In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating its 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Establish Mathematics Goals to Focus Learning.” This is defined as follows:

Effective teaching of mathematics establishes clear goals for the mathematics that students are learning, situates goals within learning progressions, and uses the goals to guide instructional decisions.

In today’s conversation, our hosts unpack the key components of this principle. First, they discuss how learning goals, focused on important mathematical understandings, differ from procedural, process goals, which may include skills and procedures that are not directly connected to the underlying mathematical concepts. Next, the discussion turns to situating goals within a learning progression, which helps teachers stay focused on what is relevant to their grade level or course, and provides a venue for students to be active in their progress toward learning. Finally, effective mathematics goals guide instructional decisions, helping educators know which tangents to explore and which are distractions from the intended learning. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and that it extends your thinking on mathematics goals for learning.

Additional referenced content includes:

·       NCTM’s Principles to Actions

·       NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

·       NCTM’s myNCTM forums (membership required).

·       How learning goals serve as a guide – NCTM Teaching Children Mathematics blog post

·       Rachel Harrington’s appearance on the Math Learning Center podcast/blog discussing mathematical goals

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Elicit and Use Evidence of Student Thinking.” 

In Principles to Actions, NCTM describes this teaching practice in this way:

Effective teaching of mathematics uses evidence of student thinking to assess progress toward mathematical understanding and to adjust instruction continually in ways that support and extend learning.

This meaty description provides the fodder for today’s conversation. Our hosts consider what is meant by “effective teaching,” “assessing progress,” and “adjusting instruction continually,” and tie these ideas back to the important work of classroom educators.

Additional referenced content includes:

·       NCTM’s Principles to Actions

·       NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

·       Want more ideas for eliciting student thinking in your classroom? Check these out:

o   Descriptors of teacher and student behaviors for this practice

o   Thoughts and linked resources from the Colorado Department of Education

o   A classroom observation tool focused on this practice from the Minnesota Department of Education 

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Use and connect mathematical representations.” Our hosts describe the five representations outlined in Principles to Actions, which include visual, symbolic, verbal, contextual, and physical descriptions of mathematics, but emphasize that the representations are not meant to be a check list to be covered during instruction. Rather, the different representations provide a framework for explore important mathematical concepts through different lenses, allowing students to build and deepen their understanding as they consider these ways of engaging.

In addition to deep understanding, teachers’ attending to different representations will allow different students in the class to be elevated, as their unique strengths and preferences will have the opportunity to come out and be showcased. 

 Additional referenced content includes:

·       NCTM’s Principles to Actions

·       NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

·       Making Connections Explicit​ (NCTM requires subscription)

·       Supporting Understanding Using Representations​ (NCTM requires subscription)

·       Three Ways to Enhance Tasks for Multilingual Learners​ (NCTM requires subscription)

·       Interpreting Distance-Time Graphs – lesson referred to in this episode 

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Implement Tasks that Promote Reasoning and Problem Solving.” Our hosts being by expounding on the difference between selecting a task and implementing it, and that selecting a good task does not guarantee good implementation. They bust the idea that the only way to engage students in reasoning and problem solving is with a rich task, by considering how educators can weave together procedural learning with conceptual understanding.

Next, they connect reasoning and problem solving to the Standards of Mathematical Practice, particularly practices 7: Attend to and make use of structure and 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Capitalizing on students’ natural noticing and shining the light on the underlying mathematics leads to stronger connections and increasing students’ ability to generalize their understanding.

By building a foundation of reasoning and sense-making, and helping students understand that this is a resource for them tap into, that allows for the learning and engagement beyond rote classroom experiences.

Additional referenced content includes:

·       NCTM’s Principles to Actions

·       NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

·       Selecting and Creating Mathematical Tasks article from Smith and Stein

·       A Teacher’s Guide to Reasoning and Sense-Making from NCTM

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis begin a season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Facilitating Meaningful Mathematics Discourse.” Our hosts first identify what they mean by discourse and why it is important: that students are able to communicate their mathematical thinking in ways that others can clearly understand for the purpose of furthering their own mathematics learning. 

Next, Curtis and Joanie unpack how to get students talking in math class, a necessary condition for meaningful math discourse. Classroom culture is a key element to ensure that students feel safe and comfortable enough to share their mathematical thinking. Implied in this is that the teacher must hold themselves to precision of language as well, and should understand when to require precision from students and when to be more flexible with informal language.

Finally, their conversation suggests that effective math discourse is not improvisational, but rather something teachers can and should plan for, and use as a strategy for an equitable classroom.

Additional referenced content includes:

·       NCTM’s Principles to Actions

·       NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

·       Strategies for facilitating math discourse in the classroom

·       Latrenda Knighten, NCTM President’s message on Let’s Give Students the Gift of Time

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis reflect on their personal and professional experiences of 2024 and what they learned. Reflect – conferences, books, podcast guests. Thinking differently about teaching and learning math. Hope you’ll take the time to reflect and capture your own learning.

