I chose to let my students from this semester respond to these questions. Here, unfiltered, is what my students from this semester shared about the course: Our class is not directed as much by direct instruction, but rather by rich discussion. Understanding is achieved by communication, and our many different backgrounds lead to so many […]

In the Spring of last year, I wrote a note about what I envisioned the next stage of GeT: A Pencil could be. At that time, I noted that our first funding cycle was coming to an end at the end of August, and I indicated that we would write a grant asking for financial […]

I taught geometry to two different audiences: Math majors with some inclination to proceed to secondary teaching or a graduate program in mathematics. Students taking mathematics to fulfill some general education requirements for a bachelor’s degree. In different ways, what I enjoyed in teaching both these groups was seeing the positive energy and enjoyment when […]

People often wonder whether artists really use geometry. I am convinced that they use geometry all the time—and that they use every kind of geometry. Sometimes artists have studied geometry; Salvador Dalí learned mathematics from Thomas Banchoff and René Thom. M.C. Escher used ideas from H.S.M. Coxeter and Roger Penrose; Leonardo da Vinci was himself […]

Over the past few months, many of you have contributed chapters to an edited volume that the GeT:A Pencil Community will soon be submitting to the MAA. Some of you are still in the process of wrapping up a chapter. In the next month or so, the co-editorial team will be asking many of you, […]

Four questions with Scot Acre, Mathematics Teacher at the Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center On the job, memories from high school, attending conferences, reading books, belonging to professional organizations.  I love the visual nature of the subject. I love how Geometry began as a way to figure out what was going on in the world. […]

Early in my involvement with the GeT ESLO group, I asked about the end goal of the group. I asked this question because I suspected that my goal was different from some of the other members of the group. Sure, I agreed that the Geometry for Teachers courses needed guidelines to ensure that the course […]

Introduction  Makerspaces, varying in shape and size, serve as spaces where students convene to create, invent, tinker, explore, and discover using a diverse range of tools and materials. Makerspaces are natural places for developing mathematical arguments and mathematical models, where geometric assumptions are supported and real-world complexities arise. Drawing inspiration from an eighth grade makerspace […]

The emergent consensus our community has reached on the student learning outcomes for geometry courses for teachers allows us to come back to one of the aspirations of the initial working groups in GeT: A Pencil–the creation of a task repository. Indeed, the collaborative curation of resources for teaching GeT courses could be a next […]

I am excited to be writing to you with an update about the upcoming book entitled The GeT Course: Resources and Objectives for the Geometry Courses for Teachers. Since the RUME conference, the co-editor team has been busy finalizing the review criteria for the submissions that are due in May. At the conference, some of you shared […]