Sunday, March 25, 2012

Cool "New" Blogs

Maybe this is news to you, or maybe it is not, but Fawn Nguyen has a really nice blog about math teaching and miscellanies.

I am kind of a blog junkie, and have always been. To me, what type of content makes a teaching blog nice? --Specific discussion about activities, and why they structure them as such. Honestly, I am too concrete a thinker (and am generally too busy) to read abstract, philosophical discussions that do not give specific illustrations. Personally, I also appreciate it when bloggers don't complain continuously about the same thing, because I believe that we all have our reasons to be negative, so there is no reason to dump our own negativity onto others. I think it's a nice rule of thumb to say that if you point out that something doesn't work or isn't ideal (which is fair to do from time to time), that you must offer a concrete alternative that could be feasible and more effective. Our school admin mentioned this in the beginning of the year as a general courtesy to keep at staff meetings; I try to keep that courtesy online as well. On the receiving side, I definitely recognize teaching blogs that leave me with a heavy feeling, versus teaching blogs that make me feel inspired and happy.

Fawn's blog is specific, positive, and it also shares some personal tidbits, which is also nice. I personally enjoy it when someone's blog goes a little bit beyond the teaching and shares a little about their own lives, because if I care about their teaching, inevitably I start caring about their lives as well...

Another blog that I also think is very nice (but that has been around now for a little while now, actually) is Amy Gruen's Square Root of Negative One Teach Math. Amy's blog is not pretentious and is altogether lovely, and her love for her students shines through effortlessly.

Also, the awesome Tina Cardone is as fun online as she is in person!

Enjoy! If your affinity for blogs matches mine (in terms of what type of content you prefer), I would love it if you could comment and leave me with a few suggestions of new blogs to follow.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for including me! I agree with your characteristics of a nice blog, and I think they apply to PD as well. It's great to have a grand theory, but if you don't give me concrete examples I'm going to have a hard time implementing it. Much the same as how we teach our students actually- start with concrete, make observations, end with overarching theories.

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  2. I agree with the PD bit, but during a PD I have more reflection time as well since I am obligated to sit there for X minutes before the next coffee break, so even if they don't do a great job connecting all the dots, I can do it in my obligatory sitting session. Blog entries need to be more streamlined than that in order to reach a greater number of people.

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  3. It's not a high school teacher blog, but lately I am loving Malke Rosenfeld's blog, The Map is Not the Territory. She's homeschooling her daughter, and writes about their math time - it's fascinating.

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  4. Thank you so much, Mimi, for including me! My blogroll will continue to grow [weekly], but there's only so much time. (My blogroll is my weekly commitment, every single one, but of course I always go to others' blogrolls and read THEIRS.) I've gained so much by reading others' blogs, not just their concrete lessons that I love to steal from, but their genuine reflections about teaching remind me why we are in this crazy-drunk-love profession together. And you're in Germany, that's just very cool that the blogosphere brings us together. Thank you!!

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  5. Hi Mimi
    I like your criteria for judging blogs. I am just new to them and find I like a personal touch too, and positive ideas and hints as well as criticism.
    You might like to look at my blog:
    www.learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com

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  6. I don't see these on your "Things I Read" list so maybe you haven't heard of them yet.

    Don't Panic, The Answer is 42- Lizzy-Sensei
    http://dontpanictheansweris42.blogspot.com/

    Maximizing Learning- Amber Caldwell
    http://ambercaldwell.wordpress.com/

    mathemagical molly- Molly Kate
    http://mathemagicalmolly.wordpress.com/

    I Speak Math- Julie Reulbach
    http://ispeakmath.wordpress.com/

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  7. Thanks for the recommendations! I have been following Amber and Julie for a while now (my blog list to the right isn't really accurate because it's too much work to maintain it), and I only recently came across Lizzy's blog. Molly's is a brand new one for me, so thanks for the rec!

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  8. Mimi, I am a huge fan/reader of yours and I am honored that you included me here. I've gained so much more from blogging (both the reading and the writing) than I could ever imagine. Thank you very much for the sweet words! Amy

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  9. I have been scouring the web for blogs like yours and the ones you mentioned. I am sometimes turned off and intimidated by those blogs that implement activities or motivations that I may or may not be able to implement because of the population that I have or the lack of resources that I have. It's sometimes depressing that Im not doing things "right". As much as I love dy/dan's blog, reading it makes me feel really guilty that I'm not teaching in the most innovative way. But I guess change takes time, I'll have to work on it. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Don't be discouraged, Jenn! Yes, change takes time. But there's a second factor at play for me besides that - we each have our own style. Dan's style doesn't work for me. I can use some of his ideas, but mostly I have to create my own.

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  11. Jenn: "Right" is relative to our students and the timing of the activity and a bunch of other factors. I echo Sue in saying don't be discouraged!! I try to mix up the strategies I use; personally I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching, even with a single strategy that sounds amazing on paper.

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  12. I know what you mean, Jenn, by seeing blogs like Dan's and feeling like we're not up to par. But with all due respect to Dan, he's now out of the classroom, working on his Ph.D. and doing a lot of innovative things, but it's just not the same what he's doing now vs what we do in the classroom, day in and day out, being in the rut. You are your student's greatest resource, Jenn! I've been teaching for over 20 years (8 in math) and I'm still scouring for ideas daily.

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  13. Thanks ladies for the words of encouragement! :) I think one of the most important things that I look for is ingenious ways of explaining big ideas to my students and ways to trick them into learning the math as well as piquing their interest. But I can't lie, there are just some lessons that are dry and no amount of spicing it up will get the kids to learn it faster.

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  14. That's true for me, too, but I think it means I haven't yet found the key to those lessons.

    I am having so much fun this semester. Some of it may feel dry to my students, but none of it has to me, so far. As much as I love trig, I do feel that some of those lessons drag. I did the triangle trig early, and we'll be coming back (in pre-calc) for the circle trig soon. The proofs section may be the draggiest part of trig. I'm glad you got me thinking about that ahead of time, because I'm loving proofs in linear algebra. Maybe there's a way to approach it better in pre-calc. Hmm...

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