Global Math Department

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)

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May 2, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Nate Goza @thegozaway

Online Professional Development Sessions

Mathivate … be the best fraction of a kid’s day!!

Presented by Kim Thomas

M-A-T-H What does it spell? Best subject ever!! Let’s celebrate KIDS + YOU + MATH!! You will leave this celemathbration with mathtastic learning experiences to implement in your classroom. Be ready to have an amathazing time with projects and activities that are personalized for kids. Mathlicious ideas like Math Muscles, Equationanza, MEflection SymMEtry, Fraction of Your Brain, MathO’ween, Namerea, Christmath Trees, Yahmathzee, and Fracordiddles will put a positive parabola on everyone’s face!! Most of these activities can be adapted to any grade level, but the primary focus are middle school grades – Bring your mathitude to this celemathbration!!

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

Join us next week when Anne Agostinelli presents on Making Fluency Meaningful. Register ahead of time here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed…

Avoiding Racial Equity Detours

I recall sitting in my school’s mandatory “Diversity and Inclusion” PD two weeks ago. Fifty-plus teachers and staff listened to our principal, a well-meaning man, talk cautiously about issues of race, gender, and status in our school. Besides citing the “statistic” (his word, which he emphasized) that our accelerated track had few students of color, he read from slides that defined terms such as “diversity”, “inclusion”, and “equity.” Then we watched a TED talk on implicit bias.

Near the end of the presentation, one teacher claimed that implicit bias doesn’t exist and “equity” only creates problems where there is none. Sensing the room’s rising discomfort, our principal was quick to assure his staff that he was not accusing them of racism. He went on to focus on how teachers and students talk about tracking in our school.

Then the meeting ended. That was it. No follow-up or questions. Just some slides on diversity and inclusion, a TED talk, which I fear sent our staff the message that inequity can be solved by fixing our psychology alone, some white fragility, some placating that fragility, and a pivot toward talking about status while keeping race and gender safely at arm’s-length.

I think this is why the article Avoiding Racial Equity Detours by Paul Gorski was so impactful when I found it strolling the streets of the Math Ed Internet Universe. Gorski starts with four “racial equity detours” embraced by schools that refuse to reckon with its reality of racial inequity. They are:

Pacing-For-Privilege Detour: Coddles the feelings and fears of hesitant educators.
Poverty of Culture Detour: Using vague notions of culture to explain everything.
Deficit Ideology Detour: “Fixing” students through mindset and grit alone.
Celebrating Diversity Detour: Using PoC as props for gentle diversity education.

Gorski also talks about five principles of “equity literacy” (which by the way reminds me of another useful term, “racial literacy”). It’s important to note these are not simple strategies to solve problems of equity but rather clotheslines on which to hang weightier conversations:

Direct Confrontation Principle: “How is racism operating here?”
Redistribution Principle: Redistributing access and opportunity to PoC.
Prioritization Principle: Filtering every policy and practice through the lens of “How will this impact families and students of color?”
Equity Ideology Principle: Developing deep understandings of racism and an ideological commitment to eliminate it.
#FixInjusticeNotKids Principle: Eliminating racist conditions instead of focusing on efforts to “fix” kids.

Written by Melvin Peralta (@melvinmperalta)

What is Math?

I spend a lot of time thinking about what math is and why we spend so much time on it in school. For me, mathematics is joyous and learning it also feels useful. Not useful in the sense that I plan to “use it in my real life,” but useful in the sense that I am growing as a result of it. I’m not sure I can explain that growth, nor can I quantify it, but it feels very important nonetheless. I want my students to feel the same way. I am thankful for folks who put math problems up on Twitter because they often reinforce my ideas of what math is, why I love it, and why it’s worthwhile. Here are a few of my recent favorites (the pictures are links to the tweets):

Written by Nate Goza (@thegozaway)

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April 24, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Chase Orton @mathgeek76

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.

