Room to Grow is the math podcast that brings you discussions on trending topics in math education in short segments. We’re not here to talk at people. We’re here to think and learn with others — because when it comes to mathematics there’s always room to grow!
This episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie reflect back on 2025 and all that they learned during the year. A significant number of 2025 episodes of Room to Grow were focused on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating the 10th anniversary of its publication. Curtis and Joanie highlighted how these practices have survived the test of time, and continue to reflect good teaching in mathematics. Additionally, our hosts preview what new topics they are hoping to learn and explore podcast episodes about in 2026. Additional referenced content includes:· NTCM’s Principles to Actions and Taking Action books· Pam Harris’ website and book· Julianne Foxworthy Gonzalez, Ph.D. in Mathematics Education. Math guidelines for supporting multi-language learners (MLLs). All of us at Room to Grow wish you a peaceful holiday season! Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
12/17/25 • 38:12
In this episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie reconsider the balance of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency in math instruction. Although this topic has been discussed before, our hosts acknowledge that there is great nuance and many considerations in considering these two ideas in the teaching and learning of mathematics.Curtis and Joanie discuss how inquiry-based, discovery-style learning opportunities are more open ended, are student centered, and are less teacher directed. They support these types of lessons in math instruction while recognizing that there are times when an explicit approach where teachers are sharing important information also has a place. Additionally, our hosts consider that teaching procedures and algorithms also provides and opportunity to cultivate conceptual understanding. When teachers help student find the conceptual understanding within the procedures, they engage in mathematical reasoning. This type of reasoning through concepts and procedures contributes to a broader and more robust understanding of meaningful mathematics. Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM article From Rules That Expire to Deeper Mathematical Thinking. Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12 Volume 118 Issue 4. April 2025. (Membership required).· NCTM article Teaching Is a Journey: From Rules That Expire to a Journey Aspired. Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12 Volume 118 Issue 4. April 2025. (Membership required).· Robert Kaplinski’s website and Open Middle websiteDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
11/26/25 • 33:54
This episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie speak with Pam Harris. Pam is well known and loved for her website, podcast, books, and conference sessions all based on her core belief that “Math is FigureOutAble.” Today’s discussion centers on Pam’s newest publication, Developing Mathematical Reasoning: Avoiding the Traps of Algorithms.Pam starts with three distortions about math that are common among teachers, students, and the population, and can impact how educators engage students with math in their classrooms. Next the conversation shifts to what is meant by algorithms, and how they differ from strategies and formulas. Then the discussion focuses on the potential traps to learning that can result from teaching algorithms in mathematics. All of these ideas are based on the development of mathematical reasoning, from counting strategies to additive thinking, to multiplicative reasoning and proportional reasoning, then the functional reasoning that comprises much of the math students learn in high school.There are so many good ideas in this episode that will challenge you and get you thinking!Additional referenced content includes:· Pam Harris’ website, Math is FigureOutAble.· Pam’s book, Developing Mathematical Reasoning: Avoiding the Traps of Algorithms.· Pam’s podcast, Math is Figure-Out-Able!· Find Pam on all your favorite social media platforms.Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
10/14/25 • 64:22
This episode of Room to Grow brings together our 2025 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from Principles to Actions, an NCTM publication. After discussing each of the eight practices in isolation over the last several months, this month tackles the ideas and challenges in actually making substantive change to classroom practice. Our hosts share ideas for engaging with others in deeper professional learning, coaching, and peer observations, as well as ideas for individual teachers to work on making change in their classrooms. They acknowledge that change is complicated, and encourage listeners to engage in small, incremental steps that add up over time. Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· NCTM’s Principals to Actions Toolkit – Professional learning and other resources for a deeper dive into the eight Mathematics Teaching PracticesDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
9/16/25 • 25:29
This episode of Room to Grow wraps up Joanie and Curtis’ season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions. The final practice in the series is “Support productive struggle in learning mathematics.” This is defined as follows:Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships. Our hosts begin with discussing the connection to classroom culture, ensuring that students feel safe, emotionally and academically, in order to be willing to struggle. Additionally, the expectations set by the teacher when there is a belief that productive struggle is a valuable and important aspect of learning math. Then they linger on the word “grapple” and the connotation it creates, and how different it is than the connotation of the word “struggle.” And they emphasize that productive struggle isn’t about the math being hard, but rather thinking about the mathematics in new ways, and making connections that may not have been obvious. A key idea is the importance of educators’ asking questions to better understand student thinking, which is a necessary condition for helping them to grapple with new mathematical connections.Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· Favorite No protocol (5 minute Video)· Previous Room to Grow episode Helping Students Struggle Productively· Image of America flag made of baseballsDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
