The document discusses making math class more meaningful and engaging for students. It suggests that students hire teachers to help them make progress and have fun with friends, but that current math assignments like doing evens on page 276 do not achieve this. It proposes finding real-life problems as driving questions for math lessons instead, like issues around road safety, healthcare costs, or immigration. Students would research and develop deliverables like presentations or books to answer their chosen question. The goals are for students to get important work done, define themselves, and stay connected to others.

1. What we’re doing isn’t working.

2. We have 3 choices:

3. 1. Do more in the same amount
of time

4. 2. Do less in the same amount
of time

5. 3. Do something completely
different

6. If you do decide to do
something different, keep 3
things in mind:

7. 1. It needs to work

8. 1. It needs to work
2. It needs to be fun

9. 1. It needs to work
2. It needs to be fun
3. It can’t piss off the boss

10. You have 3 bosses:
students
parents
principals

11. Those bosses want different
things from you.

12. Your principal wants that kid to
pass the “test”.

13. Your parent wants that kid to
pass the “test” and live happily
ever after.

14. Your kid wants two things:

15. Your kid wants two things:
1) make progress
2) have fun with their friends

16. Progress &
fun w/ friends ≠ test success &
college

17. Not usually (anyway)

18. But…

19. What if you could keep the
principal and the parents
happy?

20. And still…

21. Make progress with kids and
have fun?

22. First things, first

23. DIY kit for getting admin off your
back

24. 1. Get SAT test prep questions

25. 1. Get SAT test prep questions
2. Put them in quiz/test form

26. 1. Get SAT test prep questions
2. Put them in quiz/test form
3. Get those quizzes online (for
your kids)

27. If you can check that test-prep
box, then you get to play (in a
#’s way)

28. Math is powerful only when it
describes reality

29. Math loses all its power when
it’s disconnected from reality

30. Most kids are convinced the
math they’re doing is NOT
connected to reality.

31. They know (after the quiz next
week) they’ll never have to
remember how to complete the
square again …ever.

32. Remember:

33. Remember:
Kids are hiring us to help them
progress &
to have fun w/ their friends.

34. Doing 2-50 the evens on page
276 is NOT why they hired us.

35. So they do what all of us do
when we hate something:

36. 1. Avoid it
2. Ignore it
3. Outsource it

37. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in)
2. Ignore it
3. Outsource it

38. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in)
2. Ignore it (copy it from Ed on
the bus in the AM)
3. Outsource it

39. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in)
2. Ignore it (copy it from Ed on
the bus in the AM)
3. Outsource it (see #2)

40. 65% of middle school boys
would rather take out the trash
than do their math homework

41. Kids aren’t lazy

42. They’re just like us

43. They hate meaningless work.

44. So, the question you have to
ask is

45. What’s meaningful?

46. What’s meaningful?
To my kids.

47. They’re hiring us to:
help them make progress
& have fun with their friends.

48. 2-50 on pg. 276 ≠ progress

49. We need a new definition

50. But where to find one?

51. Two sources

52. Two sources
your friends

53. Repeat after me:
“What do you wish you’d
learned in your math class?”

54. Cautionary note: A math teacher
has NEVER asked them this

55. Cautionary note: A math teacher
has NEVER asked them this…
So give them a moment

56. When they start talking,
listen,
ask clarifying questions
and write down what they say.

57. Two sources
your friends
your students

58. When your kids start talking,
listen,
ask clarifying questions
and write down what they say.

59. Most kids (& friends) say
something like:

60. “I wish math class taught me to
solve real-life problems”

61. “I wish math class taught me to
solve real-life problems”

62. So…

63. Find a problem

64. Ask a driving question

65. Like “How safe are our roads?”

66. Or “How do we balance the cost
of health-care with quality
care?”

67. Or “What do we do about
immigration in this country?”

68. Here’s the beauty of a Driving
Question

69. If a kid doesn’t like it, no
problem, (s)he just has to come
up with their own.

70. If a kid doesn’t like it, no
problem, (s)he just has to come
up with their own.
(It is America after all.)

71. If a kid doesn’t like it, no
problem, (s)he just has to come
up with their own.
(It is America after all.)

72. So you both have something
new (and reality-based) to do
now.

73. The kid has to answer her
question.

74. You have (or get) to help her.

75. “It’s not that easy,” you say.

76. “Yes it is.”

77. You only need 3 things for kids
to engage in this real-life math

78. Thing 1: a question they care
about answering

79. Thing 2: a platform they can
interact (passively) with you and
others about their answer

80. Thing 3: a deliverable that
packages their answer

81. Thing 1
2 Weekly Turn-ins:
1 Pager (what I’m learning)
½ Pager (what I’m learning
about myself)

82. Thing 2: Canvas
instructure.com

83. Thing 3: Deliverable
Presentation
Book
Video

84. I have 3 goals for my kids

85. That a text-book cannot provide.

86. I want my kids to be able to:

87. I want my kids to be able to:
1) Get important work done

88. I want my kids to be able to:
1) Get important work done
2) Manage internally (Define
themselves)

89. I want my kids to be able to:
1) Get important work done
2) Manage internally (Define
themselves)
3) Manage others (Stay
connected)

90. Imagination is more important
than knowledge.

91. Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
- Albert Einstein

92. Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
- Albert Einstein