Share your ideas! The departments in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (MTMS) provide varied opportunities for you to contribute to the journal. Many different venues to share your experiences are available. Some departments call for extensive manuscripts, others require only a paragraph or two sharing your thinking, and still others ask for a rich problem or your students’ thinking about problems. Look through the journals and find the best fit for your ideas.
Readers Write
The Editorial Panel values your input. This is an opportunity for readers to write a letter, sharing opinions, thoughts, or a reaction to anything that they find of interest in the journal. Members of the Editorial Panel want to hear what readers are thinking and share your thoughts with the larger community. Please send your thoughts to mtms@nctm.org.
Solve it! and The Thinking of Students
The purpose of the Solve It! department is to provide teachers with meaningful, mathematically rich problems that invoke thoughtful and innovative student responses. The recommended length for a problem for Solve It! is one to three paragraphs. The department editor for Solve It!is responsible for writing problems for this department. Solve It!appears in the spring issues of the journal for teachers to use in their classrooms. Teachers are encouraged to analyze these responses and submit their students work and their analysis to The Thinking of Students for publication the following fall and winter.
The purpose of The Thinking of Students department, a companion department to Solve It!, is to provide readers, both teachers and students, an opportunity to review the mathematics thinking of middle school students. The department is a forum for sharing students’ discoveries, thoughts, problem solutions, or even challenges. Submissions to this department may come from, but are not limited to, activities prompted by the journal itself.
Ideas for Solve It! problems and student solutions should be sent to the editor, Edward Mooney, at mooney@ilstu.edu.
Palette of Problems
This is a set of interesting and challenging problems that invite creative problem solving strategies. Teachers can use these problems as problem of the day or week, as warm-ups, as end of class challenges and/or brainteasers. Each set can contain a couple of open-ended problems that may have a variety of answers. However, most of the problems should have a specific answer. Submissions should contain some problems that have a graphic tied in as an integral part of the problem (geometry, measurement, balance scales, visual puzzles, etc.) to appeal to different learning styles. Decisions about individual submitted problems rest solely with the department editor who will handle all related correspondence. Individual problems can be submitted to the editor Don Balka at donbalka@sprintmail.com.
Cartoon Corner
We provide readers with an opportunity to view mathematics in a humorous context. This monthly department features a cartoon chosen from newspapers, magazines and/or comic books that can be used to highlight mathematics in an interesting way. Each month, a cartoon and accompanying questions are provided on an Activity Sheet that teachers can use with students. The questions are designed to engage students in challenging and interesting mathematical activities. Comments from teachers who have field tested the Activity Sheet, in addition to suggested questions and/or follow-up problems relating to the mathematical content, are included. To suggest cartoons or field-test activity sheets, contact MTMS at mtms@nctm.org.
These editorials raise a significant issue or advocate a point of view about some aspect of the teaching or learning of mathematics. Anyone may submit material for a blind review. Submissions should be made through http://mtms.msubmit.net.
The intent of this department in MTMS is to provide explorations that are ready for teachers to use with their students. All submissions are encouraged. Of interest are historical explorations that relate to mathematics topics commonly taught in the middle grades.
Submissions should include:
- a description of the exploration (with goals or objectives);
- reproducible pages for students;
- guidelines for classroom use.
Authors are encouraged to include any of the following additions:
- examples of difficulties students encounter and ideas for dealing with them;
- suggestions for assessing student learning;
- ideas for extensions of the exploration;
- related activities for follow-up with family;
Submissions should be made through http://mtms.msubmit.net.
Quick Reads
Shorter pieces provide an opportunity to share a single, well-developed idea on no more than five typed, double-spaced pages. Although Quick Reads may cover a wide range of topics and interests, the Editorial Panel is particularly interested in receiving manuscripts that fit in one of the following three categories:
- Another Good Idea is a quick read on a short topic. An effective teaching strategy, an interesting approach to the mathematics content, or another practice that is directly applicable to the middle school classroom are requested.
- Research Matters is a quick read on research. Classroom teachers, teacher educators, and other researchers are encouraged to submit research-project findings that have explicit connections to the teaching and learning of mathematics at the middle school.
- Promising Partnerships is a quick read on collaborations. The manuscript should include information about the partners, their roles, and how the collaboration supports the goals of improving the teaching and learning of mathematics at the middle school level.
Submissions should be made through http://mtms.msubmit.net.
Windows on Resources
This department contains a review of computer software, books, and products. If you would like to review materials, or have ideas for products that could be reviewed, please contact Beth Skipper at bskipper@nctm.org.
Math for Real
The back page of the journal offers a 'real life' application of a mathematics concept on an activity sheet ready for classroom use. Readers are welcome to submit an idea for a topic or set of problems keeping in mind the 350 word limit for this department. If you have ideas for this departments, please contact Sara-Lynn Zuckerman at szuckerman@nctm.org.
Departments manuscripts are submitted via http://mtms.msubmit.net or directly to department editors as indicated in the journal. Questions? Please e-mail the journal editor Sara-Lynn Zuckerman at szuckerman@nctm.org.