8/19/25 • 43:12
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding.” This is defined as follows: Effective teaching of mathematics builds fluency with procedures on a foundation of conceptual understanding so that students, over time, become skillful in using procedures flexibly as they solve contextual and mathematical problems. Using some discussion about multiplication, our hosts try to differentiate what is meant by conceptual understanding and by procedural fluency. They tease out the confusion that can arise by associating conceptual understanding with inquiry-based instruction and procedural fluency with direct instructional strategies. Although these types of instruction often go together, they are different, and separating them can help educators focus on how to best get to student learning. Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· NCTM’s position paper on Procedural Fluency (January 2023 – membership not necessary) Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
7/22/25 • 44:22
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Pose Purposeful Questions.” This is defined as follows:Effective teaching of mathematics uses purposeful questions to assess and advance students’ reasoning and sense making about important mathematical ideas and relationships. In unpacking this definition, our hosts key in on the importance of planning for questions during instruction to ensure that they are purposeful. They discuss how purposeful questions can assess student thinking by giving teacher insight to how students are reasoning about the mathematics. This might include asking a follow-up question even when a student provides a correct answer! They also consider advancing questions, that take students’ current thinking and move it beyond where they are to deeper understanding of important mathematics. With intentional and careful planning of questions, teachers can provide insight to students about what aspects of the math are most important, and encourage them to use and value their own thinking on the journey of learning math.Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· MTLT article Planning and Implementing Effective Questioning (membership required)· (additional articles from CCTM book study Chapter 5) Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
6/24/25 • 31:06
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating its 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Establish Mathematics Goals to Focus Learning.” This is defined as follows:Effective teaching of mathematics establishes clear goals for the mathematics that students are learning, situates goals within learning progressions, and uses the goals to guide instructional decisions. In today’s conversation, our hosts unpack the key components of this principle. First, they discuss how learning goals, focused on important mathematical understandings, differ from procedural, process goals, which may include skills and procedures that are not directly connected to the underlying mathematical concepts. Next, the discussion turns to situating goals within a learning progression, which helps teachers stay focused on what is relevant to their grade level or course, and provides a venue for students to be active in their progress toward learning. Finally, effective mathematics goals guide instructional decisions, helping educators know which tangents to explore and which are distractions from the intended learning. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and that it extends your thinking on mathematics goals for learning. Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· NCTM’s myNCTM forums (membership required).· How learning goals serve as a guide – NCTM Teaching Children Mathematics blog post· Rachel Harrington’s appearance on the Math Learning Center podcast/blog discussing mathematical goals Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
5/20/25 • 34:04
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Elicit and Use Evidence of Student Thinking.” In Principles to Actions, NCTM describes this teaching practice in this way:Effective teaching of mathematics uses evidence of student thinking to assess progress toward mathematical understanding and to adjust instruction continually in ways that support and extend learning.This meaty description provides the fodder for today’s conversation. Our hosts consider what is meant by “effective teaching,” “assessing progress,” and “adjusting instruction continually,” and tie these ideas back to the important work of classroom educators.Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· Want more ideas for eliciting student thinking in your classroom? Check these out:o Descriptors of teacher and student behaviors for this practiceo Thoughts and linked resources from the Colorado Department of Educationo A classroom observation tool focused on this practice from the Minnesota Department of Education Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
4/15/25 • 42:19
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Use and connect mathematical representations.” Our hosts describe the five representations outlined in Principles to Actions, which include visual, symbolic, verbal, contextual, and physical descriptions of mathematics, but emphasize that the representations are not meant to be a check list to be covered during instruction. Rather, the different representations provide a framework for explore important mathematical concepts through different lenses, allowing students to build and deepen their understanding as they consider these ways of engaging. In addition to deep understanding, teachers’ attending to different representations will allow different students in the class to be elevated, as their unique strengths and preferences will have the opportunity to come out and be showcased. Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· Making Connections Explicit (NCTM requires subscription)· Supporting Understanding Using Representations (NCTM requires subscription)· Three Ways to Enhance Tasks for Multilingual Learners (NCTM requires subscription)· Interpreting Distance-Time Graphs – lesson referred to in this episode Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
