Local teachers have been working with their colleagues and math coach for years on ensuring that oral discourse during their mathematics classes has them acting as a facilitator and allowing students themselves to make sense of the mathematics. Specifically, their discussions are aimed at having students reason mathematically because discourse and…

All good teachers recognize their students' varying learning needs and strive to meet them. So differentiation is certainly not a revolutionary idea. In fact, Tomlinson and Eidson describe differentiated instruction as "really just common sense" (2003, p. 1). In practice, however, offering such opportunities for students is challenging. In this…

Beginning in third grade, Pennsylvania students are required to take the Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment (PSSA), which presents multiple-choice mathematics questions and open-ended mathematics problems. Consistent with the Communication Standard of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, while solving the open-ended problems,…

Uses the children's book, "The Rajah's Rice: A Mathematical Folktale from India," as the basis for grade-four activities involving doubling and powers of two. (MKR)

Describes the use of writing assignments for preservice teachers to help them reflect on the teaching and learning process in their internship classrooms. (MKR)

Describes the use of Margaret Wise Brown's "The Important Book" to involve students in writing about defining qualities and attributes of geometric shapes. (MKR)

Presents ways to stimulate teachers to try several techniques for having students write their own problems and verify their meanings with others to become effective mathematics problem solvers. These techniques include sharing self-generated problems in a Mathematician's Circle and publishing problems on worksheets. (PVD)