Teaching Faculty at Desmos. Author at Stenhouse. Public Math. I tweet about children's math brilliance, #unitchat, and sometimes produce.
Feb 17, 2023 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
I walked into a classroom full of third graders today, while two of them were very eagerly debating a point with their teacher.
Teacher: "Now that our guest is here, perhaps you could ask the question of him."
Imagine my excitement.
Sep 14, 2022 • 22 tweets • 3 min read
On the left is a triangle. On the right is a square.
This is not a tweet about Pattern Blocks; they're just the examples that were ready at hand.
Jul 7, 2022 • 26 tweets • 8 min read
It's been a while, so here's a moment of recreational mathematics for you...
Here is one of my favorite specialty tiles from the deep triangleman archives.
Sep 24, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
A good deal of math's power lies in the problems to which it is applied.
What do we tell students about what math is good for when we select problems?
Sep 22, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I've had two contrasting experiences in cultural diversity and mathematics in the last 24 hours.
The first was yesterday afternoon, reading the cover story in the latest NCTM teacher journal "The Condo Problem".
Have been reading a bit about Tana Hoban recently.
"Hoban explains that the original idea for her books came from hearing a story from the Bank Stree School in Manhattan where children were asked what they noticed on the way to school."
Thinking of @MFAnnie and @maxrayriek@MFAnnie@maxrayriek "After the children could not describe or remember anything, the teachers provided cameras and suddenly the children were paying attention to their world, discovering the extraordinary in the every day."
It was cooking night with the 13yo the other night. Along the way we needed two cups of Bisquick (long funny story I'll tell you another time. For now don't judge.)
We used the 1 cup measure. But a minute later I pulled out the 2/3 and asked whether we *could* have used it.
[Pause]
"Yes."
Everyone! I made great efforts to see the comet, and despite cloud cover at sunset last night, the dark skies of northern Minnesota cleared and it was fantastic. 10/10 would recommend to a friend (i.e. you)
For reference, I also went to great lengths as a teen to see Halleys comet, and that was like a 5.
But on that same trip I saw Saturn through a telescope for the first time and was like OMG THOSE RINGS ARE NO JOKE
Jul 19, 2020 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Quick story while I've got a minute on a fine Minnesota Sunday summer evening.
My parents divorced when I was about 10. At about 12, my mom and sister moved far away and I stayed back with my dad.
He was a homeowner in the burbs. I was kind of miserable but am a pretty adaptable person and I made it work.
We had a pretty nice vegetable garden out back. Tomatoes and green peppers and the like.
Jul 17, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
First draft of a new thing. Find yourself a printer, a pen, and a child, then report back please.
dropbox.com/s/sljid22qw92y…
(In my fantasy, each circle is an actual hole in the page, and each page is a little whiteboard and you have a whiteboard marker to draw with)
Jun 30, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I remember the first year or two. "How will he handle a real crisis?"
And it turns out he handles a real crisis exactly the way you would think he does. And now look where we are.
"We're gonna need to throw a few more teachers on the fire of economic recovery!"
Jun 22, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Play testing. Not much opportunity for it these days.
The child asked me, "Which one do you think is a diamond?"
❤❤❤
Jun 14, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Saturday night tiling.
One more.
Jun 12, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
4yo next door has a battery operated bubble machine and is in the middle of a full on summer afternoon bubblegasm.
When I was 4, I had a wand and a cup of bubble juice. This kid has a machine and bubble juice by the gallon.
#pairedTexts
Graph shows 50% of MN Covid deaths as people of color.
24 photos out of 1000 deaths. TWO photos of people of color.
Unconscionable.
May 28, 2020 • 24 tweets • 4 min read
I know this isn't true for everybody out there on this website, but my twitter account is a very personal one.
To that end, a little personal update.
I live in Saint Paul, which adjoins Minneapolis. We moved across town a year and a half ago, and now live about five blocks from the informal Philando Castile memorial.
May 15, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Y'all, this enormous honey locust tree is in the yard of the home where we have lived for a bit over a year now. We had a little trimming done last fall and the arborist was impressed, having worked on few honey locusts of this size.
Don't worry. These things leaf out late. Maples are all green in Saint Paul right now; it'll be another week.
May 9, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Super quick prototype from yesterday. I've been thinking about various ways to play with relationships btwn 2 and 3d shapes. cc @Zakchamp
Working hypothesis is that these will be most meaningful as a set. Cone, pyramid, couple of prisms...