My husband and I used to love this quaint little restaurant in Annapolis that played live music and served amazing tapas dishes. Sadly, it closed a few years back – we sure do miss that place! What I love most about restaurants that specialize in tapas is the variety they offer and the "just right" portions they serve.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) held their Annual Meeting and Exposition right in our backyard in Washington, DC from April 25th through the 28th. The week we spent at the conference was similar to a tapas restaurant in that there was an amazing variety of savory sessions to attend and they were served in just the right portions.
When registration for the NCTM conference opened, we knew we couldn't pass up this opportunity and we wanted to try and have as many teachers as possible benefit from this experience, as well. After putting out an "all call" to any CCPS educator who was interested in attending, we went to work finding the funds to send every teacher who wanted to go! I had nothing to do with that part so thank you, thank you, Jen and Diane. The conference was a 3-day conference and each day we filled the bus with a new set of 40 or so educators and headed into the city to build our own professional knowledge about teaching children mathematics. We boarded the bus at 5:40 AM (yes, 5:40!) and then boarded again at 4:30 PM to return home. It was a long day, but do you know that even after nearly an 11 hour day, the bus was buzzing with excitement and conversations about the sessions we had attended. Many were already beginning to plan with colleagues right on the bus how we could use what we learned at the conference to propel our students forward in their learning!
Enjoy a mathematical tapas, if you will, in this month's edition of MathSnack
(sans drinks)
NOTE: Be sure to check out the link under the heading of each session title
COACHING FOR THE SMPs and RIGOR
This session described five important components (from a student perspective) that we need to keep in mind to create a classroom learning environment that is productive. The link above is not the speaker I saw, but Katrina Schwartz’s blog post describes the 5 Dimensions and wraps them in a context that is relatable to any classroom teacher.
3 Classroom Structures That Support Guided Math & Learning Stations
Everything in this session fit what I have believed about good classroom instruction for a long time. Jennifer Lempp, the facilitator of this session, put all of those ideas in her book in a way that is coherent, accessible, flows perfectly, and most importantly feels do-able! After the conference ended, I went home and read her book cover to cover in one sitting. After finishing the book, I thought to myself, "This is the book that I wish I had written. This is a book that I'm glad Jennifer Lempp wrote." This book is definitely on my recommended reading list for every math teacher out there.
STEVE WYBORNEY
I loved attending the
sessions of contemporary math educators, like Steve Wyborney and Graham Fletcher, whose blogs I read
regularly. The link above will take you to Steve’s mathematical playground. Be
sure to check out his latest classroom-ready activity series called The Estimation Clipboard. And if you’ve
not seen or used his wildly popular Splat!
series, that is worth your time as well.
GRAHAM FLETCHER
Graham Fletcher never disappoints! Many of our teachers were delighted after attending his session – he offered great information and inspiration and even posed for a few pictures. We have used his 3-Act Tasks, his Progression videos for professional development, and now, we had an opportunity to hear him offer his ideas about mathematics education in person.
CATCHING KIDS UP ON GRADE LEVEL MATH
One of the resources from the conference that I
knew I would come back to investigate more closely was the Coherence Map at Achieve the Core’s
website. Achieve the Core has FREE, classroom-ready resources that align to our
instructional standards. This particular resource tool helps to link the prerequisite skills for each Standard and also links to the skills that will build forward from that Standard. It is a great tool for teachers to help students who are struggling with specific skills to see which skills may be missing in the sequence of understandings. Click the link above > Classroom Resources > Mathematics > Coherence Map > Get Started > Select Grade Level > Select Domain > Find the Standard > Begin Exploring
ANNIE FETTER on SENSE MAKING
I remember the first time I
saw Annie Fetter speak. She has a wonderfully kinetic personality; you need a map to follow her pace and stream of
consciousness, but she has a powerful message to share. The link above is an
older talk she gave that follows along the same theme of powerful sense making
strategies for the classroom.
NUMBER TALKS with Sherry Parrish
What a treat to finally get
to hear Sherry Parrish speak in person! She’s as kind as she is knowledgeable.
She talked about Productive Struggle and Number Strings. She shared with us
that Number Talks were purposefully designed in connection with Math Practice 7:
Mathematically proficient
students look closely to discern a pattern or structure.
JOHN BERRAY
My first Saturday morning session set the tone for me to begin thinking about "legendary" classroom instruction. I think I would have enjoyed being a student in John's classroom. So, John, I raise my water bottle to you and offer a toast (I'm totally stealing this idea, by the way) to our collective mission to move students forward as critical thinkers, problem solvers, and decision makers!
If you haven't visited this site, it has several quick "game boards" that do a nice job of reinforcing patterns of mathematics and basic understandings about numbers. Try to find a rule (or pattern) that groups 3 of the 4 images together. Which image does not belong? Can you find a DIFFERENT rule/pattern that could be used to eliminate a DIFFERENT one within the set? Try it.
WOULD YOU RATHER?
Would You Rather Math website
CUISENAIRE RODS
An Online Tool to Model Fractions with Cuisenaire Rods
My final session of the day reminded me of the power of using Cuisenaire Rods, especially to teach fraction concepts. The hands-on rods are, of course, my first option, but if you do not have the rods or want ideas to design a hands-on lesson, this online Cuisenaire Rod tool might be a great place to start.
WOULD YOU RATHER?
Would You Rather Math website
What I love most about this website is the new ideas that it sparks for me to create my own "Would You Rather" questions to engage student thinking.
CUISENAIRE RODS
An Online Tool to Model Fractions with Cuisenaire Rods
