Today we bring on Laura Tomas for a record third appearance. Laura has been an educator for 31 years, she’s a math coach and fellow podcast host from Palm Beach Florida.

Laura chats with us today about providing support during the pandemic, why school leaders and coaches need to step into a teaching role on a regular basis, how to build a mentor/mentee relationship without pushing too hard, and how we can best support teachers when the standards shift or change.

This is another Math Mentoring Moment episode where we talk with a member of the Math Moment Maker Community who is working through problems of practice and together we brainstorm possible next steps and strategies to overcome them.

Have you ever met a math guru who shreds the keytar and just so happens to be in a rock band that opened for Bon Jovi? Vanessa Vakharia aka The Math Guru joins us on the show today to talk about why stereotypes are the biggest obstacle when it comes to teaching math, why failing Grade 11 math twice was the best thing that ever happened to her, and why the world would be a better place if math was as cool as The Kardashians!

When we hop on our Monthly Q&A Calls with Academy Members or Mentorship Calls with District Math Leaders, one of the largest barriers to transforming mathematics pedagogy and educator content knowledge is time. With a seemingly never ending list of mandatory “to do’s” and a jam packed list of mathematics standards to uncover, it shouldn’t be a surprise.

In today’s episode, we’ll be digging into how you can overcome the challenges that time scarcity creates before, during and after your math lessons each day.

In this episode we discuss how to use trickery or influence in your math class for good. We’ll discuss the difference between moral influence and immorary trickery; how educators could and should consider methods of moral influence to promote building student proficiency and a productive disposition towards mathematics; we’ll show you examples of helpful influence and less helpful influence; and, finally, where you can go to learn about helpful tactics that you can leverage in your math class.

In this episode we speak with Chris Shore all about changing the world and why clothesline math is the master number sense maker. Chris has spent 33 years in education helping students understand their mathematical identities and he’s here with us to give you resources and ideas around a great teaching tool.

In episode 189 we discussed all things assessment and standards based grading with guru Tom Schimmer. We knew you had follow up questions around assessing in your classroom so in this episode we’re sharing a question and answer session we had with members of the Make Math Moments Academy all around assessment with standards based grading.

Today we speak with an independent education author, speaker, and consultant from Vancouver, BC. Over the course of his career he has been a classroom teacher, school administrator, and district level leader. Tom is an internationally recognized leader and expert in the areas of assessment, grading, RTI, and educational leadership.

In our discussion we’ll discuss which assessment practices are timeless and which are transformative and why knowing this matters in the classroom; why assessment must drive every decision we make in the classroom from planning our lessons to designing our classroom rules; and how to use effective feedback that drives learning forward.

In this episode, we’re excited to bring back two of our past educator guests for a discussion about supporting teachers through instructional coaching. We spoke with Jess Michalchuk back in Episode 169 on the topic of Building Math Moment Makers and we spoke with Lana Steiner in Episode 143 on How To Effectively Capture Observations and Conversations; two very highly regarded episodes!

Today we get insight from both Jess and Lana on best practices on building trust, empathy, and positive mindsets when educators and coaches collaborate together to Make Math Moments with their students everyday.

Do you have students who struggle with math in your classroom? How can we get them to take the earbuds out and actually put in effort in our classes? On today’s episode we talk to Juliana Tapper from CollaboratEd and cover misconceptions about teaching students who struggle with math plus get some actionable tips about how to get these students more engaged. 

Juliana taught Algebra 1 and Math Intervention at high schools in South Central Los Angeles, East San Jose, and Denver – and had a 3 years stint as a district math coach and TOSA – before leaving the classroom in 2018 to provide PD for schools and districts that teachers actually can’t wait to implement.

In this Where Are They Now? episode, we speak with Tom Marker, a 6th grade teacher from Ohio. Tom is back to update us on how he has progressed moving students away from relying on algorithms towards reasoning and applying strategies when solving problems.

After an update from Tom, you’ll hear the current pebble knocking around in his shoe as he seeks to find balance when it comes to the expectations he holds for students in his classroom and how he can help the parents at home better understand the “why” behind how math is being taught in his classroom.

This is another Math Mentoring Moment episode where we talk with a member of the Math Moment Maker Community who is working through problems of practice and together we brainstorm possible next steps and strategies to overcome them.