Hi {{custom.firstName}},

We've reached Unit 5, so I think I can be straight with you. Our curriculum sometimes seems like the sort of thing students might be able to do on their own, but it just isn't true. We need you. We need you and your students.

You see, on screens like this, students can work largely at their own pace: clicking, thinking, testing, revising.

While the animations whiz and bang, your students will develop lots of different ideas about place value. I like these screens, but I love what happens on the next screen, where people, not technology, create the whiz and bang.

All of us are smarter than one of us.

Nothing happens automatically on the card sorts. Lots of students will suggest the answer is 2 here and many others will suggest it's 1. It's up to you to help students learn from the different ideas in the class and come to the idea that's most helpful for them.

Consider using the teacher dashboard to identify the most controversial grouping. You can ask students, "How were you thinking about it? Does anyone have a different way of seeing it?"

In doing so, you'll help everyone benefit from everyone else's ideas, helping students learn not just math but about the value of their classmates, and that all of us are smarter than one of us.

Dan & the Desmos Classroom Team

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