About Teaching

Ideas you may find useful in discussions with your colleagues.

Hmm....

by Henri Picciotto

Math Teacher, The Urban School of San Francisco
Director, Center for Innovative Teaching

* I marked articles relevant to more than just math teachers with an asterisk.

There is no one way: effective teachers constantly broaden their repertoire, and learn to make choices that may not come naturally. The Art of Teaching* worksheet may help. It is a companion to "Nothing Works", an article and a talk (outline) in which I present some of my techniques. I focus on some of these in a presentation on "Serving Our Strongest Students" (slides).

Documents I have written for the Urban School Math Department:
Heterogeneous Classes
Group Work
A presentation on teacher collaboration (slides):
2003 version*, for independent school leaders
2008 version, for math teachers and math department chairs
2010 version*, for independent school teacher-leaders
Expanding the collaboration beyond the walls of the school: Escape from the Textbook!

A one-page list of useful books and resources for math teachers, reflecting my interests and quirks.
The outline of a workshop for beginning teachers: Everything I Know.

An argument for a tool-rich pedagogy.

An article on teaching in the long period*.

Articles I co-authored with Jonathan Howland, the Dean of Faculty at Urban:
Depth vs. Breadth*, The Urban Community, April 1999
Teacher Collaboration*, Independent School, Spring 2003
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