Online Professional Development Sessions

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Maths Venns (#MathsVenns)

This week, I was reminded by Rachel Fruin about Math Venn Diagrams. This is a flexible practice structure that allows students to create their own equations which satisfy the regions in a Venn diagram. Rachel wrote a blog post, Maths Venn, in which she writes about using Maths Venns with teachers and students. She writes, “Out of all of the types of math problems out there, I’ve found that math Venns generate the loudest conversations among students and adults.”

Below is an example of a Maths Venn from Craig Barton’s free website https://mathsvenns.com/ where he shares numerous problems he has created.

I’ve used these several times with students and I’ve found them to be a good example of a self-differentiated practice routine. Some students create very simple and straightforward equations while others might challenge themselves to find more complicated functions. I was first introduced this this type of problem by a RISP, or “Rich Starting Points” problem, shared by Jonny Griffiths. The problem, RISP 10, gave examples of Venn diagrams for  practicing both linear and a quadratic equations. You could also use a variation of this task, as shown by Don Steward on his blog post Linear Equations and Mr. Venn, by giving students a list of functions and asking them to place the functions in the correct section.

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

What Makes a Pattern?

You might be familiar with Christopher Danielson’s work through his visually stimulating books Which One Doesn’t Belong? and How Many? If you’re not familiar with his work, no worries. Now you have links to explore his work and have enjoyable conversations with others about attributes and quantities.

In his recent blog post, What Makes a Pattern?, Danielson teases us with some of his thinking and his promise to use his blog to test out some “relevant ideas” for an upcoming book. He will be focusing on two main tasks:

1. Make my pattern in a new medium

2. Make the smallest possible version of my pattern

Head over to his blog and enjoy!

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

Math Conferences and Equity

There is no shortage of conferences and gatherings in the mathematics space. Next week, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) will hold its annual meeting in San Diego. Speakers were recently notified of proposal acceptances for NCTM Regional conferences this fall. Many NCTM state affiliates hold their gatherings throughout the year. Although Twitter Math  Camp (TMC) will not hold a gathering this year, other smaller events have taken and will take place this summer, including TMCNYC in New York and the Southeast Math Summit in North Carolina.

Due to a series of recent events, many are questioning their own values regarding equity within conferences, i.e. diversity among speakers and attendees, and equity strand vs. an equity focus. Some are having conversations for the first time.

As much as these conversations are needed, there is a real danger in continuing with business as usual if the conversations continue to happen in private, and within racial groups. There are people who are taking steps to have those conversations in public.

The SE Math Summit, envisioned by a group of people including Jennifer White, Rachel Lawrence, and Alli George, is set to take place in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in July. In their call for proposals, they include a question about equity similar to that of NCTM. Knowing that this is an area of concern, Rachel wrote a blog post entitled The Who, What, Why, and How of Equity describing her own thinking. It is a long but important read because she admits to her imperfection and also shows us her growth in this area.

Additionally, Naomi Jessup and Barb Everhart are hosting a diversity and inclusion chat on Tuesday, March 26. See this link for homework and meeting information.

Lastly, some in the literacy space have gathered to create a pledge about their commitment to ensure equity in education conferences going forward. There is much that the math community can learn from them by following the #EducatorEquity hashtag.

They have also created a letter for potential speakers to use in articulating their thoughts.

Many have been working behind-the-scenes for a long time on creating equity in education. Hopefully, math education can join in the effort in a public way.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)

Online Professional Development Sessions

From the World of Math Ed…

Pi Day

Mathematics does not get many holidays. One of the few and perhaps most popular holidays, which happened last Thursday, is “Pi Day”. Far from being entirely innocuous, it is often met with controversy. At issue is not the name of the holiday but rather when it should occur, how it should be celebrated, and if it should be celebrated at all. Some examples:

To be fair, debates about Pi Day are mostly just humorous banter. But as the old saying goes: every joke contains a grain of truth. In this case, the tweets highlight an issue about mathematics that go beyond Pi. They demonstrate how mathematicians and mathematics educators are often called to serve as advocates. Consider the following exchange, which anyone teaching mathematics will be familiar with:

Stranger: So what do you do?
You: I teach/do/work in proximity to math.
Stranger: Oh, I hated math.

In these scenarios, we’re being positioned into the role of advocates and, sometimes, the role of apologists. What kind of response is being expected, after all?

The same happens with Pi Day. We are asked, usually implicitly, to align ourselves with the holiday, actively rally against it, or ignore it entirely. In each case, we act as advocates for some position.

But using the term advocate in relation to mathematics is tricky. An advocate is usually someone who promotes or defends a group of people or a cause that has been marginalized or excluded. In this sense, “advocate for mathematics” becomes an oxymoron. Mathematics is not marginalized; it marginalizes. In conjunction with STEM, mathematics is a prism through which dominant ideologies express themselves – and not as themselves, but rather as the refracted images of seemingly more neutral concepts such as objectivity, rationality, and truth.

