Teaching That "Counts"

Back from winter break, I get the opportunity to have a great conversation with the amazing Cathy Williams! Cathy is the co-founder and Executive Director of YouCubed. She has a vast amount of experience in mathematics education, especially at the secondary level, which is one of the reasons I loved talking to her. We have a great chat about low-floor high ceiling tasks, how teaching math has and must change (as outlined in the newly adopted CA Mathematics Framework), and what we can do as leaders and coaches to support teachers in helping students get better at math. This is a conversation you can't miss!

In this episode, I have a great "catching up" conversation with one of my former principals and the founder of the RODA Leadership Consulting group, Dr. Michael DeSousa. His work over the last several years has focused on building more equitable spaces for schools and communities working with teachers, leaders, and community members to create better structures for student success. We discuss bringing a sense of belonging for our students in mathematics and our schools. We also talk about bringing more indigenous cultures into the teaching of mathematics. This is a great episode for the school leaders out there that want to learn more about building relationships with our communities.

Join me in this episode as I talk with my favorite guests ever to be on the podcast...my kids! Yup, my 4th, 7th and 9th grade kids talk with me about why (and when) they like math, how technology and working with others helps them learn, and how they feel they belong in mathematics. As a special treat, my daughter and son read a children's book called "7 Ate 9", a great book filled with lots of math puns!

I hope you have fun listening to this special podcast and think about how you can use student voice to reflect on your own teaching.

Join me for an amazing interview with one of my favorite educational consultants and authors, Grace Dearborn!

We are off to a great start for season 2! Following up on a great ending in season 1 with Peter Liljedahl, I check in on a few teachers that started their journey into Building Thinking Classrooms last year. This is the start of year 2 for them and they discuss their growing pains and gains! Listen to three amazing teachers as we they talk about implementing BTC practices in the beginning of the year, creating opportunities to build culture and relevance, and offering support to struggling students. This is a can't miss episode for any teacher that is going through ups and downs of implementing the practices in Building Thinking Classrooms.

Here we are! The beginning of Season 2 of the Teaching That "Counts" podcast. The follow-up to a great first season in which we explored Building Thinking Classrooms will have us diving into a new, but adjacent, topic: How do we build teacher and student self-efficacy?

In this episode, I welcome my "partners in math", Melanie Roche and Sarah Harris. We discuss our hopes as we enter into a new school year filled with new initiatives and building upon our work with teachers over that last several years. We begin to think about how we can start to help teachers build their own confidence and, in turn, help their students become confident mathematicians! Join us in this fun conversation to open an exciting second season.

We wrap up a great first season exploring Building Thinking Classrooms with an interview with the author of the book, Peter Liljedahl! It is a great conversation in which Peter gives some insight into various questions that many have had on their minds when implementing the 14 practices in the BTC Framework. We talk randomized groups, student identity and agency, learning intentions, and including students with physical limitations into a thinking classroom. Sit tight and enjoy this fabulous, insightful, and "oversized" episode of Teaching That "Counts"!

In this episode, I am joined by Rogelio Adame, Principal of Cesar Chavez Junior High School and Steve Merchant, Principal of Whitmore Charter School in Ceres, CA. Both principals attended the Building Thinking Classrooms Conference in Franklin, Indiana in June along with some teachers and instructional coaches from the Ceres Unified School District. We discuss some of the takeaways from the conference and talk about how the BTC practices can change the culture of thinking and learning in their schools. We discuss student engagement, using evidence of learning for grading, and...of course...how the BTC practices can help in their roles as leaders and evaluators of teachers.

Joining me this episode are two high school teachers, Diana Andrade and Sarah Mucha. We discuss our trip to Franklin, Indiana for the Building Thinking Classrooms Conference 2023! A group of teachers, coaches, and administrators from our district traveled from Ceres, CA to do some professional development all focused on the 14 practices.

Listen as the three of us discuss our thoughts on the sessions, implications for this coming school year and some new ideas that we picked up during the conference.

Joining me this episode are instructional coaches Kelly Linhares and Melanie Roche. Kelly and Mel have been working with elementary teachers this year supporting implementation of the building thinking classrooms practices. Both coaches share insights from their experience working with the elementary teachers and students. We also discuss the different issues that arise in thinking classrooms in elementary grades as opposed to secondary grades.