Teacher Talk Tuesday: Rockin' the Schoolhouse

I've told you time and time again that I HATE math. I'm pretty much the only Asian on this planet who is painfully bad at math. I probably had many disappointed friends in HS who copied off my homework only to discover that I didn't know JACK about prime factorization. (BTW, my 10 year reunion is next month...CRAZY!)

Now that I am teaching math, I find myself reteaching myself how to compare mixed fractions before I lay my head on my pillow each night. I do lots of math, and show my work, and watch lots of YouTube videos on how to explain the divisibility rules. So far, I'm smarter than ever in math and actually enjoy being a student again.... a student to myself... a teacher teaching herself? Totes McGoats!

Today I showed my class my favorite Schoolhouse Rock video! Hopefully I can instill the love of math into my little students so they wont grow up to be like me, hating math, and still counting on my fingers under the blackjack table. (I actually don't do that anymore.)

I still count my 3's times tables like this. It puts the fun in functional! WOW, I need to go to bed!

  • Tell me your BEST Math trick or way to remember something!


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6 comments:

  1. ZoëAugust 24, 2011 at 1:50 AM

    Hmm when it comes to math...
    they taught me in college (teaching was/is my major) that kids first of should experiment with math, not learning any patterns how to solve a problem...

    for example:
    you have 11+12=23
    kids should find their own way to solve this problem and experiment allowed them to not be afraid of being mistaken. for example you can ask them to solve this in 10 ways

    10+1+10+2=20+3=23 etc etc

    they experiment with numbers, counting, checking if their new way is good etc. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZoëAugust 24, 2011 at 9:19 AM

    Ohh and I found that Jeff Buckley sang this sing too ("3 is a magic number")

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clC13bXYrno&feature=related

    I love him!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Popcorn, Pugs & PeoniesAugust 25, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    I just bought myself a Schoolhouse Rock t-shirt the other day that I have been wearing to death.

    The best trick I ever learned was how to calculate rough percentages in my head. It is simple, and people always look at me with amazement when I do it. If you can calculate 10% in your head, you can double it to get 20%, triple it to get 30%, etc. Cut it in half to get 5%. Easy peasy lemon squeazy.

    *Erin

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 26, 2011 at 1:38 AM

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    ReplyDelete
  5. Lindsay @ Pinch of YumAugust 26, 2011 at 6:47 AM

    SO excited to share this. I can't remember what grade you teach, but this song works like a charm to skip counting by the dreaded 7s (to help with multiplication).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvqTizEfrhU

    You can also sing it to the tune of Happy Birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Home Renovation TroyNovember 1, 2022 at 4:04 AM

    Greeat reading your blog

    ReplyDelete

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