About Hannah Fast

Hannah Fast is a teacher in Washington state. She has taught both middle school mathematics and elementary. She got her undergraduate degree from Western Washington University and is currently working on her master's degree in educational technology at Boise State University. Hannah is passionate about technology and mathematics so this blog is focused on sharing ideas and lessons around those topics.

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Commentary on "Why is Algebra so Hard?"

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I am currently transitioning from teaching elementary to teaching algebra at a middle school. Algebra is actually a high school course, but more and more students in my district are taking it earlier than that, which is how I got this job. It has been making me think about how algebra is so important but is also very difficult for students. I stumbled across this Ted Talk by Emmanuel Schanzer called, “Why is algebra so hard?” and just had to watch it: One of his quotes that struck me right away was, “Arithmetic is to math as spelling is to journalism.” This is so true because arithmetic is only a small part of mathematics. Much of mathematics is much more abstract than this, which can be difficult for students. Students grow up thinking math is all about finding an answer but algebra changes this. This video then took a turn though. To me, it didn’t really answer the question, “Why is algebra so hard?” but rather the question, “How can we connect algebra and computer scie...
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Crash Course Video on EdTech

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I love Crash Course! If you haven't heard of Crash Course it was created by John and Hank Green. John and Hank have a well known YouTube channel called the Vlog Brothers and John has written many popular young adult novels. When they started Crash Course, John would make videos about humanities and Hank would make videos about science. They now have a partnership with PBS which allowed them to make more courses and hire more people. This particular video is from a course on computer science which is hosted by Carrie Ann. In this video, they included a quote from Thomas Edison who said in 1913, "books will soon be obsolete in the schools. It is possible to teach every branch of human knowledge with the motion picture. Our school system will be completely changed in the next ten years." I thought this was fascinating that he made this prediction so long ago. Although he wasn't exactly correct, videos have become a very important part of education. In this video, Car...
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Decorating my Classroom

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I am currently in the process of moving to a new school which means in the next couple of weeks I have to start setting up my classroom. I was browsing through Pinterest when I decided to look for some inspiration for my classroom. Here are some of the things I came across: Image Credit: Instagram - writeonwithmissg Image Credit: Instagram - CMA1291 I was blown away by how beautiful these classrooms are. They look warm, comfortable, and inviting. They look like a place I would love to spend time. Whenever I see classrooms like this on Pinterest though, I wonder how much they cost. There's art, furniture, rugs, decorations, storage containers, etc. which can add up to a lot of money. I know I get a small amount of money from the PTA at my school but I usually use that money for books, supplies, and activities. That means that  I pay for decorations out of my own pocket. This past year, when I was teaching 5th grade another teacher made an off-hand comment about how my roo...
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