Last week Betsy DeVos was tapped as the Secretary of Education by the incoming Trump administration. Now many educators in traditional public schools are cringing and bracing for the worst because DeVos is known in Michigan for her support of school vouchers and charter schools, often called “school choice.” The charter school topic can be a very […]
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams is a veteran educator committed to finding new and exciting ways to reach the young minds she molds in her classroom each day.Her creative educational concepts have helped ignite a fire in the minds of hundreds of the world’s most impressionable and vulnerable youth. Through her own classroom and through mentoring and advising new teachers, Michelle is dedicated to Fueling Great Minds. You can find her blogging about teaching strategies on her blog at fuelgreatminds.com/blog. To get more teaching tips you can follow Michelle on Twitter @theignitedteach or like her Facebook page The Ignited Teacher.
Unit Fractions: A Math Teacher’s Grand Slam!
As I slowly walked down the hallway to my classroom I told myself, “Last school year was a complete disaster but this year is going to be different!” If I could paint a picture of the students that I had last year, it would look like a scene from Major Payne. Every morning when I […]
Mathematics and the Fallacies of Political Propaganda
During any election year, Americans can expect to be inundated with political propaganda on the television, radio, and social media . One characteristic of any campaign is the use of statistics about almost everything that is used as a political strategy to win votes. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” […]
A Diamond in the Rough: Personalized Math Professional Development
My school year has ended and I look forward to the summertime not only because school has ended but because I am able to reflect on the past school year and create goals to improve my instruction for the next school year. I thought that this was the norm for most teachers but when I […]
Adding Depth in the Elementary Math Classroom
I’m at a new school this year and since the beginning of the school year, I have always felt that something was missing from my lessons but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I’m not a new teacher and I have taught many different kinds of students, but the students that I have […]
What is Complex Math Instruction?
I teach 5th grade Math at an elementary school, and I have noticed that many elementary teachers and instructional support personnel  have not yet made the shift to more complex  math instruction. The school in which I work is still trying to  push small group instruction, where the teacher teaches a small group and the other […]
Decomposing Fractions: An Alternative for Converting Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers
I, like many elementary teachers across the nation, have found myself teaching math concepts to 4th and 5th-grade students that were once taught to middle school students. Truth be told, when I first began teaching these skills I must admit I was very skeptical about teaching multiplying fractions and whole numbers to 4th and 5th […]
Dear Elementary Math Teacher: I Need You to Know…..
Dear Elementary Math Teacher, Teaching math can be a rewarding experience because elementary teachers mold students’attitudes towards math that will last well beyond the elementary school years. Trust me when I say, I know sometimes it can be difficult to teach math to students who do not have the number sense or the prerequisite skills […]