37 Favorites as a High School Math Teacher
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
5M ago
I savored the last year of teaching high school math and retired in May 2024.  It has been bittersweet because I LOVE teaching. I have compiled 37 of my favorite teaching ideas.  Many of the ideas are not necessarily for just math.  Please enjoy and as always let me know if you have any questions or clarifications.   https://tinyurl.com/37favorites Please spread the word that I am now available to help with your Professional Development needs at your school or district. Please forward my website to your department chairs, principals or district administrators at&nb ..read more
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The Magic of Students Doing Challenging Questions in Groups of Three on Vertical Surfaces in the Math Classroom
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
3y ago
I read Peter Liljedahl's book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics  this past summer and it has been transformational in my teaching. Getting all my students to go to a vertical surface in groups of three has been MAGICAL!!!!  I absolutely love the idea of students thinking more on their own than myself blabbing on about the material.  Brilliant!   It is a must read that is appropriately called the #thinkingclassroom. Let me give you major things that I changed in my classroom this year.   1.  Select RANDOM Groups of Three  The first t ..read more
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Students Still Need to Move: 9 Brain Breaks to Help Zoom Fatigue
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
4y ago
Zoom Fatigue?  Students still need to move.  Maybe more than ever we need to encourage students to get up and move around during their online learning.  A little break in the middle of your lesson or video or slide presentation would help.  I'm planning on giving one brain break per class period. Here are some ideas of how to use a brain break in remote learning. In the midst of your lesson via Google Meet or Zoom time, put in a brain break slide. I have included 9 different of my favorite Brain Breaks in slide form.  Do you present with SmartBoard or PowerPoint or Go ..read more
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Falling Down Hurts: How My New Covid Hobby is Helping Me Teach Math
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
4y ago
I bought a unicycle in June 2020.  The Covid lock down encouraged me to do this. Then a couple of weeks later I bought a different size unicycle because each has it's own unique speed and handling abilities.  I have spent the last month and a half learning how to ride them.   It has been an amazing journey as I think of all the parallels to teaching high school math.  Here are my big takeaways. 1.  Why am I doing this? As a unicyclist... The biggest question I get when people ask me about unicycling is "why?"  My answer is that I have always loved cycling an ..read more
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So Much To Learn: A Teacher’s Journey Shadowing a Student
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
5y ago
James is a senior here at Naperville Central High School that I have known from when he as a soccer player on the freshman team that I coached. I recently had the opportunity to shadow James to see what it feels like to be a student at this school. He graciously allowed me to follow him around for an entire day of classes, even lunch and P.E., and I had a blast. What a great day! The question that students asked me over and over all day was WHY?  Why are you shadowing a student?  My quick answer was, "I want to know what a high school student goes through every day."   It was an eye-opening ..read more
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Changing the SCRIPT: A Student Perspective
Reflections of a High School Math Teacher
by Dave Sladkey
5y ago
A student stayed after school this past spring to talk with me.  I figured it was something about a grade or some help he needed.  He actually wanted to talk with me about the math class SCRIPT.  Here is what he said about math classes in general... ...everyday we had a note sheet, some set examples, a target written out with what we were learning, and then there were blanks so you would wait for the teacher to put it up on the board so you could then fill in the blanks.  Then you just followed all the examples.  It is like a script.  I guess it was really efficient in teaching you exactly wh ..read more
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