Global Math Department

Online Professional Development Sessions

Engagement: Just 3 Acts Away
Presented by Felicia Casto

What do a majority of math classes lack? Engagement! Come join us for conversations on how to incorporate real world 3 Act Tasks and feel like a true mathematician. Hear from teachers and students how 3 Act Tasks bring joy and excitement to math classes. We will also discuss how to create these engaging three act tasks that are accessible to all learners.

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

Did you miss last week’s webinar? Click here to watch “How to Expose It: Contemporary Mathematics at the High School Level.”

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Is It Harmful or Helptul?

#MTBoS is a community that is filled with diverse knowledge, skills, and resources. Among the resources are rich tasks, the most celebrated being those that involve real world application and mathematical reasoning.

To add to the archive of tasks, recently Robert Kaplinksy posted:

The image of Nelly in a math task was strange on my feed, so I paused to read the tweet, only to feel confused about why we might need to #SaveNelly. I didn’t think much of it, so I scrolled on. Until Hema Khodai replied:

With a single tweet, Hema challenged #mtbos to consider and oppose stereotypes in the tasks we create. While these stereotypes may be subtle, Hema reminds us that we have a responsibility to be critical of the images and notions we normalize in our classrooms of communities that have been historically marginalized.

Christelle Rocha (@Maestra_Rocha)

Rethinking Grading

I work with some wonderful math teachers all over California, and I admire their perseverance and courage. One of the things that I think gets in our way of our good teaching is our attachment to traditional assessments of learning as the primary driving force behind assigning students grades.

I sent out this Tweet to see what folks had to say.

Check out the thread for full details, but here’s what I loved most about my journey down this worm hole of learning.

Rhonda Hewer recommended Aleda Klassen‘s blog “Pedagogical Patterning.” It’s an insightful resource for many reasons and you should check it out. In particular, I dig this post about how we can better listen to our students. She builds upon Max Rey-Riek‘s Ignite Talk from a few years ago title “2 > 4.”

Dave Martin writes about his experience removing grades from his high school calculus class in this blog post. He made this stand a few years ago: “I will only assess in a way that increases learning; if my assessment isn’t increasing learning then the assessment needs to change.” Read the post to find out more.

Sunil Singh offers this post on Medium making an argument for how abolishing our traditional notion of grading is the first step to better assessment in mathematics.

If you want to get your academic groove on, Anna Blinstein offers this insightful research article entitled “Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently).

Geoff Krall gave a brilliant ShadowCon talk about this topic not long ago. Give it a watch and let us know what you think.

Again, check out the thread to see what everyone else said. Thank you to those who helped us further our thinking.

Stay nerdy my friends!

Chase Orton
@mathgeek76

[Editors Note: Please forgive me for a thin newsletter this week. As an editor, I missed my own reminders to my writers. My apologies to them.]

GMD is Looking for Presenters!

Do you know someone who you think should lead a GMD Webinar?

Did you see something amazing at a recent conference that needs to be shared?

At Global Math we are proud of our Webinars! We appreciate all of our presenters and look forward to bringing you the best “PD Iin Your Pajamas” on the internet. We’re always on the lookout for fresh faces and new ideas.

Please use this recommendation form to let us know who/what should be shared next! We will take your recommendations and reach out to try to make it happen!

Stay nerdy my friends! Got something you think should go into the GMD Newsletter, hit me up on Twitter at @mathgeek76.

Copyright © 2019 Global Math Department, All rights reserved.
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April 17, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Casey McCormick @cmmteach

Online Professional Development Sessions

How to Expose It: Contemporary Mathematics at the High School Level
Presented by: Nitsa Movshovitz-Hadar

This presentation will focus on an R&D project aimed at exposing high school students to contemporary mathematics by periodically sharing with them Math News Snapshots (MNSs). Metaphorically speaking the idea is to take high school students on a glass bottom boat tour over the deep, colorful, vivid, often stormy mathematical ocean, for 45 minutes, once a month or so. The rationale, the definition of MNS, MNSs development, and results of their implementation will be discussed. You may wish to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the website.

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

Last week the Global Math Department took a break. Don’t forget – recordings for all previously held webinars can be found here.

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Hallway Math

I recently saw a tweet from Heather Dodge about her fantastic estimation bulletin board. I really like how interactive bulletin boards can bring mathematics outside of the classroom and into the broader school community. They help to create a positive culture of mathematics in a school.

Heather’s tweet made me think of the other examples of mathematics bulletin boards I’ve seen or heard about. Some math activities just seem to be a great fit for a spot in the hallway. Kim Figura shared an example of a Which One Doesn’t Belong bulletin board and Danielle Marchandshared her Year Game bulletin board.

