Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 88.  Today we are looking at Virtual versus Physical Manipulatives.

With distance learning happening for so many right now, during a Build Math Minds Members Q & A session, a member asked if it’s okay to just have kids working with virtual manipulatives or if kids need the physical manipulatives to ensure they are working in the Concrete level.

As I went digging into the research, I found that this is not a new concern. In 2016, Julie Sarama & Douglas Clements wrote a chapter in the book International Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Virtual Manipulatives that can shed some light on this concern that educators are having in 2021. Go over to buildmathminds.com/88 for links mentioned in this episode.

When you see 15-7, do you know that 15-7 is 8 or do you really think in your brain that 7 + 8 would make the 15?  Are you using your addition facts to help you with the subtraction facts?  A lot of people do, but a lot of people also see them as isolated facts.  Sue O’Connell and John SanGiovanni (and many other researchers) have noticed that when kids have addition fluency and they have built the connection between addition and subtraction, they are more fluent with subtraction.  I’m sharing a snippet from their book Mastering The Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction.  Get a link to the book and other resources mentioned in this episode at buildmathminds.com/87 

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 86.  Today we are looking at Why Subtraction Is So Hard.

The topic of subtraction has come up a lot recently in my life and while I was digging into some research I came across an article by Constance Kamii, Barbara A. Lewis, and Lynn D. Kirkland titled Fluency in subtraction compared with addition.  As I was reading through it, I found a section that was thought provoking and I wanted to share with you. All links mentioned in the episode can be found at buildmathminds.com/86 

It seems like there is a debate about everything in how we teach math.  One of those debates is whether or not kids should do paper-pencil math or mental math.  If you’ve been around awhile you can probably guess where I land on this debate….right in the middle, kids need both.

In the book Math: Facing an American Phobia by Marilyn Burns she pretty much sums up my thoughts on pages 10-11.   Go over to buildmathminds.com/85 to get the link to purchase the book.

Diagnosing a child with a learning disability should never be done via something you learn in a podcast.  

So many people ask me about dyscalculia.  I’m not an expert on this, but someone I’m learning from is Ronit Bird.

The research around dyscalculia is still so new, and in the book, she says that estimates say around 4-6% of the population have dyscalculia, which equates to around 1 child in an average classroom.

To help you a bit more to decide if a struggling kiddo has dyscalculia (and should be tested), Ronit gives a list of indicators that I’m sharing in this podcast.

Go over to buildmathminds.com/84 to get the link to purchase the book.

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 83.  Today we are looking at Inspection-Worthy Mistakes.

When I was in school, math mistakes were met with a big ‘ol red mark and nothing more.  Did I learn anything from those red marks?  I learned it was a wrong answer.  But wrong answers can be a great jumping off point to help students learn so much more than that.

However, you don’t want to stop & do a whole group discussion every time you see a student with a wrong answer, so when should you? 

In this week’s podcast, I’m sharing a few ideas from the article Inspection-Worthy Mistakes by Angela T. Barlow, et al.

Get links over at buildmathminds.com/83

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 82.  Today we are looking at how to have Hands-Down Conversations.

How many of you were expected to raise your hand before you spoke in school?  I did.  Even my own kids do now in their classrooms.  I know this not because I’m in class with them but at the dinner table we will be having a conversation and one of them will raise their hand for a turn to speak.  

When I was in the classroom, I had students raise their hands to speak because classroom conversations can get out of hand and unruly very quickly.  So I was intrigued when I saw the book Hands Down Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math K-5 by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson. Go to buildmathminds.com/82 to get links mentioned in this episode and a discount code for the book.

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 81.  Today we are looking at how to help kids get away from that feeling of “I’m Just Bad at Math!”

The book I’m Just Bad at Math! by Allison Gray is a short chapter book about a girl, Lucy, who wants to be good at math but is struggling. This book is a great read aloud to address the issue that some of your kiddos are thinking they are just bad at math.  It can be a great kickoff to a Growth Mindset investigation and how in your classroom you will be helping them change their thinking about their math abilities.  I’ll link to the book over at buildmathminds.com/81

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 80.  Today we are taking a look at The 5 Strands of Mathematical Proficiency.

It’s the time of year that educators start thinking and worrying about the end of the year tests.  Yes those are still a ways off but we start to wonder if we are going to have time to prepare students enough with the time we have left.

I want to encourage you to keep these 5 Strands of Mathematical Proficiency in mind.  Get all the info here: buildmathminds.com/70

Welcome fellow Recovering Traditionalists to Episode 79.  Today is all about How Can I Help?

You may or may not have noticed but I took a break from doing these podcasts.  I can blame the craziness of 2020 and navigating this time with 4 young kids but really the reason I wasn’t creating this podcast was because I didn’t think I could be of any help.  In this episode, I’m sharing why I’m restarting the podcast and how I can be of help.