by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | February 23, 2024 | 1 min read

Steph Curry has a coach. Tiger Woods has a coach. The most successful entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives have coaches. Why is coaching, and leadership coaching in particular, such a novel part of education? As someone who has benefitted from coaching and served as a coach, I strongly believe this is something that needs to change.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 16, 2023 | 1 min read

One of my most popular LinkedIn posts recently involved a flip comment-turned-question that became mathematized. The question was: "Why do grilled cheese sandwiches, cut in half diagonally, taste so much better than grilled cheese sandwiches cut otherwise?"

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 14, 2023 | 2 min read

My high school track coach used to do something compelling, from an instructional perspective, even if it was somewhat sadistic. His method reminds me of a famous quotation with a dubious history.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 13, 2023 | 1 min read

Chris Donnelly, a coach for startups, offers a compelling "cheat sheet" for leaders on how to give feedback. Many of these are research-based for effectiveness. See a screenshot of the cheat sheet below and a link to Chris's work.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 12, 2023 | 3 min read

There is a lot of discussion, right now, on how generative AI will reshape education. As with any tool, generative AI offers promise and peril. Here, I explore why I think generative AI is a long way off from helping students develop conceptual understanding.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 10, 2023 | 1 min read

Ugh. Want to know something that hurts me, physically? Walking into a classroom and seeing students, silent and unmoving during a math lesson. In my experience, as time marches on, this is happening more and more in mathematics.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | November 9, 2023 | 1 min read

A simple way to tell the difference between procedural- and conceptual-focused instruction in math...When students encounter a new idea for the first time, say, a problem involving a multiplication scenario...

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | October xx, 2023 | 2 min read

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by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 28, 2023 | 2 min read

I don’t know how to explain it any more plainly. It’s the Number ONE useless debate I’ve encountered in my career. And the debate won’t end.

❗️Students in second grade do NOT need to learn about multi-digit addition before multi-digit subtraction.

❗️They do not need to drill on place-value rules and definitions before learning multi-digit operations.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 28, 2023 | 5 min read

The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, when supporting teachers in using a well-designed curriculum program in mathematics.

The disadvantages? Curriculum programs offer far too much and far too little, paraphrasing a well-known observation from researcher Ben-Peretz (1990).

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 25, 2023 | 1 min read

A friend of mine, Alex, is a math tutor and video game engineer/designer. There's an Amazon sale on one of his games—a really high-quality, mathematics and fantasy board game called "Numberella." It supports numeracy in Grades 2-4. (I can vouch for it, as I’ve played it with Alex!)

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 22, 2023 | 1 min read

The documentary Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is one of the best, most surprising things I’ve seen on television in quite some time.

As a math educator, the most surprising thing? (Spoiler alert!)

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 12, 2023 | 8 min read

Assessing students' understanding in mathematics, in order to promote their learning and engagement, isn't easy. One key—along with a number of related practical strategies—involves looking at, and thinking critically, about Standard for Mathematical Practice 3 (SMP3) in the Common Core State Standards.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 11, 2023 | 2 min read

One of the most important findings in education research is known as "opportunity to learn" (OTL). OTL can be summarized, neatly, by this line of reasoning: it is difficult—though not impossible—for students to learn something they haven't been taught; further, to ensure equity of instruction and alignment within schools and districts, opportunities to learn that are provided to students should be analogous to one another.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 7, 2023 | 4 min read

The following episode occurred at a meeting of a state committee in which I participated along with about 8 other educators. The committee's charge involved reviewing questions from the state standardized test that had been field-tested with a random sample of students in the state. We had been looking at the field-test statistics and had encountered a question on which students of color were performing significantly worse—obtaining a much lower percentage of deemed-correct responses—than their peers.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 6, 2023 | 2 min read

An article posted, earlier this summer, on the website "We Are Teachers" (weareteachers.com) really struck a chord. The piece is entitled "What Do Teachers Really Do During the Summer" (located here). And it nicely debunks a common myth—that teachers quote-unquote "have the summers off."

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | September 6, 2023 | 3 min read

In the image to the left, consider the question, student's response, and teacher's evaluation. This image, to me, represents many of the problems with assessments that are typical in today's educational landscape.  

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 25, 2023 | 3 min read

The following exchange occurs between myself, acting as a relatively inexperienced and procedure-focused teacher, and "Amie." "Amie" is the name that I asked ChatGPT-4 to use, acting as a young student who was struggling with a particular aspect of multiplication.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 21, 2023 | 2 min read

I don't want to start a feud with eminent astrophysicist Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson, as Raj did on an episode of The Big Bang Theory, but I do have a bone to pick with him.

In an interview that has become popular on social media, Dr. Tyson explored the common belief that learning the Pythagorean Theorem, trigonometric identities, and such, is generally not that useful.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 21, 2023 | 2 min read

This is an important announcement for PA educators! Be a part of the PSSA and Keystone testing process and earn Act 48 credits!

The Pennsylvania Department of Education and Data Recognition Corporation are looking for PA educators to serve on committees that revise, approve, and/or reject assessment items.

Apply here: 

Educator Application: PSSA & Keystone Exams Assessment Committee Reviews (cvent.com)

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 21, 2023 | 4 min read

In Part 1 of this two-part series, I argued that that the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs), at best, obscure the importance of comparison when averaging. At worst, via one possible interpretation, they overlook providing the motivation or purpose behind averaging entirely.

Now, looking at curriculum materials, my concern is significantly but not completely alleviated.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 14, 2023 | 3 min read

I have something embarrassing to admit.

I began learning about the meaning of the term "average," probably around 10 years old. In the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs), today, instruction on "measures of central tendency" (i.e., mean, median, and mode, which are three different types of average) begins in Grade 6.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 9, 2023 | 3 min read

On December 5, 2012, Kobe Bryant, became the youngest player in NBA history to score 30,000 points. He was only the fifth professional basketball player to reach that lofty milestone. 

Bryant described the psychological state that led to his many prolific achievements as "being in the zone." In his words, "You get in the zone and just try to stay here."

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | August 7, 2023 | 2 min read

He's one of today's most-recognizable writers and public speakers. She's a financial guru, worth billions. Both were labeled "low ability" in school. 

Colin Jost's memoir, A Very Punchable Face, would be fully hilarious if it weren't also very sad.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | July 31, 2023 | 2 min read

Classrooms should be volleyball matches, not table-tennis games.

A sheepish grin. A half-raised hand.

“Yes?” Anthony hadn’t spoken much in class, so I was eager to call on him.

by Joshua A. Taton, Ph.D. | July 24, 2023 | 3 min read

I was stunned.

“What does the data tell us? What questions come up for you?” I had asked. In retrospect, I should have been prepared for what came next.

I had just walked through a roadmap of how to review and interpret our district's quarterly benchmark-test data.