February 4, 2025 • 17 mins
It's Medjool Date Day! So first we discuss our ideas about dates...
Then we get some updates for Where They are on Their Journey NOW. Maggie is not in the classroom this year, but Grahame sends us a recording of how he's doing in his second year with CPM.
Enjoy!
Send Joel and Misty a message!
The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
Learn more at CPM.org
X: @cpmmath
Facebook: CPMEducationalProgram
Email: cpmpodcast@cpm.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast.
An outreach of CPM educationalprogram Boom.
An outreach of CPM EducationalProgram Boom.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here we are.
It is February 4th 2025.
So, as usual, I would like toknow what is the day today, joel
.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Today is Medjool Date Day.
Medjool Date Day.
Yeah, medjool Date Day.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Medjool Date Day yeah , medjool.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Date Day February 4th .
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Date Day.
I like saying Date Day, soMedjool dates, not any other
kinds of dates.
I don't know what other kindsof dates there are.
Yes, I assume there are otherkinds that they're going to
specify Medjool dates.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I think so too In my research.
They do just differentiatebetween medjool and other dates.
They don't list the other.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So all the others are just lumped.
Yes, they don't get specificcall-outs by other dates.
So I wonder what I mean.
Clearly it's just a differentkind of spree, maybe, but I
wonder what else differentiatesmedjool dates from other dates.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, funny, you should ask.
Because, yes, first of all, thedate is just a very nutritious
food, fruit that takes the placeof sugars, takes the place of a
lot of different things, butjewel dates have more of a
caramel flavoring to them, right, and also they are higher
(01:57):
content of calcium than otherdates.
Interesting, yes, good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
All right, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, and they've been around, they're dating
dates.
The start of medjool dates arejust dates, I guess as far back
as 7 000 bc 7 000, oh they'vebeen around for a long time, but
that's.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
That's a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, and oddly enough, I I don't know why I'm
saying odd because it makessense that they didn't come here
to the united states until theearly 20th century because
things like transportation wereinvented like transportation.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
They didn't have transportation until the 20th
century that's right what theydid.
People still transported thingsand themselves to other places,
but some particular kind oftransportation, I guess, for the
dates.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
One of my favorite questions that I read is do
dates make you fat?
Mm-hmm, and it just saysconsuming a large number of
dates can lead to some weightgain.
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess, ifyou're just going to eat, a lot
of of dates can lead to someweight gain.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess if you're just going to
eat a lot of calories, you mighthave some weight.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
If you eat lots of calories, it could lead to
weight gain.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I used to have I don't remember where we got it
from, but some organization,business, company, whatever that
sold date fristles which werebasically like dehydrated dates,
like they were like cut up intolike small little bits so they
would be like crumbles kind ofwhen they were, when they were
(03:35):
crumble sides, when they weredehydrated.
And then you, they had all theserecipes and things because you
would use them in place of sugar, basically to make muffins or
cakes or right, and they alsolook really good to just eat
because they're just littledehydrated dates rehydrate your
mouth yeah, like so.
(03:56):
Yeah, I used to have those allthe time, but I lost access and
we ordered them in a giant tub.
Side Side towels.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
There were some things that I don't need.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
There are nearly that many anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Costco maybe.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was a specific company that made them from out
of California.
But yeah, they're cool.
They were probably Medjooldates.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I mean.
Well, they are known as theking of dates.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So how are you going to celebrate Medjool date?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
day.
Well, the suggestions are thatyou could buy some Medjool dates
.
You could share their benefits.
So, like I said before, thatthey're good for your health and
you could share that with otherpeople.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You could proselytize them.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You could cook a dish with some yummy dates.
I do like them.
Make some yummy date dishes.
Bacon-wrapped date is verydelicious.
Oh, I don't know if I've hadthat before.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They'll put like cream cheese in the middle or
something, and then you wrap thebacon around them.
They're pretty good.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Like an hors d'oeuvre .
That sounds good.
Yeah, one suggestion here is toput it in pudding.
I think that would be good tooInteresting.
I like pudding more than I likedates, so anything that you put
in pudding, I'm probably goingto like Pro pudding.
But for me personally, I thinkI'll, maybe I'll buy some dates.
