-
Measurement Beyond the Tool
I have been thinking about how measurement often looks simple on the surface, but is actually much more complex for students. At first, measurement seems like using a ruler, reading a number, and writing the unit. However, I realize that for students to genuinely understand measurement, they have to make sense of what is being…
-
From Tasks to Meaning
Over the past two weeks, my understanding of teaching data and probability has deepened in an important way. I used to think of this content area as fairly straightforward: collect data, make a graph, answer questions. Now I am realizing that while students can often complete those steps, they do not always understand what the…
-
Who Gets to Be “Good at Math”
Over the past two weeks, my thinking about algebra has started to shift in an unexpected way. I came in ready to focus on content and tools. I am leaving thinking about identity. Algebra, even at the 3rd grade level, asks students to make sense of relationships, patterns, and unknowns. This work builds their mathematical…
-
Evaluating an Intervention: Gender Stereotypes in 3rd Grade Career Representations
This evaluation grew out of curiosity sparked in another course. While reading research about how students picture mathematicians and scientists, I wondered how my own third graders might respond to similar prompts. Instead of simply wondering, I tried it. I designed a small classroom activity where students listened to completely gender-neutral descriptions of four professions:…
-
Reshaping Geometry
Three weeks ago, if you had asked me how I felt about teaching geometry, I would have said I enjoy it. It’s active. It’s visual. It gives students something to move, build, and at times, argue about. It can feel refreshing after long stretches of number work. However, I don’t think I had fully examined…
-
From Isolation to Integration
This project is the culmination of my work this semester and, honestly, it began with frustration. As Berger (2014) reminds us, better questions lead to better thinking. Instead of continuing to complain about a perceived problem in education, I decided to ask a more precise question. To explore that question, I surveyed teachers and examined…
-
Looking for the Right Angle
If a child walked up and asked, “What is an angle?” how would I respond? Two rays that share an endpoint.A measure of rotation.A fraction of a full turn. I know those answers. But do I understand what it means to teach that idea to someone? Geometry has always felt like the “last” unit. When…
-
Forced Perspective in Third Grade Geometry
Today I created a forced perspective hallway as part of a quickfire activity, and it ended up being much more engaging than I expected. I initially reached the “no color” stage and could have easily stopped there, but I was enjoying the process and decided to keep going. Once I added color and detail, the…
-
Surveying the System: Questioning Curriculum Design
When I started designing my survey for my Wicked Problem Project (WPP), I thought I had my question nailed down. I quickly realized I didn’t. Back to the drawing board. After refining, I landed on this:Why is elementary curriculum typically structured in isolated, subject-specific programs instead of integrated frameworks that support cross-curricular learning? Wicked, I…
-
Making My Thinking Visible
For this week’s assignment, I created a sketchnote video to document and reflect on my Quickfire questioning process. While I have lightly edited videos before, this was my first time producing a short, highly structured video that required visual organization and concise narration. I used iMovie to edit my recording, which allowed me to trim…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Alexis Flanders 