Math Websites: Classroom Culture & Mathematical Practices

Here's a list (exported from Diigo) of some posts and resources I wanted to be able to come back to (often for the links within those posts as well!). The division between this list and some others I've made, especially Professional Development and Teaching Ideas, is rather arbitrary.

BUILDING CONFIDENCE, A GROWTH MINDSET, AND A SAFE CLASSROOM CULTURE

• First, Do No Harm | Ilana Horn, teaching/math/culture
  A nice, though partial, summary of math teachers' responsibilities to avoid harming students' sense of competence.
• Encouraging Student Sharing: Norms & Status | Ilana Horn, teaching/math/culture
  Great list of ideas developed by reflective teachers on how to encourage democratic sharing of ideas in the math classroom.
• Positive Math Classroom Norms | Jo Boaler
  Jo Boaler's positive classroom norms for math class, with ideas for supporting them. Norms: Everyone Can Learn Math to the Highest Levels; Mistakes are Valuable; Questions are Really Important; Math is about Creativity and Making Sense; Math is about Connections and Communicating; Depth is much more important than speed; Math Class is about Learning not Performing.
• The Mathematics of Hope | Jo Boaler
  Moving from Performance to Learning
• Talking Points & Math Mindset | Math Minds
  This post and the ones linked to from it (some cheesemonkeysf's), as well as https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6W4HKOGaWhdMTM2SUViMVhBMGc/edit , have ideas on how to solicit kid ideas about what is important in doing math.
• Talking Up Talking Points | Brian Stockus
• Notice-and-Wonder: When It Works, When It Doesn't
  Highlighted description of notice-and-wonder. Article includes details on when it works well and when it doesn't.
• Box of Clay (Volume and Units) | Joe Schwartz, Exit 10A
  Fantastic post about learning issues and teaching choices involved in a fifth grade lesson about volume and units, including "Notice-and-Wonder" strategy in practice.
• Increasing Participation in Classroom Discussions (educating grace)
  Steps novice teachers were instructed to try to increase meaningful classroom participation in math class.
• Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces & Visible Random Groupings
  Food for thought that SlamDunkMath presented at Twitter Math Camp 2014. Strongly recommends having students work in random groups (different for each task) and at vertical non-permanent surfaces placed around the room.
• Positive Reinforcement Award Cards | Mathy McMatherson
  "Award" cards for students for mathematical communication, perseverance, and team work. Positive feedback for behaviors, because students will care about the things that the teacher cares about.
• Math Animals | Bryan Anderson, MathLab
  Student answers to prompts "When I walk into math class I feel like a(n) _______" (which animal?) and "What animal do you think would be best for math class?" On Day 6, SPEED is seen as the main desirable quality...
• The Wall of Champions | Mathy McMatherson
  Students get Post-Its (colored by class) to write their names on when they do exceptionally well on an assessment. Encourages excitement about excellence.
• You're Correct Horse - YouTube
  Ridiculous animation of a sax-playing horse saying "You're correct!" and "You are smart!" So over-the-top it should not undermine a culture of positivity about mistakes.
• Group Work Norms: Engage in Math
  Group work norms/ground rules from four sources.
• Why 2 > 4 | Max Ray at NCTM Ignite
  Great, brief talk on the effect of students (and teacher) listening to students.
• Bad at Math Is a Lie | Math Horizon's Aftermath
  Matt Waite, a professor and software pioneer, had to take remedial algebra to get an MBA degree at 37, and found he was not actually Bad at Math: "the truth is anyone can get math."
• Math Anxiety | American Educator
• Mathematics, the Common Core, and Language | Understanding Language
  Paper on developing math instruction for ELL students, referenced by @MathEdnet (Raymond Johnson).
• Classroom Management Strategies To Take Control Of Noisy Students | Rob Plevin
  This video gives a nice explanation of advantages of establishing positive behavior at the start of class through interactions with students outside the classroom. Considering for next year.
• When I Was an 8th Grader Again… | What is 5?
  Lots of thoughtful discussion of what the student POV is like in 8th grade.

REASONING, SENSE-MAKING, AND PROBLEM SOLVING

• Making Sense | Tracy J. Zager
• How Old Is the Shepherd? An Essay About Mathematics Education | Katherine Merseth
  A very well-written article from 1993 on math education in the US. Some things have changed since then, some haven't. References "How old is the shepherd?" problem.
• Warm-Ups Transformed My Classroom | powersfulmath
  Transforming warmups into engaging opportunities for mathematical reasoning and real-world problem solving.
• Filing Cabinet of (Warm Up) Activities | Crazy Math Teacher Lady
  Nice list of lots of activities from the MathTwitterBlogosphere.
• Two-Column Proofs that Two-Column Proofs are Terrible | Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

HOMEWORK AND TEST REVIEW

• Homework Strategies | cheesemonkeysf
  @cheesemonkeysf's homework thoughts. See #4 in particular: 2-week homework packets (students review together daily).
• Red, Yellow, Green | Ryan Adams, Math Edumacation
  Fantastic idea for self-assessment & setting positive & efficient classroom routines for pre-test review.

FUN AND GAMES IN MATH CLASS

• Games in Math: List of Resources | Math Hombre
  This is AMAZING. A list of big and small games, for review and not, from many sources.
• Math Free Choice (Part 1) | Amanda Northrup
  Food for thought! How a (5th grade?) teacher set up 30-45 minute sessions of Math Free Choice, with activities and goals chosen by students (from logic puzzles, tangrams, games, etc.).
• Math Free Time (Part 2): Refinements | Amanda Northrup
  Refinements to Math Free Time system described in Part 1. Resource links at bottom of page.
• Games for Math & Social Skills (Math Forum)
  Cooperative games.

POSTERS

• Kid Friendly Math Practices Posters (Everybody Is a Genius)
  These are attractive and editable! Most are nice kid-friendly versions, but consider changing #4; to me, modeling with math is not about showing work in different ways.
• Problem Solving Strategies Posters
  pdf with Polya-esque problem solving strategies.
• Math Munch Classroom Poster
  Gorgeous poster that needs to be printed out. I did it at Office Depot for $15 (actually $12 with a coupon) and it looks great! Comes with puzzle.

OTHER/NOT SORTED YET:

• Math Teacher Resources from I Speak Math
  Big list of math teaching resources, with pointers to lesson plans, problems, professional development...
• Half Century (Comments on Teaching) | Math Teacher Mambo