(05:23):
See what happens.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
yeah, you can, I might eat a date.
I don't know, they're a littlesweet for me, so okay, all right
, yeah, but I I could eat.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, there you go, there you go, we'll just be
eating our dates Eating dates,so it feels like very, very
decadent somehow.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, enjoy your Medjool date day, mm-hmm.
All right, cpm Podcastlisteners, today we have a
(06:07):
special treat for you.
We have an update from one ofour Join them on their Journey
teachers from last season.
Graham Sorensen, a teacher inSalt Lake City, is going to give
us an update on how he's doingthis year and what's been going
(06:27):
on so far.
We haven't heard from him sincethe end of last year and so
that we're really lookingforward to that.
We unfortunately don't have anupdate.
Well, we don't have a recordedupdate from Maggie Chenin,
because she moved out of theclassroom this year and she is
now working as an administratorat her school and we're really
(06:49):
excited for her, for her newadventure, but she doesn't
really have an update about whatshe's doing for teaching
because she's not teaching.
So, unfortunately, no updatefrom Maggie, but we do have this
lovely update from Graham,enjoy.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Hi Misty and Joel Graham here.
It's good to be back.
Thanks for having me.
I'm currently in my 10th yearteaching math.
I'm at Highland High again andI'm teaching Integrated 1 and
Integrated 2, which are the samecourses I taught last year.
This is my second year teachingCPM and it's nice to have the
(07:33):
same courses because I knowwhat's needed for each lesson
and I have a better idea ofquestions students might have
and questions I can ask to drivetheir thinking further.
And I also feel like I have abetter idea of the pacing and
how to make sure we haveadequate time for closure and
(08:00):
wrapping things up and makingsure students understand the big
ideas of the lesson.
As I think back on last year,with it being my first year with
CPM, I really tried to focus onteaching the curriculum with
fidelity and diving into thelessons, embracing the CPM model
(08:24):
and making sure I read thesuggested lesson activity so
that I understood the vision ofeach lesson.
I think survival is a goalwhenever you're trying something
for the first time and alsoreflecting on how the teaching
went and ways I could improve.
(08:47):
I'm still having students workin teams, which I see as the
best way to get students todevelop and understand the
abstract concepts that we teachin our math classes understand
the abstract concepts that weteach in our math classes.
Students need to have dialogue,they need to discuss their
ideas.
They need to use language inall four domains reading,
(09:11):
writing, speaking and listening.
And working in teams allowsstudents to do that.
Last year I saw significantgains with my MLL students.
Students were reading inEnglish, they would speak to
other students in their nativelanguage.
They would write in English,no-transcript.
(09:44):
That being said, there arechallenges that come with having
students learn in teams andlearn through problem-based
learning, where they are notnecessarily told how to solve a
(10:09):
problem before asked to approachand think about ways that they
might solve the problem.
I've seen significant gainswith students in their abilities
, in their confidence.
Students are willing to worktogether and I hope it's more
(10:31):
acceptable for them to struggleand not know what to do right
away.
But I have had students saythat they do not always feel
successful with that style oflearning, and so it's a reminder
to me to continually celebrateand acknowledge when students do
(10:54):
make those gains and dopersevere when a problem is
challenging.
I've tried to emphasize theimportance of communicating your
ideas through writing anddiscussing, and some students
have the idea or expectationthat learning math should be
(11:17):
passive and they should be toldwhat to do, and so I have
students who get frustrated ifthey're not told what to do.
But I feel like they havelearned that I will not give
them the answer right away, thatI will help them, that I will
(11:37):
try to guide their thinking, Iwill check in and make sure that
they get where they need to goand understand the concept, but
I'm not going to tell them theanswer right away.
This year also, I've joined theTeacher Research Corps.
With CPM and my research group.
(11:58):
We've been focusing ondifferent ways to consolidate
our learning, and I have foundthis to be really helpful with
communicating to students that Ido want them to have takeaways,
and it has also given me achance to communicate things I
(12:19):
think are important at the endof a lesson or even in the
middle of a lesson, when it'stime to consolidate our learning
, I often include askingstudents to share their problem
solving, people that helped themor that they helped during the
lesson, as well as questionsthat were asked, questions their
(12:42):
team had or questions theystill have about a particular
topic.
