Do we really know our content standards? Or maybe we're just teaching what's in our textbooks? What if we're misinterpreting them or teaching standards that are not from our grade level? This happened to me for 4 years! Read more: robertkaplinsky.com/do-we-r...

Here's another great resource from Steve Wyborney. Imagine the conversations you can have when you ask students how much area is covered by tile? How many ways might students figure it out? stevewyborney.com/2017/01/t...

If you're a current or aspiring educational consultant that trains other educators and you're looking for a community that gets what you're going through, you should join the over one thousand consultants in our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/edconsultantslab

Are your students working on parallel and perpendicular lines? Try out these two Open Middle problems from Bryan Anderson: www.openmiddle.com/equation... www.openmiddle.com/equation...

In 2010, an enormous sinkhole suddenly appeared in the middle of a Guatemalan neighborhood and swallowed a three-story building above it. How much material will they need to fill the sinkhole? robertkaplinsky.com/work/si...

Looking for a tool to help scaffold your students' underdeveloped problem solving skills? Then you'll want my Problem Solving Framework. In this blog post I share how it's evolved over the years and you can download the latest version. robertkaplinsky.com/the-pro...

Can your high school students create a parallelogram, triangle, or rectangle by listing their points when given one? Find out using these three Open Middle problem from Bryan Anderson. www.openmiddle.com/creating... www.openmiddle.com/creating... www.openmiddle.com/creating...

How can you identify where 1/3 of a cup of butter is on a stick with some of the labels missing? This 3rd grade math problem is a real-life application of identifying a fraction on a number line and allows for maaaany problem solving strategies. robertkaplinsky.com/work/ho...

Are your high school students working with complex numbers? Try these two Open Middle problems out to see what misconceptions they have: www.openmiddle.com/complex-... www.openmiddle.com/complex-...

How does a dating website like eHarmony know which people to show you? They use math modeling! What info would they need (Spies) and what would they do with that information (Analysts) to turn it into something they can use? robertkaplinsky.com/math-mo...

This lesson is a real-life context for transformations including rotations, reflections, and translations. It lets your students initially describe the movements in their own words and then guide them towards a mathematically precise definition. robertkaplinsky.com/work/ms...

Sometimes an issue we're dealing with is not the real problem but actually a symptom of a different problem we're unaware of. Toyota uses a technique called "5 Whys" to find and address the real issue. We can do the same in education. robertkaplinsky.com/applyin...

If you've also used worksheets to teach your students math, then I've recorded a webinar you'll want to check out. It's called Why We Should Reconsider Using Worksheets (And What We Should Be Doing Instead), with K-5 and 6-12 versions. robertkaplinsky.com/worksheets

Help your students think deeply about radicals with this Open Middle problem from Phillip Haislip-Hansberry. www.openmiddle.com/comparin...

How do people determine which product is the best value for your money? Is a coupon always worth using? This lesson will give you a context for talking about the importance of unit rates (and not just price) with your students. robertkaplinsky.com/work/ca...

What if you could predict which students would struggle before they do? What if this enabled you to put support programs in place that made learning more equitable? This doesn't have to be a "what if?" because this tool currently exists. robertkaplinsky.com/a-cryst...

If your students are learning about perpendicular lines, try out this Open Middle problem from Andy Schwen with them: www.openmiddle.com/perpendi...

How many gumballs fit in the gumball machine? This context for finding the volume of a sphere is also a good opportunity to discuss the difference between inches, square inches, cubic inches, and gumballs as units. robertkaplinsky.com/work/gu...

If your high school students are working on adding vectors, try out this Open Middle problem from Bryan Anderson. www.openmiddle.com/adding-v...

Have you ever noticed that sometimes people don't realize how others perceive them? This can be problematic if they don't realize their potential or conversely don't realize that they are rubbing people the wrong way. robertkaplinsky.com/do-you-...

Here's a matrix multiplication problem from Bryan Anderson that will help you bring out their conceptual understanding. See hints and answers on Open Middle. www.openmiddle.com/matrix-m...

While Bed Bath & Beyond stores are no longer around, their coupons provide a context to use. Which should you use to save the most money? The $5 off or 20%? This lesson will help your students figure it out. robertkaplinsky.com/work/be...

When I first started teaching, I hated when students disagreed because it felt like I didn't do a good job teaching them. Now I realize disagreement's a wonderful learning opportunity. Here's what I do now: robertkaplinsky.com/never-l...

Algebra teachers, check out these three rational exponent problems from Bryan Anderson. See the hints and answers on Open Middle: www.openmiddle.com/rational... www.openmiddle.com/rational... www.openmiddle.com/rational...

A traffic enforcement plane looking for speeding vehicles noticed a motorcycle going exceptionally fast and made some calculations based on distance and time to find the rider's speed. How can we verify if the officer's calculations were correct? robertkaplinsky.com/work/ho...

I am a huge fan of the way Juli Dixon describes just-in-time scaffolding vs just-in-case scaffolding. It helped me realize why I made the wrong choices early in my career and gave me a way to describe what we should be doing instead. robertkaplinsky.com/just-in...

Are your students working on radical equations? This Open Middle problem from Jonathan Newman will challenge their understandings! www.openmiddle.com/radical-...

NFL cornerback Patrick Peterson received a $15,361,000 signing bonus but didn't cash the check for almost a month. When asked why, he said, “I just haven’t gotten around to it.” He could have bought a car with the interest he lost! robertkaplinsky.com/work/ho...

I'm not mad but how'd I get on a mailing list for a cheese conference? Like was my obsession that obvious?

How deeply do your students understand parallel and perpendicular lines if they can't create sets of points to define the lines? Try out these two Open Middle problems from Nanette Johnson: www.openmiddle.com/perpendi... www.openmiddle.com/parallel...