3/18/25 • 32:20
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue the season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Implement Tasks that Promote Reasoning and Problem Solving.” Our hosts being by expounding on the difference between selecting a task and implementing it, and that selecting a good task does not guarantee good implementation. They bust the idea that the only way to engage students in reasoning and problem solving is with a rich task, by considering how educators can weave together procedural learning with conceptual understanding. Next, they connect reasoning and problem solving to the Standards of Mathematical Practice, particularly practices 7: Attend to and make use of structure and 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Capitalizing on students’ natural noticing and shining the light on the underlying mathematics leads to stronger connections and increasing students’ ability to generalize their understanding. By building a foundation of reasoning and sense-making, and helping students understand that this is a resource for them tap into, that allows for the learning and engagement beyond rote classroom experiences.Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· Selecting and Creating Mathematical Tasks article from Smith and Stein· A Teacher’s Guide to Reasoning and Sense-Making from NCTM Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
2/11/25 • 24:57
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis begin a season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. This month’s practice is “Facilitating Meaningful Mathematics Discourse.” Our hosts first identify what they mean by discourse and why it is important: that students are able to communicate their mathematical thinking in ways that others can clearly understand for the purpose of furthering their own mathematics learning. Next, Curtis and Joanie unpack how to get students talking in math class, a necessary condition for meaningful math discourse. Classroom culture is a key element to ensure that students feel safe and comfortable enough to share their mathematical thinking. Implied in this is that the teacher must hold themselves to precision of language as well, and should understand when to require precision from students and when to be more flexible with informal language. Finally, their conversation suggests that effective math discourse is not improvisational, but rather something teachers can and should plan for, and use as a strategy for an equitable classroom.Additional referenced content includes:· NCTM’s Principles to Actions· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12· Strategies for facilitating math discourse in the classroom· Latrenda Knighten, NCTM President’s message on Let’s Give Students the Gift of Time Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
1/14/25 • 31:27
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis reflect on their personal and professional experiences of 2024 and what they learned. Reflect – conferences, books, podcast guests. Thinking differently about teaching and learning math. Hope you’ll take the time to reflect and capture your own learning.Curtis and Joanie reference these episodes of Room to Grow which aired in 2024:· Teaching and Learning Math: Students’ Perspectives Part 1 (aired August 28, 2024) and Part 2 (aired September 17, 2024)· Routines for Supporting Student Thinking with Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta (aired October 16, 2023)· Unleashing the Mathematical Brilliance of All Students with Rachel Lambert (aired April 10, 2023)· Balancing Instructional Modalities (aired March 12, 2024)· Asset-Based Teaching to Transform Math Class with Mike Steele and Joleigh Honey (aired October 15, 2024)· A Conversation with the National Teacher of the Year with Rebecka Peterson (aired February 13, 2024)· High School Mathematics Reimagined Revitalized and Relevant with Latrenda Knighten and Kevin Dykema (aired November 12, 2024) Additional referenced content includes:· The book Transform Your Math Class Using Asset-Based Teaching for Grades 6-12· The work of Liping Ma, including her book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics · Rachel Lambert’s research and resources at mathematizing4all.com · Kevin Dykema’s President’s Message on Balancing Instructional Strategies in the Math Classroom· NCTM’s Reimagining High School Mathematics resources on the NCTM webpage Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomt
12/17/24 • 35:24
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis speak with leaders of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) about their recent publication, High School Mathematics Reimagined, Revitalized and Relevant. Latrenda Knighten, NCTM President and Kevin Dykema, NCTM Past-President share a great overview of how rethinking how and what we teach in high school math can be improved so that more students leave high school prepared. This preparation involves not only knowing more mathematics, but believing in their capability as math learners and in their preparation for whatever path they have chosen for themselves after graduating.The new “three Rs” of high school math build on NCTM’s previous high school publication, Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations from 2018, and give practical examples and suggestions to engage students in mathematical and statistical modeling, make connections across major concepts, and using mathematical and statistical processes as a frame for student thinking. We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:o You can find NCTM’s webpage dedicated to supporting the book HEREo NCTM’s webinar about the book was recorded and is available to all HEREo More information about the Launch Years Pathways work out of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin can be found HEREo Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) reports can be found HERE Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