So I've found that to be agreat focus for wrapping up
lessons and ensuring studentsare thinking about their own
learning and getting theimportant takeaways of the
lessons.
Another thing I've started thisyear, after a summer
(13:09):
professional development withCPM, has been reading the book
Culturally Responsive Teachingand the Brain by Zaretta Hammond
, and the book has reallyemphasized the importance of
relationships with students andbuilding an alliance with our
students as partners in theirlearning.
(13:30):
I know this is something I canimprove on and it's helped me to
appreciate I am teachingstudents rather than thinking
about teaching the math to thestudents.
We're all learning togetherhere.
(13:51):
I've also been looking intoincorporating more games and
more play within my units.
There's a lot of games thatinvolve probability, lot of
(14:11):
games that involve probability,and so I'm starting there and
getting my students to play thegames and then analyze the
outcomes of the game withprobability models.
I'm excited to see where thisgoes and what other games we can
incorporate into our lessonsgames we can incorporate into
(14:33):
our lessons.
Finally, I'm interested infinding ways to make our
mathematics more relevant to ourstudents.
I think CPM does a great job ofmaking the mathematics
accessible to students, but Ithink I crave with my students
applications that are meaningfulto them and relevant to their
lives and, in reading,culturally responsive teaching
(14:54):
in the brain.
It's helped me to see that thisreally can only happen when I
know my students and I know whattheir interests are and what
they care about.
So I'm looking forward tocontinuing this year and
learning more about teaching,learning more about my students,
(15:14):
learning more mathematics,learning more about connecting
the mathematics with my studentsand within our community.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Have a good one so that is all we have time for on
this episode of the more mathfor more people podcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description, and the
(15:48):
music for the podcast wascreated by julius h and can be
found on pixabaycom.
So thank you very much, julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
More People.
What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
It'll be February 18th, thumb Appreciation Day,
and I know I appreciate mythumbs.
There's so much you can do witha thumb, right Like you can zip
up a zipper.
You can share emotions withyour thumb.
So often I think about talkingabout other animals and things
like that even, and say, well,they don't have thumbs so it's
(16:23):
hard for them to do things.
So the thumb is a veryimportant body part and I can't
wait to appreciate the thumb.
Hear what Misty has to say.
But we'll see you on February18th for Thumb Appreciation,
thank you.
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast.
An outreach of CPM educationalprogram Boom.
An outreach of CPM EducationalProgram Boom.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here we are.
It is February 4th 2025.
So, as usual, I would like toknow what is the day today, joel
.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Today is Medjool Date Day.
Medjool Date Day.
Yeah, medjool Date Day.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Medjool Date Day yeah , medjool.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Date Day February 4th .
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Date Day.
I like saying Date Day, soMedjool dates, not any other
kinds of dates.
I don't know what other kindsof dates there are.
Yes, I assume there are otherkinds that they're going to
specify Medjool dates.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I think so too In my research.
They do just differentiatebetween medjool and other dates.
They don't list the other.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So all the others are just lumped.
Yes, they don't get specificcall-outs by other dates.
So I wonder what I mean.
Clearly it's just a differentkind of spree, maybe, but I
wonder what else differentiatesmedjool dates from other dates.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, funny, you should ask.
Because, yes, first of all, thedate is just a very nutritious
food, fruit that takes the placeof sugars, takes the place of a
lot of different things, butjewel dates have more of a
caramel flavoring to them, right, and also they are higher
(01:57):
content of calcium than otherdates.
Interesting, yes, good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
All right, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, and they've been around, they're dating
dates.
The start of medjool dates arejust dates, I guess as far back
as 7 000 bc 7 000, oh they'vebeen around for a long time, but
that's.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
That's a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, and oddly enough, I I don't know why I'm
saying odd because it makessense that they didn't come here
to the united states until theearly 20th century because
things like transportation wereinvented like transportation.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
They didn't have transportation until the 20th
century that's right what theydid.
People still transported thingsand themselves to other places,
but some particular kind oftransportation, I guess, for the
dates.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
One of my favorite questions that I read is do
dates make you fat?
Mm-hmm, and it just saysconsuming a large number of
dates can lead to some weightgain.
