By popular demand (and because I need somewhere to organize this for myself), I’m going to put up a series of posts about what I learned at the NCTM conference. If you’re a math teacher, I hope this is as valuable for you as it is for me! (If you’re not a math teacher, I…

By popular demand (and because I need somewhere to organize this for myself), I’m going to put up a series of posts about what I learned at the NCTM conference. If you’re a math teacher, I hope this is as valuable for you as it is for me! (If you’re not a math teacher, I…

I have a student who somehow managed to be in sixth grade while two years older than everyone else and completely hardened against any sort of behavior consequence. He does the most ridiculous things you can imagine, and nothing we do to him will even get him to blink. He’s tough and he’s angry, and…

I’m going to the NCTM National Conference on Wednesday, and my directions are to “go to whatever you want and bring things back to share with other math teachers.”   This is lovely in the freedom it provides, but I unfortunately don’t actually have any idea how to do that. What, exactly, will other math…

I love sixth grade math because there is so much room to develop conceptual understanding, and that’s great for kids and an excellent mental challenge for me. But I didn’t realize how much I miss doing math that I, personally, find fun to do. I’ve taken over our advanced math class for a couple weeks,…

I let one of my biggest behavior problem boys draw a portrait of me the other day. I absolutely knew I was asking for trouble…it was one of those times when I gave him special permission to do his thing because I knew how entertaining it would be. He produced this… … which does need…

On my prep, I walked by two of my kids sitting in the hallway outside of science class. The Straight-A student was on his knees and leaning urgently over a paper on the ground, looking anxious. The other boy was slumped on the floor against the lockers, in full sulk. When I asked what they…

I have one student who does her best, every day, to not pick up her pencil in math class. She refuses to get started, refuses to ask for help, and refuses to so much as copy down a problem or attempt a first step. It could come from confidence (she is definitely lower than the…

“Miss, somebody put a rotten orange in my backpack.”   As a teacher, you probably know that moment – something mean has happened to one of your shy, sweet kids, and you need to handle it. Unfortunately, you have no idea who did it or who to start asking, and your “Someone needs to step…