A Brief Ode to Blank Paper

Maya (7) brought home a folder full of completed math worksheets yesterday, which put me in a funk. First, there was the bugs problem. I couldn't decide which part of this problem bothered me most. Was it the ridiculous premise? I mean, come on. Was it that the problem was, ...
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The Up Sides of a Near Miss

This morning, as I was nearing the top of a curvy highway entrance ramp, I broke into a skid. I don't mean a little fishtail. I mean a full-on skid where I desperately wanted to be on the entrance ramp but was actually sliding across the highway into traffic, at speed ...
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A Problem with the Space Inside it to Learn

Justin Lanier shared this bit of loveliness on Twitter the other day: I love everything about it. I printed out a couple of copies this morning and made them available at breakfast. My kids are 5 and 7. Maya, the 7-year old, has read A Fly on the Ceiling a time ...
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The Art of Deciding, or Would You Drive Under the Overpass?

Maya (7) asked me about this sign in the coffee shop drive-thru the other day: And so, we had a lovely conversation about clearance. Once she understood the notation, she asked, "Does that mean if your truck is 9'5", you could drive underneath?" That's just gold. I said, "Well, ...
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Maya and Daphne Find Math in Their World

This is a video the girls and I made when they were 4 and 6, in response to 1st and 2nd graders who thought math was only found in worksheets and classrooms. I discuss this clip in my book, and needed a permanent home for the video, so here it is! ...
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The Same Amount of Tall

My 5-year old daughter, Daphne, was looking out the car window when she laid this question on me: "I've been wondering something. If there's a whole of a tree, and half of a tree next to it, what do you call it? A whole half?" At the next light, I ...
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Making Sense

Last week, between work with grade-level bands, I had a complete K-6 staff for about an hour. I wanted to tackle "story problems," so I started by showing them "How Old Is the Shepherd," by Robert Kaplinsky: Seriously, take the 3:07 to watch it. You'll see that 75% of 8th graders presented ...
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The Math of Medical Decisions

I've spent the summer immersed in medical decisions around several loved ones, so this blog has been brewing for a while. At each appointment, I am struck by HOW MUCH MATH patients need to know in order to understand the choices framed by their doctors. There are always odds, statistics, costs, ...
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“I don’t ever want to ask a question in math again!”

This past week, my older daughter shared with me that something "horrible" had happened in math class. She didn't understand the worksheet (it was a terrible worksheet, but that's another post), so she asked about it. She said: "Everyone was staring at me, and I heard some people whispering, and ...
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“You just listened, so then I could figure it out”

This blog was also posted at Stenhouse's blog. My daughters and I climbed in the car to go shoe shopping before their first day of school. I sat in the driver’s seat while they buckled themselves into their car seats, and noticed I was keeping track of the loud clicks I ...
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