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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)

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

Copyright © 2019 Global Math Department, All rights reserved.
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March 26, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Casey McCormick @cmmteach

Online Professional Development Sessions

Activating Curiosity and Creativity in the Modern Mathematics Classroom

Presented by Gerald Aungst

Students enter school bursting with curiosity about the world. To create confident problem solvers, teachers in the modern mathematics classroom must learn to activate and nurture that curiosity, going beyond mere development of skills and rote methods. In this webinar, we will connect the 5 Principles of Conjecture, Communication, Collaboration, Chaos, and Celebration to an understanding of how curiosity works to design a classroom environment that promotes innovation and mathematical thinking.

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 Spring Break. Don’t forget – recordings for all previously held webinars can be found here.

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Maths Venns (#MathsVenns)

This week, I was reminded by Rachel Fruin about Math Venn Diagrams. This is a flexible practice structure that allows students to create their own equations which satisfy the regions in a Venn diagram. Rachel wrote a blog post, Maths Venn, in which she writes about using Maths Venns with teachers and students. She writes, “Out of all of the types of math problems out there, I’ve found that math Venns generate the loudest conversations among students and adults.”

Below is an example of a Maths Venn from Craig Barton’s free website https://mathsvenns.com/ where he shares numerous problems he has created.

I’ve used these several times with students and I’ve found them to be a good example of a self-differentiated practice routine. Some students create very simple and straightforward equations while others might challenge themselves to find more complicated functions. I was first introduced this this type of problem by a RISP, or “Rich Starting Points” problem, shared by Jonny Griffiths. The problem, RISP 10, gave examples of Venn diagrams for practicing both linear and a quadratic equations. You could also use a variation of this task, as shown by Don Steward on his blog post Linear Equations and Mr. Venn, by giving students a list of functions and asking them to place the functions in the correct section.

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

What Makes a Pattern?

You might be familiar with Christopher Danielson’s work through his visually stimulating books Which One Doesn’t Belong? and How Many? If you’re not familiar with his work, no worries. Now you have links to explore his work and have enjoyable conversations with others about attributes and quantities.

In his recent blog post, What Makes a Pattern?, Danielson teases us with some of his thinking and his promise to use his blog to test out some “relevant ideas” for an upcoming book. He will be focusing on two main tasks:

Make my pattern in a new medium

Make the smallest possible version of my pattern

Head over to his blog and enjoy!

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

Math Conferences and Equity

There is no shortage of conferences and gatherings in the mathematics space. Next week, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) will hold its annual meeting in San Diego. Speakers were recently notified of proposal acceptances for NCTM Regional conferences this fall. Many NCTM state affiliates hold their gatherings throughout the year. Although Twitter Math Camp (TMC) will not hold a gathering this year, other smaller events have taken and will take place this summer, including TMCNYC in New York and the Southeast Math Summit in North Carolina.

Due to a series of recent events, many are questioning their own values regarding equity within conferences, i.e. diversity among speakers and attendees, and equity strand vs. an equity focus. Some are having conversations for the first time.

As much as these conversations are needed, there is a real danger in continuing with business as usual if the conversations continue to happen in private, and within racial groups. There are people who are taking steps to have those conversations in public.

The SE Math Summit, envisioned by a group of people including Jennifer White, Rachel Lawrence, and Alli George, is set to take place in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in July. In their call for proposals, they include a question about equity similar to that of NCTM. Knowing that this is an area of concern, Rachel wrote a blog post entitled The Who, What, Why, and How of Equity describing her own thinking. It is a long but important read because she admits to her imperfection and also shows us her growth in this area.

Additionally, Naomi Jessup and Barb Everhart are hosting a diversity and inclusion chat on Tuesday, March 26. See this link for homework and meeting information.

Lastly, some in the literacy space have gathered to create a pledge about their commitment to ensure equity in education conferences going forward. There is much that the math community can learn from them by following the #EducatorEquity hashtag.

They have also created a letter for potential speakers to use in articulating their thoughts.

