You’re listening to the ever so charming math teacher & department chair at the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, and debate guru Chris Luzniak.

We chat with Chris about why we should have students debate in math class, how you can get started with this routine in any classroom, what pitfalls to watch out for, and where you can go to get resources to make this happen in your classroom!

Let the Debate begin!!!!

Let’s do it!

Hey there, Math Moment Makers! This episode is a little different from our usual episodes as we look to give you a glimpse of some of the other places that we’re trying to learn with Math Moment Makers like YOU from around the world.

In addition to hosting this podcast each week and working our day jobs in classrooms, we also host the Make Math Moments Academy. The Academy is a membership site for ongoing professional development and support specifically crafted for teachers who are seeking ways to create Math Moments on a regular basis in their classrooms.

Each month we usually hold a LIVE Q & A session with our members to talk about current problems of practice from the classroom, but right now, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have been meeting weekly!

These chats have been really energizing, so we wanted to share a recent recording of our LIVE Q&A Webcall from April 22 2020.

In today’s episode, we welcome Math Moment Maker, John Stevens to the podcast! John is an instructional coach for mathematics and technology, who not only supports the teachers he works with throughout his district, but educators from around the world with his many resources.

Dive into this episode with John and we’ll unpack how you can facilitate debates in math class using his free online resource, wouldyourathermath.com, how to bring parents to the table with his Table Talk Math resources, and a great resource parents can lean on to help their children avoid the dreaded summer slide.

In another in a series of “Where Are They Now?” episodes we chat with Kirsten Dyck a part-time teacher and part-time math coach. We chatted with Kirsten way back in episode #9 about Intentionality and learning goal.
In this episode we hear from Kirsten how she’s made progress on her goals since we last spoke.

Stick around and you’ll learn how she’s adapted the Thinking Classroom to further student learning; how she has focused on making the connection and consolidation stage of her lessons a priority; and how she’s applying coaching techniques to incrementally nudge her teachers down a path toward a thinking classroom.

Cathy Yenca is a middle school teacher from Austin, Texas who has been leading the charge in effective math teaching pedagogy and effective use of technology in math class.

The Mathy Cathy blog is a go-to spot not only because she routinely shares great resources and reflections, but because she is constantly sharing interesting ways to use technology to help her formatively assess students on an ongoing basis and to give her students a voice in math class.

In another “Where Are They Now?” episode we chat with Katrien Vance a teacher of 25+ years from Charlottesville, Virginia who has participated in our online workshop over a year ago; she’s a member of the Make Math Moments Academy, and she’s a make math moments podcast alumni.

We spoke with Katrien way back on episode 8 where we heard all about her transformation from a traditional teacher into a curiosity instigator. If you haven’t listened to episode 8 yet, we won’t hold it against you if you pause this one and cue up that episode. You won’t regret it.
In this Where are they now episode Katrien fills us in on what her classroom has looked liked and sounded like over the past year, as well as how she is dealing with emergency remote teaching in this age of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Today we interview Pam Harris; a former high school teacher turned mathematics consultant living in Austin Texas. When she’s not teaching pre-service teachers at Texas State University, she’s out and about leading K-12 mathematics professional development sessions, writing books, and courses.

We’re eager to share this fantastic conversation with Pam about what it means to do math, defining the “end goal” when teaching a concept, discussing the difference between models and strategies, and why math is FIGUREOUTABLE!

That is the Math Moment Maker Takiesha Martinez from San Antonio Texas. Takiesha talks with us about how to decide which resources are the best for her students, how to create an inclusive learning environment, how to increase mathematical discourse and collaboration, and how to plan with intentionality so that you can get the most out of your resources.

What you’re about to hear is another Math Mentoring Moment Episode where we speak with a math moment maker like you who is working on a problem of practice and together we brainstorm a plan for overcoming these challenges.

In this extra episode of the Making Math Moments That Matter Podcast we’re sharing a recording of our Monthly Live Q and A call with the Make Math Moments Academy members. In this live chat Jon & Kyle discuss the COVID-19 Pandemic and how it’s affecting our home-work life and the home-school life of our students. They answer questions from the community around teaching online, engaging students with math when working from home and resources that can help you do that.

Today we speak with a 23 year veteran teacher from Alabama; Tiffany Roddy. Tiffany joins us on this Math Mentoring Moment episode where we will explore a struggle or challenge she is working on and together we’ll brainstorm next steps to ignite her teacher moves!

Stick around and you’ll learn how you can move away from the “I do, we do, you do” approach to teaching math class; how you can gain more time in your course instead of feeling like you’re always behind; and finally, we’ll dive into the two moments that are most important in your lesson.