In what ways can Math Workshop meet every learner’s need for safety, purpose, inspiration, challenge, support, and growth?

Join Wendy Ward Hoffer as she sits down with Michelle Morris Jones on PEBC’s Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to discuss her newest book, All Minds on Mathematics: Math Workshop for Every Learner.

In this episode, Wendy reflects on how her thinking about Math Workshop has evolved since the publication of Minds on Mathematics (2012) and shares her current beliefs about designing and facilitating math lessons that make learning accessible, joyful, and transformative for every student. In addition, she outlines the ways in which mathematics is unique in its liberatory possibilities for all learners. 

Wendy offers both practical insight and deep reflection. All Minds on Mathematics is more than a professional resource ~ it’s a companion and a steady whisper of encouragement for every math teacher striving to reach every learner.

Extra Credit

How many two-digit numbers have a cube root? And how many three-digit numbers have a cube root?

About Wendy

Wendy Ward Hoffer is the author of the forthcoming All Minds on Mathematics, as well as Phenomenal Teaching, Cultivating STEM Identities, Minds on Mathematics, and Science as Thinking, all published by Heinemann. She is also the author of Developing Literate Mathematicians, published by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Wendy serves as Senior Director of Content Development and Publications for the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and travels nationally to provide professional learning for teachers at all levels. She is passionate about promoting rich thinking across content areas—especially in math and science.

About the Podcast

The Phenomenal Teaching Podcast is brought to you by the Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is designed to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework, as illustrated in Phenomenal Teaching.

Thank you for joining us as we share the stories of educators who are making classrooms and schools more phenomenal than ever—by intentionally cultivating community, purposeful planning, workshop structures, thinking strategies, rich discourse, and assessment practices that promote agency and deep understanding.

Listen in as Dr. Marlee Bunch and pre-service teacher Chrissy Kim join Michelle Morris Jones on the PEBC Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to discuss Dr. Marlee Bunch's book, The Magnitude of Us: An Educator's Guide to Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms. In her new book Marlee provides an accessible blueprint for utilizing histories, culturally responsive teaching, and community responsive pedagogy to build collaborative and equitable classrooms. Inspired by research steeped in oral histories, Marlee brings forth lessons from educators, merged with voices of students, to share impactful classroom practices. This text is intentionally crafted to resonate with our most seasoned colleagues and to support our pre-service teachers as it provides concrete instructional strategies and resources as well as opportunities for deeper reflection and revision.

A highlight of the conversation is a deep dive into Marlee's chapter on the importance of listening which she co-wrote with her undergraduate pre-service teachers. This chapter in the book elevates the ways a simple concept can have a huge impact on students. In addition, Chrissy Kim (pre-service teacher and contributor to the book) joins the conversation to share the ways in which this text has supported her during a time of uncertainty by serving as a touchstone and entry point into a community of creative and passionate educators.

Chrissy Kim is a rising senior at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She's double majoring in English and History with a minor in Spanish. After graduation, she plans on continuing her education with a Masters in Secondary Education.

Dr. Marlee Bunch Marlee is an educator with over 17 years of teaching experience. She holds two graduate degrees, and recently completed her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois. Her research illustrates the impact of the long history of segregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and desegregation efforts had on the teaching experiences of Black, female educators particularly between the years 1950-1970. She is the author of The Magnitude of Us: An Educator’s Guide to Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms and a forthcoming publication titled Un-Hushing Us: Unearthing and Celebrating Oral Histories of Black Female Educators.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching. Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. In addition we dive into the PEBC Leadership Framework and PEBC’s Equity at School booklet. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators and leaders who are dedicated to developing classrooms and schools where agency, equity and understanding can flourish.

Listen in as Dr. Katy Anthes (former Colorado Commissioner of Education) joins Michelle Morris Jones on PEBC's Phenomenal Teaching podcast to share strategies for managing healthy conflict and avoiding extreme polarization. Dr. Anthes is leading PEBC's latest initiative "Forward: From Polarization to Progress" and is supporting commissioners, superintendents, educational leaders and teachers. In this episode Dr. Anthes shares insights into her Forward Framework and the ways in which curiosity, human connection, listening, complicating an issue, and pausing can support systems, teams, and individuals in solving issues while valuing multiple perspectives.

