Methods of Math Teaching and Learning

Good evening to all! I have not started teaching yet, but these next two post is in preparation for the upcoming school year. I have attended conferences and a leadership summit over the past week. They both were awesome experiences. Therefore, I am stoked about the upcoming school year. I am excited because I have learned something grand. I just can't wait to use this properly this year. I am super crazy excited about.... Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK)! Yes, I am excited about DOK. Let me tell you my reasoning. I heard of DOK a few years ago. However, I did not get a grand grasp of the concept until I attended a session at the MEGA Conference. I was sitting between  a phenomena teacher friend and a curriculum specialist, and both had the same reaction I had. The presenter told us she did an in depth study on this concept and realize some truths about DOK-(a) DOK is based upon the kind of thinking involved in the task; (b)DOK is Not about DIFFICULTY, it is about COMPLEXITY;

Good evening.    I know school has not started yet, but I wanted to get into the habit of posting every week. The discussion today is about reflection. I am reflecting on various professional developments I have attended. Recently, I attended the Differentiated Instruction Conference; and this past week into this afternoon, I attended the Leadership Summit for my school district. DI conference was excellent. The presenters gave talks about pedagogy and assessments and differentiating your instruction to fit the needs of your learners. The conference had several sessions on Number Talks (NT). I attended these session to look for more ideas to take back to my school to use this fall. I am glad to say I am incorporate it in my intervention classes. The presenters discuss the benefits of using NT and how it opens up math discourse. The goal is to strategically and intentionally select problems to better help our students compute efficiently. I have done this with the grades three through

Greetings to you all who took the time from your busy schedule to check out my blog! My name is Johanna Massey, and I am a math instructional coach for an elementary school in the southeast. I work with teachers and students to enhance math education at my school. The purpose of this blog is to write about my adventures teaching African American  elementary school students mathematics using best practices. The topic of my dissertation was based upon the premise that African American students are successful in math when taught using best practices especially at the elementary level. I pray that you find this blog insightful and helpful in your teaching practices. Also, feel free to make suggestions for I am not the keeper of all knowledge. I want to grow as an educator. Again thank you! http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/content/u0015/0000001/0001378/u0015_0000001_0001378.pdf