kitchen table math, the original

10/19/2012: Steve H's Notice for parents new to kitchen table math

The original Kitchen Table Math was cofounded in April 2005 by Carolyn Johnston,^* a mathematician now working for Microsoft, and me, Catherine Johnson.^* I'm a mother, a writer, and a former teacher of freshman composition at the University of Iowa. Later on I taught writing to gifted middle school children in the Johns Hopkins CTY program. That's me in the photo. My husband, Ed Berenson, directs the Institute of French Studies at NYU, where he is a Professor of European history.

Here is the original mission statement.

Carolyn stopped writing posts a year or so later, when she and her husband Bernie went to work for Microsoft, but she continues to be with us in spirit. Their new school, outside Seattle, uses Connected Math.

For reasons unknown, the Kitchen Table Math site froze at the end of 2006. It has remained out of commission ever since, its links slowly decaying. The whole thing could be taken down, but I haven't wanted to do that, so there it sits: unwriteable, unreviseable, and uncommentable.

The idea behind the original ktm was to recruit a group of parents, teachers, and volunteers with whom to brainstorm teaching and "afterschooling." We needed to do this because public schools are doing something else altogether. So, when ktm stopped dead in its tracks, I set up a group blog on Blogger, sent invitations to the regulars, and dubbed the new site kitchen table math the sequel. The first post appeared December 30, 2006.

Today ktm-2 has 64 65 members, a number of whom have, of late, begun to spend as much time reading and thinking about how best to teach children reading, writing, vocabulary, and spelling as they do thinking about math. We've branched out: from the math wars to the reading wars.

More is more!

Update 2/16/2013: For the past two years I've been teaching freshman composition at my local college.  Last summer I attended Morningside Academy's Summer School Institute, and I'm now working with Ed on a writing supplement for his Oxford European history textbook and with Katie Beals on a grammar and writing textbook based in linguistics and precision teaching.

Math in the Blood 4.30.2005 18:25
Now That We're Both Here 4.30.2005 20:30

wit and wisdom of Kitchen Table Math

book-style index ktm-1 (not complete)
search ktm-1 posts
search ktm-1 comments
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archives by month: April 2005 - September 2006
math books (and other) we liked then
other books, curricula, & online resources we liked

A Gift from France, to France



Shadow Syndromes



Animals in Translation



Animals Make Us Human


^* You may have to hit refresh a few times to bring up pages from the original Kitchen Table Math website. And, yes, Carolyn Johnston and Catherine Johnson are two different people.