"For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child quickly evolved into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing college-level calculus courses." During high school, Urschel found a second passion in football.
He played football for the NFL Baltimore Ravens for three seasons while pursuing a Math PhD at MIT. During his college football career at Penn State, Urschel won the
William V Campbell Trophy aka the "academic Heisman" for a combination ofacademics, community service, and on-field performance. He earned both Bachelor and Masters degrees in Math from Penn State and was drafted in the fifth round in 2014. In this excellent book "Urschel reveals how each challenge - whether on the field or in the classroom - has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life, and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together."
While bedtime stories are an established part of nighttime routines, what about doing Math? According to their website, Bedtime Math's mission is to "make math a fun part of kids' everyday lives." and "help kids love numbers." Founded by Laura Overdeck (BA in astrophysics from Princeton University) who enjoys numbers, she decided to give her three children math problems instead of bedtime stories, and Bedtime Math was born
Bedtime Math's original product was Daily Mathfor all ages including wee ones, little kids, big kids and the sky's the limit. And not only is it fun for kids (and parents/caregivers), according to this study, it also boosts kids' Math skills. Since 2014, Bedtime Math's after school program, Crazy 8s Math Club has "encouraged more than 175,000 kids to play with math in the most outlandish way – yelling in the library, flinging marshmallows down school halls, and tossing dozens of bouncy dice into the air at Ys and Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide."
This webinar was a joint project of NCTM, NCSM and ASSM and provides an opportunity for teachers on "how to think about, organize, and define their goals; implement new practices and avoid other practices; use and shape policies; and create positive opportunities for their students.".
For many teachers, administrators and families, the preferred term is "unfinished learning" (rather than "learning loss"). This panel featured Dr. Donna Leak, Zak Champagne and Patrick Levi who shared ideas for supporting students and teachers. Some of their suggestions include: promoting positive Math identities, helping students get to grade level work with acceleration stations and showing connections between topics. All of the panelists acknowledged the hard work that teaching has taken during COVID and how "each and every kid is doing the best they can."
