This year I had the honor of being invited to give one of the talks at Shadow Con at the 2016 NCTM Annual Conference in San Francisco. If you’ve never heard of Shadow Con, it’s a collection of six short, provocative talks that each culminate in a call to action, something to spur your work going forward. You can (and should!) check out the 2015 Shadow Con talks here and the 2016 Shadow Con talks here.
My talk was called “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and my call to action was about finding space in an upcoming lesson for students to explore, to play, and to find joy in doing math. I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging, so I put together this page of a few resources to help get your lesson planning started. It is by no means exhaustive, so I’d love for you to share an inspiring resource or two in the comments!
Instructional Resources
- Estimation 180
- Fraction Talks
- Open Middle
- Visual Patterns
- Which One Doesn’t Belong?
- Would You Rather?
Books
- Moebius Noodles: Adventurous Math for the Playground Crowd by Yelena McManaman, Maria Droujkova, & Ever Salazar
- Playing With Math: Stories from Math Circles, Homeschoolers & Passionate Teachers by Sue VanHattum
- Socks Are Like Pants, Cats Are Like Dogs: Games, Puzzles, & Activities for Choosing, Identifying, & Sorting Math by Malke Rosenfeld & Gordon Hamilton
Blog Posts / Articles
- Dot Crazy by Joe Schwartz
- First Grade Math Fight…Fractions, Proportional Reasoning, and Algebra, Oh my! by Jamie Duncan
- How to help your kids fall in love with math: a guide for grown-ups by Math4Love
- “I Like This Game Because You Have to Think Hard.” by Joe Schwartz
- Let the Children Play by Christopher Danielson
- What I’m Looking For by Joe Schwartz
Lessons / Activities
- Hundred Faces – How about creating a face with Cuisenaire rods? If the white cube is equal to 1, how many is the whole face equal to? You could make a “Hundred Fac”, or maybe a “Fifty Face”.
- Math4Love Lesson Plans – A treasure trove of activities
- TEDD.org – This site collects a variety of playful instructional routines and resources for implementing them.
Other
#MathPhoto15 – This page includes links to a Storify for each weekly challenge. Browse through pictures sorted by mathematical topic. As you’re looking, bring this question with you, “What can I do with this?” You never know what will inspire you!
Teaching to the Beat of a Different Drummer 