Grading Should Be Abolished in Schools

I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time. Abolish grades. I’m not saying there should be no assessments. Quite the opposite. I think there should be assessment all the time in the form of constructive feedback (“formative assessment”). There should also be assessment to decide if a student is ready for the next …

Months of Failure: A Success Story

I have been off the radar for the last several months working on some huge changes in my life. In July 2018, I quit a job that I loved. I was a Curriculum Writer for Illustrative Mathematics, a company with an amazing mission to make the world a place where people learn, use, and enjoy mathematics. …

Story of (Phi)bonacci’s Constant

When I was in high school, I was astounded by the golden ratio and all of its connections. I asked my teachers, and I even asked my first math professor in college. I didn't really get good answers to my questions. Years later, I pieced together a coherent story of many of the connections that …

Behavioral Economics Part 2

Temptation Bundling Temptation bundling is a technique to incentivize ourselves to get something done by pairing it with something we enjoy. I need to clean the kitchen, and I also love podcasts, so I try to save my podcasts for when I clean the kitchen (or need to do other podcast-compatible activities). In order for …

Behavioral Economics Part 1

I love behavioral economics. There are so many key concepts that fundamentally change the way you see human behavior.  The mix of one part economics with two parts psychology is a powerful one that might just enable us to make the world a better place for people to live.  These ideas are not thoroughly sourced, but …

Strengths Based vs. Growth Mindset

Lately I've had some cognitive dissonance regarding two ideas I like very much: a strengths based approach to learning versus a growth mindset approach. Whenever two seemingly disparate ideas clash, it is inevitable that the most useful way of thinking finds a way to combine and respect both. In a sense, these two ideas are …

5 Big Problems in American Education

As I'm here at NCTM thinking about different career paths, I'm creating a picture of the big issues in education.  Doing this might give me ideas about possible opportunities in the future.  The five key problems I see are: The experience of new teachers Collaboration between teachers Grades and assessment Intervention for struggling students Social/emotional …

Empathy

Hi journal, Today, I want to talk about empathy. We humans aren't very strong. We don't have the sharpest teeth. We don't have complicated systems of biological camouflage. The fastest of us are relatively slow and our eyesight is relatively poor. We don't have much as far as basic animal defenses go.  But we do …

How to Video Game

Hi journal, it's been a while.  Today, I want to talk about how to video game.  First, I assume the reader is an adult with a steady income.  If not, the path is simple: pirate, play used, redbox, and game-pool with friends. If you're an adult with a steady income and you still pirate games, …

Growth Mindset Conference

I recently attended a math teacher's conference in San Diego, and in preparation for running some Professional Development about what I learned, I thought I would try to summarize here.   Growth Mindset Research The research, in a nutshell, says that the brain grows with concerted effort and collaborative communication.  The brain is a plastic …