Monday, March 31, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Grid Art, Patterns & #tmwyk
Math related conversations with my 8 year old tend to pop up unexpectedly. These are often around something she's making, and are often a gorgeous little gem of a surprise. Today was no different.
I found her creating a grid of tape on top of a piece of origami paper. She was coloring it in when she said, "You know, mama, patterns don't necessarily have to be colors in order."
Oh my gosh!
Me: What do you mean by that?
As you can see from the picture, below, she was coloring the whole page somewhat randomly, sometimes following the columns down, sometimes not.
Her: Well, the colors don't have to be regular, they just need to be in the windows."
Me: You mean the windows are the places where the tape is not covering the paper, that's what you're looking at? It doesn't matter what color windows are, just that they're colored in?
Her: Yeah.
So here I pause to do a happy dance. My biggest discontent around patterns is that many kids grow into adults who think that "patterns" are only linear repetitions of colors. It is clear she has not internalized that particular reality. The other reason I'm happy is that Prof. Triangleman once said to me:
This really goes to show you that it's worthwhile to keep your ears open while kid is focused on making or building something. Even if it's after the fact, ask your kids to tell you about what they did, even if it doesn't look like much. I mean, just look at the taped/colored piece again. It's pretty much a bunch of scribbles and it'd be super easy to pass it over, to think it was nothing special. In reality, though, there was so much thinking going on while she worked.
Here's what the piece looked like when she took the tape off:
Her: Oh.
Me: You seem surprised. Did that not turn out the way you expected?
Her: Why do you sound like a journalist?
I found her creating a grid of tape on top of a piece of origami paper. She was coloring it in when she said, "You know, mama, patterns don't necessarily have to be colors in order."
Oh my gosh!
Me: What do you mean by that?
Me: You mean the windows are the places where the tape is not covering the paper, that's what you're looking at? It doesn't matter what color windows are, just that they're colored in?
Her: Yeah.
So here I pause to do a happy dance. My biggest discontent around patterns is that many kids grow into adults who think that "patterns" are only linear repetitions of colors. It is clear she has not internalized that particular reality. The other reason I'm happy is that Prof. Triangleman once said to me:
"Math is when you say exactly what it is you want to pay attention to, focus only on that attribute and ignore everything else."She was doing this! Her pattern has 'windows' that are colored in, but the pattern is not defined by the colors themselves. She was consciously creating a pattern of windows (spaces between!) and consciously excluding the colors. I am thrilled to have caught a glimpse of this multi-layered attention in action.
This really goes to show you that it's worthwhile to keep your ears open while kid is focused on making or building something. Even if it's after the fact, ask your kids to tell you about what they did, even if it doesn't look like much. I mean, just look at the taped/colored piece again. It's pretty much a bunch of scribbles and it'd be super easy to pass it over, to think it was nothing special. In reality, though, there was so much thinking going on while she worked.
Here's what the piece looked like when she took the tape off:
Me: You seem surprised. Did that not turn out the way you expected?
Her: Why do you sound like a journalist?
Monday, March 24, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Step Dance Saturday: The Warner Sisters & KIDS! (Video)
Hello and welcome to what will likely be a sporadic series called Step Dance Saturday! Our inaugural video is of one of my favorite step dancers, Melody Cameron, her sister, and a few of her sister's kids! They live and dance on Cape Breton Island, which is part of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The dancing starts in the traditional way, with a Strathspey which transitions to a reel. The Melody and her sister have choreographed their steps for this part.
When the two girls come on stage, they position themselves for the reel portion of the Scotch Four, a very old figure dance. Both the figure and the step dancing itself originated in Scotland. From this point in the video all the dancing is improvised, each dancer putting steps to the music as they wish.
As you watch, you can look for patterns of footwork performed on one side of the body and then repeated on the other side. It may take more than one viewing to be able to see those patterns. If you want an added challenge, see if you can figure out the pathways the dancers are taking during the Scotch Four!
Happy Dancing!
The dancing starts in the traditional way, with a Strathspey which transitions to a reel. The Melody and her sister have choreographed their steps for this part.
When the two girls come on stage, they position themselves for the reel portion of the Scotch Four, a very old figure dance. Both the figure and the step dancing itself originated in Scotland. From this point in the video all the dancing is improvised, each dancer putting steps to the music as they wish.
As you watch, you can look for patterns of footwork performed on one side of the body and then repeated on the other side. It may take more than one viewing to be able to see those patterns. If you want an added challenge, see if you can figure out the pathways the dancers are taking during the Scotch Four!
Happy Dancing!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
3 Ways to Bring Math in Your Feet to Your Area
Would you like me to come to your area to share the Math in Your Feet and/or Math by Design programs? Are you interested in a professional learning opportunity or a homeschool event? Not sure how to get that to happen? Wonder no more...here are three ideas to make my visit to your locale a reality!
Find a Presenting Organization
Look around your area and see if there are any performing arts venues, children's museums, or math and science museums with education departments that present children's performances and/or teacher workshops throughout the year. This is a particularly good option if you and your friends and colleagues are a mix of school- and home-based educators. Once you've identified a possible venue, let me know and I'll be happy to make contact, unless you'd like to take that step. If that's the case, you can point folks toward malkerosenfeld.com or mathinyourfeet.com to look at videos and other information about the workshops.
Find a School or School District
Do you have district- or school-wide professional development days? Would you value an option for active participation and learning that goes deep into the hows and whys of merging math and movement that also connects to necessary CCSS for Mathematics AND gives you specific experience with a road-tested program (not to mention all the materials you need for classroom implementation)? Feel free to e-mail the appropriate administrator to suggest Math in Your Feet! You can point them to mathinyourfeet.com or malkerosenfeld.com to find short videos of my work, publications, and workshop descriptions.
Go Rogue
Email me if you're interested in how to set up an event yourself! This option would likely include tasks such as securing a space, getting the word out, and insuring a minimum number of participants to share the costs of my fee and travel expenses. It's also the perfect option for homeschooling networks -- including the possibility of kids & adults learning together!
Logistics: Cost generally include a fee, travel (air or mileage) and lodging, if needed. I'm happy to talk pricing details via phone call or e-mail.
Find a Presenting Organization
Look around your area and see if there are any performing arts venues, children's museums, or math and science museums with education departments that present children's performances and/or teacher workshops throughout the year. This is a particularly good option if you and your friends and colleagues are a mix of school- and home-based educators. Once you've identified a possible venue, let me know and I'll be happy to make contact, unless you'd like to take that step. If that's the case, you can point folks toward malkerosenfeld.com or mathinyourfeet.com to look at videos and other information about the workshops.
Find a School or School District
Do you have district- or school-wide professional development days? Would you value an option for active participation and learning that goes deep into the hows and whys of merging math and movement that also connects to necessary CCSS for Mathematics AND gives you specific experience with a road-tested program (not to mention all the materials you need for classroom implementation)? Feel free to e-mail the appropriate administrator to suggest Math in Your Feet! You can point them to mathinyourfeet.com or malkerosenfeld.com to find short videos of my work, publications, and workshop descriptions.
Go Rogue
Email me if you're interested in how to set up an event yourself! This option would likely include tasks such as securing a space, getting the word out, and insuring a minimum number of participants to share the costs of my fee and travel expenses. It's also the perfect option for homeschooling networks -- including the possibility of kids & adults learning together!
Logistics: Cost generally include a fee, travel (air or mileage) and lodging, if needed. I'm happy to talk pricing details via phone call or e-mail.
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