The Math Learning Center Blog

The year is coming to an end. Soon your classroom will be quiet. No more pencils, no more books, no more finger counting, no more area models, no more calendar grid markers, no more pattern blocks and geoboard bands and base ten pieces littering the floor. As Sam Keen said, “Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” You’ve earned all the relaxation you can get this summer; enjoy it...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 18 Many educators were first introduced to the content they teach as a series of items on a checklist. What impact might that way of thinking have on a teacher’s approach to instruction? What if there were another way to understand the mathematics our students are learning? In this episode, we talk with Graham Fletcher about seeing mathematics as a progression and...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 17 When you look at the results of your students' work, what types of things are you attending to? Many of us were trained to look for the ways that students were not understanding concepts or ideas. But what if we flipped that practice on its head and focused on the things students did understand? Today on the podcast, we’re talking with Tisha Jones, senior advisor...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 16 Kindergarten is a joyful, exciting and challenging grade level to teach. It’s also a time when educators can develop a set of productive norms and routines around discourse that can have a long-lasting effect on students. On today’s podcast, we talk with Dr. Hala Ghousseini, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, about building a solid foundation for math...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 15 Ensuring students master their basic facts remains a shared goal among parents and educators. That said, many educators wonder what should replace the memorization drills that cause so much harm to their students’ math identities. Today on the podcast, Dr. Jenny Bay-Williams talks about how to meet that goal and shares a set of practices that also support student...

Attending a Getting Started workshop is a foundational experience for Bridges educators. During the workshop, educators gain familiarity with the components of the curriculum, learn how these components work in the classroom, and investigate ways to use questioning techniques and visual models to differentiate instruction for their students. But how can districts support educators who join a...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 14 How can educators take concrete steps to enhance tasks for multilingual learners? That’s the subject of today’s podcast. Today we’ll talk with Dr. Zandra de Araujo , the Chief Equity Officer at The University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning about three ways to enhance tasks for multilingual learners and how to implement them in an elementary...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 13 We often ask students to share their strategies. But what does it look like to uncover and highlight the reasoning that informs that strategy? Today on the podcast, we’ll talk with Nancy Anderson , a classroom teacher and professional learning developer about strategies to elicit the reasoning at the heart of a student’s thinking. More Episodes TRANSCRIPT Mike...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 12 Today we talk with Kim Markworth, director of content development at The Math Learning Center about using and designing rich tasks to support student learning. More Episodes TRANSCRIPT Mike Wallus : Lately, terms like “rich tasks,” “multiple entry points,” and “low floor, high ceiling” are being used so often in the world of mathematics education that many...

ROUNDING UP: SEASON 1 | EPISODE 11 Adopting a new curriculum can be challenging. Beyond the materials themselves, a curriculum adoption may represent changes to long-standing practices, beliefs and classroom culture. On today’s podcast, Dana Nathanson, an elementary math coordinator in Leander, TX, talks about how leaders can effectively design, manage and sustain a successful curriculum adoption...