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Zeroing in on Curriculum and Instruction: Presence of Mind

Presence of Mind:

     The ability to remain calm and take, quick, sensible action. – Dictionary

     It’s like seeing two moves ahead in a chess game. – Larry

When you and your Instructors teach students, being actively mindful of all possible approaches to solving a problem greatly enhances the quality of the instruction and guidance you provide. Most importantly, communicating and modeling this presence of mind encourages your students to look past the constraints of algorithmic thinking and use their mathematical creativity and innate number sense. This document, Presence of Mind [1], presents guidelines on incorporating presence of mind into your day-to-day teaching. Please read it and share with your Instructors as you work with them on further training. For more on what you can do to nip instinctive algorithmic thinking in the bud, check out this Mathnasium Matters article [2].

As always, feedback is requested and appreciated.