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess, ifyou're just going to eat, a lot
of of dates can lead to someweight gain.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess if you're just going to
eat a lot of calories, you mighthave some weight.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
If you eat lots of calories, it could lead to
weight gain.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I used to have I don't remember where we got it
from, but some organization,business, company, whatever that
sold date fristles which werebasically like dehydrated dates,
like they were like cut up intolike small little bits so they
would be like crumbles kind ofwhen they were, when they were
(03:35):
crumble sides, when they weredehydrated.
And then you, they had all theserecipes and things because you
would use them in place of sugar, basically to make muffins or
cakes or right, and they alsolook really good to just eat
because they're just littledehydrated dates rehydrate your
mouth yeah, like so.
(03:56):
Yeah, I used to have those allthe time, but I lost access and
we ordered them in a giant tub.
Side Side towels.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
There were some things that I don't need.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
There are nearly that many anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Costco maybe.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was a specific company that made them from out
of California.
But yeah, they're cool.
They were probably Medjooldates.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I mean.
Well, they are known as theking of dates.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So how are you going to celebrate Medjool date?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
day.
Well, the suggestions are thatyou could buy some Medjool dates
.
You could share their benefits.
So, like I said before, thatthey're good for your health and
you could share that with otherpeople.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You could proselytize them.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You could cook a dish with some yummy dates.
I do like them.
Make some yummy date dishes.
Bacon-wrapped date is verydelicious.
Oh, I don't know if I've hadthat before.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They'll put like cream cheese in the middle or
something, and then you wrap thebacon around them.
They're pretty good.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Like an hors d'oeuvre .
That sounds good.
Yeah, one suggestion here is toput it in pudding.
I think that would be good tooInteresting.
I like pudding more than I likedates, so anything that you put
in pudding, I'm probably goingto like Pro pudding.
But for me personally, I thinkI'll, maybe I'll buy some dates.
(05:23):
See what happens.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
yeah, you can, I might eat a date.
I don't know, they're a littlesweet for me, so okay, all right
, yeah, but I I could eat.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, there you go, there you go, we'll just be
eating our dates Eating dates,so it feels like very, very
decadent somehow.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, enjoy your Medjool date day, mm-hmm.
All right, cpm Podcastlisteners, today we have a
(06:07):
special treat for you.
We have an update from one ofour Join them on their Journey
teachers from last season.
Graham Sorensen, a teacher inSalt Lake City, is going to give
us an update on how he's doingthis year and what's been going
(06:27):
on so far.
We haven't heard from him sincethe end of last year and so
that we're really lookingforward to that.
We unfortunately don't have anupdate.
Well, we don't have a recordedupdate from Maggie Chenin,
because she moved out of theclassroom this year and she is
now working as an administratorat her school and we're really
(06:49):
excited for her, for her newadventure, but she doesn't
really have an update about whatshe's doing for teaching
because she's not teaching.
So, unfortunately, no updatefrom Maggie, but we do have this
lovely update from Graham,enjoy.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Hi Misty and Joel Graham here.
It's good to be back.
Thanks for having me.
I'm currently in my 10th yearteaching math.
I'm at Highland High again andI'm teaching Integrated 1 and
Integrated 2, which are the samecourses I taught last year.
This is my second year teachingCPM and it's nice to have the
(07:33):
same courses because I knowwhat's needed for each lesson
and I have a better idea ofquestions students might have
and questions I can ask to drivetheir thinking further.
And I also feel like I have abetter idea of the pacing and
how to make sure we haveadequate time for closure and
(08:00):
wrapping things up and makingsure students understand the big
ideas of the lesson.
As I think back on last year,with it being my first year with
CPM, I really tried to focus onteaching the curriculum with
fidelity and diving into thelessons, embracing the CPM model
(08:24):
and making sure I read thesuggested lesson activity so
that I understood the vision ofeach lesson.
I think survival is a goalwhenever you're trying something
for the first time and alsoreflecting on how the teaching
went and ways I could improve.
(08:47):
I'm still having students workin teams, which I see as the
best way to get students todevelop and understand the
abstract concepts that we teachin our math classes understand
the abstract concepts that weteach in our math classes.
Students need to have dialogue,they need to discuss their
ideas.
