Annie Forest

Teaching is challenging and personal and important work. Every teacher I work with is doing their best, want to do their best, and do all of this with a kind teacher heart. I love teachers, in fact I still identify as a teacher myself. When people ask what I do, I say I'm a teacher. Because even if I'm a coach or a math coordinator, at the center of my work is teaching. I was in the classroom for 12 years. I know the difficulties of having a diverse group of learners in one class. The range of understanding on any given topic can be overwhelming to navigate. Am I challenging everyone enough? Is this too challenging? Are kids bored? Are kids checked-out? Are they learning? These are real questions and fears we all have. And sometimes, being in this work means we develop some short-cut ways of describing the complexity of what we see in front of us. It's normal and natural as humans to look for patterns in our experience and categorize things. If we didn't our br...

I LOVE COUNTING COLLECTIONS! I can't believe I didn't know about them before, but after watching an ICTM webinar by Denise Brown ( check out the recording here !), I was hooked! Immediately, I reached out to a few teachers in my district that also watched the webinar. I co-taught a counting collections lesson in each of their classrooms, one kindergarten and the other 1st grade. Wow. It was amazing. Then, I saw another ICTM webinar by Kassia Wedekind ( see that one here !) where she talked about nudges during counting collections. Ah ha! Another amazing idea. Now I wanted to try more counting collections lessons. Luckily, we had a teacher institute day coming up and one of the original counting collections teachers agreed to present the idea to all of the kindergarten and 1st grade teachers. She did an awesome job sharing how she was using the routine in her classroom. Next, I put together a traveling "Counting Collection Collection." I went to the dollar...

Wait, that just looks like strips of paper ?! Yep, that's what it is. Introducing my FAVORITE fraction manipulative. No need for fancy plastic fraction tiles, no purchase order necessary, no app to download. Just find some paper and cut it in strips. It can even be "GOOSe" paper (good on one side), as in scrap paper ! Here's why I love it: 1) It makes fractions visual . 2) It relates to tape diagrams. 3) It helps make connections of where fractions go on the number line. 4) It's a manipulative that won't expire. It always works, even when students start exploring decimals and percents. 5) It's fun! I have done this lesson with lots of kids over the years. It works great with grades 4-6.  Here's the procedure: 1) Put a lot of strips of paper out! (you want kids to have access to extra in case they "mess up") 2) Have students start with 1 strip and fold into halves. This is usually accessible for ...

Dusting off the old blog. How is it possible that I haven't blogged since October?! I've missed you! Lately I've been thinking a lot about how to help with a common phrase I hear in education: "One more thing." As in, "this new ( initiative/idea/curriculum/app ) is just one more thing I have to worry about in my classroom." And I get it! With the rate of new initiatives/ideas/curriculums/apps coming across my desk, it's a dizzying pace of new and change. But I also like a lot of these new ideas.  I often present to teachers about these ideas!  So, in my role of instructional coach, how can I help teachers embrace them too without feeling overwhelmed or burning out. First, I think we need to look at the ideas of happiness and success. In this Ted Talk by Shawn Achor, he looks into the idea that being happy makes us more productive. Often, we might think that success will lead to happiness, but this is backwards. And, in fa...

There are times in education when we need to "zoom in," look at the details and the fine points. There are other times that a more global view is appropriate. We need to "zoom out" and look at the big picture. In my coaching conversations, I have noticed that many times when teachers or teams are frustrated, we need to adjust our zoom . ZOOM OUT Scenario 1 A team is working on common plans for math. I walk in and teachers are talking about the number talk for the second lesson, then jump to the stations planning for next week, another teacher mentions that they need to make a formative assessment to use, too. Then they all look at me, "this is hard and overwhelming!" they say, "how can we make this planning easier?" This is a situation where we need to zoom out . Focusing on the details of lesson plans before the big picture is mapped out results in frustration and lack of focus. There are so many tiny details of a unit plan. Whi...

This activity is a fun investigation into symmetry. However, you don't have to wait until you are explicitly teaching geometry or symmetry. It encourages students to be precise and persevere in problem solving. Use it to help address those Standards for Mathematical Practice ! I think 4th grade and up would enjoy a few of these challenges. I've tried it with middle schoolers (6-8) as well as adults. I love the fact that this is an opportunity for all learners to engage in math at the same time. It might even be an opportunity for students that don't find as much success in math class to excel. Here's how it works: 1. Put the picture of the post it notes with holes in it. 2. Students are challenged to take a post-it note and try to fold it so that with 1 single punch with a hole punch it will create this when opened back up. I suggest showing this image first: This one requires a simple fold of the post-it in half.  Walk through how...

IT'S HERE!!! If you are like me, you feel a little sad about the end of summer but also super excited for a new school year. I love the new school supplies, fresh start, classroom decorating , meeting new kids, and a chance to try new things! I wanted to put together a post that compiled all of my favorite past posts related to stuff teachers think about at the start of a new school year. First, I like to sit down and write out my goals . I think about what I want to keep and what I might want to change . There are several things that you might have done in the past that you might want to rethink. For example, grading , getting rid of your teacher desk , or even how you speak about gender in your classroom . How are you going to arrange your classroom? How will you make seating charts that encourage collaboration ? Think about small changes you could make that will have a big impact. Here are a few . Think about how you might want to treat mistakes in your clas...

I love the NCTM article, Never Say Anything A Kid Can Say,  by Steven Reinhart. I reread it often and it always reminds me of something to work on or try so that I can have a more student-centered math class. I have recently been sharing 3 of my favorite tips from the article at PD in my district. These three tips are small changes that you can make that have a BIG impact on your classroom. I vlogged about those three ideas. Enjoy! ;)

Mistakes aren't just okay , they are gifts ! Six years ago, I was attending some amazing professional development as part of the West Cook Math Initiative- now called Metro Chicago Math Initiative . We had a frequent guest facilitator, David Foster , leading us in a math talk and then discussing re-engagement lessons. I will never forget the day that he said, "Mistakes are gifts." In fact, I believe he said he had heard this from a teacher in Japan that was explaining the role that mistakes can play in helping students understanding mathematical concepts. Bottom line, I don't know who to give credit to for this quote, but it certainly has had an impact on me. It is something that I repeat to students that I teach, teachers that I coach, and participants in professional development that I lead. I just can't say it enough! Here's my vlog of my reflections on this idea: If you like the idea of using mistakes in your classroom, consider re-engage...

This is my first attempt at "vlogging." It's blogging but with video! This is pushing me out of my comfort zone a bit because, as most people, I hate seeing myself on video or hearing myself talk!! And look how my face is frozen in a weird way on the video below. Ugh! But I think this is a powerful way to reflect on my practice and share ideas I've done in the classroom, so I'm giving it a try. I hope you find this idea helpful. I call it "strategic eavesdropping." It is a teacher move that you do in the classroom as students are working or discussing. You do this to find students work/thinking to share to the group and facilitate class discussions. It is probably something that you are doing already! What makes this a little different than just walking around and listening to kids talk is the  strategic part. You are going to use what you overhear to plan, in the moment, for how to reveal student thinking to the group. Give this video a watch and ...