Many have been working behind-the-scenes for a long time on creating equity in education. Hopefully, math education can join in the effort in a public way.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)

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March 19, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Nate Goza @thegozaway

Online Professional Development Sessions

GMD Webinars take a Spring Break!

This is a great opportunity to catch up on past webinars: Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

We will be back next week when Gerald Aungst will present on activating curiosity and creativity in our Math classrooms. Register now!

From the World of Math Ed…

Pi Day

Mathematics does not get many holidays. One of the few and perhaps most popular holidays, which happened last Thursday, is “Pi Day”. Far from being entirely innocuous, it is often met with controversy. At issue is not the name of the holiday but rather when it should occur, how it should be celebrated, and if it should be celebrated at all. Some examples:

To be fair, debates about Pi Day are mostly just humorous banter. But as the old saying goes: every joke contains a grain of truth. In this case, the tweets highlight an issue about mathematics that go beyond Pi. They demonstrate how mathematicians and mathematics educators are often called to serve as advocates. Consider the following exchange, which anyone teaching mathematics will be familiar with:

Stranger: So what do you do?
You: I teach/do/work in proximity to math.
Stranger: Oh, I hated math.

In these scenarios, we’re being positioned into the role of advocates and, sometimes, the role of apologists. What kind of response is being expected, after all?

The same happens with Pi Day. We are asked, usually implicitly, to align ourselves with the holiday, actively rally against it, or ignore it entirely. In each case, we act as advocates for some position.

But using the term advocate in relation to mathematics is tricky. An advocate is usually someone who promotes or defends a group of people or a cause that has been marginalized or excluded. In this sense, “advocate for mathematics” becomes an oxymoron. Mathematics is not marginalized; it marginalizes. In conjunction with STEM, mathematics is a prism through which dominant ideologies express themselves – and not as themselves, but rather as the refracted images of seemingly more neutral concepts such as objectivity, rationality, and truth.

So rather than seeing math teachers as “advocates for mathematics”, it makes more sense to see them as “advocates for people doing mathematics”. Preoccupations with the digits of Pi is not just a disservice to mathematics but more importantly a disservice to the people who do mathematics. The mysticism often associated with Pi should be combated because math is not mystical and because elitism should be removed from the culture of mathematics.

So happy belated Pi Day everyone, in whatever way works best for you 😉

Written by Melvin Peralta (@melvinmperalta)

A Pi Day Take, Part II
Melvin has pictured above what we may call the “Orlin Interpertation” of Pi Day. Call it a “W” for mathematics, and embrace it!

Patrick Honner, in replying, has this to say, and a blog post he wrote on this topic:

All mathematics teachers need not hew to the Orlin Interpretation, as Melvin nicely points out above. Many of the activities are superficial, and we should take care to not make them too non-mathematical (or all about edible pies).

But taking the “W” here could mean letting Pi Day be a part of the culture, because how many mathematical things are truly embedded or woven into the culture? Awareness is good, but building on this math win hopefully means pushing other mathematical ideas and concepts further into the public sphere. i Day? Sure, “imagine” that? Tau Day? Have at it. Getting beyond just cutesy interpretations of date notation (e.g., 3/14) would be good as well.

K-12 teachers of mathematics are in a good position to push mathematics further into the culture than ever before!

Written by Matthew Oldridge (@MatthewOldridge)

Humanizing Math
(inspired by Darryl Yong and Becky)
Mattie B bravely acknowledges the tragedy in New Zealand with his students. He clearly states that students should avoid watching the video or reading the manifesto as it should be starved of attention; only to quickly learn that some students had already seen it.

Teaching is political – I give credit to Mattie for attempting to talk about “the heavy stuff” even if imperfect (and without the structures), these are the moments that students will remember, this leadership, this willingness to engage with students as humans grappling with the world around.

Julie Jee shares a reading journey assignment that asks students to reflect on who they are as readers. With questions like:

Why did you choose this book/these books?
How does it/do they push you outside your comfort zone? What is so different about it/them? The perspective? The setting? The plot?
Mirror: To what extent do you see yourself reflected in the book(s)?
Window: What are you learning about this different perspective?
Wonder: What did you wonder or think about as you were reading your book(s)?

