This poem starts with the question in the trunk of the tree, where we imagine that we are deciding to do or not to do something. Each level represents steps in making the decision, with the top indicating a resolution in the future. Phrases wander and change direction, leading to different results. How many paths to a resolution do you see?
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Toya Jones Frank
This article looks back at NCTM's leadership efforts with respect to equity, access, and empowerment and offers suggestions for moving the work forward.
Gabriel Matney, Julia Porcella, and Shannon Gladieux
This article shares the importance of giving K-12 students opportunities to develop spatial sense. We explain how we designed Quick Blocks as an activity to engage our students in both spatial reasoning and number sense. Several examples of students thinking are shared as well as a classroom dialogue.
Patricia F. Campbell, Masako Nishio, Toni M. Smith, Lawrence M. Clark, Darcy L. Conant, Amber H. Rust, Jill Neumayer DePiper, Toya Jones Frank, Matthew J. Griffin, and Youyoung Choi
This study of early-career teachers identified a significant relationship between upper-elementary teachers' mathematical content knowledge and their students' mathematics achievement, after controlling for student- and teacher-level characteristics. Findings provide evidence of the relevance of teacher knowledge and perceptions for teacher preparation and professional development programs.
Deann Huinker, Steven Leinwand, and Daniel Brahier
The knowledge of fractions and decimals that children develop in the elementary grades provides an essential foundation for the study of algebra and more advanced mathematics, but most teachers and students consider the topic challenging. Share your approaches to facilitating children's understanding of fractions and decimals. What classroom activities and ideas do you use to help children make sense of fractions and decimals as numbers, benchmarks, measures, quotients, or as operators? The TCM Editorial Panel invites you to share your ideas on developing K–grade 6 students' number sense for fractions and decimals. We are especially interested in manuscripts that describe ideas that have been informed by research and implementation in classrooms.
Jo Boaler
This department publishes brief news articles, announcements and guest editorials on current mathematics education issues that stimulate the interest of TCM readers and cause them to think about an issue or consider a specific viewpoint about some aspect of mathematics education.
Shiv Karunakaran, Ben Freeburn, Nursen Konuk, and Fran Arbaugh
Preservice mathematics teachers are entrusted with developing their future students' interest in and ability to do mathematics effectively. Various policy documents place an importance on being able to reason about and prove mathematical claims. However, it is not enough for these preservice teachers, and their future students, to have a narrow focus on only one type of proof (demonstration proof), as opposed to other forms of proof, such as generic example proofs or pictorial proofs. This article examines the effectiveness of a course on reasoning and proving on preservice teachers' awareness of and abilities to recognize and construct generic example proofs. The findings support assertions that such a course can and does change preservice teachers' capability with generic example proofs.
Penny Cataldo
In addition to differentiating and developing curriculum, this teacher's transition to coaching in an early childhood setting involves a complex blend of mentoring teachers, teaching students, and discovering resources.
Kimberly M. Lilienthal
Collections of short activities, Math by the Month articles aim for an inquiry or problem-solving orientation focused on a unifying theme and include four activities each for grade levels K–2, 3–4, and 5–6. In anticipation of October's Fire Prevention Week, September's problems involve firefighters and real-life math applications.
Renee Parker and M. Lynn Breyfogle
This student-friendly rubric helped improve third graders' competencies when explaining solution strategies in writing.
