It has the potential to be. It's been in progress, and I was just invited recently. The lessons they're planning don't align with the course I'm teaching right now, so I'm more of an observer, with the intent of being able to guide other neophytes teaching the same lessons I am next year.

> context of the word problems

I'm still thinking about it too. What I'm wondering now is how many of my kids would read a book (or go see a movie, or play a video game) about goldfish, or cell phone plans, or even shopping for CDs. Probably not as many as would if it were about werewolves or giant robots.

I'm still thinking about the context of the word problems. I too have heard the "she's stupid - download the music" type of comment from my students. Hmm...

Turning this into an argument rather than an observation would undermine the purpose of the group, I think.

You raise an interesting point, though. This theory of mine feels sound, has worked in practice every time I've tried it, and resonates when described to friends who remember the problems they had in their math classes. Despite that, it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and goes against the practices of teachers with decades more experience than I have. At this point I'm going to continue exploring it for myself, and share the theory with others, but I'm not quite ready to try forcing others to change their lessons because of it.