Share the Awesome

One of the blog posts on my recent run around the MTBoS came from Annie Perkins (@Anniekperkins). It hit me on a sore spot, because the truth hurts.  Like Annie, I am a strong believer in showing kids awesome math, even if it means going beyond the standards.  When students see actual awesome math, they take ownership of their learning.

But alas, I too am guilty of being a grinch and often keeping the awesome math from the students who perhaps will benefit from it the most.  After reading this, one of my New Year’s resolutions is that when I have kids do extra awesome math, all kids get to do it.  I’ll make time for the catching up or whatever some other way.

This leads me to request you all to:
(1) continue practicing the math that you personally love on a regular basis so that you can.
(2) share this awesome math that you love with your students!  

This is really one of the most important things we can do to bring students into a true love and understanding of what math is all about.

There are tons of resources out there online with awesome math to explore and share that is very accessible to students, too.  Check out old contest problems and James Tanton’s (@JamesTanton) Cool Math Essays to start.

~ by Matthew Engle (@pickpocketbme)