Number of the Day with Ten Frames
One of the perks of being a math instructional coach is that you get to visit classrooms on a daily basis. On one of those visits, I observed this 1st-grade…
Instructional Strategies
The 3 Reads Protocol for Solving Word Problems
Raise your hand if you wish your students were more confident and successful in solving word problems. Right, that’s what I thought. And the answer probably doesn’t change much based…
What Great Teachers Do Differently
I was first introduced to Todd Whitaker at CAMT back in 2012. I suspected I was in for a treat when the line to get in the auditorium was around…
Rebranding “Show Your Work”
Marketers know that a product’s brand is everything. If a product is not selling to its potential, one solution is often to tweak the brand, or “rebrand” the product. Kentucky…
Using Strip Diagrams as a Problem-Solving Strategy
There’s a lot to be learned from the data that comes from state testing if we use it correctly. Oftentimes, we’ll take a problem that students, as a whole, perform…
Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices
Teaching is a high-demand, often stressful profession, and mathematics instruction adds its own unique challenges. The Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) provide…
Fabulous Resource Alert: Inside Mathematics
Whenever I come across fabulous resources for teaching math, I feel compelled to share. The website I’m sharing today is Inside Mathematics, and it contains a plethora of mathematics resources!…
Problem-Solving vs Word Problems
I remember preparing for an interview for my first teaching position in the 90’s. I was told that I would likely be asked to explain my approach to teaching problem-solving….
The Power of Part/Whole Thinking
Part/whole thinking begins in Kindergarten when students are expected to learn the number combinations for the numbers through 10. Below you see a graphic representation for the combinations for 5….
