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Outside of the polar vortexes and sudden snowstorms, winter is growing on me because there’s nothing like standing outside when it snows and having an opportunity to hear . . . nothing. I take advantage of those quiet moments as I watch the snow fall (or pause from my grumbling about shoveling snow) to reflect.…

Do you want to inspire a culture of mathematics in your classroom and school? Join @Math_Solutions for our first #InspireMathCulture Twitter chat of 2019 Tuesday, January 29th at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.   Nikki La Londe, Director of Professional Learning, and Nicole Bridge, Professional Learning Consultant, will co-lead a discussion on how our personal math stories affect…

A math workshop framework can provide the rigor and relevance necessary for skills that students will need in the future. The math workshop framework often starts with a number sense routine, a short, 5- to 10-minute period of time when students talk about numbers. They may look for patterns, talk about attributes of a number,…

Are you interested in putting your students at the center of learning with the math workshop model of instruction? Join @Math_Solutions for our December #MathWorkshopChat on Wednesday, December 19th at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT. Brenda Konicke, Director of Professional Learning, and Jennifer Lempp, author of Math Workshop: Five Steps to Implementing Guided Math, Learning Stations, Reflection,…

The task of counting may seem simple, but as Ann Carlyle and Brenda Mercado point out in Teaching Preschool and Kindergarten Math, (Math Solutions, 2012), there is an important distinction between the rote or automatic counting that young children start with, and the eventual formulation of a deeper cognitive connection to the meaning of the…

Educators know what a good mathematics classroom looks like (see the Math Solutions Instructional Practices Inventory) and we want to provide this type of learning environment for every one of our students. Unfortunately, implementation of research-based instructional practices across all mathematics classrooms has proven challenging. This is due, in part, to a phenomenon known as…

In her book Faster Isn’t Smarter: Messages about Math, Teaching, and Learning in the 21st Century, Cathy Seeley talks about the importance of providing students with opportunities for constructive struggle through problem-solving experiences that are both engaging and challenging. As students engage in constructive struggle, they construct deep personal understanding of the mathematical ideas that…

During our special live Twitter® #InspireMathCulture chat with Learning Forward co-led by Mary Mitchell, Senior Instructional Designer, and Sue Chapman, Professional Learning Consultant, we explored how we support teachers’ mathematical identities and open doors to equity for learners. Catch up on the discussion below and take some great strategies back to your classroom as you inspire a culture…

Do you want to inspire a culture of mathematics in your classroom and school? Join @Math_Solutions for a special  #InspireMathCulture Twitter chat co-hosted with Learning Forward on Wednesday, November 7th at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT. Mary Mitchell, Senior Instructional Designer, and Sue Chapman, Professional Learning Consultant, will co-lead a discussion on how we support teachers’ mathematical identities…

In my early years teaching mathematics, I taught students to compare fractions the way I had learned as an elementary student—convert the fractions so they all have common denominators. However, in my more recent teaching of fractions, I do not teach one method. Instead, I prod students to think, reason, and make sense of comparing…