Interactive bulletin boards seem like a great way to promote mathematical conversations and inspire collaboration. Tracy Zager, in her book Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had, wrote “Mathematicians frequently talk about standing around blackboards or whiteboards together, thinking and talking. […] This particular kind of collaboration – standing, talking, thinking and writing – is so inherent to doing mathematics that many buildings are designed around it.” If you don’t have space for a whole bulletin board… no problem. How about just posting a math puzzle or problem in the hallway? Sara VanDerWerf wrote a great blog post about how she experimented with this and the surprising results she saw. Read her post Even if they say they don’t like doing math, they secretly do. An Experiment you should try.

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

Got Relationship?

Jenise Sexton gifts us with a brief, yet powerful post to reflect on the relationships we have (or don’t) with students. In here post, The Push Without Relationships, she shares a few experiences and practical bits of advice. These three quotes from her post say a lot about the impact of relationship.

A common confession about students:

“The ones who when they were absent I secretly rejoiced because I knew the class would run smoothly.”

About lesson plans:

“You can have the best laid plans for your classroom, but without relationship those plans can easily go awry.”

About the necessity of relationship:

“Relationship is the important aspect of teaching that gets you through the tough moments.”

But wait, there’s more… go read her post. It’s not too late to create positively impactful relationships with your students.

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

Virtual Strangers

It’s been a week since NCTM in San Diego, but many observed that this meeting felt different.

Some have even blogged about their experience, including first-time blogger, Hema Khodai. Reading her piece, entitled Virtual Strangers, gave me the confirmation that relationships first formed through social media can indeed be the support that sustains us.

Hema shouts out the #ClearTheAir community and its intersection with math educators. And, she acknowledges that she received something she perhaps did not expect to receive: a sense of belonging. As we think about what we want in math spaces, I think her blog is an important piece of that puzzle. No more spoilers. Please read.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)

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April 9, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Nate Goza @thegozaway

Click here for the webinar page!

Online Professional Development

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the #MTBoS booth at NCTM! You may have seen our slides running where we did two things:

1) Shared what makes our Webinars so valuable:

2) Called for volunteers!

If you are interested in joining our team send us an email!

From the World of Math Ed…

NCTM Annual / AERA 2019

The NCTM Annual Conference and AERA Conference, which both took place this past week, highlighted issues of equity and diversity in mathematics education. Some snippets from Twitter:

The sociopolitical dimensions of mathematics education have been addressed by teachers, teacher educators, and researchers for many years already. But what stands out is how these concerns are starting to enter mainstream and popular discourse and how the artificial dichotomies between equity and “actual math teaching” are slowly being broken down.

It is no longer good enough that concerns about critical mathematics, social justice, identity, race, gender, and language politics (among many others) are confined to isolated professional development sessions which are set apart from sessions on pedagogy and content. It is no longer acceptable that such sessions are left to be facilitated by one of the few people of color on scene. Equity is mathematics teaching is mathematics content.

What the programmers, presenters, and attendees at NCTM Annual and the AERA Conference are starting to show us is that equity belongs in our daily discourse on teaching and learning. They also highlight that teacher presenters and researchers of color have important voices to contribute to conversations on math education, that such voices are not homogenous, and that raising concerns for equity is not the only contribution we have to give.

I was not able to attend, but Twitter certainly helped with the FOMO. So here are some further snippets related to the conferences:

Written by Melvin Peralta (@melvinmperalta)

On NCTM Annual 2019 in San Diego
This was my first NCTM conference. On scale, it dwarfs what I am used to, OAME (Ontario Association of Mathematics Educators). At over 7000 participants, it’s over 6 times the size.

Overwhelmingly, the theme of the conference was equity, which was threaded throughout conversations, feature sessions, keynotes, Ignites, and ShadowCon. You have probably heard @theJLV saying for years that mathematics is never neutral, and he said it again in his Iris Carl Equity Address. Here is a slightly older piece that I use with my own teacher/students on this topic: Math Was Never Neutral.

Sometimes that one anecdote is the thing that sticks with you from a conference, and for me, it’s Gloria Ladson-Billings in her conference opening keynote talking about a fractions problem involving baking soda, salt, and…alum. Don’t feel bad, I Googled it too. Young Gloria was told by her teacher that it doesn’t matter what alum is, which is a great reminder that all contexts are cultural, and some are just bad. She was curious, she felt knowing what alum is would help her solve the problem, and her teacher just…shut her down.

I would say more, but I had one sided conversation during the conference about how more and more “progressive” white educators are stepping aside and letting people of colour speak their truths, so that is exactly what I am going to do, right now. You don’t need to hear more from me- go look at the hashtag, #NCTMSD2019, and listen, and learn!

Written by Matthew Oldridge (@MatthewOldridge)

NCTM Call to Action
I am lucky to be a Math for America, Los Angeles fellow. If it were not for this collective of funded math teachers I would not have the opportunity to attend conferences. Knowing my distinct position of privilege, I am wondering how to spread the wealth of knowledge gained from attending the conference.

Therefore, I implore each of you to advocate that least one colleague join the hive-mind that is the Twitter wealth of knowledge. Based on my interactions at NCTM there are many attendees that are not yet taking advantage of the PD opportunities that math Twitter has to offer. And based on the tweet below there are still many more math educators that were not in attendance at the conference at all.