Tricia Ebarvia submitted this comic from incidental comics to help visualize the power books can have for our students; perhaps providing our students with powerful questions and diverse books will help facilitate “the heavy stuff” that Mattie B is willing to discuss.

Sharing with students what we are reading like Christie Nold does on her classroom door can inspire our students to see their math teachers are whole people, with interests outside of our math curriculum – with the hope that our students may also be inspired to pick up a book and expand their own world view. I am wondering if Ms. Nold’s door sign could be expanded to somehow imitate the bookstores we grew up with (the kind with handwritten notes of recommendation under the book titles). I imagine a book wall (or a wiki) where students can recommend books they are reading to each other.

Postscript aka One Cool Thing:

The guest essay “We need to stop gatekeeping” by Nate Bowling in The Seattle Times
Matt Vaudrey’s teacher report cards
Mary Williams use of personalized screen time statistics in stats class
#AbledsAreWeird for awareness of the subtle or overt bullying in our society

Written by Diana McClean (@teachMcClean)

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March 13, 2019

This Week at the Global Math Department

Edited By Chase Orton @mathgeek76

Online Professional Development Sessions

Meeting Students’ Mathematical and Learning Needs
Presented by Andrew Rodriguez

All students deserve a classroom where their learning needs do not hinder their access to the mathematics. Come learn about strategies that you can use to support your students while not sacrificing rigor. I will also discuss issues related to special education — accommodations vs. modifications in IEPs, co-teaching vs. self-contained classes, etc. — and how they intersect with the mathematics 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 “Changing the Whole: Exploring Number Relationships Through Shapes.”

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Making Sense of Groupwork Monitoring

Do you use groupwork in your classroom? Do you ever wonder if it looks anything like groupwork in other teachers’ classrooms? In our research we get to see a lot of different teachers do groupwork, and we’ve noticed that teachers circulate and interact with groups in a rich variety of ways. From what we’ve seen we don’t believe there are “best monitoring practices” that always work for all teachers, but we’re curious how understanding the variety can help teachers better understand their own context and goals around groupwork.

For example, do you approach a group only when they ask for help? Or do you systematically check on each group? The two graphs below describe two classrooms during groupwork activity. The horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents the group the teachers visit (group number -1 indicates the teacher was monitoring the whole classroom instead of visiting a certain group). Each colored rectangle represents an interaction of the teacher with a group. Green rectangles signal teacher-initiated interactions, while blue rectangles signal student-initiated ones.

What do you notice about the graphs?
What do you wonder?
What situations might the left graph be more appropriate for, and what situations might call for something more like the right graph?
What would a graph from your last groupwork lesson look like?

In our research, we consider five key decision points (intentional or not):

Initiation – Entry – Focus – Exit – Participation

In other words:

How do teachers approach groups and initiate conversations?
What do they first say to the group as they enter the conversation?
What is the focus of the teacher’s interaction with the group? Participation norms? Math? Which type of math?
How do they exit the conversation? Are the conversations open-ended or close-ended?
Do all students in the group participate in the conversation, or just some of them?

If you’re interested in more, read a summary on our project website or see more classroom graphs here.

As this is a work in progress we would love to know what you think. Critique is also welcome, so feel free to let us know what you think is missing. Tweet us with your ideas!

Written by Nadav Ehrenfeld (@EhrenfeldNadav), Grace Chen (@graceachen) and Ilana Horn (@ilana_horn).

Pi Day is Coming

Several school systems are gearing up for Spring Break 2019, but if you are still in school this week you might be gearing up for #PiDay2019. I was reminded of Pi Day 2019 coming on March 14 when I saw a tweet from @MathIsVisual with this great visual of a “Would You Rather?” and a blog post called “Understanding Area of a Circle Conceptually” with visual prompts that will help students generate the formula for finding area of a circle.

