I may be a bit old fashioned when it comes to my philosophy on education. And while the jury is still out, I do remain uncomfortably curious about what a Common Core future means to young learners. My initial reaction sees a narrowing of the curriculum, and I feel like lodging complaints like an old…
Math
The Rigors of Math According to CCSS
Regular readers know that math and I get along about as well as oil and water, or perhaps open flames and gasoline. However, I do find it fascinating that the Common Core State Standards have what is called the “Standards for Mathematical Practice.” These are eight types of math expertise teachers should look for in…
Reason to Be a Green Teacher: #12,624
That magical thing lurking around the corner, big and green and wet with rain? That’s spring. Yes, spring is just ahead, just around the bend. So now’s the time to plan your class garden. Wait. What? What class garden? The one you’re going to plant this year. The one that is going to make your…
Surviving Math No-Man’s-Land
At the age of 44, I finally understand just how beautifully simple it is to figure out the area of a triangle. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I thought it wasn’t beautifully simple before. It’s that I didn’t know how to figure it out before. I’ve had to teach myself math. Yes, I…
The Common Core Pickle
Is there any better feeling than the one you get when, after struggling with a difficult or unusual task, someone says, “Hey, how are you doing?” Like when you’ve wrestled with a pickle jar, straining your wrist, feeling veins bulging on your forehead and disks bulging in your back, and you finally get that blasted…
Math at the Core
Okay, class, raise your hand if you’re implementing Common Core State Standards for Math this school year. Hmmmm, that’s an impressive show of hands. (I assume.) Here at The Mailbox, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the similarities and changes coming to the upper grades courtesy of Common Core. We’re aligning our upper grades…
Singing the Common Core Blues?
Was I destined to end up working for The Mailbox? That’s hard to say. Destiny is a difficult subject. Are teachers destined to always have to create their own supplemental materials? If I lingered around my blog for a few minutes, I bet I’d be able to make out many grumblings. With the emergence of…
Easing Parent Concerns Over Common Core
Last night I attended my youngest son’s first-grade open house. It was held in the school’s media center (what we used to call a library), not in the classrooms, and served as more of an explanation about the differences between kindergarten and first grade than a meet-and-greet. The open house introduced me to a first-grade…
Style: We All Have It
What do you have in common with Philippe Petit? Well, first you have to know who he is, I suppose. Philippe Petit is the famous French high-wire artist who, on August 4, 1974, famously walked 200 feet between the two buildings of the World Trade Center on a 55-pound rope strung 1,368 feet above the…
And that’s the way it was…
The evening news. Growing up in my house, watching it was part of the day’s rituals. Despite whatever was happening in the world—including Vietnam, Watergate, and long gas lines—watching Walter Cronkite was how my father spent his time digesting dinner. As someone who idolized his father, I watched and listened to Cronkite too. A few…