Now It’s Time To Say Goodbye To All Our Global Math Company.

Edited By Brian Bushart @bstockus

Forward

Online Professional Development Sessions

Everyday Formative Assessment that Transforms Teaching and Learning
Presented by Beth Kobett (@bkobett)

Join us for our final session of the 2016-17 school year. This presentation will engage participants in considering how everyday use of formative assessment, in-the-moment classroom-based assessment techniques (observations, interviews, Show Me, hinge questions, exit tasks), directly influence and empower teacher planning and instruction AND impact student achievement!

To join the meeting when it starts at 9pm Eastern (or RSVP if it’s before 9pm), click here.

Did you miss last week’s session? Never fear! Click here to listen to Jules Bonin-Ducharme discuss convergent and divergent problem solving.

The #MTBOS Never Sleeps

G-L-O
See you real soon
B-A-L
Why? Because we like you
M-A-T-H

As we close out another abundant year of Global Math Department, I wanted to take a moment to thank the amazing team of writers and editors who put together our newsletter week in and week out. Like it says above, the #MTBoS never sleeps, but that doesn’t mean we all have time to keep up with the countless tweets and blog posts that our community shares. The Global Math Department writers do that for us, combing the mathematical internet and sharing the juiciest tidbits in each week’s newsletter.

Several writers and editors will be staying along for the ride next year – Nate Goza, Andrew Stadel, Graham Fletcher, and Matthew Engle. Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye to others, all of whom have volunteered their time across multiple school years – Sahar Khatri, Andrew Gael, Kent Haines, Wendy Menard, Jenise Sexton, Carl Oliver, and Audrey McLaren.

Staying or going, we appreciate their time and dedication to sharing with the rest of us and making the #MTBoS a community unlike any other.

Written by Brian Bushart (@bstockus)

Tessellation Nations

This week was World Tessellation Day! I only knew this because of Evelyn Lamb’s (@evelynjlamb) Scientific American article about floor tiling as a great treasury of tessellations. My favourite quote from her article: “Interesting tessellations are like Easter eggs for math enthusiasts and pattern aficionados to discover as they go about their daily business.” I actually knew what she meant by Easter egg! (It’s not really an Easter egg.) Also on the subject of World Tessellation Day is Pat Ashforth’s (@matheknitician) amazing knitted tessellations. Her website, Wooly Thoughts, is a wonderful mathcrafts resource. And that should totally be a word – mathcrafts. It is time.

Both of these articles made me wonder which came first – the artistic inspiration or the math – to create such beautiful things. I’m sure even the people who created them would have a hard time answering.

Written by Audrey McLaren (@a_mcsquared)

Too Good Not to Share

For me the school year is a distant memory. For some, it’s very much in the present. Although this article is not a personal blog, it’s just too good not to share. If you let it, these 7 fundamentals can be an aha, rebuke, or confirmation in your life as an educator in the new school year.

Exploring 7 Fundamental Truths That Can Transform Teaching appeared in my timeline courtesy of @blbbrush. Allow the list below to intrigue you, as my synopsis would not award the powerful message it exudes.

Nobody Cares How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care.
You Can Be Better Than You Were Yesterday (my favorite)
What Matters Most About Feedback is Its Usefulness
Collaboration is About Connection, Communication, and Compassion
Interest Comes Before Learning (my aha)
Never Skimp on the Shoes (my rebuke)
Your Students Are Your Greatest Teachers.

Written by Jenise Sexton (@MrsJeniseSexton)

Bonus Chapter

If you haven’t read Tracy Zager’s book Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had, what are you waiting for? The time has never been better. First of all, there is a weekly book talk happening on Twitter and on Tracy’s forum as the MTBoS works its way through the chapters. You can check out the schedule here.

But as it turns out, Tracy left a chapter out of her book. She couldn’t fit in all her ideas about math tools, so instead she has shared them in a recent blog post. In the context of sharing her skepticism of digital tools, Tracy shares a wonderful professional strategy (do math and talk about it with paraprofessionals!) and a fascinating mathematical idea (the associative property, which is waaay underrated).

If you haven’t read Tracy’s book, check out her post and see why everyone is so excited about her work. If you’ve already finished the book and are suffering from withdrawal, use this post to tide you over for a few days. I’m sure there will be another one soon enough.

Written by Kent Haines (@KentHaines)

Join Our Team!

The @GlobalMathDept is looking for volunteers to help create great online PD for math teachers. We’re currently seeking hosts, bookers, and writers for the 2017-18 school year. Check out this flyer for more details about each volunteer opportunity.

Ready to sign up? Fill out this form to let us know which position(s) you’d like to volunteer for.