This Week: Math Trauma, Ladies Who Code, Poster Projects, and a Challenge

Edited By Brian Bushart @bstockus

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Math Trauma: Healing Our Classrooms, Our Students, and Our Discipline
Presented by Kasi Allen (@math4justice)

“Math trauma” is a real thing, affecting students and adults at every level. Research from a range of fields—including psychology, cognitive science, and neuroimaging—indicates that such trauma keeps many students from succeeding mathematically. As math teachers, we play a powerful role in validating the condition and supporting healing.

To join the meeting when it starts at 9pm Eastern (or RSVP if it’s before 9pm), click here.

Last week at Global Math, Shelley Carranza shared about best practices for using Desmos Activity Builder to charge up middle and high school lessons.

Check out the recording here if you missed the presentation.

A Little Light Reading

Teacher-Ladies Who Code

This week I attended a screening of a documentary called “Coding: Debugging the Gender Gap”, which was organized by “Ladies Learning Code”, and hosted at the Montreal Google office. It was a fascinating evening, during which I got to meet some wonderful women coders, and as a bonus, get a look at the amazing environment that Google’s employees get to work in. As a math teacher, I’m especially interested in integrating coding into the math class, something I fancy I’m sort of doing by getting my students to create their own interactive applets using GeoGebra. But I looked for female math teachers who really do use coding and found these:

Dawn DuPriest (@DuPriestMath) has an entire website called “Coding in Math Class” that is all about using coding as a math teaching tool. I plan to read all of it. It’s exactly what I want to do. She also referred me to Diane Tepylo (@drtepylo) and Lisa Floyd (@lisaannefloyd), whose website contains a huge inventory of programs she’s created for integration in the math class.

Then this post by Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff) came along and made me rethink everything. That’s the way it is on Twitter.

Written by Audrey McLaren (@a_mcsquared)

It’s Not What You Got (It’s How You Use It)

Worksheets, lectures, and textbooks are just a few of the many elements of the math classroom that get a bad reputation. And yet each of these elements, when used thoughtfully, can support a deep and engaging math experience for students.

Jo over at Resourceaholic just wrote a great piece about another maligned element of some math classes: the poster project. She gives an example of a failed poster project and a successful one, both from her own classroom experience. It’s a great reminder that teachers can rescue many maligned teaching devices such as poster projects or worksheets and put them to good use. In the end, it’s not about the poster. It’s about whether the task promoted high-level mathematical learning.

Written by Kent Haines (@MrAKHaines)

28-Day Challenge

Have you been looking for a motivating challenge to get beach body ready? Or how about one to cleanse all the toxins from your system?

Well, then this post isn’t for you.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a 28-Day Number Sense Challenge, then keep reading! Christina Tondevold (@BuildMathMinds) is preparing to host a number sense challenge for PreK – 2nd Grade teachers. Even if you don’t work in those grade levels, consider joining the challenge to learn more about what concepts make up number sense and why they are such a crucial part of students’ mathematical understandings. The first challenge is being sent out April 17. Sign up now so you don’t miss it!

Written by Brian Bushart (@bstockus)

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