PEBC's Forward Initiative, Forward – From Polarization to Progress strives to improve the education environment by equipping educators and leaders with skills in positive conflict resolution, including curiosity, respect, and bridge-building. It seeks to counteract polarization and drive positive change in education and decision-making. “Because we are all different, disagreement is natural, and exposure to and understanding of multiple, diverse perspectives often leads to better problem solving, Dr. Anthes said.  “We need people, organizations, and partners who are focused on getting our education politics and collective decision-making skills back on track.”

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching. Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. In addition we dive into the PEBC Leadership Framework and PEBC's Equity at School booklet. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators and leaders who are dedicated to developing classrooms and schools where agency, equity and understanding can flourish.

How might we integrate whole class lessons, small group work, and individual conferences to support students’ growth as readers and writers?  Listen in as literacy leaders, Ellin O. Keene and Dan Feigelson join the Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to discuss ways to enhance student engagement and agency by integrating reading and writing. When teachers make these connections apparent, students comprehend more deeply, write more meaningfully, and develop individual identities as readers and writers in the world. This episode connects to the Planning, Workshop and Assessment strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework. 

On June 14th & 15th, PEBC is proud to host Ellin and Dan for our summer institute, "Reading & Writing Connections in the Literacy Workshop." They  will offer classroom-ready strategies teachers can use tomorrow and throughout the year and share videos of integrated classrooms that highlight key practices from their new books; Radical Listening: Reading and Writing Conferences to Reach All Students by Dan Feigelson and The Literacy Studio: Redesigning the Workshop by Ellin Keene.

Ellin Oliver Keene has been a classroom teacher, staff developer, non-profit director and adjunct professor of reading and writing.  For sixteen years she directed staff development initiatives at the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition.  She served as Deputy Director and Director of Literacy and Staff Development for the Cornerstone Project at the University of Pennsylvania for 4 years. Ellin works with schools and districts throughout the country and abroad supporting schools and districts with long-term, school-based professional development and strategic planning for literacy learning. Ellin recently published The Literacy Studio: Redesigning the Workshop for Readers and Writers which is focused on an up-to-date conceptualization of Readers/Writers’ workshop. 

Dan Feigelson has worked extensively in New York City schools as a teacher, staff developer, curriculum writer, principal, and local superintendent. An early member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, he has led institutes, workshops and lab-sites around the world on the teaching of reading and writing and is a regular presenter at national conferences. His latest book Radical Listening: Reading and Writing Conferences to Reach All Students,  refocuses reading and writing conferences to help all students reach their full potential. His practical approach centers on active listening―an equitable way to listen to, learn from, and guide students. He lives in Harlem and Columbia County, New York.  

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching. Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.

Listen in as Dr. Marlee Bunch and Brittany Collins join PEBC’s Phenomenal Teaching Podcast with Michelle Morris Jones to discuss planning for ABAR and SEL pedagogy. Both Marlee and Brittany value the importance of telling and understanding one’s own story as well as the stories of others.  Oftentimes the stories of history and our own students’ stories are “hushed” and not included in classroom curriculum, conversations, and experiences for a variety of reasons. Marlee and Brittany encourage educators to “unlearn the hush” and to more broadly incorporate stories of oppression and loss into the classroom so that all perspectives and lived experiences can be valued.

This episode highlights Dr. Marlee Bunch’s “H.U.S.H. Framework” which can be applied to any lesson plan or teaching content at the K-12 or post-secondary level. One can think of this framework as a guide and accountability piece to create inclusive learning content that supports all students. This framework considers both student and educator and requires mindful and consistent engagement from the educator.  Listeners will find that the H.U.S.H. Framework supports the strands of Community and Planning of the PEBC Teaching Framework.

