I had a terrible week in class behavior management, and it’s my fault. Throughout the first few weeks, I had not be able to get the class quiet enough, but this week was far worse. With the exception of formal assessment times, the class was so loud and disruptive that we didn’t get through all…
read more »My National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Smart Brief just sent me this article about a role-model math teacher. These articles are hand picked to bring me the best of math education. I feel like the person choosing them knows nothing about what it means to teach math meaningfully. The teacher in the article had…
read more »I told my adviser that I wanted to write a book about learning to teach mathematics meaningfully. He said that sounded great but not to start until after I was done with my dissertation. So my dissertation can’t possibly be about my life-plus somebody already wrote a dissertation about my life as a teacher! So,…
read more »My life, as anyone who has read my blogs for the last six months knows, took a major turn on February 25th, 2012 because of one loose rock. My friend’s deadly fall in the Grand Canyon, spiraled me into an emotional, reflective time where I was searching for meaning in so many new places. God,…
read more »I have been fortunate throughout most of my life to live and work in high-trust environments. I went to a high school where everyone routinely left their backpacks outside of their lockers and hardly anything happened to the backpacks. At college, I once left a window fan in the campus center for 11 days and…
read more »While this blog is mostly focused on what happens in my classroom, I also happen to live in one the strangest cities in the world. Living in a city like Las Vegas has weird effects on my classroom and my life that I believe are worth sharing. (By the way, I happen to writing today…
read more »Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that I am a very political person. I can almost inject politics into almost every situation, which can often be problematic. As a result, I was very excited to be able to talk the current election in the reading and social studies parts of my…
read more »I think the first two days of schools are crazy for any new teacher. You never know what is going to happen, and you can be surprised by absolutely nothing. Also, you cannot let any of your students know that it is your first time teaching for a full year since they will pounce on…
read more »As a 22 year old first year teacher, it is often difficult to remember my place in society and in the classroom. On the one hand, I am just a guy right out of college. According to our societal expectations, most of us are supposed to be unemployed in this economy. I guess I am…
read more »Earlier tonight, my school hosted it’s elementary orientation. I knew it was going to be an opportunity for me to meet some of my students and their families. After hearing stories from the kindergarten orientation where on average 80% of the parents showed up, I was expecting most of my parents to show up. I…
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