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Why I blog


Ever since I made my first experience tutoring in college, I wanted to be able to share information in a way that someone else could understand.
That was easier in 1-1, but when it's a classroom that's a whole different story! I still love working with students 1-1, but as a teacher I'm responsible for the whole class. I still hope to strive to be the best communicator at not only information, but with the connections we make from student-teacher, teacher-teacher, parent-teacher, etc. My hope is that by blogging it generates as many questions as answers and entices more input not just me, but from the community in which I serve.

UPDATE:  I want to expand my influence in an entrepreneurial way.  I would like to take my love of matching information with those who need it along with products I can provide to meet the need.

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Easter - time for renewal of ideas

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Hope for the next standards....

  Though the picture represents a different reason for my mug smile (taken in May 2022), it makes me feel the same way to try to continue to hope for the future of math standards.   Currently we are working underneath the 2007 Minnesota Math Standards, and version III of the new standards have been out for comment by the public.  Before, there were general ideas what was supposed to be presented to Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, upper standards (advanced data and statistics), but yet did not account for the College Now or other preparatory math many schools have implemented to be competitive. Here's a case example of hope for improvement.  Currently I teach Algebra 1 to the eighth graders in our district.  The curriculum we have is very rigorous (that is to say, the book focuses on rational exponents), and gives students little practice with integer exponents to build their confidence.  This gap, paired with a low numeracy and low fraction exposure fr...
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Times of Transition

  I used to DESIRE to dig into research and to experiment and try a hypothesis in my classroom.  Since COVID I have felt complacent and unsupported to try anything.  This is the danger of not just the pandemic, but ANY major situation. Then I also became involved with MCTM and worked with people whose desire was to make math more connected again.  There were several feeling the same way as I did, and for once that gave some comfort.   I've discovered through personal study and investment in my thinking habits, (as mentioned in previous posts) that I am an Architect.  Not by trade, but by mindful construction of the "Big Picture" and commanding the tools, resources, and assets I am connected to make it happen. Not to brag, far from it, for Architects also are behind the scenes people, and some have the opposite of superiority complex; that is to say, an inferiority complex.   This is a dangerous feeling to have, especially if one is in a competiti...
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