The traditional algorithms are amazing historic achievements, but they are terrible teaching tools. If mathematics teaching is not about mimicking algorithms, then what? Join me for small steps that shift the focus from memorizing and mimicking to reasoning and mathematizing. And get big results. Walk away with the best strategies, models, and tasks to make it happen. Math is Figure-out-able!
Talking in math class sounds like a good idea, but is talk for the sake of talking a strong enough rationale? If math is a disconnected set of facts to memorize with rules to mimic, what is there to talk about? If, on the other hand, math is figure-out-able, then talking becomes a crucial part of the learning. And creating that discourse is not a trivial task. But we can do it! And it’s so worth it. Come learn why, when, and what to talk about.
The powerful teaching tool, Problem Strings, is a purposeful sequence of related problems designed to help students mentally construct mathematical relationships. It is an intriguing lesson structure during which teachers and students interact to construct important mathematical strategies, models, and concepts. The power of a problem string lies in the carefully crafted conversation as students solve problems, one at a time, and the teacher makes student thinking visible and draws out important connections and relationships. Finally a way to teach math that is not just showing and memorizing steps–and gets results.
As we reimagine mathematics classrooms, many innovative teaching practices have emerged. In this session we’ll parse out why some of these fail and how to support teachers in making the shift to focus on students. Understanding the ways teachers are misunderstanding key instructional practices can help you leverage them to result in greater student outcomes.
