Mathy Math Mom

Thanks for visiting! Here is my  CMC 2018 Presentation . If the link isn't working, its because I haven't opened it up yet. No Spoilers ALLOWED! See you at 1:15 Saturday at the Renaissance Santa Rosa!

           21 st century classrooms are looking for exciting and meaningful ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. While basic technology can be fun, just like anything else in education, making it intentional and meaningful needs to be the focus.  I always try to ask myself questions like:  “Why am I adding technology?”  “What about this technology makes this lesson better?”       Many times, giving students hands on opportunities can still be better than superfluous technology. Something to keep in mind. I was introduced to the SAMR model which fit these questions I had been asking myself.  Are you using technology to enhance the lesson (S, A) or are you transforming your lesson (M,R)?       Although enhancement can seem appealing, it is a superficial change. The real power of technology can transform a lesson to do things we have never done before. QR Codes are an exciting way to incorporate technology into classrooms, and when used correctly

         Growing up, we had homework. So as a new teacher, I assigned homework. Nothing special, 1-33 odd on whatever nonsense page we had “learned” that day. In all honesty, I talked and they listened, hardly learning, but that is another can of worms. I graded it, and hated every moment. Then I decided to really think about what I was assigning. Maybe 2 from this section, 3 from that, and always some word problems. Cue late and missing assignments, full lunch sessions of make-up work, etc. I am sure everyone knows the scene.   “I am teaching them responsibility” I would tell myself. “But what about the curve of forgetting?” the little voice in my ear would say when I wanted to skip it. Back then, my son was in preschool. He never wanted to sit with me to talk about letters or numbers, but he could build a Lego set for 8 year olds.     Then, he started Kindergarten. Besides the adventure of learning that he had ADHD and all that ensued from that (a future blog post I am

I started last school year with two professional goals: present at a conference become a Desmos Fellow I wanted to push myself and make sure I was filling my bucket. As a working mom, many times I sacrifice personal growth for the sake of time with my children. I am positive that I am not alone in these feelings of inadequacy. I made these goals to push myself out of my comfort zone, and to pursue the self care I so frequently sacrifice. With the help of some amazing friends and colleagues including those from the Southern California Math Teacher Network and #MTBoS, I was accepted to present at the California Math Council South's Conference ( CMC )! This November I will be presenting on visual mathematics, a topic that is very dear to my heart. More on that later. Then, on Sunday, April 15th, I received my email from Desmos... Cue the most excited scream I have ever screamed since I was a 12 year old girl.  I felt like I was accepted into college! Remem

Here is a short and sweet share on my  Proofs Scaffolded  card sort.  I made 3 levels of logic proofs to get kids thinking about proofs as reasoning and logic rather than a collection of rules. I color coded the cards so I knew what level each group was working on and had them do at least 2 (most wanted to do all 3). This activity did a great job of allowing students to think about connections and reasoning. It also illuminated something I wasn't expecting: it showed me student's preferences on proof writing. Some laid out each card in a beautiful list, just like a two column proof, some had a progression going across like a flow chart proof, and others did almost sentence frames like a paragraph proof. HOLY MOLY! I love when you get more out of an activity than you anticipate! For years my students had complained about two column proofs, and here some automatically did them! I don't have beautiful pictures because this was a couple years ago and being a TOSA,