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Embrace the Challenge

The Blog of a K-8 Math Specialist

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Tag: listening

assessment…

I Don’t Speak Russian, But…

13 Dec 2022
My mother-in-law speaks three languages fluently -- and none of them are English. Her speech dances between Arabic and French and Algerian, and I do my best mental gymnastics to…
formative assessment…

Secret Squares and Stop Signs

28 Jun 2022
I wrote a deeply sad post today. As I went to publish it, I hesitated. Yesterday was my last day of school, and instead of ending with sadness, I'd like…
formative assessment…

Understanding Negative Numbers: In Praise of Tiny Games

1 Feb 202217 Jun 2022
"Is this right?" Inaya asked me, pointing to the equation she'd recorded on her paper: 5 + (-8) = -13 We are one week into our 7th grade unit on…
five practices…

“Look! I showed my work!”

8 Sep 20218 Sep 2021
It's surreal to be back at my school, in person, after 18 months away. I feel a tremendous sense of vertigo when I look around at this place that is…
education…

How Much Is Enough: Using Student Feedback to Reflect on Practice

28 Jun 202112 Jul 2021
Do students need to finish every problem? When I have asked this of colleagues, everyone has responding with a resounding no! Definitely not!Not every student needs that much practice.It's okay…
#tmwyk

Caterpillar Math

20 Jul 202020 Jul 2020
This spring, my children fell madly in love with insects. Ants. Bees. Butterflies. We read books. We went exploring outside with magnifying glasses. We developed elaborate pretend play rituals based…
child study…

Assessments: Capturing a Moment in Time

20 Feb 20205 Feb 2022
It can be tempting to overgeneralize what we learn from an assessment. See how that second grader drew tally marks to solve 54 + 28? He's a direct modeler. He…
#tmwyk…

Everyone Gets A Handful: Preschoolers Explore Division

28 Jan 20205 Feb 2022
One bag of cheese puffs. Four hungry children. My two children -- ages 4 and 2 -- had been playing with friends -- ages 4 and 8 -- when my…
curriculum…

Problem Based Lesson #3: Learning From One Another in Grade 4

9 Jan 202026 Jun 2020
This is a post in a series about problem based instruction in fourth grade -- centering on a series of lessons classroom teacher Claire* and I taught about symmetry. This…
child study

Building Mental Representations

25 Nov 201917 Nov 2019
"Sabrina is fascinating. She will look at a problem for three minutes, not appearing to be thinking about it at all, and then come up with the correct answer," her…
curriculum…

Using Instructional Routines to Inspire Deep Thinking

21 Oct 20195 Feb 2022
Originally published on the Illustrative Mathematics blog (October 13, 2019). We want students to think about math deeply. Creatively. Analytically. Instead, what often happens is that students race towards quick solutions. So…
in the classroom

Listening to Early Understandings of Division: “12 ÷ 5 is either -3 or 0”

20 Aug 20195 Oct 2022
This blogpost is a part of the (2019) HUMANIZING MATHEMATICS CONVENTION: Virtual Conference on Humanizing Mathematics hosted by Sam Shah and Hema Khodai___ I love, love listening to early understandings…
assessment…

Students Surprise Us: Interviews with Juliet

20 Jun 201919 Jun 2019
Have you ever had a student just gloriously prove all your assumptions wrong? Things move so quickly in a school. In order to grapple with the pace of our days,…
in the classroom

The Cookie Recipe: Learning Math from Students

1 Apr 20195 Feb 2022
Fourth grade teacher Alicia and I have a beautiful habit of doing math together when planning. We try out problems, and anticipate ways we think students.* *This work is made…
curriculum…

Mathematical Connections in a Kindergarten Science Unit

18 Mar 201915 Mar 2019
"I'm sorry, we're only loosely doing math today," Jessica apologized as I walked into her kindergarten classroom. "We're deep into our structures unit in science, and I'd like to keep…
education…

“I see the same hands”: Dealing with Discretionary Spaces

12 Feb 201912 Feb 2019
The teacher frowned as she looked out at her 25 students, only 3 of which had their hands raised -- the same three students who always had their hands raised."I see…
assessment…

