Integer Wars

Somewhere in my internet travels I saw a post about making a video to teach subtracting integers.  I totally stole the idea (and can’t remember who I stole it from to give them the credit that they are due).  I also “heavily borrowed” from George Lucas.  I’m hoping that blogging will help me become more honest in my
“stealing of educational ideas”.  For what it’s worth, here is Integer Wars.

Wrangling with Math

what's the focus here by bulldog1

Being a reflective teacher was heavily emphasized in the courses I took during my B.Ed.  I was really good about writing reflections while I was student teaching, but since being a teacher in my own classroom I have been “reflecting mentally.”  I know enough about myself to know that I make the best connections in my mind when I actually write about what I am learning.  So it is officially time for me to stop “reflecting mentally” and do the hard work of writing reflections.

I named this blog Math Wrangler for a few reasons.  According to Merriam Webster, a wrangler is short for horse-wrangler which means “a ranch hand who takes care of the saddle horses.”  I rode while growing up (and would love to ride again) and am quite familiar with the work that being a wrangler entails.  To wrangle with something implies to struggle or work hard with it.  This true for so many of our students when it comes to math.  And finally, at my new school in rural Alberta, the vast majority of students wear Wrangler jeans (doing a statistical analysis on this observation would make for an interesting authentic task, eh?).  I simply couldn’t pass up the oportunity to have an inside joke.