Just returning from the NAEYC annual conference in Orlando, my head is swimming with ideas–ideas that both extend and challenge my previous beliefs. I love that hopeful and refreshed feeling of returning to my classroom after an amazing conference feeling ready to take on the world!
I want to share an abbreviated version of my presentation, “Mathematics is Storytelling: Bringing Play and a Sense of Narrative to Problem Solving” with you all. And while the slides only tell part of the story, I hope they give you a sense of all that is possible when you build a culture of problem solving and live a rich mathematical life alongside your students.
So, how are you bringing play and a sense of narrative to problem solving in your classroom?
Math Exchanges 
Wow, so many great ideas. Thanks for sharing your presentation! Looks like it was very informative and I am sure many people came away with some new inspiration.
Kassia, I want to hear your presentation. I want to know about the the queen of ten. I live in Santa Cruz, CA and I’m wondering how I will get to hear you live? And I can relate to the feeling of being recharged and ready to take on the world after a good conference or a good book. Welcome home.
I’d love to share with you! I do some consulting and have a couple of conferences coming up, so feel free to email me at omohundro@gmail.com to chat more! Thanks for your note.
Even though I live in Orlando area, I was not able to attend the conference. So I am so happy to be able to peek into your presentation. I have a question. When you choose the story for Math Exchange, do you based on what you are teaching for the whole group? For example, we are going to learn three number addition this coming week. Should I make a story as “Mary has — cookies. Jim has —- cookies. John has —- cookies. How many cookies do they have together?” or just stick to the basic ones since I just started Math Exchange last week. (It went wonderful, changing numbers depends on the students’ needs is a great “A HA” moment for me.)
Asasko, I think you can certainly connect it to the content you are teaching throughout the math workshop–such as combining three addends. I think it’s important that we make sure that children get exposure to many kinds of problem types within many kinds of groups of children—both heterogeneously and homogeneously grouped throughout the year.