In this episode, we hop on a call with Andrea; a middle school mathematics educator and Texas native now living and teaching in Germany.

Andrea joins us with a pebble she is dealing with regarding the connectedness of the content (or lack thereof) she is feeling with certain topics at the end of the unit. She even goes as far as to describe this issue with some topics as having all of the sprinkles throughout the unit to engage students and help them achieve, but no real “cupcake” by the end.

This is another Math Mentoring Moment episode where we chat with a teacher like you who is working through some problems of practice and together we brainstorm ways to overcome them.

In this episode we chat with Jake Hickson, the System Math Lead for the Provincial and Demonstration Schools Branch of the Ministry of Education here in Ontario, Canada. Jake and his colleagues service students who are deaf/hard of hearing, blind/low-vision as well as students who have one or more identified learning disabilities.
We chat with Jake about the challenges he faces as a district mathematics leader who is mentoring educators across three (3) buildings that span great distances. While Jake has access to some built-in professional learning structures, the amount of time and delivery format is certainly less than he would like in order to engage in effective mathematics professional development.
Stick around and listen in as we help Jake shake his district leader pebble out of his shoe!
This is a Math Mentoring Moment episode where we chat with a Math Moment Maker, just like you and guide them to some next steps in pushing their classroom or district leader practice forward.

This week we speak with Camden King, a high school mathematics teacher from Redmond, Oregon. Camden is teaching his diverse “proficiency lab” class and is striving to make gains by anticipating what students might do during a lesson and building an intentional inventory of questions to breadcrumb them along their journey.
This is another Math Mentoring Moment Episode where we speak with a member of the Math Moment Maker Community where together we brainstorm strategies and next steps for teachers to overcome pebbles they have in their shoe by growing all six parts of their Mathematics Program.

Steve is a Mathematics Specialist and Vice Principal of Academics in his school from the Seattle, Washington area. Join us as we learn about Steve and the work he and his colleagues have been engaging in to improve the overall teaching and learning process of mathematics in their building.

While Steve shares that his team is “all-in” and “pulling the same wagon” we are pulling over here at Make Math Moments, they know that there is always a pebble kicking around in that shoe that needs a good shake-out.

Stick around and we’ll hear about some of the current pebbles including how to “cover it all” when we are trying so hard to integrate mathematics teaching practices that we know are so important to build mathematically proficient students.

This is another Math Mentoring Moment episode where we chat with a teacher like you who is working through some problems of practice and together we brainstorm ways to overcome them.

This week we speak with Giovanni Patalano, a high school mathematics teacher leader from California. Giovanni is striving to continue pushing mathematics teaching practice in his school and across the district, but feels like they’ve hit a rut in the road.
How can Giovanni assist his own school team of mathematics teachers continue making progress while also trying to help an overworked and understaffed district leadership team to continue making productive moves in the right direction?
This is another Math Mentoring Moment Episode where we speak with a member of the Math Moment Maker Community where together we brainstorm strategies and next steps for teachers to overcome pebbles they have in their shoe by growing all six parts of their Mathematics Program.

Teaching mathematics in school is complex and often misunderstood.
This paper titled Why Are Learning And Teaching Mathematics So Difficult by Alan H. Schoenfeld does a great job shedding some light on why this is the case.
He argues that teaching and learning math is complex because of these three (3) big ideas:
Thinking Mathematically – What does it mean to do mathematics?
The Learning Environment – Structuring classroom experiences to allow students to think mathematically.
Cultural Surround – How surroundings help or deter students from experiencing mathematical thinking.
In this episode we’ll help shed some light here on the first of those three (3) big ideas: Thinking Mathematically.
elements connected to Schonfeld’s first big idea – thinking mathematically – and how you can successfully integrate them into your program without adding more stress and time to your already jam-packed work load.

We dug into some survey data around why teachers are limiting their PD experiences or completing opting out and the results are kind of shocking.
Stick around and you’ll hear why teachers are opting out of math PD and what we can do to help these fellow educators.

This week we speak with Rose Piso, an elementary interventionist teacher from Seneca Valley. Rose is dedicated to helping her students feel confident, accomplished, and proud. Rose also knows that there are topics and strands that we teachers should spend more time developing conceptually with our students rather than simply showing students an algorithm and moving on.
How can Rose help the teachers she works alongside with recognizing the importance of teaching developmentally? What strategies and structures can she put in place to strengthen her whole school’s math program? Stick around and find out.
This is another Math Mentoring Moment Episode where we speak with a member of the math moment maker community where together we brainstorm strategies and next steps for teachers to overcome pebbles they have in their shoe.

Maybe you’ve recently come across the idea of a Dan Meyer-style 3 Act Math Task and you’re intrigued to give one a shot with hopes to engage your students and help better understand the mathematics you’re teaching. Or, maybe you’ve used 3 Act Math Tasks and use them as a regular routine in your mathematics program.
While there are many mathematics teachers out there who love a great 3 Act Math Task, the reality is that there are many more educators out there who have given one a shot and decided to move on and not look back. What gives?
In this episode, Kyle and Jon discuss why many math teachers leveraging 3 Act Math Tasks in their mathematics programs do not observe an actual increase in student achievement when compared to their pre-3 Act Math Task days.
Stick around and you’ll learn how to strengthen how you utilize your classroom resources so that students will flourish.
In today’s episode, we’ll be digging into the “leaves” which are one (1) of the six (6) areas of every strong mathematics program.

In this Math Mentoring Moment episode we speak with Venus, a high school teacher from Texas who is in her second year of teaching. Teaching statistics and algebra 2, Venus became accustomed to teaching students who’ve motivated themselves, and now she’s struggling to reach students working below grade level in her Math Concept course.
Stick around and you’ll hear us dig deep on what’s really going on in her classroom and what small changes she can make so students start saying “I got this” instead of “I don’t understand this at all”.
This is another Math Mentoring Moment Episode where we speak with a member of the math moment maker community where together we brainstorm strategies and next steps for teachers to overcome pebbles they have in their shoe.