Dan Meyer

I had never heard of dan Meyer before taking this course, and I'm really glad that I have now!
Since I wasn't too familiar with his work, I decided to watch his Ted Talk from March 2010.
Here is the intro blurb to the video:

Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect — and excel at — paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. In his talk, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think. 

Dan Meyer Ted Talk

The reason I'm glad I know who this guy is now, and why I think you should too, is because he is specifically teaching mathematical reasoning (and how to apply it to the world we actually live in), and creating "patient problem solvers".

Dan is quite famous now for using real world contexts, specifically videos and pictures of everyday life as a jumping off point for mathematical reasoning. He does this because letting kids use their intuition (in situations they have seen or been in before), levels the playing field, and gets kids to "buy in" to whatever it is the class is talking about. In this video he demonstrates this point very well with an example of how long it takes to fill a tank with water.

Something that he does that I think is amazing, is taking questions from the text book, and making them as simple as possible. He asks, "What matters?". He literally takes away almost all of the information a text book would provide in a word problem, and has the students figure out what info they actually need to figure out the problem. Asking themselves what matters?! He also encourages his students to make up the problems that they will be solving.

I won't spoil the whole video for you, but I will leave you with Dan's 5 tips to be a better math teacher:

1.     use multimedia

2.     encourage student intuition

3.     ask the shortest questions you can

4.     let students build the problem

5.     be less helpful

I I have seen in my own practice that using real world contexts makes for more engaging, compelling lessons. Seeing the work of Dan Meyer has really brought that idea to a new level, and has let me see its power in action. I know I will heed his advice in my own classroom and let "math make sense of the world" for my students. 

-Lindsay