There’s only one thing that’s certain about the 2020-21 school year – how it will “look” is unclear. How do you plan for a school year that may include unprecedented combinations of remote and in-class teaching? Our main focus at Cosenza & Associates is to provide mathematics educators with quality teaching resources in the classroom. However, with the look of next year’s classrooms uncertain, we’ve re-tooled some of our resources to make it easier for you to transition between in-class and virtual school schedules and routines. The method for communicating with your students may not be clear, but we want […]
Rules that Expire
When I work with teachers, I spend a lot of time helping them plan. In a coaching role, we plan lessons together. We plan assessments or instructional strategies. In a workshop setting, we think more like strategic planning. How do topics flow within a unit? What are the pitfalls and challenges of teaching a particular topic? Every now and again, someone will say something like, “I just need them to know that when you add two numbers you get a bigger number.” Then, my heart stops beating momentarily. When NOT to Reach Out and Touch Someone Karen Karp is one […]
The Fish Was THIS Big!
A Fish Story I’ve said this before, but mathematics occurs in the strangest of places. Walking down the street in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I was admiring the architecture. Lo and behold, suddenly there appeared a tile mosaic of a fish on the side of one building. I’m such a math nerd, so I couldn’t help but notice the square tiles and wonder, how many tiles did it take to make that fish? Or in math speak, “what is the area of the fish?” Then the teacher in me emerged. I’ve been on a kick lately with the “What do you […]
Using Real World Data – Histograms
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 […]
