Every now and again, you’re watching the news or reading the newspaper, and then all of a sudden – bam! Math slaps you upside the head. Histograms or some other strange phenomena appear right out of nowhere. And usually, when you least expect it. Suddenly, real world data are being used to make a point in the media. And if you’re a math teacher, you immediately seize on the data and think about how you can turn it around with your kids. Math in a Burrito On a discussion forum, I ran across a post that linked to this article in […]
Math TEKS Implementation Update – Nov. 2015
The Texas State Board of Education’s Committee on Instruction met Thursday, November 19. One of their agenda items was an update on the implementation of the revised math TEKS. Hence, I was invited to testify about the mathematical process standards since that seemed to be the hot point in today’s hearing. There were a few parents testifying with concerns about how the mathematical process standards seem to be interfering with the math that they feel their kids should be learning. One father expressed frustration with his child having to learn multiple strategies to perform basic computations with whole numbers, rather than […]
Foundation Math or Endorsement Math?
If you’re confused about the new mathematics graduation options for the HB5 Foundation diploma and endorsement program, you’re not alone. Many school administrators and counselors are still trying to wrap their heads around the possibilities and create meaningful graduation pathways for their students. A little bit of background With 4×4, the former Recommended High School Plan (RHSP), math graduation requirements were much simpler. Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 for all, and then a 4th math choice with Algebra 2 as a prerequisite. Except for the Math Models conundrum, all was well with the world and counselors could very easily keep […]