Curtis and Joanie reference these episodes of Room to Grow which aired in 2024:

·       Teaching and Learning Math: Students’ Perspectives Part 1 (aired August 28, 2024) and Part 2 (aired September 17, 2024)

·       Routines for Supporting Student Thinking with Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta (aired October 16, 2023)

·       Unleashing the Mathematical Brilliance of All Students with Rachel Lambert (aired April 10, 2023)

·       Balancing Instructional Modalities (aired March 12, 2024)

·       Asset-Based Teaching to Transform Math Class with Mike Steele and Joleigh Honey (aired October 15, 2024)

·       A Conversation with the National Teacher of the Year with Rebecka Peterson (aired February 13, 2024)

·       High School Mathematics Reimagined Revitalized and Relevant with Latrenda Knighten and Kevin Dykema (aired November 12, 2024) 

Additional referenced content includes:

·       The book Transform Your Math Class Using Asset-Based Teaching for Grades 6-12

·       The work of Liping Ma, including her book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics 

·       Rachel Lambert’s research and resources at mathematizing4all.com 

·       Kevin Dykema’s President’s Message on Balancing Instructional Strategies in the Math Classroom

·       NCTM’s Reimagining High School Mathematics resources on the NCTM webpage

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomt

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis speak with leaders of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) about their recent publication, High School Mathematics Reimagined, Revitalized and Relevant.  Latrenda Knighten, NCTM President and Kevin Dykema, NCTM Past-President share a great overview of how rethinking how and what we teach in high school math can be improved so that more students leave high school prepared. This preparation involves not only knowing more mathematics, but believing in their capability as math learners and in their preparation for whatever path they have chosen for themselves after graduating.

The new “three Rs” of high school math build on NCTM’s previous high school publication, Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations from 2018, and give practical examples and suggestions to engage students in mathematical and statistical modeling, make connections across major concepts, and using mathematical and statistical processes as a frame for student thinking. 

We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:

o   You can find NCTM’s webpage dedicated to supporting the book HERE

o   NCTM’s webinar about the book was recorded and is available to all HERE

o   More information about the Launch Years Pathways work out of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin can be found HERE

o   Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) reports can be found HERE

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis speak with Mike Steele and Joleigh Honey, authors of the recently released book transform your math class using asset-based teaching for grades 6-12. The book and the conversation explore what is meant by “asset-based,” and why shifting to more asset-based approaches supports a broader range of learners. 

Mike and Joleigh unpack ideas around asset-based language, including, the language of mathematics, the language students use to talk about math, and the language educators use to talk about students. They also explore classroom and instructional routines, many of which are already in common use in classrooms, and how to ensure these routines fall more on the asset side of the continuum than on the deficit side. Finally, the conversation shifts to the larger educational structures that could benefit from a more asset-focused lens.

We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:

·       Mike and Joleigh’s book, Tranform your math class using asset-based teaching for grades 6-12 can be found here

·       Learn more about Mike Steele here or here and about Joleigh Honey here or here

·       Mike and Joleigh both serve on the NCTM Board of Directors

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue their conversations with middle and high school students to gain their perspectives on learning math. Our hosts interviewed six students from grades 7-12 in three different sessions. Because all of these conversations were rich with great comments, this is the second of two episodes of Room to Grow devoted to these students’ perspectives; if you haven’t already listened to part 1, we encourage you to do so. 

Part 2 focuses on these students’ perceptions on asking questions in class and managing when they don’t understand, as well as their thoughts about homework. Once again, these students shared some really powerful ideas, and we hope they get you thinking!

We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:

·       Riya’s Ramblings podcast – find on your favorite podcast platform or HERE on Apple Podcasts

·       Not the article Joanie mentioned, but some other great ideas for teaching students how to study

• Teaching Students to Use Evidence-Based Study Strategies
• Five Ways to Teach Students the Skill of Active Studying
• Teaching Your Students How to Study
• Resources for thinking about homework
  • NCTM resources related to homework
  • Ideas for Assigning More Meaningful Math Homework

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy. 

In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis have conversations with middle and high school students to gain their perspectives on learning math. They interviewed six students from grades 7-12 in three different sessions. Because all of these conversations were rich with great comments, the next two episodes of Room to Grow will be devoted to these students’ perspectives. 

Part 1 focuses on what the students said their teachers do or don’t do in the classroom that supports their learning. We heard about the importance of being able to talk to others during class, to move around and actively engage students in the lesson, and understanding, supporting, and normalizing that students learn at different paces. Future episodes center on the conversations around homework and the importance of their teachers in forming their own mathematical identity and the culture of learning in the classroom. You may be surprised at how much you learn from these students.

We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:

• Riya’s Ramblings podcast – find on your favorite podcast platform or HERE on Apple Podcasts
• Resources for getting students talking in math class
• Blog post on developing math language routines
• Blog post with strategies for supporting mathematics discourse in your classroom
• Resources for getting students up and moving in class
• Blog post with ideas for beginning, middle and end of class
• Blog post with easy to implement ideas 

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.