If you want more ideas or videos, @CarneigeLearn also tweeted this link with a few more resources and a fun video. I would also suggest checking out the hashtags #PiDay and #PiDay2019 for even more great ideas. Help build a great search by adding those hashtags to your Pi Day tweets for other #MTBoS-ers to find!

By Amber Thienel @amberthienel

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

Chase Orton

March 6, 2019

This Week at The Global Math Department

Edited By Casey McCormick @cmmteach

Online Professional Development Sessions

Changing the Whole: Exploring Number Relationships Through Shapes

Presented by Molly Rawding

Students benefit from hands-on tasks exploring number, area, and fractional relationships when the value of the whole changes. We’ll explore different ways to provide opportunities for students to make connections and develop number sense.

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

Last week Amanda McGarry presented the webinar, ” Foster Student Engagement and Exploration with Interactive Simulations.” If you missed it, make sure to catch the recording!Don’t forget – recordings for all previously held webinars can be found here.

The #MTBoS Never Sleeps

Hook – Line – Sinker

John Rowe has recently release a free eBook titled, Hook Line Sinker.

This book is a collection of problems, lessons and activities for mathematics teachers organized by topic. Many of these are links to activities described or created by #MTBoS teachers. John sequenced these activities into three categories:

Hook – Introductory activities that might generate interest in the topic, don’t rely on prerequisite knowledge and help to “create the headache” or a need for the skills introduced
Line – Activities to build on students existing knowledge.
Sinker – Activities to help consolidate learning and make connections to other topics.

Amie Albrecht suggested on Twitter that the Hook-Line-Sinker categories map nicely onto the first three levels of Depth of Knowledge with Recall and Reproduction (DOK1), Skills and Concepts (DOK2) and Strategic Thinking (DOK3).

The book also contains some links to some great online resources and problem banks.

You can get John’s free eBook at http://mrrowe.com/book or download it from Books at https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/hook-line-sinker/id1452938209

Written by Erick Lee (@TheErickLee)

A Rabbit Hole Worth Falling Into… TWICE

Do you want students to have meaningful math talk more often. If so, follow this rabbit hole:

Cathy Yenca’s recent blog post “Using Apple Classroom for “Stand & Talks” is Cathy’s personal testimony for using Sara VanDerWerf’s “Stand & Talks.”

A few soundbites (I mean textbites) from Cathy’s post:

The vocabulary I heard was impressive!
I have found that using a “Stand & Talk” before a Desmos Activity can be highly effective!
During the share-out phase, students not only CORRECTLY matched the graphs, but ALSO entertained the idea of what the graphs might mean if the descriptions beside each graph DID represent the graph.
So silly and fun!

Follow the rabbit hole, people. Go!

Written by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

Learning About Teaching

February has been difficult, for a number of reasons, in a number of ways. The stress of our profession is a real one, and mathematics is no exception. Tweets about leaving teaching, searching for meaning, and avoiding burnout are not uncommon. Some are brave enough to blog about it as Lybrya Kebreab has done. She was courageous enough to pursue her passion, share her learning with us through her blog, and also share her uncertainty as she navigates her current transition.

However, what is admirable to me is that while in her transition, she is still pushing herself to learn how to teach mathematics well. It is her passion. It is her life.

In her latest piece, Lybrya discusses teaching a lesson on functions as delineated in Making Sense of Mathematics Teaching: High School, from #DNAMath. Students are to decide which population has the greatest growth from four functions, which she brilliantly turned into a WODB activity that allowed students to display their wealth of knowledge.

After the first class period of the two-period lesson, she challenged them to reflect on their learning, and charted the results.

Lybrya closes her blog humbly, asking readers for feedback on her lesson. She is someone who truly humanizes her lessons, attending to students’ identities and agency. Her blog is highly recommended.

Written by Marian Dingle (@DingleTeach)

Our mailing address is:

Global Math Department

The Internet

Clarks Summit, PA 18411