Monday, March 1, 2021

Every (geometric) ray starts somewhere . . .

The Math Blog-o-Sphere, reimagined   

The best known blog for math educators was, until somewhat recently, known as the Math Twitter Blog-o-sphere:  #MTBoS.  For various reasons -- mostly relating to inclusivity -- and amidst some controversy (as always happens with change), the MTBoS was reimagined and recreated as the Twitter feed, #iteachmath. While Twitter might not be technically considered a blog, MTBoS and #ilovemath are fully intended as a highly inclusive, multi-user blog (hence the original name).  The upside of the multi-user format is that it gets a lot of use, and is one of the broadest forums available for sharing ideas around teaching particular topics, to include interesting task ideas and thoughts on overcoming typical difficulties.  Organization of subjects and ideas suffers, but Twitter's search function seems to be very effective, to the extent that posters clearly label their posts with key words.  The downside is that, even on some relatively narrow topics, there can be a huge amount of information to weed through.  Some ideas are more useful than others, and the feed is monitored but not moderated or filtered for some standard of quality (what would it be?).  On the balance, #ilovemath is a great resource, and the ideas available there are worth a little bit of "panning" to find those gold nuggets.  

Dy/Dan(desmos) = Des-blog|still great    

One of the leading figures in developing #MTBoS, and the driver of the change to #ilovemath, is Dan Meyer.  Mr. Meyer has reached celebrity status in the math teaching world with his 3-act tasks and compelling presentations.  His own blog, cleverly titled Dy/Dan, was always a good read but is on hiatus since December 2020.  Having become CEO for the innovative powerhouse in online math resources, Desmos.com, he now writes the Des-blog.  Most recently he teamed with Faith Moynihan and Lisa Bejarano, but has mostly blogged solo there writing on topics specific to Desmos.  It is 1 part sales pitch (Desmos is free for students and teachers), and 3 parts good teaching practices for pedagogically sound student-centered outcomes.  This blog will not provide a lesson plan (Desmos, however, may provide a good foundation).  It does consistently provide great food for thought about teaching practices for mathematics:  and excellent complement to #iteachmath.

Reinventing the Wheel?

Finally, in recognition that this blog will probably not become a permanent or well-followed fixture of the internet, I defer to the AMS Blog on Math Blogs.  It is not education focused, and much of what can be found here is written at a high level: by mathematicians, for mathematicians.  At the same time, there is a wealth of interesting contextual examples for all types of math, and one can search specifically by the "K-12 Mathematics" category to find less esoteric blogs.  There are also categories of blogs for many specific topics and applications, and even for social justice themes (still within the mathematics theme).  This blog on blogs has multiple authors, but it is constrained and each review of a blog provides a useful review of the blog.  They are not always concise, but the core of the review seems to be provided up front, with other interesting perspectives, ideas, and interviews following.  

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Every (geometric) ray starts somewhere . . .

The Math Blog-o-Sphere, reimagined    The best known blog for math educators was, until somewhat recently, known as the Math Twitter Blog-o-...