Introduction (The Why and the What)

For almost of all of my spring break, I have wrestled with whether to start writing about my experience teaching. Writing (either me writing or a good book) has always been cathartic for me, and I have always turned to writing when I felt the need to understand, reflect, or express something. Right now, I am at a point thanks to some great Professional Development and some awesome math books that I am ready to write. At first I wanted it to be more opinionated, but I have been inspired to write about my unit on Solving Equations. My goal for myself is to reflect on the experience and look at ways to make improvements for the future. If more comes out, I am ready for it. But right now this is for me and for anyone else who is interested. The question now is what am I going to be writing about it. The answer to that is about tasks I will be doing with my regular math students on solving equations. These tasks are ones either created by me or adapted to get students to critically think about the solving equations process. I want them to understand the why and how of the process and not just blindly follow. My tasks are inquiry based and low floor high ceiling. In other words, the tasks are a simple question with some depth that will have the students questioning and applying what they know. Then we will go through the traditional method of notes and practice to make sure we are all on the same page. I am confidently hopeful that my inspiration from the Professional Development and the reading pays off. We will see.