New Year, New Ideas

Well, it's a new year, and like a lot of people I'm sure there are couple of New Year's resolutions rattling around in my brain...

Of course there are the usual ones...more patience with my little ones (my actual children :), but with my students too... more exercise, eat more healthfully...

But, one thing I want to talk about here is to look at teaching math differently.  I have been teaching for 22 years and there are plenty of things that I think I have down pat.  I have taught at least one section of Geometry Honors every year that I have been at my school.  We have even been using the same book all of that time!  Literally, I have done some of the same problems about 60 times...I should be good at them by now!  I also teach Calculus AB, and I have been teaching that for about 15 years.

So, the material I have been teaching has been pretty similar for at least the last 15 years.  I have some really good lessons...some not so good...but I feel pretty comfortable.  I know the questions the kids will ask.  I know things to caution them about.  I know exactly what section the Pythagorean Theorem is in.

But what can I do differently, what can I do better?  I have been reading about the flipped classroom...not so sure I am ready to make videos yet...I have been reading about using ipads in the classroom, using smart boards, etc...

So, I'd like to take time this year to think about new ways to teach...