The four key concepts of the H.U.S.H. Framework include:

Brittany Collins brings her expertise in SEL and grief-responsive teaching to the conversation by explaining the ways in which the framework can support students’ social and emotional development and directly support the healing journeys of students who have experienced significant loss or trauma.  Brittany also helps us think about how we mustn't lose sight of the importance of authentic connection and relationships through integrated social emotional learning experiences.

Marlee is an educator with over 16 years teaching experience. She holds two graduate degrees, and recently completed her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois. Her study illustrates the impact the long history of segregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and desegregation efforts  had on the teaching experiences of Black, female educators particularly between the years 1954-1971.

Brittany’s work explores the impacts of grief, loss, and trauma in the school system, as well as how innovative pedagogies-- from inquiry-based learning to identity development curricula-- can create conditions supportive of all learners. Brittany is the author of Learning from Loss: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Grieving Students, which was published in 2021 and is now available as an audio book. 

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching.  Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.

What happens when we focus on assets rather than deficits? Listen in as Julie Wright shares strategies for “growing the good” with Michelle Morris Jones on PEBC's Phenomenal Teaching Podcast.  Identifying and leveraging student and teacher assets allows us to, "Size up what students CAN do and use that to lift their learning."  This episode of the Phenomenal Teaching podcast connects to both the community and assessment strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework as well as the culture strand of the PEBC Leadership Framework.  

Julie Wright believes that autonomy and agency thrive for children and adults when responses are efficient, effective and equitable. Julie is a traveling teacher, instructional coach, educational consultant, author, and a short texts-of-all- types enthusiast.  You may know Julie through some of her writing, she is the co-author of What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book and author of What’s Our Response? Creating Systems and Structures to Support ALL Learners and Side-by-Side Instructional Coaching: 10 Asset-Based Habits that Spark Collaboration, Risk-Taking, and Growth.  In her free time, Julie enjoys hiking with her family, tinkering in her garden, and is a wanna-be beekeeper. Click here for more resources. 

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching.  Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.

Nicole Tucker-Smith joins Michelle Morris Jones on PEBC’s  Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to share ways teachers and school leaders can cultivate spaces that promote agency, equity and connection for all learners.  Nicole encourages us to confront how and why school spaces encourage assimilation, compliance, and conformity and to envision how we might transform our classroom and school environments to promote agency, equity and connection.

Auditing our materials and use of time provide helpful insights into which values our spaces are reflecting. Sometimes one's space may not be reflecting the values that we believe in, and then it is time to examine why or why-not our values and beliefs are not evident. In order to promote agency, equity, and connection we must value choice, ownership, and relationships when designing spaces for learners. Then we must choose actions that illustrate those values. Nicole asks us to promote equity over assimilation, agency over compliance, and connection over conformity.  We can take any moment in the school day, space or system and ask ourselves: Are we valuing assimilation over equity?  Compliance over agency? Or conformity over connection?

Think about something as simple as the way we greet students at the door or read aloud time.  Do our actions, words, and classroom arrangement encourage assimilation over equity? Compliance over agency? Or conformity over connection?  Nicole shares a variety of strategies, examples, and steps that educators can take to transform their learning environments. This episode connects to the Community strand of the PEBC Teaching Framework. 

Nicole Tucker-Smith, founder and CEO of Lessoncast, helps schools implement professional learning initiatives focused on inclusive teaching and equity best practice. Nicole co-authored Supercharge Your Professional Learning: 40 Concrete Strategies to Improve Adult Learning and wrote Remote PD Zen, available on Amazon, Apple Books, and Google Play. She also leads the Jumpstart PD Network, a community of educators to share ideas, spread resources, post tips, and dialogue on key areas of interest related to designing and delivering effective PD focused on inclusion and equity. Nicole’s article, “The Illusion of Equity PD,” is featured in the March 2021 issue of Educational Leadership. Learn more about Nicole here.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching. Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. 

