General Interest Archives - Page 5 of 8

Books by Marilyn General Interest Geometry

“Student-Centered” vs “Traditional” Math Teaching

In a recent email, a teacher friend commented on what she described as a struggle in her school district about math teaching. She wrote: "There is a bit of tug of war going on between student-centered teaching and traditional teaching." This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a comment like this. Here’s the response I wrote to her.

Marilyn BurnsNovember 10, 2016

Assessment Data General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Real-World Problems

Beans and Scoops

Lessons using beans and scoops have long been part of my teaching repertoire. I’ve used beans, scoops, and jars to engage students in all grade levels with a variety of mathematical ideas. In this post, I write about how I recently taught a lesson to give students experience with estimation, averages, multiplication, and more. Read about how I planned the lesson, how it unfolded, and suggestions for extensions and other lessons.

Marilyn BurnsNovember 1, 2016

General Interest Numerical Reasoning Problem Solving Real-World Problems

Always Try a Problem Before You Assign It

Have you ever thought about this numerical sequence—0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12? What does the sequence have to do with unicycles, bicycles, and tricycles? And what's my mathematical and pedagogical quandary? Read more and find out.

Marilyn BurnsSeptember 14, 2016

Fractions General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning

An Important Teacher Decision: When and When Not to Give the Answer?

When should a teacher resolve a question for students and when is it OK, or even a better instructional decision, to let confusion ride? I recently was confronted with this situation with fourth graders. Read about what happened and what I did.

Marilyn BurnsMay 16, 2016

Algebra General Interest Problem Solving Videos

An Oldie Revisited: The Border Problem

Here's one of my favorite oldies. (No, not the photo—the border problem.) I was so pleased to see this math investigation included in Jo Boaler’s latest paper. This blog post presents a detailed lesson plan for using the border problem with students and also includes a five-minute video clip to give you a sense of how the instruction went with one class.

Marilyn BurnsApril 19, 2016

General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Subtraction

Does Changing Subtraction to Addition Make It Easier?

Teachers have always told me that paper-and-pencil subtraction when problems call for regrouping is hard to teach and hard for students to learn. Much harder than addition. So why subtract when you can always add? That’s what my friend Nicholas thought, and he taught me how.

Marilyn BurnsApril 7, 2016

General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Place Value

A Reponse to Joe Schwartz’s Blog about Algorithms

I was recently planning to teach my friend Ruth Cossey’s elementary math methods class at Mills College in Oakland, California. Digging through my collection of student work, I found a paper from a third grader I had interviewed. When doing interviews, I typically ask students to figure out answers in their heads, but I agreed when Nomar asked for paper and pencil for some of the problems.

Marilyn BurnsApril 4, 2016

Fractions General Interest Numerical Reasoning

Fractions on a Number Line

The fourth graders I’m working with on a regular basis are learning about fractions. During a class conversation, one student declared, “Fractions aren’t numbers.” Most of the others in the class agreed. I tried to help with the misunderstanding by teaching a lesson about placing fractions on a number line.

Marilyn BurnsMarch 16, 2016

Assessment General Interest Interviews One-on-One Number and Operations Place Value Videos

Place Value: How to Assess Students’ Understanding

Place value is one of the most important foundational concepts about our number system. Watch my assessment interviews of second graders and learn how you can find out what your students understand about place value.

Marilyn BurnsJanuary 18, 2016

Fractions Games General Interest Numerical Reasoning Problem Solving

Fix It: An Activity for Ordering Fractions

At a math workshop, the presenter suggested that students have opportunities to be producers as well as consumers of their learning in the classroom. I put this advice into action with fifth graders, using the activity of Fix It to provide students additional experience with comparing and ordering fractions.

Marilyn BurnsDecember 11, 2015

General Interest