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A Tribute to Shelli: A Teacher Who Made Us All Better

Last week, the math education world lost a true light, my #MTBoS #iTeachMath #TMC friend and fellow statistics teacher, Shelli. Many of you may know her from her blog, Teaching Statistics , where she generously shared lessons, reflections, resources, and encouragement for over a decade. If you’ve ever taught AP Statistics, led a data talk, or explored a new classroom activity with excitement, chances are, Shelli had a hand in inspiring that work. Shelli was more than a brilliant teacher; she was a mentor, a collaborator, and a quiet force who pushed others to grow. She helped me become a more creative and confident statistics teacher. Through her blog, her tweets, and countless conversations, Shelli constantly reminded me of the value of thinking deeply, reflecting often, and staying curious. Some of my favorite memories with Shelli came from the virtual spaces she helped build, the book clubs, the math teacher meet-ups, and the blogging challenges. These gatherings were more than just...
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A New Chapter: Broadening My Focus While Keeping My Roots

Over the years, Mathsational has been my space to share the creative math teaching strategies, games, and tech tools that bring my high school classroom to life. Whether it was a new twist on a card game for algebra review or reflections on using screencasting as formative assessment, this blog has been a place for me to connect, grow, and hopefully inspire others. Lately, though, my role in education has been evolving. I’ve found myself increasingly passionate about educational technology, not just in math, but across all subject areas and grade levels. I’ve been working with educators to integrate digital tools that foster critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration K–12. And I’ve been thinking… it might be time for a fresh space to share those experiences more intentionally. So here’s what’s next: 🌟 I’m starting a new blog focused on K–12 educational technology integration across all content areas. It will be a place to explore best practices, spotlight tools, reflect on ...
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Projects as Formal Assessment

In my last post I shared how I hope to use screencasting on a regular basis (maybe weekly) for formal assessment. I think I can be successful with this since it will become a routine where students improve as the year progresses. And screencasting builds all sorts of skills in addition to just content. There are technology skills of course, but there is also a speaking and writing component as well as planning.  However, I think I’d most like to include more authentic assessments and projects. These make great online assessments because the solutions are not Googleable and every student will come up with a different solution.  I’m lucky that I typically teach content that lends itself well to this type of assignment.  I teach statistics and consumer math. For statistics, I can ask learners to create visual data displays and run inference tests by choosing a random sample from a larger provided data set.  Statistics problems are great because you can do so much with j...
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Student-Created Screencasts for Assessment

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Just over a year ago I was tasked with creating an online algebra 1 course for my school.  I’m finishing that up now. One of the portions of the course that I’ve been putting off until the end is assessment.  I have already built in a lot of self-checking and automatic digital feedback.  I’ve utilized online resources like Khan Academy and IXL where possible. If I was unable to find what I needed, I created practice tasks in Quizizz, Quizlaize, Desmos, and other platforms.  The thing that has stumped me the most is formal assessment.  This is especially relevant now, teaching during a pandemic. I think the root of the problem is that some math teachers, myself included, have overly relied on poor/easy summative assessment methods.  It’s so simple to write and grade multiple-choice, fill in the blank, and free-response questions that have only one correct answer.  Many of my tests were no more than the same types of Khan Academy and IXL questions but on...
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Practice Structures: Quiz Quiz Trade

Another of my favorite practice structures is Quiz Quiz Trade.  I believe that  Quiz Quiz Trade originates as a Kagan strategy , but I’m not sure.  This practice structure works best for knowledge level questions as well as fact fluency type questions.  This is basically a fun way to use flashcards. To create my own, I start by finding appropriate questions and type them in a google doc in such a way that the questions and answers will end up back to back when printed as 2 sides copies. Here’s how it works:  Have pairs of learners evenly split the deck of flashcards.  Partner A holds up the cards so that partner B can read them.  The solutions are on the back of the cards, so the activity is self-checking.  The partners take turns working their way through the flashcards and then they swap cards and practice answering the other half of the questions.  Encourage learners to discuss questions that are missed. Here are a few Quiz Quiz Trade deck...
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