Introduction

PRACTICAL and CREATIVE

IDEAS

FOR MATH TEACHERS

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my blog! On here you will find a potpourri of interesting and novel ways to increase your effectiveness and your enjoyment of teaching. Everything I mention here has been used successfully in my own classroom but I know that doesn't guarantee that it will work for you. Some teaching ideas that worked very well for other people did not work well for me. Either way, reading and thinking about these things may cause you to come up with some creative ideas of your own that will be very effective for you.

I was a math teacher in the Spirit Lake, Iowa, school system from 1970-2003. My basic teaching assignment was 8^th grade Pre-algebra and Algebra 1 for 8^th graders. I also taught some 7^th grade math and some 9^th grade General Math. In many cases I found the textbook approach to certain topics to be ineffective as well as not much fun. Over the years I worked to develop better ways to teach those topics and ways of managing the classroom that solved some of the typical problems associated with math teaching or teaching in general. I also came up with several excellent projects that challenged my students and enabled them to use the math they were learning in some practical and creative ways.

Much of the content of this blog can also be used by elementary and high school math teachers and many ideas are applicable to other subjects besides math. You may want to tell your friends who teach other subjects, at any level, about some of the things you find here, especially the classroom management topics. Some of the projects I will mention are very good for inter-disciplinary work and you may find it enjoyable and valuable to work with some of your colleagues on those projects.

Please come back to this site often. I plan to post many ideas which could be very helpful to you. Tell you friends and colleagues about this site. Leave comments for me on any questions or problems you might like me to address. I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone in order to make teaching more effective and more enjoyable!