Help your colleagues follow voices different than their own. Follow @averypickfordand @herbertmath628

I spent a bit of time hanging out with Annie Fetter at the #MTBoS booth. No matter how mixed our feeling are about this space – it is the antithesis of Teachers Pay Teachers – there is a community of educators that are willing to answer questions and share resources. While at the booth I found myself saying, “Because I use Twitter, I now have access to people and ideas.” For example, when I tweet @ddmyer or @eliluberoff they respond! When I lurk on the #ClearTheAir chat my ideas and worldview are challenged and pressed.

We want your voice. Your views are distinct and valuable. Summon your inner Gryffindor and bravely join the conversations; then invite a friend to join as well.
Written by Diana McClean (@teachMcClean)

I’m Nate, the editor. Usually I just shut up and edit. But I’d be remiss not to share my favorite thing from the internet this week as I find it extremely relevant. So I’ll just leave it here…

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April 2, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Chase Orton @mathgeek76

Online Professional Development Sessions

STEM Content Knowledge and Affect in the K-16 Classroom
Presented by Evelyn Laffey

National discourse on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) urges educators to attend to the growing demand for a STEM-literate populace. But, what is “STEM-literacy,” and how do we, as educators, cultivate opportunities for students to enhance their STEM-literacy, as well as their STEM content knowledge and affect? In this session, I will share action research (conducted at the university and high school levels) that aims to understand the impact of engineering modules on students’ cognition and affect. I will share the framework for STEM-literacy and affect, as well as the data collection tools and analysis methods that can be adapted for use in your classroom.

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

Did you miss last week’s webinar? Click here to watch “Activating Curiosity & Creativity in the Modern Mathematics Classroom.”

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Hello all,

My name is Christelle Rocha (@Maestra_Rocha), I’m a 7th and 8th grade math teacher in Los Angeles, California and Desmos Fellow, Cohort 3. I’m excited to join the Global Math Department and want to introduce myself by sharing my top five, all-time favorite pieces.

In Strategies versus Models: Why This is Important, Pamela Harris (@pwharris) challenges me to rethink my views of math and math instruction.

Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach) and Jose Vilson (@TheJLV) speak on my “why” for teaching math. While Marian’s powerful thread shows the individual, day-to-day impact of math education, Jose speaks on the broader implications of our work in Math as a Social Justice Lever.

As fulfilling and vital as teaching can be, Is the first-year teacher in your life crying in the car? Here are five things you should know by Roxanna Elden (@RoxannaElden) and Teaching Saves My Life Every Single Day by Christina Torres (@biblio_phile) remind me teaching is exhausting for everyone, which means self-advocacy and self-preservation are essential to continue doing the work I love.

Christelle Rocha (@Maestra_Rocha)

Podcasts for Educators

Perhaps you are like me and you have a semi-long commute to and from school everyday. Or perhaps you’re like me and you run long distances at a time. Either way I have found out that these are both perfect conditions to listen to podcasts. The podcasts about true crime or the life of Americans (see what I did there?) are the ones I usually like to fill my time. But I saw this tweet from Mike Mohammad (@Mo_physics) and realized there is an entire subculture of podcasts that focus on educators.

He pulled all the recommendations and created a blog post that you can find here. There are some great recommendations of people like Jennifer Gonzales (@cultofpedagogy) who’s blog I have been reading for years. In search of some more math specific podcasts, I found this article with recommendations like “My Favourite Theorem” (@myfavethm) which hosted Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen) on a recent episode.

What education-based podcasts am I missing out on that I really need to give a listen? Which one from these suggestions are you ready to try?

By Amber Thienel (@amberthienel)

[Editor’s Note: I love Drew Perkin’s TeachThought podcast. Check it out! Here’s an episode when he interviews Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer). Um, it gets a little heated. Well worth the listen.]

Rethinking Math Modeling

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about math modeling and facilitating some workshops with teachers. We’ve been using math modeling as an anchor through some lesson study work and it’s been fantastic.

Robert Kaplinsky has three webinars about math modeling, one each for elementary, middle, and high school teachers. They are well worth the watch and useful for workshops. Give them a watch and let him know what you think.

Dan Meyer spoke on a panel about math modeling. He said it got a bit awkward. Read his blog post to find out more. He’ll leave you thinking.

I sent out this Tweet to see what the #MTBoS community had to share about math modeling, what it looks like, and how we can teach it better in our classrooms. Click on the Tweet to find the thread.

Chase Orton
@mathgeek76

GMD is Looking for Presenters!

Do you know someone who you think should lead a GMD Webinar?

Did you see something amazing at a recent conference that needs to be shared?

Please use this recommendation form to let us know who/what should be shared next! We will take your recommendations and reach out to try to make it happen!

Stay nerdy my friends! Got something you think should go into the GMD Newsletter, hit me up on Twitter at @mathgeek76.

Our mailing address is:

Global Math Department

The Internet

Clarks Summit, PA 18411