Below are some less than organized ideas about "math intervention," the concept that certain students need to brush up on material from previous grades to access grade-level math. Thoughts on Intervention Progression is inherent to modern mathematics education. The Massachusetts Frameworks for Mathematics Education prescribe the expectations for that progression, and encourage "intervention" for students who may be behind, as if they are experiencing an emergency akin to addi

Doing well in math class relies on two very separate skills: mathematical curiosity, and reading your teacher's mind. This is advice I have imparted on every one of my tutoring students, often repeatedly. I don't know exactly where it came from or why it's so important to me as an educator, but I have my suspicions. This article is written in two parts: part 1 outlines the problem, and part 2 outlines the solution. If you are concerned with success strategies, I'd recommend s

Most lesson planning begins with defining some kind of lesson objective, often in the form of "Students will be able to [insert skill here.]" In Massachusetts, this lesson objective should be mapped onto a specific standard from the Curriculum Frameworks, standards that were never defined for individual grade levels in Massachusetts until 2000 to adhere to newly-administered MCAS standardized testing. Whether or not a teacher believes they are teaching to a test, the act of w