#GETMath

Since the beginning of this school year, I have wanted to collaborate with teachers in my building for some type of problem solving "club" where we can work together on a mathematical task.  My original plan was to have this during lunch once or twice per month and invite teachers to discuss a problem we could work on throughout the month.  As so often happens in our school lives, schedules interfered and I realized it would be difficult to schedule these meetings during lunch.  I tried to think of a way to involve as many teachers in our building as possible without requiring additional meetings.

As I've been engaging in some productive struggle of my own about this situation, I have also been working to plan the elementary school methods for mathematics course that I begin teaching this week. I thought how wonderful it would be if the students in my class could discuss some of these rich mathematical tasks with others outside of our small classroom.

Finally - all of these thoughts merged together!  Many of the teachers in our building participated in the Global Read Aloud that was started by Pernille Ripp.  Wouldn't it be amazing to do something similar - but this time in mathematics?!?

I am inviting you to participate in our Global Engagement Task in Math (GETMath, for short).  For the month of February, I have selected a problem from Marilyn Burns about sums of consecutive numbers. The object of the task is to find patterns when adding consecutive numbers.  Think about what patterns you find, what surprises you, and anything else you notice!

I encourage you to begin the problem on your own - then talk with others about it!  Share your thinking and your findings.  Compare your results with what others have found.  Engage in some productive struggle!

You can also share your thoughts  on Twitter at #GETMath.  I hope you will join me in this experiment!  You can learn more here: http://bit.ly/1eybFKx