11/12/24 • 55:23
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis speak with Mike Steele and Joleigh Honey, authors of the recently released book transform your math class using asset-based teaching for grades 6-12. The book and the conversation explore what is meant by “asset-based,” and why shifting to more asset-based approaches supports a broader range of learners. Mike and Joleigh unpack ideas around asset-based language, including, the language of mathematics, the language students use to talk about math, and the language educators use to talk about students. They also explore classroom and instructional routines, many of which are already in common use in classrooms, and how to ensure these routines fall more on the asset side of the continuum than on the deficit side. Finally, the conversation shifts to the larger educational structures that could benefit from a more asset-focused lens. We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:· Mike and Joleigh’s book, Tranform your math class using asset-based teaching for grades 6-12 can be found here· Learn more about Mike Steele here or here and about Joleigh Honey here or here· Mike and Joleigh both serve on the NCTM Board of Directors Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
10/15/24 • 57:41
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue their conversations with middle and high school students to gain their perspectives on learning math. Our hosts interviewed six students from grades 7-12 in three different sessions. Because all of these conversations were rich with great comments, this is the second of two episodes of Room to Grow devoted to these students’ perspectives; if you haven’t already listened to part 1, we encourage you to do so. Part 2 focuses on these students’ perceptions on asking questions in class and managing when they don’t understand, as well as their thoughts about homework. Once again, these students shared some really powerful ideas, and we hope they get you thinking!We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:· Riya’s Ramblings podcast – find on your favorite podcast platform or HERE on Apple Podcasts· Not the article Joanie mentioned, but some other great ideas for teaching students how to studyTeaching Students to Use Evidence-Based Study StrategiesFive Ways to Teach Students the Skill of Active StudyingTeaching Your Students How to StudyResources for thinking about homeworkNCTM resources related to homeworkIdeas for Assigning More Meaningful Math HomeworkDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
9/17/24 • 50:22
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis have conversations with middle and high school students to gain their perspectives on learning math. They interviewed six students from grades 7-12 in three different sessions. Because all of these conversations were rich with great comments, the next two episodes of Room to Grow will be devoted to these students’ perspectives. Part 1 focuses on what the students said their teachers do or don’t do in the classroom that supports their learning. We heard about the importance of being able to talk to others during class, to move around and actively engage students in the lesson, and understanding, supporting, and normalizing that students learn at different paces. Future episodes center on the conversations around homework and the importance of their teachers in forming their own mathematical identity and the culture of learning in the classroom. You may be surprised at how much you learn from these students.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Riya’s Ramblings podcast – find on your favorite podcast platform or HERE on Apple PodcastsResources for getting students talking in math classBlog post on developing math language routinesBlog post with strategies for supporting mathematics discourse in your classroomResources for getting students up and moving in classBlog post with ideas for beginning, middle and end of classBlog post with easy to implement ideas Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
8/28/24 • 22:07
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis continue their conversation from the Wisconsin Math Council’s annual conference. Wisconsin mathematics education leaders Mary Mooney and Lisa Hennessey share additional thoughts on the remaining pillars of their conference theme, A C.A.L.L. to Action, embracing the roles of Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Learning. Additionally, we hear some questions from the session audience. If you haven’t already, be sure to go back and listen to the first episode, then enjoy this month’s conversation.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode: Wisconsin Mathematics Council: https://www.wismath.org/ Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
7/18/24 • 35:44
In this episode of Room to Grow, we join our hosts at the Wisconsin Math Council’s annual conference. Wisconsin mathematics education leaders Mary Mooney and Lisa Hennessey join Curtis and Joanie for a discussion focused on the conference theme, A C.A.L.L. to Action, embracing the roles of Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Learning. Due to the extended nature of this great conversation, this month’s episode features Community and Advocacy. Stay tuned for next month’s continuation of the conversation, focused on Leadership and Learning.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Wisconsin Mathematics Council: https://www.wismath.org/ Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
6/18/24 • 25:05
In this episode of Room to Grow, our hosts discuss ways to support student sense-making in teaching and learning mathematics. Building out on the ideas shared in Episode 3 of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie dive more deeply into what it means for students to “make sense of mathematics.” They discuss what it looks and sounds like when students are making sense, as opposed to just repeating back learned ideas, and consider which classroom structures and teacher moves might best support students’ sense-making. They acknowledge that sense-making is not more or less important than learning mathematical skills and fluency, but that it is a part of deep learning and of a student’s ability to generalize their understanding. As Peter Liljedahl says in Building Thinking Classrooms, “The goal of building thinking classrooms is not to find engaging tasks for students to think about. The goal of thinking classrooms is to build engaged students that are willing to think about any task.” We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:The Standards for Mathematical Practice, now referenced in most states’ math standards and originally published by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Governor’s Association;Jo Boaler’s Math-ish book and website;Peter Liljedahl’s book and website Building Thinking Classrooms, and Robert Kaplinsky’s blog post about why you should read it. Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
5/14/24 • 40:42
In this episode of Room to Grow, our hosts look for the balance between instruction that is teacher-driven, traditional lecture-style, and inquiry-based, discovery-style lessons. They recognize the value of both types of teaching, understanding that there is a time in learning for both exploration and for direct and explicit teaching. The conversation offers explanation of what conditions may require different teaching strategies, based on the goals and content of the lesson as well as how students are responding to and progressing (or not) toward intended learning. The common theme between these approaches is student sense-making, and our hosts each share a personal example of taking opportunities to encourage sense-making in students.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:NCTM President Kevin Dykema’s President’s message that sparked this episode: https://www.nctm.org/News-and-Calendar/Messages-from-the-President/Archive/Kevin-Dykema/Balancing-Instructional-Strategies-in-the-Math-Classroom/ TI’s Building Concepts lesson on structure in solving equations: https://education.ti.com/en/t3-professional-development/for-teachers-and-teams/online-learning/on-demand-webinars/2016/building-concepts-foundations-for-success-in-expressions-and-equations A sample problem-based curriculum for middle school (NOT the one Curtis’ son uses!): https://curriculum.illustrativemathematics.org/MS/teachers/what_is_pbc.html Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
3/12/24 • 37:02
In this episode of Room to Grow, our hosts share conversation with Rebecka Peterson, the 2023 National Teacher of the Year (NTOY). Rebecka is a high school math teacher at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on leave for the 2023-24 school year to fulfill her NTOY responsibilities. She views the NTOY not as an award, but rather a job, that of spokesperson and ambassador for the teaching profession.In this conversation, we learn about her teaching journey and the lessons she learned along the way that have shaped her focus in the classroom. She shares how she focuses on connections with students – connections to each other, to school, to the content, and to their communities. She reflects on current struggles facing math education systems, and her belief that choice could drive better student engagement, more student learning, and less teacher burnout. We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Learn more about the National Teacher of the Year program HERE See Rebecka’s NCTM Handout with more detail about her “Connections” talk and resources she uses in her own classroomLearn more about Explore Mathematics by Sam Shah, mentioned by RebeckaLearn more about Rebecka’s End-of-unit creative summary projectVisit Rebecka’s NTOY webpage HERE Direct link to press kit (including photos) Direct link to request RebeckaConnect with and learn more about Rebecka Peterson Instagram - @Rebeckapeterson_X (formerly Twitter) - @RebeckaMozdehMedium blog - medium.com/@rebeckapeterson Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others! Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
2/13/24 • 48:50
In this episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie consider ways to uncover how students are actually thinking about the mathematics they are learning. Using a real-life, recent incident between Curtis and his sixth grade son, our hosts consider the challenging fact that many students think that success in math class means figuring out what answer the teacher (or the computer program/app, or the back of the book) is looking for. They posit that when educators are always focused on the mathematics of the moment – what is being learned in a single lesson, week, or unit – we can focus students on the smaller grain size ideas instead of helping them to place their learning in the bigger picture of mathematics as a whole. As always, the episode recognizes that teachers work very hard at a very complex task: teaching young minds to deeply understand important mathematics!We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:“Listening to and Learning from Student Thinking,” by Elham Kazemi, Lynsey K. Gibbons, Kendra Lomax, and Megan L. Franke from Teaching Children Mathematics, October 2016.“Making Student Thinking Public,” by Shari Stockero and Laura R. Van Zoest from The Mathematics Teacher, May 2011.“Attending to Evidence of Students’ Thinking during Instruction,” by Miriam Gamoran Sherin and James Lynn, from Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, May 2019.The Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions by Margaret Smith and Mary Kay Stein, ISBN: 978-1-68054-016-1Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
1/16/24 • 33:38
