A Good Way to Begin!
Getting your work published in a department of the journal is often easier than writing a regular article. Department editors will help you revise a manuscript if they see promise in the basic idea. This assistance can be helpful, particularly for a beginning author.
The departments are:
This section is devoted to articles that bring research insights and findings to an audience of teachers and other mathematics educators (supervisors, professional developers, and teacher educators). Articles must make explicit connections between research and teaching practice. Our concept of research is a broad one; it includes research on student learning, on teacher thinking, on language in the mathematics classroom, on policy and practice in mathematics education, on technology in the classroom, international comparative work, and more. It is important that the articles in this department focus on important ideas and include vivid writing that makes research findings come to life for teachers. Our goal is to publish articles that are appropriate for reflective discussions at department meetings or any other gathering of high school mathematics teachers.
Manuscripts for Activities should be submitted via http://mt.msubmit.net. See recent issues of the journal for appropriate style and content.
Calendar problems may be submitted by individuals or groups. Guidelines for the problems follow. Credit will be given to individuals or groups who provide the materials.
Each calendar needs a variety of problems to appeal to a wide range of students in grades 8-12. Topics from arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number theory, statistics, discrete mathematics, probability and logic are welcomed.
If you want to submit an entire month's worth of problems, send about thirty-five problems to allow for deletions because of similarity with published problems. Less than a month’s worth of problems may also be submitted.
Be careful about the length of the problems -- they need to fit into one square on the calendar. Some problems should have a small figure or other visual aid. Final art will be prepared by NCTM. See recent issues for examples.
Include complete solutions for each problem.
If you select or modify problems from published sources, then include a complete reference (the name of the source, publisher, city, year of publication, and page number).
Please do not include any author information on the problem pages. A title page including authors or a cover letter is appropriate.
Submit five double-spaced copies of the problems and solutions to the editors.
This department presents information to help teachers understand students’ conceptions or misconceptions of important ideas, consider various approaches to teaching, and offer activities that probe students’ understanding.
This section is devoted to articles that bring research insights and findings to an audience of teachers and other mathematics educators (supervisors, professional developers, and teacher educators). Articles must make explicit connections between research and teaching practice. Our concept of research is a broad one; it includes research on student learning, on teacher thinking, on language in the mathematics classroom, on policy and practice in mathematics education, on technology in the classroom, international comparative work, and more. It is important that the articles in this department focus on important ideas and include vivid writing that makes research findings come to life for teachers. Our goal is to publish articles that are appropriate for reflective discussions at department meetings or any other gathering of high school mathematics teachers.
Manuscripts up to ten pages in length may be submitted to Connecting Research to Teaching via http://mt.msubmit.net. See recent issues of the journal for appropriate style and content.
The Editorial Panels of the three NCTM school print journals (Mathematics Teacher, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School and Teaching Children Mathematics) have established a new department designed to provide a forum for stimulating discussion across a K-12 audience and to promote discussion and dialogue about important issues related to the mathematics curriculum. The intent is to publish three articles, one in each journal, all focused on a single important issue, such as the influence of state or national standards on teaching and learning, or how technology influences the mathematics curriculum. Each article will discuss the issue from the perspective of the audience of the particular journal (elementary, middle or high school teachers). The department will begin in Volume Year 102 and will be scheduled to appear three times per volume year.
Delving Deeper focuses on mathematics content appealing to secondary school teachers. It provides a forum that allows classroom teachers to share their mathematics from their work with students, their classroom investigations and products, and their other experiences. Submissions that pose and solve a novel or interesting mathematics problem, expand on connections between different mathematical topics, present a general method for describing a mathematical notion or solving a class of problems, elaborate on new insights into familiar secondary school mathematics, or leave the reader with a mathematical idea to expand are encouraged.
"Delving Deeper" can accept manuscripts in ASCII or Word formats only. Manuscripts for Delving Deeper should be submitted via http://mt.msubmit.net.
Mathematical Lens uses photographs as a springboard for mathematical inquiry. The goal of this department is to encourage readers to see patterns and relationships that they can think about and extend in a mathematically playful way.
Submissions for Mathematical Lens should be sent directly to the editors.
The section includes short items from the media that highlight interesting uses or misuses of mathematics that are appropriate for classroom study. Please provide accurate reference information for the clip that you use.
Media Clips submissions may be sent directly to the editors; please include the original clip.
Margaret Cibes
Hillyer College
University of Hartford
West Hartford, CT 06117
|
James Greenwood
Hillyer College (retired)
University of Hartford
West Hartford, CT 0611 |
All letters for publication are acknowledged, but because of the large number submitted, we do not send letters of acceptance or rejection. Letters to be considered for publication should be sent to mt@nctm.org. Type and double-space letters that are sent by mail. Letters should not exceed 250 words and are subject to abridgement. At the end of the letter include your name and affiliation, if any, including zip or postal code and e-mail address, in the style of the section.
NCTM
Attn: MT
1906 Association Dr.
Reston, VA 20191
Sound Off!s are MT’s version of an op-ed piece. A SoundOff! Is a short (no more than four typed, double-spaced pages), signed statement, editorial in nature, which forcefully and logically raises a significant issue or advocates a point of view about some aspect of the teaching or learning of mathematics.
Appropriate subject matter for a SoundOff! includes such topics as curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, mathematics teacher education, educational philosophy, research implementation, structure of the educational system, special teacher needs, or special student needs. SoundOff!s should avoid personal attacks or criticism, political endorsements of any kind, product promotion, or self-promotion. SoundOff!s are distinguished from expository articles in that they generally require the reader to agree or disagree with the author and from Reader Reflections in that they are much longer. The criteria for the evaluation of SoundOff! manuscripts include but are not limited to the timeliness of the topic and its potential interest to MT readers; the compelling presentation of the topic; the careful organization of the arguments; the appropriateness of the length of the manuscript for the SoundOff! section; the favorable comparison of the manuscript against the standards for these criteria set by articles already published and recently submitted.
The evaluation of SoundOff! manuscripts is not based on whether the reviewers agree or disagree with the position taken by the author. In all cases, the Mathematics Teacher editorial panel will make the final decision regarding the appropriateness of a particular topic or style of presentation for publication as a SoundOff!. Submit SoundOff! manuscripts at http://mt.msubmit.net.
The section focuses on materials and activities that assist teachers in using technology to enhance instruction, assessment, and the curriculum. Emphasis is on short, classroom-tested tips, as opposed to full-length manuscripts. The thrust of the section includes, but is not limited to, calculators, computers, and video technology. The ideas explored should be easily adaptable to a wide variety of classroom situations.
Manuscripts for Technology Tips should be submitted via http://mt.msubmit.net.
The Back Page—My Favorite Lesson is the newest department in Mathematics Teacher, making its debut in August 2009. This department, published monthly, features high school teachers’ favorite lessons. The Back Page is intended to be only one page in length—around 600 words—and should be in narrative form. One or two computer or calculator screen shots or other graphics that are part of the lesson would be valuable inclusions. We want teachers to share, in an informal manner, a lesson that they enjoy teaching, that works well with students, and that other teachers might adapt for use in their own classroom. Our intent is to increase high school teachers’ contributions to the journal and to promulgate effective pedagogy. Prospective authors should submit manuscripts to http://mt.msubmit.net.
