Math Leaders Need Support To Do Their Work Effectively
Math Leaders Are Left to “Fend For Themselves”
The reality is that your job as a mathematics leader is incredibly hard.
I’m going to go ahead and bet that when you applied for your role (or finally gave into your supervisor who twisted your arm to take on the position) that you were set to solve all of the mathematics problems across your organization without any sort of meaningful training or professional development.
Am I right?
Sadly, we both know that I am.
You were probably set off on your own to figure out how to submit purchase orders, to reserve supply teachers in your system calendar, schedule and plan professional learning without clearly understanding the mathematics budget and you were also expected to somehow know what facilitating effective professional development looks and sounds like.
I know you are head nodding!
While your list of “responsibilities” for your role is probably long (1+ pages long), my guess is that the job posting had no indication of the type of support you would receive in order to take on the role with any chance of success.
It mind as well have had a section with “Support” as a header with “fend for yourself” as the lone bullet point.
Now, don’t get me wrong – you bring a ton of knowledge and expertise to the position, but the reality is that it is highly likely that the implementation of your classroom mathematics program was effective and therefore, you were “plucked” to turn things around system wide.
Don’t worry. We’ve been there and it is hard!
I spent 10+ years as a K-12 district mathematics leader and put in over 10,000 hours on my own personal time to finally start putting the pieces together.
Why did I do it?
I couldn’t handle doing a job that I felt lost in without trying to figure out how to do it better.
Our goal at Make Math Moments for our Math Moment Maker Leaders like You is to save you from the 10+ years of work to finally feel like you’re gaining some meaningful traction.
We want to invite you to join over 600 mathematics leaders who have registered for our free upcoming webinar What Matters Most In A Successful Mathematics Program (replay will be posted on the same page afterwards).
The reality is that the vast majority of schools and districts around the world are running their mathematics programs without a clear, concise mathematics vision with a sustainable professional development plan rooted in relevant, attainable, research-based and measurable goals.
Sounds easy, right?
We know this work is hard and that is why we are running our free live webinar on Tuesday May 17th, 2023 that you can register for to get a massive head start on this work with your team.
What you’ll learn and achieve:
- Why teaching math is hard and how you can make it easier for the educators you support;
- What matters most when designing high quality math professional development; and,
- How to set realistic and measurable goals that drive sustainable change in math education.
SIGN UP FOR FREE!
After taking action in this webinar you will be well on your way to ensure that at this time next year, you’ll have a year’s worth of measurable key results that help you truly know whether the work you and your organization are doing is contributing towards improving student achievement.
Without clarity for yourself as a district mathematics leader and alignment across your mathematics leadership team, we can’t expect any sort of meaningful shift in teacher practice.
Instead, what we can expect is your eager teachers continuing to work on disconnected pieces of effective mathematics instruction that can only lead to pockets of success.
Imagine YOU culd help turn your “pockets of success” into systemic change in mathematics teaching practice and student achievement across your organization?
Let’s cut that time down for you and your team to start getting a real, sustainable plan in place.
If you can’t make the date live, we’d encourage you to still register as you’ll automatically receive the replay for you to engage in on-demand.
Think you and your team could use a free individualized session where our team helps you identify some of your most significant challenges and craft next steps? Book a free call with our team now so we can help you take the next step.
Shifting Teacher Practice That truly Drives Student Achievement.
Create a direct and clear vision for mathematics improvement in your district and your teacher's pedagogical practice will shift from "I do, we do, you do" to a model that builds resilient problem solvers from grades K-12.
SIGN UP FOR FREE!
A Webinar For District Leaders Making Decisions for Math Programming.
LESSONS TO MAKE MATH MOMENTS
Each lesson consists of:
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson consists of a Teacher Guide to lead you step-by-step through the planning process to ensure your lesson runs without a hitch!
Each Teacher Guide consists of:
- Intentionality of the lesson;
- A step-by-step walk through of each phase of the lesson;
- Visuals, animations, and videos unpacking big ideas, strategies, and models we intend to emerge during the lesson;
- Sample student approaches to assist in anticipating what your students might do;
- Resources and downloads including Keynote, Powerpoint, Media Files, and Teacher Guide printable PDF; and,
- Much more!
Each Make Math Moments Problem Based Lesson begins with a story, visual, video, or other method to Spark Curiosity through context.
Students will often Notice and Wonder before making an estimate to draw them in and invest in the problem.
After student voice has been heard and acknowledged, we will set students off on a Productive Struggle via a prompt related to the Spark context.
These prompts are given each lesson with the following conditions:
- No calculators are to be used; and,
- Students are to focus on how they can convince their math community that their solution is valid.
Students are left to engage in a productive struggle as the facilitator circulates to observe and engage in conversation as a means of assessing formatively.
The facilitator is instructed through the Teacher Guide on what specific strategies and models could be used to make connections and consolidate the learning from the lesson.
Often times, animations and walk through videos are provided in the Teacher Guide to assist with planning and delivering the consolidation.
A review image, video, or animation is provided as a conclusion to the task from the lesson.
While this might feel like a natural ending to the context students have been exploring, it is just the beginning as we look to leverage this context via extensions and additional lessons to dig deeper.
At the end of each lesson, consolidation prompts and/or extensions are crafted for students to purposefully practice and demonstrate their current understanding.
Facilitators are encouraged to collect these consolidation prompts as a means to engage in the assessment process and inform next moves for instruction.
In multi-day units of study, Math Talks are crafted to help build on the thinking from the previous day and build towards the next step in the developmental progression of the concept(s) we are exploring.
Each Math Talk is constructed as a string of related problems that build with intentionality to emerge specific big ideas, strategies, and mathematical models.
Make Math Moments Problem Based Lessons and Day 1 Teacher Guides are openly available for you to leverage and use with your students without becoming a Make Math Moments Academy Member.
Use our OPEN ACCESS multi-day problem based units!
Make Math Moments Problem Based Lessons and Day 1 Teacher Guides are openly available for you to leverage and use with your students without becoming a Make Math Moments Academy Member.
Partitive Division Resulting in a Fraction
Equivalence and Algebraic Substitution
Represent Categorical Data & Explore Mean
Downloadable resources including blackline masters, handouts, printable Tips Sheets, slide shows, and media files do require a Make Math Moments Academy Membership.
I came across your article on the support needed for math leaders to do their work effectively, and it’s incredibly insightful. The importance of providing resources and guidance to math leaders cannot be overstated. It’s great to see the emphasis on professional development, collaboration, and empowering math leaders to make a positive impact. Thank you for sharing these valuable insights. Well done!
Hi Eva – thanks for stopping by and for the feedback! Glad to hear that you found this post helpful.