Dear Parents – I’m Sorry For What I Said When I Taught Middle School
powersfulmath
by Brooke Powers
4y ago
I loved teaching 7th Grade so much! 12 to 13-year-olds understand my humor better than most (not sure what that says about me) and I thought it was such a great time to get kids excited about learning math again. That being said they also aren’t always easy to love – especially at home. So I sat in more than one parent meeting offering advice, telling parents about “homework time”, supporting their pre-teen, and all kinds of other nonsense that I thought was super helpful at the time. As the mom of a middle schooler now I’d like to apologize for everything I said. Turns out I know nothing abou ..read more
Visit website
Mathematics as a GateKeeper – My Story
powersfulmath
by Brooke Powers
4y ago
This may surprise some people that are online friends and acquaintances but I am super socially awkward. That awkwardness paired with my anxiety means I spend countless hours worrying that I said, did, or thought the wrong thing and will forever be an outcast as a result. Don’t worry this blog post isn’t about unraveling all of those issues but it is key to understanding the many ways in which the math classroom served as a gatekeeper for me in social situations and how in many ways math only contributed to my issues as a preteen rather than helped them. You’ll also need a basic understanding ..read more
Visit website
Something Bigger – Keeping Our Book Project Going
powersfulmath
by Brooke Powers
5y ago
It started as a simple idea…Kevin and I were older and more established when we got engaged. We didn’t need sheets or pots and pans so we thought “let’s find some teachers and let them register for school supplies”. We thought we’d give away some markers and glue, feel good for a few weeks and move on. Then my friend Erin asked if she could register for books for her high school Freshman to take home and own. Most had never owned a book of their own or read books where they could see themselves in the characters. She selected racially diverse books with characters and storylines kids could rel ..read more
Visit website
Filling Your Own Bucket
powersfulmath
by Brooke Powers
5y ago
So many people I talk to have been dealing with burnout lately. Unfortunately I haven’t been immune to that either and am the first to admit I haven’t been on the top of my game lately in many ways. This week’s #OpenUpMath chat dealt with self-care and really caused me to pause and reflect on what was causing this funk that I have been in. I have been lucky enough to go to a lot of conferences lately and meet a lot of awesome people and that is something I definitely don’t take for granted. The only problem is I was there working not learning and didn’t spend anytime actually attending session ..read more
Visit website
When All Really Means All: My Personal Journey
powersfulmath
by Brooke Powers
6y ago
I have changed a lot in thirteen years of teaching. From a wide-eyed first year agriculture teacher ready to change the world to my early days of teaching math when I assigned the ever popular 1 through 20 even, followed by 1 through 20 odd the next night for homework, I am thankful for the many ways in which my community of educators has helped me grow and change. One of the things that has stayed consistent, however, is my belief that all has to mean all when it comes to kids and education.  Every student has the ability to learn and do math at a high level, and I have truly tried to make al ..read more
Visit website

Follow powersfulmath on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR