Edited By Ashli Black @mythagon

Online Professional Development Sessions

Learn how to implement effective mathematics instruction by first meeting the emotional needs of our students at tonight’s Global Math presented by Jenise Sexton.

The conference starts at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. Click here to join!

Last week at Global Math, Robert Berry presented on #blackkidsdomath. Click here to listen to stories of Black boys who are successful with school mathematics with a focus on the experiences that shaped these boys’ interwoven identities, especially their mathematics identity.

Things to Check Out

Recommended Reading

Dan Meyer may be the most famous math teacher in America, but the reason why he’s important to us is his commitment to the #MTBoS. In a recent post Dan queries, how do you make a MTBoS?

Among the great links Dan includes in his post is Raymond Johnson’s This Week in Math Ed, which besides the current publication you’re reading, is as Dan says, “the most valuable post of whatever week it’s published.” Another link in Dan’s post is Twitter Math Camp. If you haven’t seen the recently published program, check it out! I’m especially happy with all of the sessions representing the needs of students with disabilities!

One of the triumphs of Dan’s blog is that the comment section is not the wasteland that most internet comments tend to be. Many members of the #MTBoS added what makes it valuable to them in the comments, so this is also a highly recommended read!

written by Andrew Gael (@bkdidact)

Look for and Make Use of Structure

Jennifer Wilson instantly hooked me with finding the area of these quadrilaterals.

Jennifer recently offered three wonderful posts on the importance of “Look for and make use of structure.” The posts include some wonderful mathematical thinking and work from both students and teachers, stressing the importance of mathematical flexibility. Read more here:

My favorite quote from Jennifer after working with teachers one day was, “Everyone learned at least one new way to look at the figure from others in the room.”

In order to better teach our students, I think it’s extremely valuable we teachers strengthen our mathematical flexibility by learning new ways to understand mathematics. However, I believe it’s important we are mindful that students do not necessarily need to be taught every single way we know. By knowing more than one way to understand mathematics, teachers can be better prepared to support the necessary differentiation in their math classrooms.

What are your thoughts? Tweet me.

written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

The Coherence Map

Making Heather‘s list of Favorite Tweets, the Coherence Map from the good folk over at Student Achievement Partners is worth checking out for anyone looking to better understand the CCSS as a coherent, connected whole.The Map spans K-8 and you can follow with a few clicks how a standard in a specific grade develops from earlier grades as well as follow where a standard goes in later grades. Many of the standards are illustrated with tasks, excerpts from the Progressions Documents, and more! I’ll keep this article short so you can go click on a grade and do some exploring of this useful interactive website.

written by Ashli Black (@mythagon)