List (Apple only)?

  5. Pause, think, and then keep scrolling?

 

Option A through to D above are ones I’ve certainly heard of or tried myself. E, however, is the most likely option, especially if I’m just jumping on Twitter for a couple of minutes with no purpose actively in mind. Present-you will naturally leave all of the work and responsibility to future-you. My advice throughout this post is to support future-you like you would a spouse, child, colleague or friend. Make bookmarking interesting links easier. Make an appointment in your calendar with yourself to actually read through something that past-you found perplexing. Is it motivation that is holding you back? Go for A from above and you’ll be sure to be inspired to do something proactive. Check out this post for some help deciding what apps might help you streamline the “I’ll read that later” process.

 

Jim Doherty (@mrdardy) shares his reflections about his growth as an educator in his post.





Read that thing! Reeeeead it!



While reading this post, you have just become future-you! Or have you? Does future-you ever exist or is it actually this perpetually non-existent superior version of present-you while past-you cops all of the slack? Either way, there’s only one version of you who can read and that’s present-you. As you read the words of another educator, keep in mind the thinking, effort and (in some cases) nervousness that is attached to those words. Consider their context (and the undoubted differences to your own) before you jump in to criticise. Opt for interrogating what they have written, in a positive and curious manner. Skeptical about their method? Find out more about what they believe and why they believe it. Really love what they’re saying? Ask questions about the intricacies that the post didn’t address, learn more about it. What I’m emphasising here is to start a conversation. Bloggers will often comment on the fact that they write for reflection and any feedback that comes back is a bonus. Writing what you don’t expect others to read is a normal experience of those who share their stories online and a common and unfortunate reality for many. This leads onto my next point…

 

Ivette Aguilar (@Ivette5th_RRISD) shares her experience with “My Favourite No.”

 

Comment and follow

For many blogging websites, owners are notified by email about new subscribers. Those subscribers then receive an email with their own version of the post in their inbox! Nothing shows that you want more of what you read than saying, “Hey, let me know when you do this again. I NEED to know!” Owners also get notified when someone comments on their post. What’s best about a good comment is that it follows directly after the post itself like a conga line of curiosity. No comments there yet? Start the conga line yourself and dance along to the thoughts of other readers. The “Follow” and “Leave a reply” buttons are getting too dusty, MTBoS!

 

Robin Schwartz (@mathconfidence) writes a short post about a short amount of amazing time in her lesson.

 

Sharing is caring!

So, you’ve actually held a promise to yourself – you’ve read something from your reading list! Yay! Give your past-self some much deserved credit and show your future-self who’s your favourite you. Let the world know and maybe even convince others that it’s worth their time too. Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful means of sharing, so use your virtual one to share your new knowledge. Copy and paste some of the best bits from the post, cuddle it in with some quotation marks, and apply the finishing move of a URL and the MTBoS and iTeachMath hashtags. Want to take it to the next level? Write a short (and I mean short!) post about what you loved most, what scrunched your eyebrows, or what questions you’ve had since reading it. Blogs are super-tweets and don’t get the amount of thought they deserve. Be the audience you wish you were writing to. Share the love.

 

Martin Joyce (@martinsean) synthesises his awesome experience at CMC South in his blog.

 

Get active.

I bet that you do great things in the classroom that other teachers (me included) would just love to read about. I love reading about the “I tried something new and it was awesome” posts, the “I tried something new and it was a trainwreck!” posts, and the “I haven’t tried anything new, here’s why.” posts. Whatever it be, I know I’m not the only one who would love to read it. Be sure to share your post in an effective way! Here’s a couple tips that I hope will get people clicking into your thoughts:

  • Don’t be afraid of using a hashtag or two, people like to filter Twitter through things like #MTBoS or #iTeachMath.

  • Find a photo or image to associate with your post, it will prevent it from looking like a sad link on people’s feeds.

  • Have any evidence of student work or thinking? Feature a photo! Photos of students doing maths is every teacher’s favourite spice.

  • Know of a couple people who might be interested in your thoughts? Tag them in. Can’t think of anyone? Tag me.

 

Written by John Rowe, @MrJohnRowe

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This Week at Global Math – 12/3/19







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Edited by Chase Orton  @mathgeek76

View this email in your browser

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!

