Modern Math Teacher- Teaching Strategies for High School and Middle School Math Teachers

Let’s chat—send me a text! Students need practice. There, I said it. 😉 Meaningful math doesn’t mean eliminating repetition, worksheets, or good old-fashioned skill practice. Sometimes students just need to practice the darn equation. But sometimes we can give that practice a little more purpose. In this episode, we’re talking about: What good math practice is actually forWhen straightforward practice is the best choiceHow practice can become part of a larger learning experienceUsing my Staine...

Let’s chat—send me a text! Our students are surrounded by data—but are we teaching them how to actually think with it? In this episode, we’re moving beyond “calculate the statistic” and talking about how real data can help students investigate, question, interpret and make predictions. We’ll talk about: Moving from calculating data to interpreting itWhy messy, real data creates richer thinkingHelping students ask, “What does this data NOT tell me?”Using timely election data to build mathemati...

Let’s chat—send me a text! You don’t need to find an empty week in your pacing guide to use a math project. In this episode, we’re looking at three ways projects can fit into the mathematics you’re already teaching: Investigate with math → Election Data + StatisticsMake a decision with math → Pitch ProfitPractice through a meaningful product → Stained GlassProjects don’t have to replace your instruction, practice, or curriculum. Sometimes they simply give students somewhere meaningful to use ...

Let’s chat—send me a text! We hear it all the time: Make math real-world. But real-world doesn’t automatically mean relevant. In this episode, I’m sharing how one of my favorite cell phone projects slowly lost its relevance—and what it taught me about choosing contexts that actually matter to the students sitting in front of us. We’ll talk about: The difference between real-world and relevant mathMy Spheres of Relevance: self, community, culture + the larger worldHow timeliness can create rel...

Let’s chat—send me a text! “Projects sound great…but when are students actually learning the math?” That’s a fair question—and the answer isn’t simply putting more calculations into the project. In this episode, we’re talking about how to intentionally keep deep, rigorous mathematics at the center of PBL using one of my favorite project-design tools: milestones and milestone markers. Using my Wasted Space Geometry Project as an example, we’ll explore how students can use surface area, volume,...