This Week at the Global Math Department / Global Math Department

Edited By Casey McCormick @cmmteach

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Making Fluency Meaningful
Presented by: Anne Agostinelli

Have you heard about Math or Number Talks but wonder how to make them meaningful? Let’s explore what makes them effective: the protocol, talk moves, and the many resources from our #MTBoS community, along with ideas for making it all fit into your math classes.

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

Last week Kim Thomas presented ” Mathivate…be the best fraction of a kid’s day!!” If you missed it, you can catch the recording here.

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Math Play

I recently saw a tweet from Lesley about the game library she established at her school. I love the idea of families being able to sign out games to bring home. Games are such a great way to practice mathematics in a fun and engaging way. It reminded me of a quote that I’ve seen attributed to Dan Finkel, “What books are to reading, play is to mathematics.” If you haven’t watched Dan’s TEDTalk, “5 Ways to Share Math With Kids,” you should check it out.

Another great resource for games to play at home with children to build numeracy skills is Kent Haines’ website Games for Young Minds. He has suggestions for lots of different games for families to play at home (or at school). He recently tweeted about a game called Fraction Fill-In of which I have become a big fan. Games like these would be great suggestions for parents to play with their kids over the summer months.

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

Satisfy Their Curiosity with Material First

Pattern blocks FTW (for the win)!

Imagine you’re sitting in front of a bin full of pattern blocks and a bag of potato chips. I’d bet that bag of chips you will enjoy playing with the pattern blocks more than eating the bag of chips, especially if your name is Marilyn Burns. In her recent blog post, Teaching About Angles – A Hand-on Approach, she combines student curiosity, pattern blocks, and mirrors to learn more about angle relationships. Here’s one of my favorite quotes because I’ve learned this lesson after making this mistake hundreds of times in the classroom.

We’ve learned that unless students satisfy their curiosity with material first, it’s typically hard for them to attend to other investigations.

Check out all the wonderful student thinking and creations in her post.

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

31 Days

We have seen an increase in discussion of equity in education and in mathematics. Many wonder what they can do to understand issues facing marginalized people. There are a variety of answers to this question, but this week I offer you a new hashtag, #31DaysIBPOC. Created by Tricia Ebarvia and Dr. Kim Parker, it has and will showcase the writing of Indigenous, Black and People of Color. At the time of the deadline of this piece, four pieces have been posted on Twitter. All are brilliant.

While not all writers teach mathematics, all are educators fiercely devoted to children. While not all bloggers teach mathematics, all are educators, and offer us insights in a unique collection. To fully understand the purpose of the series, I invite you to visit Tricia’s thread. Tricia and Kim write:

“By sharing our voices – one voice at a time, each day – the project centers our unique and varied experiences…We hope that as you read you can appreciate what we in our communities have always known: the power and endurance of Indigenous, Black and teachers of color who strive for equity and excellence every day and why – always and all ways – our work matters.”

The first blog is written by Aeriale Johnson, who teaches Kindergarten. She’s pictured below at Math on a Stick. In To Washington, With Love, she writes about her happiness upon discovering a working environment in which she is able to be her whole self – the perfect beginning to the series.

Second are the words of Dr. Liza Talusan. Her piece entitled Beyond “WHO IS” And Into “WHO I AM,” she gives us a lesson on how important it is to provide young people with options to see themselves in assignments.

Third is Muted But Not Silenced from Dr. Laura M. Jimenez. It is a scorching tale of the courage it takes to speak up and the consequences that ensue.

Fourth is And So We Shone by Chad Everett. Written partially in verse, he tells his story as a student lucky enough to find that teacher, Ms. Rayford. We should all be blessed enough to have a student write such words about us.

By the time this is posted, you would have also heard from Nessa Perez, R. Joseph Rodriguez, and Hema Khodai. There are some incredible educators sharing this month, and I am humbled to be included. I hope you take the time to read them all.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)