Do you teach mathematics or mathemagics?
Are you Wearing Your Thinking Cap?
When I tell people I'm a math teacher, most of the time I hear "oh I hated math" or "man, I am terrible at math"
Since Math" has this stigma associated with it, one of my goals as a teacher is to remove it. At the beginning of a new semester to get students excited about coming to class, I like to take pictures with them wearing Toucan Sam, the "Thinking Cap". I have a bulletin board in my classroom with their pictures.
I do this because:
1) it is fun
2) it makes them feel apart of a group and builds the idea that we are a community
3) they get their picture put up on the board
4) I can remind them, if they are off task, to put their thinking cap on
Since Math" has this stigma associated with it, one of my goals as a teacher is to remove it. At the beginning of a new semester to get students excited about coming to class, I like to take pictures with them wearing Toucan Sam, the "Thinking Cap". I have a bulletin board in my classroom with their pictures.
I do this because:
1) it is fun
2) it makes them feel apart of a group and builds the idea that we are a community
3) they get their picture put up on the board
4) I can remind them, if they are off task, to put their thinking cap on
Reach The Stars with Math
Summer 2008 I sent out 75 letters to various role models (actors, singers, rappers, etc) asking them for an autograph that included a saying about math. I got the idea from a friend who sent out letters to role models asking for their high school diplomas. Of the 75 I sent out, I received 22 autographs, 9 of which said something about math or school. I made copies of the originals and created a bulletin board. (To get the addresses I went to fanmail.biz and looked up each person/group.) It was a little time consuming and costly (about $200) because I typed a seperate letter to each person/group and I sent a large SASE with each request. However, it was well worth it because my students really get excited about them.
| The autographs I received are in RED |
| Some of my Autographs |