In this episode of Room to Grow, special guests Sandra Lightman and John Staley help Joanie and Curtis understand the Math Milestones. These one-page resources include 12-14 math tasks that provide a visualization of and engagement with the math standards of each grade. The Math Milestones tasks present grade level math, not as a list of standards or learning outcomes, but as a groups of math tasks, a language understood by teachers and students. The Math Milestones project was supported by Student Achievement Partners with Sandra and John as critical members of the team. The resources, available for free online, include a set of teacher notes that support using these tasks to better understand the math of each grade level, and to engage educators in conversations that get to the depth of the intended learning. Additional work is being done to provide “asset maps,” resources that allow educators to use student work and responses to the Math Milestones tasks to better understand and build upon students’ strengths. We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Learn more about the Math Milestones project on their website HEREFind the grade level grids (sets of tasks) HEREReview the teacher notes for each grade level HEREExplore additional resources to support teaching the standards from Student Achievement PartnersDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
12/11/23 • 42:28
In this episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie continue their conversation with Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta. In follow-up to our previous episode, this conversation shifts to a focus on teachers and how the Reason Routines help them to be more effective with more students. We begin by talking about what makes teaching hard – including the fact that teachers make a million decisions every day in response to the students in the room and how they are engaging with the content; and that doesn’t even include the day-to-day challenges of interruptions, meetings, grading papers, and on and on! The routines are a support for teachers to use a structure for learning that frees them up to be responsive to the students in the moment.As we learned in the previous episode, the routines help teachers to (a) focus on student thinking, (b) get out of the middle of learning, and (c) support students’ productive struggle. These concrete strategies engage all learners in mathematical thinking, supporting special populations from the start rather than requiring an additional set of approaches to support them. Additionally, the routines create student agency in mathematics, providing ways for students to listen to, engage with, and learn from one another.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Be sure to explore Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta’s website, Fostering Mathematical Practices …… and their books, Routines for Reasoning and Teaching for Thinking.Explore infographics, tasks, and more for the Connecting Representations routine.See the Connecting Representations routine in action in this classroom video.Be sure to go back and listen to Part 1 of this conversation if you haven’t already!!Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
11/13/23 • 43:38
In this episode of Room to Grow, Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta join Curtis and Joanie to talk about how routines can provide the “opportunity and support for each and every student develop mathematical thinking and reasoning.” Although routines are used by most educators for a variety of reasons, Grace and Amy focus on “Routines for Reasoning,” which are specifically designed and structured to surface the ways that students are thinking about the mathematics and to better understanding the reasoning of their classmates to reinforce the mathematics content and thinking goals. In this extended episode, Amy and Grace dive deeply into the “Four Rs” and “Annotation,” two of the five “Essential Strategies” that teachers employ within the routines, with an emphasis on how these strategies provide access and opportunity for all students to engage in the deep thinking of the lesson. Then, they describe the “Connecting Representations” routine in detail to help listeners understand the power of the routines in action. As Grace shares, the power of the routines and essential strategies is that they help teachers to “hand over agency to the students. Teachers are no longer are the sole authority in the classroom... it’s the students doing the heavy lifting.” We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Be sure to explore Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta’s website, Fostering Mathematical Practices …...and their books, Routines for Reasoning and Teaching for Thinking. Explore infographics, tasks, and more for the Connecting Representations routine.See the Connecting Representations routine in action in this classroom video.Be sure to join us for part 2 of this conversation next month!Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
10/16/23 • 40:26
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis host special guest Dr. Katey Arrington to discuss the importance of teacher content knowledge. Dr. Arrington is the Associate Director of the UTeach Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also serving in the Presidential line for NCSM: Leadership in Mathematics Education from 2022-2026. Previously, she led the K-12 system services work at the Charles A. Dana Center, served as a mathematics coordinator for a growing, diverse district in Texas, instructional coach, and taught in both K-12 and community college systems. Katey earned a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning, Master of Arts in Mathematics Education, and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. She has extensive experience in leading networks for growing impact and designing and implementing system-level change for increasing equitable outcomes. Early on in the conversation, it is agreed that caring about students in a non-negotiable and important component of effective teaching, but caring without math content knowledge is not likely to result in student learning. Our hosts and their guest explore the ideas of pedagogical content knowledge, math content for teaching, and approaching mathematics as ways of thinking, not just ways of getting answers. Expanding learning is presented as a group endeavor, but also something a teacher can pursue on one’s own. We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:The Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) professional learning programNumberphile on You Tube is one of Curtis’ favorite sources to explore mathematical curiosityThe Coherence Map from Student Achievement Partners on the Achieve the Core website provides a clickable visual map of how content standards connect and build on one anotherDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