What does it mean to be “struggling” in math class? (Eduardo’s Story)

5 Feb 20195 Feb 2019
It was a sea of dots. Eduardo's work for 47 + 27 Over and over again, for both computational and story problems, third grade student Eduardo drew dots. Eduardo's work,…
assessment…

Presuming Competence: Using Clinical Interviews to Support Classroom Instruction

13 Nov 201827 Nov 2018
"She's not on an IEP, but she's struggling in class. What should I do?" I don't know the student -- Alejandra, or Ali, for short -- very well, so I arranged…
education

Keeping a Straight Face

9 Aug 201810 Aug 2018
This is my contribution to the Convention of Mathematical Flavors organized by @samjshah2. He put a call out for presenters to ponder the "mathematical flavor" of their classrooms How does your class move…
child study…

Cultivating a Listener’s Mindset — with ELs

10 Jun 20186 Feb 2022
In a post last January, I wrote about how the "mental load" teachers carry can impact their ability to listen to their students. ...but listening is critical. It's especially critical when…

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Recent Posts

  • Using Slow Reveals to Illuminate Tiny but Powerful Details in Graphs 2 Jan 2023
  • Facilitating Number Boxes, Part 2 – Supporting Reasoning with Representations (Learning With Students) 15 Dec 2022
  • I Don’t Speak Russian, But… 13 Dec 2022
  • “What Are You Hoping For?”: Facilitating the Number Boxes Game to Develop Reasoning – Learning with Teachers 8 Dec 2022
  • Would You Believe Me? #tmwyk 26 Nov 2022
  • How do we measure change in data? 25 Nov 2022
  • Turtle Time Trials & Leveraging Creativity To Deepen Mathematical Understanding 13 Nov 2022
  • Seventeen Pumpkins 2 Nov 2022
  • Five Little Pumpkins: Kindergarten Conjectures 31 Oct 2022
  • Restless Teachers 13 Oct 2022

Archives

Upcoming Conference Presentations & Workshops

February 26, 2023
Build Math Minds’ Virtual Math Summit 
(online, free registration!)
“Using Clinical Interviews in the Math Classroom: Learning from Students”

March 25, 2023
RIMTA Conference (East Providence, Rhode Island)
“Slow Reveal Graphs: An Instructional Routine to Promote Sensemaking About Data”

March 30, 2023
ATMIM Conference
(Worcester, MA)
“Games that Promote Equity and Mathematical Brilliance in the Upper Elementary Classroom” (with Louisa Connaughton)

RECENT SPEAKING

December 1 – 2, 2022
NCTM Regional
(Baltimore, MD)
“Rethinking Pre-Assessments: Gathering Data with Equity in Mind”
“Games that Promote Equity and Mathematical Brilliance in the Upper Elementary Classroom” (with Louisa Connaughton)

November 5, 2022
WMMP Fall Institute (South Hadley, MA)
“Slow Reveal Graphs: An Instructional Routine to Promote Sensemaking about Data”

September 2022
NCTM Annual Meeting (Los Angeles, CA)
“Rethinking Pre-Assessments: Gathering Data with Equity in Mind”

READ MORE…

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#tmwyk 5 practices for equity based instruction access assign competence blog centering students ideas child study claire clinical interview counting desmos discourse division education equity five practices formative assessment fractions games geometry grade 1 grade 2 grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6 grade 7 grade 8 identity illustrative mathematics instructional routines intervention investigations Investigations (Inv3) kindergarten listening making connections mtbos multiplication my first school notice and wonder number talks pedagogy presume competence problem-based instruction problem-based learning productive discussions race remote learning response slow reveal graphs student thinking student work subtraction tech tools visual prompt visual representations what if wonderings writing

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Tags

#tmwyk access centering students ideas child study clinical interview desmos division education equity five practices formative assessment fractions games geometry grade 1 grade 2 grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6 grade 7 identity illustrative mathematics intervention Investigations (Inv3) kindergarten listening making connections mtbos notice and wonder problem-based instruction problem-based learning productive discussions race remote learning slow reveal graphs student thinking student work tech tools writing
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