So rather than seeing math teachers as “advocates for mathematics”, it makes more sense to see them as “advocates for people doing mathematics”. Preoccupations with the digits of Pi is not just a disservice to mathematics but more importantly a disservice to the people who do mathematics. The mysticism often associated with Pi should be combated because math is not mystical and because elitism should be removed from the culture of mathematics.

So happy belated Pi Day everyone, in whatever way works best for you 😉

Written by Melvin Peralta (@melvinmperalta)

Patrick Honner, in replying, has this to say, and a blog post he wrote on this topic:

All mathematics teachers need not hew to the Orlin Interpretation, as Melvin nicely points out above. Many of the activities are superficial, and we should take care to not make them too non-mathematical (or all about edible pies).

But taking the “W” here could mean letting Pi Day be a part of the culture, because how many mathematical things are truly embedded or woven into the culture? Awareness is good, but building on this math win hopefully means pushing other mathematical ideas and concepts further into the public sphere. i Day? Sure, “imagine” that? Tau Day? Have at it. Getting beyond just cutesy interpretations of date notation (e.g., 3/14) would be good as well.

K-12 teachers of mathematics are in a good position to push mathematics further into the culture than ever before!

Written by Matthew Oldridge (@MatthewOldridge)

Teaching is political – I give credit to Mattie for attempting to talk about “the heavy stuff” even if imperfect (and without the structures), these are the moments that students will remember, this leadership, this willingness to engage with students as humans grappling with the world around.

Julie Jee shares a reading journey assignment  that asks students to reflect on who they are as readers.  With questions like:

• Why did you choose this book/these books?
• How does it/do they push you outside your comfort zone? What is so different about it/them? The perspective? The setting? The plot?
• Mirror: To what extent do you see yourself reflected in the book(s)?
• Window: What are you learning about this different perspective?
• Wonder: What did you wonder or think about as you were reading your book(s)?

• The guest essay “We need to stop gatekeeping” by Nate Bowling in The Seattle Times
• Matt Vaudrey’s teacher report cards
• Mary Williams use of personalized screen time statistics in stats class
• #AbledsAreWeird for awareness of the subtle or overt bullying in our society

Written by Diana McClean (@teachMcClean)

Online Professional Development Sessions

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Hook – Line – Sinker

John Rowe has recently release a free eBook titled, Hook Line Sinker.

This book is a collection of problems, lessons and activities for mathematics teachers organized by topic. Many of these are links to activities described or created by #MTBoS teachers. John sequenced these activities into three categories:

• Hook – Introductory activities that might generate interest in the topic, don’t rely on prerequisite knowledge and help to “create the headache” or a need for the skills introduced

• Line – Activities to build on students existing knowledge.

• Sinker – Activities to help consolidate learning and make connections to other topics.

Amie Albrecht suggested on Twitter that the Hook-Line-Sinker categories map nicely onto the first three levels of Depth of Knowledge with Recall and Reproduction (DOK1), Skills and Concepts (DOK2) and Strategic Thinking (DOK3).

The book also contains some links to some great online resources and problem banks.

You can get John’s free eBook at http://mrrowe.com/book or download it from Books at  https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/hook-line-sinker/id1452938209

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

A Rabbit Hole Worth Falling Into… TWICE

Do you want students to have meaningful math talk more often. If so, follow this rabbit hole:

Cathy Yenca’s recent blog post “Using Apple Classroom for “Stand & Talks” is Cathy’s personal testimony for using Sara VanDerWerf’s “Stand & Talks.”

A few soundbites (I mean textbites) from Cathy’s post:

• The vocabulary I heard was impressive!

• I have found that using a “Stand & Talk” before a Desmos Activity can be highly effective!

• During the share-out phase, students not only CORRECTLY matched the graphs, but ALSO entertained the idea of what the graphs might mean if the descriptions beside each graph DID represent the graph.

• So silly and fun!

Follow the rabbit hole, people. Go!

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

Learning About Teaching

February has been difficult, for a number of reasons, in a number of ways. The stress of our profession is a real one, and mathematics is no exception. Tweets about leaving teaching, searching for meaning, and avoiding burnout are not uncommon. Some are brave enough to blog about it as Lybrya Kebreab has done.  She was courageous enough to pursue her passion, share her learning with us through her blog,  and also share her uncertainty as she navigates her current transition.

However, what is admirable to me is that while in her transition, she is still pushing herself to learn how to teach mathematics well. It is her passion. It is her life.

In her latest piece, Lybrya discusses teaching a lesson on functions as delineated in Making Sense of Mathematics Teaching: High School, from #DNAMath. Students are to decide which population has the greatest growth from four functions, which she brilliantly turned into a WODB activity that allowed students to display their wealth of knowledge.

After the first class period of the two-period lesson, she challenged them to reflect on their learning, and charted the results.

Lybrya closes her blog humbly, asking readers for feedback on her lesson. She is someone who truly humanizes her lessons, attending to students’ identities and agency. Her blog is highly recommended.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)