Roaming into the Classroom

Well, summer is over and it's time to get back into the classroom and start practicing my craft once again.  I've reread a few books and read some new ones and now I'll get to see how I apply the ideas to this new batch of students who were mostly born in the year of the Twin Tower destruction. 

Some of the revisited books include:
Connecting Mathematical Ideas: Middle School Video Cases to Support Teaching and Learning
Jo Boaler, Stanford University, Cathlee Humphreys, Fremont High School

Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Catherine Twomey Fosnot, City College of New York, Maarten Dolk, Freudenthal Institute, The Netherlands

Thinking Mathematically: Integrating Arithmetic & Algebra in Elementary School
Thomas Carpenter, University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Megan L Franke, University of California, Los Angeles, Linda Levi, Teachers Development Group

Going into the actual classroom today was a bit overwhelming!  I was ostensibly there to help find a book for a new teacher friend of mine.  I couldn't find the book, Marcy Cook's Math Starters and Stumpers.  I use some of the ideas to make posters and she wanted to do this in her classroom.  I put posters around the room and students can solve them when they are wondering what to do.  I have the students put answers on a sticky note and if no other student challenges an answer, the solver gets credited with the solution.  I ended up reordering the book, which I had originally tabbed quite nicely, and ordering the More Math Starters and Stumpers as well.   At $15.00 a pop, they are a great resource.  I hope they arrive soon.

So, if you are wondering what I got done today in the actual classroom, it wasn't much.  I searched a lot, rearranged books, put up one interactive poster for Krypto and contemplated what will go on all the walls.  I'm not sure I want to put my degrees, certificates, and awards up this year.  Should I?