Lily Howard Scott joins Michelle Morris Jones on PEBC's  Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to discuss how a focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) isn’t simply a nice-to-have, a perk, but a need-to-have, a prerequisite for meaningful learning. How children feel in the classroom is inextricably linked to how they do in the classroom. Emotionally literate children who know how to navigate their inner lives can persevere through challenging tasks with resilience, and students who feel deeply connected to their peers and teachers can take the risks that inspire the greatest cognitive growth. Best of all, prioritizing SEL doesn’t mean adopting a new curriculum or adding one more thing to teachers’ plates—Lily introduces simple ideas and techniques that can be easily woven into every portion of the school day. These often-subtle shifts in practice can have a tremendous impact, tilting classroom cultures away from shame and competition towards love, creativity, and personal growth.  This episode connects to the Community strand of the PEBC Teaching Framework. 

Lily brings nearly 10 years of classroom teaching experience to our discussion. Currently an SEL coach, she teaches in the Continuing Professional Studies department at Bank Street College of Education and provides professional development to teachers and school leaders around the country. Her work is centered around helping children navigate their inner lives, connect with each other, and explore and empathize with varied perspectives. Lily presents regularly at national conferences and her writing about the importance of a child-centered, holistic approach to learning has been published in Edutopia and The Washington Post. Learn more about Lily at https://www.lilyhowardscott.com/.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching.  Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.

Gita Varadarajan joins Michelle Morris Jones on the Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to talk about the ways in which diverse texts allow students to develop empathy for others, explore challenging topics, find joy and deepen their comprehension skills. Gita brings years of classroom experience to spark conversation and  scaffold opportunities that guide students toward a variety of texts to create a balanced diet of rich literature. As illustrated in the PEBC Teaching Framework, providing students with life worthy materials that mirror the real world, time to read and explore, and lively discourse create classroom communities that support agency, equity and understanding.

In addition, Gita shares her journey as an author, educator, and newcomer to the United States. Gita Varadarajan was born and raised in India. She is the co-author of the award-winning Save Me a Seat with Sarah Weeks and the newly released My Bindi (illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan). She has worked with children all over the world and currently teaches 4th grade at Riverside Elementary School in Princeton, New Jersey. As a children's author, Gita strives to incorporate her understanding of power and privilege along with the importance of hope and joy as her characters navigate the world of school and home. She hopes her stories provide new perspectives for her readers, opportunities to connect with diverse literature, and to create a place for laughter and joy.  Learn more about Gita by visiting her website or following her on twitter at @gitavarad1.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching.  Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.

Listen in as Crystal Hughes shares how she developed scaffolds to support her 8th graders shift from passive online learners to engaged historians and writers on PEBC's Phenomenal Teaching Podcast with Michelle Morris Jones. When school began last year, Crystal’s students were quite reluctant to engage in writing, yet Crystal knew that her students were capable of being successful with argumentation. Tapping into the workshop model and formative assessment allowed Crystal to create a Writer’s Workshop within her social studies class.  Specifically, throwing away writing fears, setting high expectations, planning for engagement with intriguing topics, leveraging formative assessments, meeting in small groups, conferring, chunking the process, providing time to write, differentiating tools, using consistent rubrics, and developing a community of writers were some of the ways that Crystal moved students from producing a few lines on the page to crafting an argumentative essay with each unit.  Crystal believes in the importance of courageous curiosity and radical empathy and uses these beliefs as energy sources to support each and every student to be successful. This episode connects to the workshop and assessment strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework.

Crystal spent 10 years in the beauty industry before coming to teaching full-time. Throughout those years she worked with students in many different types of settings. Tutoring on weekends, volunteering with youth in her community and at local schools. During those years Crystal earned a Bachelor's degree at the University of Kentucky and her Master’s Degree from Georgetown College. Crystal is a first-generation college student who knows first-hand the challenges of generational poverty. With the love and support of her family, Crystal has been sowing roots at the Mighty Elkhorn Middle School for the past five years where she served as an 8th grade social studies teacher, team lead for seven teachers and a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports team member. She most recently completed her Principal Program at the University of Cumberlands and is now an Academic Dean. Follow her on Twitter @007CHughes.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching.  Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators who are creating scaffolds for each and every student to ensure that classrooms and schools are places where agency, equity, and understanding can flourish.