9/12/23 • 32:27
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis talk about an important role of math education: preparing students for the life they want to pursue after high school. Whether it’s college, trade school, the military, or directly into the work force, a student’s goals and desires should drive their learning experiences throughout their PK-12 years, and the course offerings, counseling and advising, and school system overall should, ideally, prepare all students for the outcomes they desire.They recognize early in the conversation that this isn’t just about high school, isn’t just about courses, and isn’t just about math. They dive into ideas around career choices, advocating for students’ best interests, and the challenges in creating a system with the depth, breadth, and flexibility required to truly prepare all students. There aren’t easy answers to these questions, but we hope the conversation sparks thinking, discussion, and actions in your setting that support more students to be better prepared for their chosen futures.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:American Progress Math Pathways: The Way Forward report: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/math-pathways/ NCTM’s former President Robert Berry’s blog post on Mathematics Pathways from December, 2019: https://www.nctm.org/News-and-Calendar/Messages-from-the-President/Archive/Robert-Q_-Berry-III/Lets-Talk-About-Mathematics-Pathways/ EdWeek article challenging calculus as the “peak of high school math” https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/calculus-is-the-peak-of-high-school-math-maybe-its-time-to-change-that/2018/05 Just Equations report on calculus and college admissions: https://justequations.org/resource/a-new-calculus-for-college-admissions-how-policy-practice-and-perceptions-of-high-school-math-education-limit-equitable-access-to-college Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
8/14/23 • 36:12
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis explore ideas around the emotional side of learning and how it impacts students in their academic growth. Because we and our students are humans - and humans have emotions - it is impossible to learn without a connection to our emotions, whether those emotions are positive or negative. As educators reflect over the summer and begin to plan for the upcoming school year, we hope you’ll consider the emotional side of your students’ experiences in math class.Joanie and Curtis suggest planning for the emotional experiences alongside planning for content. As a teacher, how might you consider the ways students will feel in sharing their early thinking, perceiving their responses or others as “incorrect,” or being influenced by previous traumatic experiences with math? With some thoughtful planning and attention, these emotional experiences can be managed and leveraged to support learning for all student in the classroom, including those who are traditionally successful and may have positive feelings about math. We hope the content in this episode will help you consider ideas you may not have thought about before, and spark discussion with your educator friends.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Special issue of Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12 on Social and Emotional Learning and Mathematics Learning from November, 2022 (membership required).Access, Power, Identity, and Healing in Mathematics by Sara Gartland, Shellee Wong, and Laurie Silverstein (membership required).Our previous conversation on Room to Grow with Juliana Tapper in August, 2022. Rough Draft Math by Amanda JansenJo Boaler article on connection between timed tests and math anxietyDid you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
7/17/23 • 33:01
In this episode of Room to Grow, Joanie and Curtis talk about teaching strategies for remembering in mathematics, such as mnemonic devices, tricks, and gimmicks. They challenge the notion that teaching with tricks is inherently bad, and discuss how to determine when a strategy intended to help students learn might actually work against their understanding of the underlying mathematics. For instance, “FOIL” and “SOH-CAH-TOA” are both frequently taught in high school math classes, yet one is a way to remember mathematical definitions (not a trick!) and the other is a random association for a limited procedure (a trick!). So what about if a student creates their own strategy or trick while learning math? Join our hosts in trying to make sense of how and when remembering strategies are helpful and when they might be more harmful.We encourage you to explore the resources below, referenced in this episode:Nix the Tricks – available to download for freeThirteen Rules that Expire is an article from Teaching Children Mathematics (NCTM membership required) about commonly taught ideas in elementary school that don’t support long-term learning. This blog about the article does not require NCTM membership.Twelve Math Rules that Expire in the Middle Grades is a similar publication from Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (NCTM membership required) with middle school-specific ideas.This EdWeek article includes a commentary from Dr. Hilary Kreisberg about “nixing tricks.”Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
6/12/23 • 31:03
