Doing the same things = Getting the same results

I believe that teachers really want to do right by their kids.  They want them to learn, to be successful, to be motivated, to care about school and about math in particular.  But many teachers don’t know how to teach in any way other than how they’ve always taught and in a way that they themselves were taught.   But times have changed.  Students have changed.  Their parents have changed.  Their peer group has changed.  New strategies are no longer just a nice change from the usual, new strategies are essential for the success of students and of their teachers.  My work is about improving student learning and performance by giving teachers the knowledge and skills to make important changes that impact student learning.  Some of this comes in the form of cool classroom activities that work, some comes by way of engaging teachers in a new way of thinking about student motivation and about how students really learn mathematics.   (You can read additional essays regarding my philosophy of teaching on the national teacher website, teacherscount.org, where I have been asked to keep a blog.)