They need to use language inall four domains reading,
(09:11):
writing, speaking and listening.
And working in teams allowsstudents to do that.
Last year I saw significantgains with my MLL students.
Students were reading inEnglish, they would speak to
other students in their nativelanguage.
They would write in English,no-transcript.
(09:44):
That being said, there arechallenges that come with having
students learn in teams andlearn through problem-based
learning, where they are notnecessarily told how to solve a
(10:09):
problem before asked to approachand think about ways that they
might solve the problem.
I've seen significant gainswith students in their abilities
, in their confidence.
Students are willing to worktogether and I hope it's more
(10:31):
acceptable for them to struggleand not know what to do right
away.
But I have had students saythat they do not always feel
successful with that style oflearning, and so it's a reminder
to me to continually celebrateand acknowledge when students do
(10:54):
make those gains and dopersevere when a problem is
challenging.
I've tried to emphasize theimportance of communicating your
ideas through writing anddiscussing, and some students
have the idea or expectationthat learning math should be
(11:17):
passive and they should be toldwhat to do, and so I have
students who get frustrated ifthey're not told what to do.
But I feel like they havelearned that I will not give
them the answer right away, thatI will help them, that I will
(11:37):
try to guide their thinking, Iwill check in and make sure that
they get where they need to goand understand the concept, but
I'm not going to tell them theanswer right away.
This year also, I've joined theTeacher Research Corps.
With CPM and my research group.
(11:58):
We've been focusing ondifferent ways to consolidate
our learning, and I have foundthis to be really helpful with
communicating to students that Ido want them to have takeaways,
and it has also given me achance to communicate things I
(12:19):
think are important at the endof a lesson or even in the
middle of a lesson, when it'stime to consolidate our learning
, I often include askingstudents to share their problem
solving, people that helped themor that they helped during the
lesson, as well as questionsthat were asked, questions their
(12:42):
team had or questions theystill have about a particular
topic.
So I've found that to be agreat focus for wrapping up
lessons and ensuring studentsare thinking about their own
learning and getting theimportant takeaways of the
lessons.
Another thing I've started thisyear, after a summer
(13:09):
professional development withCPM, has been reading the book
Culturally Responsive Teachingand the Brain by Zaretta Hammond
, and the book has reallyemphasized the importance of
relationships with students andbuilding an alliance with our
students as partners in theirlearning.
(13:30):
I know this is something I canimprove on and it's helped me to
appreciate I am teachingstudents rather than thinking
about teaching the math to thestudents.
We're all learning togetherhere.
(13:51):
I've also been looking intoincorporating more games and
more play within my units.
There's a lot of games thatinvolve probability, lot of
(14:11):
games that involve probability,and so I'm starting there and
getting my students to play thegames and then analyze the
outcomes of the game withprobability models.
I'm excited to see where thisgoes and what other games we can
incorporate into our lessonsgames we can incorporate into
(14:33):
our lessons.
Finally, I'm interested infinding ways to make our
mathematics more relevant to ourstudents.
I think CPM does a great job ofmaking the mathematics
accessible to students, but Ithink I crave with my students
applications that are meaningfulto them and relevant to their
lives and, in reading,culturally responsive teaching
(14:54):
in the brain.
It's helped me to see that thisreally can only happen when I
know my students and I know whattheir interests are and what
they care about.
So I'm looking forward tocontinuing this year and
learning more about teaching,learning more about my students,
(15:14):
learning more mathematics,learning more about connecting
the mathematics with my studentsand within our community.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Have a good one so that is all we have time for on
this episode of the more mathfor more people podcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description, and the
(15:48):
music for the podcast wascreated by julius h and can be
found on pixabaycom.
So thank you very much, julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
More People.
What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
It'll be February 18th, thumb Appreciation Day,
and I know I appreciate mythumbs.
There's so much you can do witha thumb, right Like you can zip
up a zipper.
You can share emotions withyour thumb.
So often I think about talkingabout other animals and things
like that even, and say, well,they don't have thumbs so it's
(16:23):
hard for them to do things.
So the thumb is a veryimportant body part and I can't
wait to appreciate the thumb.
Hear what Misty has to say.
But we'll see you on February18th for Thumb Appreciation,
thank you.
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