Mathacognition

Presented by Adam Yankay

We are more than the givers and takers of tests. “Mathacognition” is an exercise embedded in a pedagogy dedicated to developing the whole learner in your classroom. Mathacognition helps students articulate their emotional associations and goals with math class, identify helpful and impeding habits, advocate for themselves, and self-evaluate. In this session I will share my inspiration for developing Mathacognition, some wins and losses using it over the past few years, and the prompts I’ve been using this year that have helped my students believe that in my class they are more than merely the solvers of math problems.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar, click here!

Next Week!

Math Play with a Purpose

Presented by David Coffey

Games are an effective way to engage students in learning. In this session, participants will consider ways to support the development of emerging mathematicians through purposeful play. The focus will be on the Mathematical Practices and the content domain of Number and Operations. However, the principles that we will address can be applied to any content and any grade.

To register for this webinar, click here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed

Women in Math & IC ME 14

Women in Math: By now [possibly via last week’s GMD newsletter] you may be aware of the responses to an AMS Notices “opinion piece” that was written by one of the AMS [American Mathematical Society] Vice Presidents. One of the more recent responses came from the Association for Women in Mathematics [@AWMmath] who tweeted:

I recommend learning more about AWM, in general; for example, they have a Moving Towards Action Workshop coming up at JMM [Joint Mathematics Meeting] in January 2020, which is also described in an AMS blog post written by Rachel Crowell. See the first link here as tweeted by Vanessa Rivera Quiñones:

If you are interested in reading another individual take on the matter of Diversity Statements, then you might check out the personal blog entry that was tweeted out by Izabella Laba:

Rather separately, Nicholas Jackson helped celebrated “Noethember” [portmanteau of Emmy Noether’s surname and November] by illustrating and describing women mathematicians at a rate of nearly one per day all month! He tweeted a full thread of them here:

It will be great to diversify further the collection of non-male mathematicians – historical and contemporary – whose names and work are not known widely enough. To this end, there is also a nascent account called Great Women of Mathematics [@GWOMaths] that you might check out [if you haven’t already].

IC ME 14 I wanted to space out this conference’s name because I’d rather it not be a high-up google return [I don’t know whether this will work]. The acronym refers to a quadrennial mathematics education gathering for which the 2016 Conference was in Hamburg, Germany, and the 2024 Conference will be in Sydney, Australia. This coming summer, the 2020 Conference is scheduled to happen in a country that I have visited several times [originally on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about their mathematics education system while living there from 2008-09; and, most recently, to learn about Chinese linguistics in the summer of 2017]. International media outlets have reported on controversial domestic matters, which I think have received proportionally little attention; to this end, I strongly recommend reading the New York Times coverage here. You can link-chase from there back to a piece from August of 2018 that begins:

Please note the strong language used in the image above. To this end, I am quite interested in what others are thinking as pertains to attending this conference. As a full disclosure, I sent in a session proposal that I think is worthwhile reading irrespective of attendance [the linked topic is techniques to incorporate problem posing into teaching and assessments, and the paper stands at a mere 4 pages – including references – in length]. I have yet to hear back about the proposal’s status, and even then one needs to procure a visa [a process that I am admittedly concerned could be impacted negatively by this newsletter post as well as some of my tweets]. Still, I cannot imagine the mathematics education community organizing such an event and totally overlooking the numbers reported in the NYT above. [Also – and without engaging too deeply in whataboutism – I wish to note that I can see clear reasons why others would decide not to attend conferences in the United States based on government decisions by, in particular, the current administration].

Anyway: Below is my first tweet of what may be a growing thread. At the time of writing, there are two follow-up responses from superset organizing bodies. I may have committed grammatical errors in the Chinese that I typed [my Mandarin speaking is much better than my writing!] but, I clicked on ‘translate tweet’ just now and am sufficiently satisfied with google’s result:

Even if you choose not to speak out publicly about this particular matter, it will be optimal to educate yourselves and others around the alleged happenings.

Lastly, in an abrupt change of tone and to close on a lighter note: Check out the newest task from PlayWithYourMath:

As always: I will be most delighted to hear from anyone in/around the worlds of [mathematics] education about work that should be amplified or highlighted. Email, DM, @, snail mail, etc!
By Benjamin Dickman [@benjamindickman]

Controversial Opinions 

I saw this tweet from Joshua Bowman (@Thalesdiciple) by way of Joel Bezaire (@joelbezaire) when he quoted it to say his opinion of mixed numbers.

You should definitely read the thread to learn more about his opinion of mixed numbers. Mr. Downin (@MrDownin) also had some things to add in his tweet.

Do you have a controversial opinion on mathematical notation? I’d love to hear about it. We can continue the conversation on Twitter!

By Amber Thienel (@amberthienel)

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