Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

NCTM is coming up in April and is in San Francisco, which has me very excited because I get to have a Key Curriculum reunion (i.e. my colleagues from my years working for Key Curriculum mostly live in the SF area).  It's hard to describe the amazing connection those of us who worked with Key, (Keysters, as we fondly refer to ourselves) have, and I have yet to find another place or another group of people that I so deeply connect to on both a professional and personal level. With this math conference and potential to see so many of my former colleagues, I have been a bit nostalgic about some of the things I loved from Key - i.e. Sketchpad and TinkerPlots to name a couple.  Sketchpad , now owned by McGraw-Hill, is still around thank goodness, but without the support and push in math education it deserves.  Thankfully, some former Key folks are still out there making a difference with Sketchpad - check out Daniel Scher and Scott Steketee's most recent article in The M...

I have been quite remiss of late in posting on the blog.  Always an excuse - but let's just say, life is insane these days. Quitting job, care giving to parents, moving (so selling and buying a house), graduation, dissertation - yikes.  Making myself stressed just writing it down. So, I have decided to make it a little easy on myself and do a series on some of the fabulous Ignite talks that I have been privy to as part of my previous position with Key Curriculum. If you have never heard of, seen or been a part of an Ignite event, they are pretty amazing.  Participants have 20 PowerPoint slides that auto advance every 15 seconds, giving them a total of five minutes to get their point across quickly, using both words and visuals.  You wouldn't think five minutes would be able to provide much insight, but you would be wrong - it is amazing what you can learn and say in five minutes.  I have often thought this approach would be a great one to use with students for...

I found out on Wednesday that the math company I work for, Key Curriculum , had been acquired by McGraw-Hill Education . In the span of less than an hour I went from Key employee to McGraw-Hill employee.  Needless to say, it's been quite a week! In the world of math education and publishing, this acquisition is a big deal. Key Curriculum has long been seen as a maverick in math education, representing inquiry math with their Discovering Mathematics textbook series (now a part of Kendall Hunt Publishing), Integrated Math Program and of course, amazing dynamic mathematics software, Sketchpad , TinkerPlots and Fathom . Employees and authors of Key are known for their authenticity, with those working directly with textbooks, software and training being former classroom math teachers. However, this acquisition appears, to some, to represent Key selling out to "the man" or the big bad corporate world, as if somehow the quality and authentic mathematical content and teac...