Today

I've been working on math ideas for my princiPal. This isn't at her behest; it's because our lousy scores have to change and I know she expects me to be helpful. I've been interneting, looking for ideas to improve elementary math instruction. I ordered Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma and received it today. A cursory look makes me think I'll never get the other 4th grade teachers to want to read it--they are all non-readers and there ain't no pictures. That boggles my mind--how can you not be a reader if you're a teacher? I'm excited about this book. It looks at the differences between US and Chinese math instruction and focuses on depth of understanding by the teachers as the reason for the disparity in scores between our 2 countries. I'll try to blog later about how it goes.

As I continue to blog over the next few days, it likely will be more about family and less about school because it's Thanksgiving break. I'm beyond happy that I'll get to see all of my children on Thursday. It has become a too-rare occurrance.